With just over a year to go before its March 25 release, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice keeps adding more pieces to the news pile. Today’s involves a few details about the costume worn by Ben Affleck in the film, a subject of much discussion both here and across the internet.
THR talked about it with costume designer Michael Wilkinson:
“It’s a very important thing to Zack that the Batsuit would be comfortable and very flexible but then would be able to perform in a very natural and forceful way,” said Wilkinson, adding that the rigidity of the cowl and neck-pieces was “one of the first things that Snyder mentioned to me in one of our initial meetings.” This time around, promised Wilkinson, “a lot of incredible engineering went into the development of the new black cowl.”
Two things stick out: First and foremost, director Zach Snyder insists that Affleck’s head and neck have complete range of motion. This was never a problem in the comics, but when Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher tackled the character in the ’80s and ’90s, the costume’s head piece wouldn’t let the actors turn their heads. Christopher Nolan addressed this in The Dark Knight, but his practical solution interfered with the classic look.
Second is the suit’s color, which Wilkinson explicitly describes as being “black.” When Snyder released the first photo of Affleck in costume, it provided little in the way of color. Would it be more like the films of Burton, Schumacher, Nolan or none of the above? Fans quickly jumped at comments made by Kevin Smith, which suggested that the color scheme was adopted by Frank Miller’s run in the comics:
Grey and black were both readily apparent, but the dark blue? It’s popped up in the comics before, but never on film. And with Wilkinson’s comments, it seems that it won’t be in Snyder’s film next year either.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)
