Storytelling 101
Kathleen Kennedy was not a good storyteller, it was a true statement that the young woman had to begrudingly come to terms with over her Hollywood career. She wanted to make good stories, she really did, but unfortunately while she had very big ideas, she didn't know how to connect them to one another to form a cohesive plot. Not to mention that Kathleen didn't really have lots of very big ideas to begin with, her favorite style being subverting expectations and creating strong female characters. Because in a town that likes to do nothing but copy the same old formulas, why can't we break and play with the tropes, and why shouldn't women in Hollywood exist as more than just romantic pursuits and eye candy?
Unfortunately, Kathleen's goals while noble were hard for her to express and create through a credible alternative due to her lack of experience. Her most infamous moment being a time in the middle of the Superman script writing where while taking notes she had without tact or thought blurted, "What if instead of getting the girl, he got the dog?"
What Kathleen meant by that was to not have a romance which on paper seemed rather cliche and lackluster to dominate so much of Superman when Lois was such a boring retread and instead just focus on Superman's greater personal life in general, just being happy and fulfilled as a hero and developing relationships with his fellow man, making him very human despite being alien? She also read a comic with Krypto the Superdog and thought he'd be an adorable addition to the film.
Unfortunately Kathleen didn't get a chance to elaborate as the script writers simply laughed at her statement, at first thinking she was joking, and when she clarified that she was serious about what she said they laughed at her than her words. What evolved from that day was an unfortunate stigma that Kathleen was an airheaded feminist who didn't know how movies worked, and what should have been her right for creative control as a producer became a daily battle that she only was able to fight thanks to her wizardly in logistics and accounting.
Since then Kathleen has bought numerous books on writing and movies, spent as much free time going to the theaters and watching films that the public and critics lauded as good over and over again, to prove she had what it took and had a right to tell stories just as much as anyone.
Still, she knew deep down she was a long way from the masters like Hitchcock, Coppola and Lucas. It was why instead of picking out a Batman script, she just brought every copy churned out by the writer's room and delivered them to Bruce on that fateful night, because she didn't have faith in her own choices and felt by picking out a script on her own she'd sabotage it or turn Bruce away.
Ah Bruce, the mere thought of the Irishman had Kathleen break out into blush more than once. Despite the heavy risk to her career that she took by going behind Alan's back and recruiting Bruce O'Brian, she was immensely greateful not only for giving her an opportunity to tell a great film as the leading producer, but that she finally got to work with someone who treated her as an equal, didn't dismiss her opinions and helped her grow instead of simply dismissing her with criticism.
She had been surprisingly open from the day they had met of her faults and flaws, and he took that all in stride and accepted her as a partner for Batman. Whenever she had a suggestion for Batman, instead of getting defensive and argumentive, he asked why, and then they had a conversation about it. Sometimes he liked her ideas, sometimes he was firmly against it; but he was always open to listening and when she was in the wrong, he explained his point of view, tried to help her with constructive advice, and at some times she could point him to his direction.
What was most impressive about Bruce was just how humble and self-aware he was. He was one of, if not the best actor in all of Hollywood and had the makings of a Director who could stand as George Lucas' equal. Instead of bragging or looking down on others from his talents, Bruce seemed to if anything be his own biggest critic, open of his own flaws and weaknesses, ready and happy to concede when he saw someone else as in the right, wanting to push everyone to their best abilities and then happy to give out credit to anyone who put in the effort.
While she was older than Bruce by about a year, it seemed like on some days that he was the wise old mentor like Obi-wan and she the young and untrained Jedi pupil like Luke Skywalker. One area where Bruce was of immense aid in tutoring was storytelling, really helping Kathleen to see the possibilities of what made a good movie.
One such example was during a shared lunch after the two had met with the art directors for how set design would be conducted and Kathleen just asked him a simple question. "Why did you chose to direct The Batman?"
Bruce gave her a confused stare, "Because you recruited me and gave me a good pitch?" He said rather dumbly.
Kathleen sighed and shook her head, "No, I mean why did you chose The Batman over the other scripts I presented you."
"Oh." Bruce said, then thought for a couple of seconds before responding, "Well for the past couple of years I've been collecting most of the Batman comics, and I wanted to do something close to the modern runs than the West show or the Golden Age material."
"There were others, like that one script where you fight the Joker and have a romance with Vicky Vale." Kathleen had actually been a bit disappointed he didn't go with that script as she had a lot of fun ideas for Vale but Sarah Essen was a good alternative and it was nice that they were setting up Barbara's rise as Batgirl.
"Eh, it's a decent film but it's a weak origin story. We see a world where Batman is a firmly established hero, he's already gone through his war with the mob and is just fighting supervillains and crooks, and Gotham and the GCPD are largely on his side. Plus Bruce himself is rather shallow and we don't really get a feel on how he is experiencing this journey as Batman. He's more of a mask for Batman." Bruce explained.
