Warner Bros has just released another juicy featurette in anticipation of The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector’s Edition (the shameless marketing, it’s almost too much to bear!). This time around Christopher Nolan, Jeff Robinov, and Greg Silverman describe the origins of Batman Begins. In a very endearing anecdote, the trio of film makers explain how a short 15 minute pitch was more than enough for WB to back Nolan’s first Dark Knight film.

I’ve just transcribed the whole bit below, but I’ve embed the video as well, if you’re into watching dudes waxing philosophically and such.

Jeff Robinov: Batman was a project we were waiting for the right time and the right elements to come together. Christopher Nolan: When I went in and talked to them about it, it was very open, and that’s a great opportunity for a writer and director. Jeff Robinov: Chris came in and said “This is what I want to do with the movie, this is what I want to do with it visually, this is where I think the character needs to go. I think it will be different than any other superhero movie anyone’s seen. What I really want to do is take that genre and embrace it as a real film genre.” Christopher Nolan: I immediately started talking about the origin story. I felt there was a great gap there in pop culture terms, particularly because the origin story wasn’t addressed in the Tim Burton films and it wasn’t really addressed in the comics really. Greg Silverman: The pitch that chris had was so quick, 10-15 minutes, but it was so holistic, it really was Batman Begins. Jeff Robinov: And I said thanks to Chris, appreciate you coming in, and I said let me talk to Allen for a couple minutes. And we looked at each other, and I said I think if you’re going to back a guy based off a pitch, this is the guy you’re going to do it with. So Alan Horn greenlit the movie based off that pitch.

Well, there you have it. I’m more than happy Nolan landed the gig. Admittedly Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises were the two mediocre (and I use that word lightly) films out of the trilogy, but both of those flicks were needed to provide The Dark Knight with context.

SOURCE: youtube