Making a big-budget blockbuster movie is tough enough under normal conditions, but shooting The Batman in the middle of a global pandemic? That was a whole different beast for some filmmakers.
The cast and crew’s of these films had to navigate strict protocols, shutdowns, and isolation. And Jeffrey Wright, who played Detective Jim Gordon in The Batman what that experience was like, paints a picture of his experience that sounds straight out of a psychological horror film.
In a recent interview with Men’s Health, Wright recalled the surreal nature of filming the Robert Pattinson-led Batman flick. He wasn’t just dealing with an intense production, he was grappling with the psychological toll of prolonged isolation. And when it came time to shoot one of the film’s most crucial scenes, he felt the weight of it all.
The actor said: “You have to be fluid and find your way. I mean, in that interrogation scene, I could not remember my lines. I’d stumbled around that scene take after take, because I had been in my hotel room for 10 days straight prior.
“I’d come back to London. It was in the middle of the pandemic. It was my third quarantine. And I ended up not leaving my hotel room for 10 days straight.”
Ten straight days locked in a room before stepping onto a high-pressure film set… damn, it’s no wonder he struggled to get into the right headspace.
While shooting the interrogation scene, which is a pivotal moment in the film requiring Wright to be sharp, methodical, and completely dialed in. But after nearly two weeks in isolation, his mind wasn’t where it needed to be.
Even beyond the set, the experience of filming felt eerie. London was in lockdown. Wright was living in a massive, nearly deserted hotel, which only made the entire situation feel more like a horror movie. He compared it to one of the most infamous settings in cinema:
“My head was in such a weird place. We were in a 200-person hotel, but there were only two other people staying there; it was like living inside the hotel from The Shining.
“When I finally went into work, I was just all over the place. So, I was tolerated, and we ultimately got it. But that was a scenario I had never experienced before. So, yeah, I should have had an ice bath.”
Despite all the hurdles, Wright delivered a fantastic performance in the movie. That whole pandemic thing was such a weird time and looking back at it now it fealls like a fever dream where life was just put on pause for a while. The whole experience was a psycological horror film for everyone.
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