Batman: Caped Crusader - DC FanDome Behind-The-Scenes | movie | 2022 | Official Featurette
Get a look at the upcoming 'Batman: Caped Crusader" animated series. | dG1fQzNtclhsRENKamc
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00:00I'm J.J. Abrams, executive producer of Batman Caped Crusader.
00:03I'm Bruce Timm, executive producer of Batman Caped Crusader.
00:07Hi, I'm Matt Reeves, executive producer of Batman Caped Crusader.
00:11Hi, I'm James Tucker, and I am a co-producer on Batman Caped Crusader.
00:16Lawrence Animation asked if we would be interested in working with Bruce on a new animated Batman series,
00:22and Matt was working on the Batman film,
00:26so it just felt like an opportunity to collaborate not just with Bruce,
00:31but with one of my best friends on a project that I knew would be incredibly meaningful to all of us.
00:37One of my elevator pitch versions of this show is that it's more Batman animated series than Batman animated series.
00:45It kind of goes back to the original principles of the show that we originally came up with back in the early 90s.
00:50There was certain limitations on what we could do in terms of adult content, in terms of violence and adult themes,
00:57and my idea is basically to say, okay, it's 1990 again.
01:01I get to do what I want to do this time, and I got J.J. and Matt backing me up.
01:04You know, in Bruce's world, in this new iteration, it's just Batman right now.
01:09There's not the Justice League. It doesn't exist. There aren't any other superheroes.
01:13It's Batman. You're watching this lone figure swimming through the cesspool of Gotham.
01:18It's Batman alone.
01:20He's Batman. I mean, whether he's wearing the mask or not, he's Batman.
01:23And Bruce Wayne is the mask. Bruce Wayne is a phony person.
01:27He's a construction that Batman has created to deflect suspicion from his activities.
01:33So he's going to be very low-tech initially.
01:36You know, as he develops as a character, we'll start introducing those gadgets,
01:40and, you know, the audience can see how he developed the Batmobile using different prototypes.
01:45That's part of the fun of this series, is we're finding him discovering these things
01:50that most other Batman series, they already were there.
01:54It really is an incredibly complex psychological story about someone who, in a way,
01:59needs to be redeemed, and that's kind of what at least this first season's about.
02:03We've reconfigured some of the roles some of the characters have.
02:06We're starting before Batman has earned their trust, and they've earned Batman's trust.
02:11So there's nothing assumed.
02:13We don't know that Commissioner Gordon will be Batman's ally.
02:17The journey of the show is to see how they, you know, eventually grow together and learn to trust, or not.
02:23You know, nothing is assumed in this series as far as what we're used to seeing in the world of Batman.
02:30What this does is it gives us the opportunity to say,
02:33okay, well, the versions of Joker and Catwoman and Penguin,
02:37those versions that we did on Batman the Animated Series were really great and iconic,
02:41but there's lots of different ways we can take those characters that we hope will be just as iconic and just as powerful.
02:47Bruce pitched the concept of Caped Crusader,
02:49and he had the Strange Days short that was done for Batman's 75th anniversary
02:54that was very old-school, film noir look.
02:58It was in black and white, and I think that's what really closed the deal on the pitch,
03:02because looking at that, they could see exactly what the show was going to look like.
03:07But, just so it's clear, the show won't be in black and white.
03:10Unless I can talk Bruce into doing a special episode.
03:14This new iteration is very much born of a noir sensibility.
03:18Definitely heavy on the German Expressionism slash film noir kind of styling,
03:22set in the kind of timeless 40s world.
03:24If anything, we're probably going to lean into that even more,
03:27in terms of authentic clothes and hairstyles and hats and vehicles and architecture.
03:32The way we deal with the characters is going to be quite a bit more modern,
03:38in terms of inclusivity, representation, things like that.
03:42Caped Crusader is something that I feel honored to get to be part of the creative conversations,
03:50to get to help and support, along with Matt,
03:53not just the vision for how they want to do it,
03:56but even in using new technologies, the opportunity to take advantage of
04:02literally techniques that didn't exist back when Bruce was doing the animated series.
04:06It's an honor and I'm thrilled to be able to work on this,
04:08but to be honest with you, the most exciting part is I can't wait to see how it turns out.
04:12I can't wait to see all of this come together.
04:14I'm a fan and I just want to see what Bruce does.