"If you want to do an Origin story, then why not the one that has him training under Ra'as and shows his literal first days as Batman?" Kathleen asked. They did a pretty good job with Clark Kent's journey in Superman and it felt weird to kind of get thrusted into the world where Batman is established.
"Because all that time showing his training is a bit of a time slog. It'll take an hour for us to actually get to Batman and the spotlight is on the training and Ra'as, not Bruce's character. Your average joe whose going to go to see this movie has a fair idea on who Batman is and what's his story, and the comic fans are definitely intimate. So since they know the surface level of Batman, we got to peel the layers and explore who he is like an iceberg beneath the waves so to speak, show how the world is reacting to the Batman and what cements Bruce as the Dark Knight. Cut the chaffe and just spotlight on Gotham, and what makes for a Batman story. Plus this movie has a lot of other neat stuff with themes and background plot." Bruce said.
"What do you mean?" Kathleen asked blankly.
"Well, instead of having the spotlight on the supervillains like Joker, having the Mafia and corrupt GCPD be the main antagonists creates lots of brilliant commentary on crime and plays with the tropes created by Godfather. Here you have a hive of scum and villainy that prides themselves on being civilized criminals and gentlemen of the underworld when at heart they're just monsters in human skin, murderers and thieves who trample on the weak for greed. Gordon's role as the deuteragonist provides a Watson to Batman's holmes and gives the audience an everyman to relate to while showing that you don't have to be rich or have powers to be a hero, anyone can rise to the occasion. We're starting off really grounded so we can escalate into a lot of the Super territory of the comics. There's a lot of heart and grit in here that gives Gotham character and shows why Bruce is fighting in his crusade. Instead of being so narrow in tunnel vision of hero vs villain, The Batman created a very alive and vibrant setting which exists beyond the plot and can go to a lot of places." Bruce very passionately monologued.
"I see." Kathleen whispered, doing her best to hide a blush of embarrassment. Everything that Bruce said went completely over her head from reading the script up until this point. She didn't think of anything beyond the surface level themes, dialogue and characters. What right did she have being the Producer when she was working with such a genius and veteran producer?
"Bruce how did you get so good at making movies?" Kathleen asked, desperate for some sort of hidden secret that could allow her to become a master producer with little effort.
Unfortunately it looked like such a path was not forthcoming as she could simply tell from Bruce's earnest smile, "Well for the most part I had a good foundation by watching and working with greater men. From there I just read a lot, practiced and focused on my strengths for characters, trying to create people who feel alive, real and relatable. I also try to focus on how the audience is going to resonate emotionally and what they are going to take away from watching. Although really I'm a complete amateur at writing compared to Carrie. All I do is take something that exists and really explore what can be done. Carrie can create masterpieces and entirely original concepts. Now that's talent!"
Kathleen didn't become a master in that one talk, but she felt she had learned something, and day by day was growing to hopefully become at the very least someone competent, someone who could be trusted to make good films without taking insane gambles with A-listers.
"Ms. Kennedy, the new scripts are ready." Announced a Columbia intern, breaking Kathleen out of her stump and melancholic stew in her office.
At this Kathleen was very confused since with it being this late into production, there shouldn't have been any major script alterations before shooting while it had finally seemed like Columbia and Bruce had reached a consensus. "New scripts, what do you mean?'
"Didn't you order them?"
"No, there's not supposed to be any changes." Kathleen protested.
"Hey I don't know, just the errand guy. All I heard was that they corrected the messy parts." The intern explained. Knowing from experience that he was not at any fault, Kathleen thanked the man and speed read through the script as fast as she could so she could manage any potential crises.
What she found was not something good. Perhaps the Kathleen Kennedy of yesteryear could have given this new draft a check of approval without much thought, but after many months working with Bruce and studying on her own, she thought herself to have some experience and forming skill, and what she found was....disjointed to say the least.
Instead of making for a dark and gritty superhero film that got to the the heart of Batman as the Dark Knight, it was really campy with a lot of elements from the Adam West show. If they just wanted a West Batman she could understand, but there were many strange things that went beyond the 60's depiction. Like the fact that the dialogue used so many quips and one-liners, with Batman instead of being the caped crusader who struck fear into the hearts of criminals being a wisecracker who just commented on everything going on. The villains lost all their nuance and depth and became saturday morning cartoon evil. Gordon was a bumbling buffoon who could do nothing without Batman and Sarah Essen, the latter of whom was very mean spirited and abrasive. The action at times seemed to explicitly go against Bruce's blocking, the serious moments undercut by forced humor and levity that did not exist in the scenes.
It may be a serviceable superhero film, but it was not The Batman film, the greatest adaptation of the Dark Knight that this was meant to be. Kathleen could use her powers as Producer to shut down this mutiny on her own, but she knew that she had to bring some muscle for this, and besides she was contractually obligated to inform the man.
Picking up the phone, she metaphorically used the Bat-signal and contacted the man who was going to make this film great, "Bruce it's Kathleen. Please come down to the studio as fast as you can, there's a mutiny and the writers want to change the script entirely."
