Fanboy saves Gotham City from Hollywood
Published: Monday, July 7, = 2008
Updated: Saturday, August 16,=20 2008
Courtesy Bill Ramey
"Jett" started a site that changed Batman movies. =
A 31-year-old Houston man left a movie theater more than 10 years =
ago=20
disillusioned. The movie had not yet finished, but the injustice he =
witnessed=20
was too much to bear. Batman and Robin were wearing rubber nipples.
Bill Ramey looked at the silver screen as Batman used politically = correct=20 terms, carried a credit card in his utility belt and, if that was not = enough, he=20 was smiling.
It was summer 1997. Director Joel Schumacher=E2=80=99s = =E2=80=9CBatman & Robin=E2=80=9D was in=20 movie theaters.
=E2=80=9CThe whole thing just seemed off,=E2=80=9D Ramey would later = post on the Web.
He started a Web site, a dramatic example that would shake Batman = moviemakers=20 and fanboys alike out of apathy and into action.
Ramey, who last week saw a press screening of =E2=80=9CThe Dark = Knight,=E2=80=9D the highly=20 anticipated sequel to =E2=80=9CBatman Begins,=E2=80=9D recalls how his = creation, Batman on Film,=20 and similar fan-created Web sites, provided a target audience a forum = with which=20 to demand a definitive Batman origin movie, telling Warner Bros. = Pictures=20 everything from who should be cast in the title role to the fabric from = which=20 the costume should be made.
Christian Bale and Kevlar, a synthetic fiber used in protective = helmets and=20 vests, were often demanded. Warner Bros. Pictures obliged to the former, = but=20 decided to go with black foam and latex for the latter.
=E2=80=9CI think they were paying attention to what the fans thought, = who they were=20 suggesting for certain roles ... and maybe if there was any interest in = a new=20 Batman film,=E2=80=9D Ramey said.
=E2=80=9CBatman Begins=E2=80=9D screenwriter David S. Goyer, Special = FX Supervisor Chris=20 Corbould and Executive Producer Michael Ulsan said that they often = visited the=20 Web site during the production of the movie, the Batman on Film Home = Page=20 shows.
Mark S. Reinhart, author of the Batman Filmography, said Batman on = Film =E2=80=9Chad=20 such a positive impact on Warner Bros. in terms of the direction they = are now=20 taking their Batman film series,=E2=80=9D the Home Page shows as = well.
Ramey and like-minded, albeit anonymous, agents of the bat with = access to=20 Warner Bros. Pictures=E2=80=99 movers and shakers provided his Web = audience with the=20 latest news about the movie franchise, from its years in development = hell to its=20 resurgence in 2005.
Fans of the Batman were conflicted. The movie franchise was something = sacrosanct of which they were losing control.
=E2=80=9CBatman =E2=80=9889 basically started the whole = =E2=80=98superhero movie=E2=80=99 genre. It affected=20 everything that has come since. That=E2=80=99s the positive,=E2=80=9D = Ramey said. =E2=80=9COn the other=20 hand, the other three Batman films showed everyone how not to do a comic = book-based film. =E2=80=98Batman & Robin=E2=80=99 almost killed the = genre.=E2=80=9D
Twenty-three-year-old independent director Aaron Schoenke said he was = inspired to become a filmmaker by the first two movies in the series, = =E2=80=9CBatman=E2=80=9D=20 and =E2=80=9CBatman Returns,=E2=80=9D directed by Tim Burton.
=E2=80=9CThe first and second Batman films opened my eyes to = filmmaking and all the=20 extraordinary possibilities that the film medium had to offer = creatively,=E2=80=9D said=20 Schoenke, who founded the Calabasas-based Bat in the Sun Productions to = direct=20 character-driven interpretations of The Batman and his gallery of = rogues.
Schoenke=E2=80=99s films, such a Patient J, which portrays the manic = romance and=20 exploits of the Joker and his moll, have a loyal Web fan base.
Though Schoenke said he does not strictly adhere to comic book source = material in his fan films.
=E2=80=9CDon=E2=80=99t get me wrong, accuracy is very important, but = it=E2=80=99s not the sole reason=20 a film is good or bad,=E2=80=9D Schoenke said.
Edward T. Halloran, film literature professor at Cal State = Northridge, said=20 Batman became the victim of the synergistic industrial model of the late = 1960s=20 and early 1970s, when companies such as the Kinney National Company, the = owners=20 of which knew nothing about filmmaking, purchased insolvent companies = such as=20 Warner Brothers-Seven Arts.
Once the Ronald Reagan administration relaxed FCC regulations in the = 1980s,=20 they vertically integrated their assets, Halloran said.
=E2=80=9CThis way when a Batman movie comes out, so will a comic book = adaptation from=20 DC Comics and a soundtrack from Warner Records, both of which are = subsidiaries=20 of one corporation,=E2=80=9D Halloran said. = =E2=80=9C=E2=80=9DThat=E2=80=99s synergy, taking a product and=20 exploiting it.=E2=80=9D
How fanboys saved Gotham City from the Hollywood machine involved = reminding=20 filmmakers about its psychological and visual history, which was defined = by=20 different interpretations of its heroes and rogues in comic books, = television=20 and movies.
Ramey, who in 2004 was invited to visit the U.K. set of = =E2=80=9CBatman Begins,=E2=80=9D=20 Director Chris Nolan=E2=80=99s attempt to reboot the movie franchise, = not only documents=20 this history on his Web site, he provides the analysis to keep its = creators=20 honest.
Four years later, Ramey said he talked to Nolan and =E2=80=9CThe Dark = Knight=E2=80=9D=20 producer Emma Thomas at last week=E2=80=99s press screening about how = the movie, which=20 he describes as an =E2=80=9Cintense, urban crime drama that happens to = have characters=20 in crazy costumes,=E2=80=9D is =E2=80=9Cbadass.=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CThe Dark Knight,=E2=80=9D which will be released in movie = theaters July 18, will=20 answer what happens when Heath Ledger=E2=80=99s interpretation of the = Joker escalates=20 crime in Gotham City.
As to what will happen when Web savvy people create commercial Web = sites=20 using Ramey=E2=80=99s fan site model, the fight for online audiences = seems to be more=20 civil.
Jim Littler, a former toy marketer who created the Web site = Comicbookmovie=20 when Hollywood started producing several superhero movies in 2000, said, = =E2=80=9CI have=20 great relationships with lots of fan sites. They send me in lots of the = news I=20 post.=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CI=E2=80=99d say 75 percent is reliable and the rest is rumor = from the set, but we do=20 our best to ferret out falsehoods by checking sources, even though = we=E2=80=99ll still=20 publish =E2=80=98rumor=E2=80=99 if it comes from someone whose proven = reliable in the past,=E2=80=9D=20 said Littler, who calls himself a lifelong =E2=80=9Ccomics geek=E2=80=9D = and fan of movies.
Ramey, who continues to provide comic book geeks and movie lovers = news=20 tidbits, reviews, history, analysis and a few rumors too, never though a = fanboy=20 with a computer could help save a movie franchise, let alone The = Batman.
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