Development
In January 2003, Warner Bros. hired Memento director Christopher Nolan to direct an untitled Batman film,[42] and David S. Goyer signed on to write the script two months later.[43] Nolan stated his intention to reinvent the film franchise of Batman by "doing the origins story of the character, which is a story that's never been told before". Nolan said that humanity and realism would be the basis of the origin film, and that "the world of Batman is that of grounded 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 audience to care for both Batman and Bruce Wayne.[44] Nolan felt the previous films were exercises in style rather than drama, and described his inspiration as being Richard Donner's 1978 film Superman, in its focus on depicting the character's growth.[7] Also similar to Superman, Nolan wanted an all-star supporting cast for Batman Begins to lend a more epic feel and credibility to the story.[22]
Goyer wanted to reboot the franchise; he and Nolan saw Batman as a romantic character, and Nolan envisioned a large, sweeping film like Lawrence of Arabia. Nolan did not have a problem with the studio's requirement that the film not be R-rated because he wanted to make the film that he wanted to see when he was 11 years old.[5] His personal "jumping off point" of inspiration was "The Man Who Falls", a short story by Denny O'Neil and Dick Giordano about Bruce's travels throughout the world. The early scene in Batman Begins of young Bruce Wayne falling into a well was adapted from "The Man Who Falls".[45] Batman: The Long Halloween, written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Tim Sale, influenced Goyer in writing the screenplay, with the villain Carmine Falcone as one of many elements which were drawn from Halloween's "sober, serious approach".[45] The writers considered having Harvey Dent in the film, but replaced him with the new character Rachel Dawes when they realized they "couldn't do him justice".[46] The character was later portrayed by Aaron Eckhart in the 2008 sequel The Dark Knight. The sequel to Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory, also served as a minor influence.[47] Goyer used the vacancy of Bruce Wayne's multi-year absence presented in Batman: Year One to help set up some of the film's events in the transpiring years.[48] In addition, the film's Sergeant James "Jim" Gordon was based on his comic book incarnation as seen in Year One. The writers of Batman Begins also used Frank Miller's Year One plot device, which was about a corrupt police force that led to Gordon and Gotham City's need for Batman.[45] Due to Batman's extensive rogues gallery over seventy years, Goyer and Nolan decided to use the Scarecrow and Ra's al Ghul as the film's villains, as both characters had not been featured in previous Batman films nor in Adam West's 1960s television series.[49]
A common idea in the comics is that Bruce saw a Zorro film with his parents before they were murdered. Nolan explained that by ignoring that idea – which he stated is not found in Batman's first appearances – it emphasized the importance of bats to Bruce and that becoming a superhero is a wholly original idea on his part. It is for this reason Nolan believes other DC characters do not exist in the universe of his film; otherwise, Wayne's reasons for taking up costumed vigilantism would have been very different.[50]
Filming
As with all his films, Nolan refused a second unit; he did this in order to keep his vision consistent.[20] Filming began in March 2004 in the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland (standing in for Bhutan).[20] The crew built a village and the front doors to Ra's' temple,[51] as well as a road to access the remote area.[20] The weather was problematic, with 75 miles per hour (120 km/h) winds,[20] rain, and a lack of snow. A shot that cinematographer Wally Pfister had planned to take using a crane had to be completed with a handheld camera.[51]
Unlike Burton and Schumacher's Gotham City that did not exist in the real world, Nolan shot exteriors in London, New York, and Chicago as he wanted the city to seem recognizable.[5] In seeking inspiration from Superman and other blockbuster films of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Nolan based most of the production in England, specifically Shepperton Studios.[52] A Batcave set was built there and measured 250 feet (76 m) long, 120 feet (37 m) wide, and 40 feet (12 m) high. Production designer Nathan Crowley installed twelve pumps to create a waterfall with 12,000 imperial gallons (55,000 L; 14,000 US gal), and built rocks using molds of real caves.[53] An airship hangar at Cardington, Bedfordshire was rented by Warner Bros. during April 2004[54] and, converted into a 900 feet (270 m) sound stage, was where the slum-district of "the Narrows" and the feet of the monorails were filmed.[53]
Mentmore Towers was chosen from twenty different locations for Wayne Manor, as Nolan and Crowley liked its white floors, which gave the impression of the manor as a memorial to Wayne's parents.[55] The building chosen to represent Arkham Asylum was the National Institute for Medical Research building in Mill Hill, northwest London, England.[56] The St Pancras railway station and the Abbey Mills Pumping Stations were used for Arkham's interiors.[53] The Senate House of University College London was used for courtrooms.[53] Some scenes, including the Tumbler pursuit,[20] were filmed in Chicago at locations such as Lower Wacker Drive and 35 East Wacker.[57] Authorities agreed to raise Franklin Street Bridge for a scene where access to the Narrows is closed.[20]
Despite the film's darkness, Nolan wanted to make the film appeal to a wide age range. "Not the youngest kids obviously, I think what we've done is probably a bit intense for them but I certainly didn't want to exclude the sort of ten to 12-year olds, because as a kid I would have loved to have seen a movie like this." Because of this, nothing gory or bloody was filmed.[36]
Music
The score for Batman Begins was composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. Nolan originally invited Zimmer to compose the music, and Zimmer asked Nolan if he could invite Howard to compose as well, as they had always planned a collaboration.[58] The two composers collaborated on separate themes for the "split personality" of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman. Zimmer and Howard began composing in Los Angeles and moved to London where they stayed for twelve weeks to complete most of their writing.[59] Zimmer and Howard sought inspiration for shaping the score by visiting the Batman Begins sets.[60]
Zimmer wanted to avoid writing music that had been done in earlier Batman films, so the score became an amalgamation of orchestra and electronic music. The film's ninety-piece orchestra[58] was developed from members of various London orchestras, and Zimmer chose to use more than the normal number of cellos. Zimmer enlisted a boy soprano to help reflect the music in some of the film's scenes where tragic memories of Bruce Wayne's parents are involved. "He's singing a fairly pretty tune and then he gets stuck, it's like froze, arrested development," said Zimmer. He also attempted to add a human dimension to Batman, whose behavior would typically be seen as "psychotic", through the music. Both composers collaborated to create 2 hours and 20 minutes worth of music for the film,[60] with Zimmer composing the action sequences and Howard focusing on the dramatic scenes.[58]
