Oh, hi Bruce! Recently, The Batman visual effects artist Miguel Santana da Silva took to social media to share an unexpected tidbit about the 2022 superhero film. Apparently, the artist found inspiration for Gotham City’s skyline in one of cinema’s most universally beloved bad movies, The Room.
In response to an X user lauding The Batman’s contribution to the current comic book movie landscape, da Silva wrote, “Good opportunity to mention that when composing the look of Gotham in the sunset scene, I took a small amount of inspiration from the rooftop matte painting in The Room”. The VFX artist included a reference image from Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 masterpiece, describing the film’s matte painting as vibing “so much harder than it has any right to.” While a completely surprising font of inspiration, da Silva’s X admission demonstrates how a film heralded as one of the worst ever made continues to influence the entertainment industry in unexpected ways.
Wiseau, the eccentric genius behind The Room, reigns just as infamously over Hollywood as his 2003 magnum opus. Though Wiseau’s perhaps a hybrid of a celebrity and a cryptid, The Room star still maintains an active presence on social media, where he recently ran into da Silva’s post about The Batman. Wiseau proved just as delighted as the rest of the internet, writing “what a story” in response to da Silva’s original post.
Though The Room‘s rooftop matte painting partially inspired The Batman‘s stunning sunset tableau, the 2022 film portrays a city much grittier than San Francisco and one populated with more formidable foes than Chris-R. One such rogue, Colin Farrell’s crime boss Oswald Cobblepot, will soon return to The Batman‘s vision of Gotham in the upcoming series The Penguin. The crime drama debuts September 19 on Max, being one of several forthcoming streaming titles that will be released under the HBO banner.
The Penguin will return to the world of Matt Reeves’ The Batman for the first time since the 2022 movie released, making it the perfect time to revisit the film. While taking this trip down memory lane, da Silva’s post may even motivate some to throw on The Room, arguably a superhero film in its own right.
Published: Sep 3, 2024 07:35 am