The LEGO Movie producer Dan Lin has explained how the team went about getting permission to use Batman in The LEGO Movie.

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In an animator roundtable, as documented by The Hollywood Reporter , Lin talked about how the movie team went about approaching both Warners and DC about potentially including their own take on Batman, albeit a LEGO version who's "a bit of a jerk.""We approached both Warners and Christopher Nolan," says Lin. "And myself, Chris Miller and Phil Lord, we pitched a different kind of Batman. We said, 'You guys have your live-action Batman, we have what we called the LEGO Batman. A Batman that's very self-aware. That is, you know, a bit of a jerk at times.' As soon as they understood there are different universes, that worked out okay. But that was a big challenge going to all the different rightsholders, saying, 'This is how we're going to take your character and Lego-ize it.'"While details about the forthcoming LEGO Batman film are scarce, Lin went on to note that it's in "deep in production," and reiterates it's on track for a 2017 release. The LEGO Batman Movie was first announced in October when The LEGO Movie co-director Christopher Miller tweeted "It's true. So excited," before attaching the hashtags "Darkness" and "No Parents" along with a black & white photo of LEGO Batman stood next to a Batmobile The LEGO Movie animation supervisor Chris McKay is set to direct the film with Miller, Lin, Phil Lord, and Roy Lee on the producer side, and a script by Seth-Grame Smith. And, of course, Will Arnett will reprise the role of The LEGO Snark Knight.

Wesley Copeland is a freelance news writer, but you probably already guessed that. For more obvious statements, you should probably follow him on Twitter