'How I Killed The Batman' - The Truly Terrible
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I wouldn't let the title misguide you. I mean my second film isn't great but its definitely my favourite. Of the three films I've made up to now they all have something that makes them better or worse than the rest, and 'How I Killed The Batman,' whilst very far from perfect, is still pretty damn good if I do say so myself. It's essentially a Batman fan film, but has no Batman at all. It's a heist movie, about Batman's rogues gallery, and whilst you may already know I have a soft spot for Batman and the DC universe, this film was massively different before I made this decision.
The film was originally a heist film called 'The Terrible Ten' which was about a group of punk kids who decided to steal a priceless diamond to gain status in their city's ever growing crime ridden underground. The film went into production, I had cast everyone, and after the good feelings I had on 'Popman,' I had high hopes. However, managing a big cast became a massive problem. Script readings went south and the project just came down a bit. People decided they didn't want to be part of it anymore, and the budget wasn't realistic. I was pretty gutted, but I knew it had to be put to rest. A few months later I got a Riddler costume for a party and tried it on. I've always loved the Riddler, my favourite Batman villain. I looked at myself in a costume which I modified and thought, "I'd love to play the Riddler!" and then it hit me. 'The Terrible Ten' could easily be done again. It just needed some... tweaking.
As you can guess, I adapted the script into my own fan film. In this version, the villains of Gotham City would steal a precious diamond. Sounds simple and fun enough, but I added a twist in there. My own DC universe was set many many years through Batman's career, where all the villains were more mature and professional. In the story, the Joker (played by Kristian Bradley) and the Riddler (myself) teamed up with a group of other criminals: Harley Quinn (Lauren Curry) Two-Face (Jacob Appleby) Poison Ivy (Jade Ostle) and Clayface (Sam Dyer). In this, the criminals planned to team up and kill Batman, and steal the 'volcano diamond' from Gotham's mayor, Oswald Cobblepot (Liam Mook) and escape with the riches. This plays out, however before the heist, the Joker and Harley betray the Riddler and the others, and plan to take the diamond themselves. It becomes a war between the Joker and the Riddler, a rivalry which me and Kristian really enjoyed putting on screen. Between this, we see Joker in the future, telling his psychiatrist of the story and how he killed Batman. Get it?
It was tons of fun to make, we all had an incredible time. The dressing up, getting into character and playing our favourite characters was a thrill, an experience which I wish we could do again. I made the Riddler a very egotistical man, which he always really was, but got rid of the silliness and made him more formal and posh with his voice. Being the leader of his new group of thugs, he had to be imposing, and I did everything I could to make that the case. I originally cast Kiera who was in the last film as Poison Ivy and her boyfriend and my friend Sam as Clayface, however a break up pushed Kiera away, so filming with Sam was difficult, and it may have been a better idea to replace him as I did with Kiera and Jade, but there you go. There were some extra scenes with Sam as Clayface that didn't make the final cut. Probably for the best though.
Kristian's Joker was based on Mark Hamill's Joker loosely, and his performance was fantastic. He did the perfect voice and had the perfect look. I made him a little bit more caring for Harley in this, as a result of his age and the fact he isn't the same as he used to be. Still as brutal as ever however, as we see in the final confrontation with the Riddler, one of the first scenes we filmed which was a joyous (and hilarious) one to film. Jacob's Two-Face was brilliant too, he put on a good voice and really got into character, and everyone loved him. Lauren gave Harley a shriek more than a laugh, but it worked really well in creating her own version of the popular character. Liam Mook played the infamous Penguin which we all laughed insanely at, for his quips and behaviour. Luke Farley also played Corporal Rick Flag, a character who would play into the future (keep reading for that). Really though, we all did a magnificent job and I couldn't be more proud.
Tash Curry, who played the psychiatrist in the film, also did a lot of the filming. Having said that, everyone in the cast got a lot of filming to do aswell, a big group effort. I had a drone which I used for one scene... and that was it. Margot the drone really didn't do much at all unfortunately before she was resold. At this point we didn't have a soundtrack, so I used music from Danny Elfman's score, from 'Batman' (1989) which is my most favourite film score, and also threw in some songs which were very hit and miss what was going on, a better choice of music wouldn't have gone a miss I have to say! I showed the film in September 2015 after filming all of the summer before, and it was met with lots of positivity for our effort, and it made it even better showing it in an actual cinema too!
The film ended with a post credits sequence in which Rick Flag sets up the backdrop of the next film, a Suicide Squad movie. I had plans for another original film, but everyone wanted to do a sequel... but of course, that's a story for another time. As always, thanks for reading, and if you like, the film is watchable from the link below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJLrPfsf1jM&t=1663s
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