Screenwriter Mattson Tomlin Talks The Batman and Mega Man

August 19, 2020

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriter Mattson Tomlin (Project Power, Little Fish) spoke about his upcoming projects The Batman, directed and co-written by Matt Reeves, and the Mega Man adaptation, including how he can’t even reveal (yet) how he first teamed up with Reeves on the highly-anticipated project as “there are spoilers in that story.”

When asked how he approached an established IP compared to an original property, Tomlin said: “In the case of Batman, I love that character and lots of people love that character and it comes with a tremendous amount of weight and responsibility and expectation. You want to do right by people. You want to do something new, but you also want to do something that feels like it is the thing, regardless of what it is.”

Tomlin added that Reeves is “brilliant,” sharing that the filmmaker is “just incredible and I think that one of the things that caused me to identify with him and bond with him as an artist is the fact that he is able to tell these extremely personal stories in the canvas of large blockbusters.”

As far as Mega Man goes, the screenwriter added that he hopes the fans who hit him up all the time on Twitter “love the movie.” Tomlin is reteaming with directors Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, who helmed Tomlin’s sci-fi thriller Project Power which stars Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and is now streaming on Netflix, on 20th Century Studios’ adaptation of the hit video game series developed by Capcom.

Starring alongside Robert Pattinson’s Batman/Bruce Wayne is Zoë Kravitz (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Mad Max: Fury Road) as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano (Love & Mercy, 12 Years a Slave) as Edward Nashton; Jeffrey Wright (the Hunger Games films) as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro (the Transformers films) as Carmine Falcone; Peter Sarsgaard (The Magnificent Seven, Black Mass) as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson; Jayme Lawson (Farewell Amor) as mayoral candidate Bella Reál; with Andy Serkis (the Planet of the Apes films, Black Panther) as Alfred; and Colin Farrell (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Dumbo) as Oswald Cobblepot. Twins Max and Charlie Carver have also joined the movie in “sizable roles.”

Plot details are still being kept under wraps but The Batman is reportedly set to explore the Dark Knight’s younger years with Reeves further hinting at the film’s connection to the iconic comic book story arc “Year One” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli which was published in 1987.

Reeves and Dylan Clark (the Planet of the Apes films) are producing the film, with Simon Emanuel, Michael E. Uslan, Walter Hamada, and Chantal Nong Vo serving as executive producers.

The Batman opens in theaters on October 1, 2021.