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Christopher Nolan Director | previously directed Insomnia |  |
The first movie in Chris Nolan's Batman movie-franchise reboot is the retelling of Batman's origin story, and puts him opposite Ra's Al Ghul and the Scarecrow.
Trivia:
Before Christian Bale was cast as Batman, many other actors were considered for the role, including Ashton Kutcher, David Boreanaz and newcomer Hugh Dancy.
19 More Trivia
Reference: Batman
A direct reference to the 1989 Batman film is made when Christian Bales exclaims, "I'M BATMAN!" Many other subtle nods are made to the Burton films throughout the remainder of the film.
Quote:
Ra's al Ghul
18 More QuotesTo conquer fear, you must become fear. You must bask in the fear of other men. And men fear most what they cannot see.
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Christopher Nolan | screenplay |
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David S. Goyer | story |
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Bob Kane | characters |
Overview
Batman Begins is a reboot of the Batman films starring Christian Bale as The Caped Crusader. The film was followed up with a sequel in 2008 and a second sequel in 2012.Creation
After several unsuccessful projects intended to revitalize the series, director Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer began to work on the project in 2003. They aimed for a darker and more realistic tone for the film, unlike Batman & Robin's campy approach to the character. They drew inspiration from Batman: The Man Who Falls, Batman Year One, and Batman The Long Halloween. The Man Who Falls formed the basis of the story, while Batman Year One was the origin part, and The Long Halloween was characters. The Long Halloween would be used as the basis for the Dark Knight in 2008.Plot Summary
Ducard Training Bruce
Building the batsuit.
Rescuing Rachel
At his birthday party, Bruce is confronted by Ducard who reveals himself to be Ra's Al Ghul, and has arrived in Gotham City to destroy it like he's done countless other times to other cities throughout history. He reveals that he allied himself with Crane to poison the city's water supply by injecting the toxin in to it. He had plans to vaporize by using a special device which would blanket the city in the poison causing mass panic which in turn would destroy the city. He reveals they created an artificial depression to cripple the city, but the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne inspired the wealthy to help. After Bruce pretends he's drunk to clear out his mansion, he fights Ra's. His men then burn down the mansion, but Bruce escapes to the Cave with Alfred. Rachel brings the antidote to Gordon and stops Crane who is now calling himself the Scarecrow with a taser.
Batman reveals his identity to her, and has Gordon take the Tumbler to the Wayne Enterprises Tower, the central hub for elevated train system which Ra's is using to transport his device. Ra's then boards the train, to take it to the main water line at the tower and set off a chain reaction leading to the water vaporizing and the toxin spreading throughout the entire city. Batman then confronts onboard the train and fights him. Ra's then realizes that since Batman is on the train he never intended to destroy but instead sabotage it. Gordon then fires at the elevated tracks and destroys the tracks. Batman escapes via using his cape as a glider and Ra's presumably dies when the train crashes. Following those events, Batman becomes a public hero and Bruce takes over his company, secretly buying the majority of therefore becoming the primary stockholder in the company which allows him to gain control of it. His first order of business is firing the present CEO, William Earle and replacing him with Lucius Fox. Gordon is promoted to Lieutenant and unveils the Bat-Signal to Batman, and tells him about a costumed villain who leaves Joker playing cards at the scene of his crimes. Batman promises to investigate and disappears, off into the night.
Production
Development
Warner Bros hired Christopher Nolan in January of 2003 to direct a then untitled Batman film and David S. Goyer signed on two months later to write the film. Nolan said he wanted to reinvent Batman by "doing the origins story of the character, which is a story that has never been told before". He wanted Humanity and realism to be the basis of the film and that "the world of Batman is grounded in reality. It will be a recognizable, contemporary reality against which an extraordinary heroic figure arises." Goyer said that the goal of the film was to get the film audience to care for both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Nolan felt that the previous films focused more style then the characters and that his inspiration was Richard Donner's Superman, which mainly showed the character's growth. He also wanted an all star supporting cast for Batman Begins to lend a more epic feel and credibly to the story. Nolan's "jumping off point" for the story was The Man Who Falls which depicts Bruce Wayne's travels throughout the world and a young Bruce Wayne falling into a well which was adapted into the movie. Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb was Goyer's inspiration, with the villain Carmine Falcone being in the film and he drew inspiration from it's "sober, serious approach". Harvey Dent was considered for the film but after the writers felt they couldn't do him justice, they created Rachel Dawes instead. They saved Harvey Dent for the sequel The Dark Knight in which he was portrayed by Aaron Eckhart. The sequel to Long Halloween, Dark Victory which is Christian Bale's favorite Batman story, also served as an influence. Many elements of Batman Year One were also used in the film.Filming
As he had done before with his previous films, Nolan did not use a second unit and was on set to film everything himself. Principal Photography began in March 2004 at a glacier in Iceland which was standing in for Bhutan. The crew built a village and the front doors to Ra's' palace, as well as a road to lead to the site. However filming was interrupted by the weather, with 75 MPH winds, rain, and no snow. Cinematographer Wally Pfister had planned on using a crane to film one sequence but due to the winds, he had to use a handheld camera instead. As his inspiration was Superman and other blockbusters form the 70's and 80's, Nolan shot parts of the film in England, specifically at Shepperton Studios where the Batcave was built. The set measurements were 250 feet long, 120 feet wide, and 40 feet high. Nathan Crowley, the production designer installed twelve pumps in order to create the Waterfall that required 14,000 gallons of water and built rocks by using molds of real caves. In January, Warner Bros. rented an airship hangar at Cardington, Bedfordshire for filming in March. The hangar was used to construct the Narrows sets, and the Monorail track. For Wayne manor, Nolan chose Mentmore Towers out of twenty possibles. For Arkham Asylum, they chose The National Institute for Medical Research building in Mill Hill. To stand in for Gotham City, Nolan chose Chicago where many of the film's scenes were shot.Design
The Tumbler
Crowley originally started coming up with a design for the Tumbler by model bashing.He used the nose cone of a Lockheed P-38 model for the chassis of the turbine engine of the Tumbler. He had six models built 1:12 scale over the course of four months and used those to create a large version of the Tumbler with a crew of 30 people. Together they carved it out a large block of Styrofoam over the course of two months. They used the Styrofoam model to create a steel "test frame" which had to hold up to several measures: be able to obtain a speed of at least 100 mph, go from 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds, have a steering system that would enable it to make sharp turns at city corners, and withstand a self propelled launch up to 30 feet.
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Box Office
Domestic $205,343,774 Foreign +$167,366,241 - = total worldwide gross $372,710,015
- - a reported budget of $150,000,000
- = a 148.5% net profit of $222,710,015
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In today's dollars
Domestic $205,343,774 Foreign +167,366,241 - = total worldwide gross $372,710,015
- - a reported budget of $150,000,000
- = a 148.5% net profit of $222,710,015
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