360 degree Batman
If there was one thing you learned during the pre-production for The Batman, it was that you had to work a lot better on your diplomacy and people skills. Oh it was not to say that you were an arrogant jackass who ordered everyone around like a tyrant and tried to make the film about you. But something you understood after a talk with Kathleen was that you tended to be a bit abrasive due to your commanding voice and having a tone of expectations. You did try to be nice and polite and wanted to work together with the crew instead of being the boss, but apparently your leadership was coming off more as a studio head than a director and as the head of the rival studio, Columbia's people thought you were working against them than with them.
You supposed that it was an accident of co-running Lucasfilms for the past four years. At the end of the day you were always the top boss besides Star Wars under George and thus people were naturally more amenable to working under you as the highest authority. Moreover, since you tended to use a lot of the same people for shoots or hired people networked through existing friends and contacts, they knew who Bruce O'Brian was and were happy to work under you.
Columbia's people by contrast knew you as the boogeyman of Hollywood who had until now either been kicking their asses at the box office or smartly swiping overlooked diamonds in the Columbia mine. People were worried that you were scheming for Lucasfilms or wouldn't take them seriously since they weren't yours and George's regular employees.
Looking back you think you had a similar problem with Wonder Woman. You came in and just rewrote the script which even if it was for the best, went above your station but you acted like you were Radar on MASH with all the seniority that entailed when the Wonder Woman crew had never worked with you before.
Thus you had to be really patient, make it clear you were a team player and win people over with smiles and kindness. It was a lot slower than you liked, but you were already on thin ice with Alan and thus slow and steady had to win the race.
It did make some things frustrating which would have been so easier if this was a Lucasfilms production. one particular area of concern was the art design of the movie.
When it came to how Batman looked, it seemed like there were three different visual arts that the film was trying to be. On the one hand, there was the campy Adam West style where everything was zany, bright and colorful. You loved Adam West and thought the show itself was good, but it was not proper to the modern comics and not the story you were trying to tell so you had to put your foot down at every opportunity. Some people just wanted it to be New York with Batman, but that was too lazy and had Gotham lose it's unique identity. Lastly were the guys who wanted to make things extremely dark, gritty and violent, even going for an R-rating for good measure. Now you wanted to tell a somewhat mature and grounded Batman story, but having Batman be a brooding jackass who guns down all his enemies and is obsessed with fear is not an inspiring superhero story.
So you had to walk a careful balancing act on elements of all three, and nowhere was this more important than the iconic costume of Batman.
It was either make a West suit in your size, go all gritty and rough like a Brooklyn brawler, or go fully decked out like a Marine commando. You learned from Star Wars that sometimes the clothes do make the movie and with Superman and his villains dressing around in spandex unitards, you needed something to stand out and not look too goofy.
Fortunately Bob Ringwood seemed to be giving you a great compromise that would help Batman really standout.
The suit was everything Batman should be and more. Instead of the gray and blue, it was all Black to really make him blend with the night and become the Dark Knight. There was some nice protective padding to allow Batman to take some hits and most importantly provide a natural way for him to fight Deadshot without Deadshot missing by having Batman take gunshots that pack a punch. There was a nice air to mystery and seriousness but it wasn't impossible for Batman to be friendly or inspire people. The yellow worked really well and brought attention to the utility belt, and best of all you were paired with a sexy batmobile.
There was just one problem.....
"Bob, I love the suit. It's badass, iconic, and it matches Darth Vader. But it's just going to be terrible to film in." You protested.
Bob looked as if you slapped him in the face and spat on him, "How could it possibly be terrible?!"
You then pointed to the head of the drawing, "It's because of that rubber mask."
"You specifically told me to have a protective mask instead of going with the cloth so Batman has his head covered." Bob protested.
"Yes, but I was imagining something like a football helmet I can take on and off. Not a rubber cowl which goes all the way to my collar bone and shoulders."
"But then it'll cover your neck and you'll only have your lower face exposed." Bob argued.
"Yes, but then how will I turn my neck?!" You said in exasperation.
"Your neck?"
You sigh and take a breath before continuing, doing your best to keep your cool. "The rubber mask sticks with my skin. I'll probably have like what, a centimeter of breathing room? That's not a lot of space to turn my neck, and if I can't turn my neck, I can't fight."
"Sure you can. You're a boxer, you just have to take hits as a tank and then swoop in for suckerpunches just like you did at the Olympics. That's why Batman has padding, so he can take hits like a boxer without worrying about blocking or dodging."
"Oh." You did a mental facepalm as you realized that Bob had some genuine thought put into this design and the fault mostly laid on you for not communicating how you originally wanted to fight. "Well, I will incorporating boxing into my fighting style, but for Batman I want to incorporate heavy elements of Kung Fu like how the latest runs have been doing with his fighting style. If I want to perform Kung Fu, I need to be able to turn my head and move my upper body instead of turning my entire body like a mannequin to face my next opponent."
Bob gave you a weird look, "Wait a minute, you're telling me that you actually know Kung Fu?"
You were stunned that he didn't know, "Yeah, I trained under Bruce Lee for a couple of years, he taught me Jeet Kune Do."
"I have to be honest, I thought you were just making that up to make yourself look cooler."
At this point you were becoming outright insulted, "NO! I know Kung Fu, watch this." You then performed a series of sparring techniques and small acrobatics to a rather amazed Bob. To the layman it may look high performance, but it was really some of the more basic techniques to the art. "Wait a minute, does everyone think I'm bullshitting about Kung Fu?"
"Most people I know think you're exaggerating on that so yeah." You groaned as that was something else you'd have to deal with. Was a shame you couldn't show Mr. Rogers some Kung Fu tricks on the show. He thought it was a fun idea but PBS put their foot down that Mr. Rogers couldn't teach kids martial arts.
"Well I do know Kung Fu so as you see, I need something that can allow me to turn me neck ninety degrees."
"Okay that makes sense. So any ideas?" Bob asked.
"Like I said, something like a football helmet that I can just take on and off would be best. Don't know if rubber would be the best material, maybe leather or a polymer. If we want to protect the neck, maybe some sort of special collar or something connected to the pauldron, nothing too grand, but good enough to stop a knife stabs. I think the military's got something similar for its new uniforms."
"I'll see what I can do, just give me a couple of hours." You nodded and Bob went back to his office to rework the design.
In the privacy of your Columbia loaned office, you tried to see what it was like to fight while always facing forward. The result was an akward mess where you had to rely on jabs and normal punches to land any sort of hit while you were open to attack.
"Who would watch a Batman like that?"
