‘It Was A Painful Thing’: The Batman Writer Reflects On Not Being Credited, But Returning For The Sequel
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While there's a lot that we don't know about The Batman Part II, one thing we do know is who is writing it. This is in contrast to the first film, which had more people writing it than most people know.
Everybody wants to receive credit for their work, but in the world of screenwriting, simply doing the work isn’t enough. There are a lot of rules that go into deciding who gets credit for what, which results in the not infrequent case of people doing work, and not ending up in a film’s credits. Such was the case for Mattson Tomlin whose work writing The Batman went officially uncredited, though it got him a job on the sequel.
The issue of credit on the script for The Batman ended up being decided via arbitration, as Mattson Tomlin fought to have his contribution to the film recognized. In the end, he lost that fight, though the man behind Netflix's new Terminator: Zero anime admits that he knew going on that there was a good chance he wouldn’t get credit as director Matt Reeves was upfront about that possibility. Tomlin told THR…
It was a painful thing to have happen. I put a lot of time and a lot of heart in. I had a really, really great time working with Matt on that first movie. And when I got brought in, it was kind of said, 'Look, we're so late in this process that you're probably not going to get credit.' So nobody did anything to me. I wasn't screwed over.
While Tomlin understood the possibility of not getting credit, there was a point in the process where it looked like he might get credit, as his contributions to the overall script were apparently more significant than initially planned. Unfortunately, the credit did not materialize.
While Tomlin certainly wanted his credit, he says he tried to take it all in stride. He got paid for his work, and sometimes that’s how it works. While credits can certainly help make one’s career, the work Tomlin did on The Batman was still key to his future, as it clearly impressed Matt Reeves enough that when it came time to start writing the upcoming DC movie, Tomlin got called first this time. He continued…
The day that the movie came out, [Matt Reeves] and I talked on the phone for an hour or two, and he was just talking about the process of making the movie, and I think just kind of processing the experience that he had had. And I had an impulse to go like, 'OK, but are you going to ask me to do the sequel?' And I didn't go there. Instead, it became very clear to me, that he just wants to talk about what he's just been through. So just be a good dude, be a good friend, and celebrate that he still treating me like it's something that I was a part of because I was. And so just enjoy that. And it was about six weeks later that he called me and said, 'So, sequel time. You want to do this all the way this time?’
Credit certainly won’t be an issue for The Batman Part II. The only question about the script is when it will be done. It’s been so long fans are wondering if The Batman Part II will even happen. Co-star Andy Serkis has said he expects to be filming the Batman sequel in early 2025
