The Batman director teases a return to Christopher Nolan’s take on the superhero

It’s almost unusual just how much director Matt Reeves is willing to talk about The Batman, Warner Bros. and DC’s next stand-alone installment for the character.

He previously teased fans with his vision for the movie, addressing parallels he saw between Bruce Wayne and Caesar, the main ape from his most recent film, War for the Planet of the Apes. In a new interview with Yahoo! Movies, Reeves has expanded upon that thought. Paying tribute to Christopher Nolan, the director behind Warner Bros.’ last Batman trilogy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises), Reeves said he thinks it’s time the genre did more than what studios expected of it, using the setting as metaphors for a larger story.

“What studios are willing to make at the moment is a very, very narrow band of films,” Reeves said. “What I discovered is that this genre has the potential to be about something more. You can use the metaphors of the genre to talk about [a lot].”

Reeves added that unlike other projects, which remained anonymous, Nolan found a way to bring his point of view to the movie and character, making it feel like it belonged distinctly to him. Although Reeves is acutely aware that he’ll be stepping into a universe that already has a specific vision, created by past filmmakers like Zack Snyder, he wants to take a similar approach to The Batman as Nolan did with his films.

“It’s trying to allow a perspective to come through despite the fact that we’re in this very large studio movie world,” Reeves said.

As someone who helped create one of the best Planet of the Apes movies in recent memory and a director often applauded for his unique vision, Reeves’ plans for The Batman are exciting. Reeves has also said he wants to ensure that The Batman returns Bruce Wayne and his caped crusader alter-ego to the noir, detective world from which he originally came.

The Batman, which ran into a series of troubles after Ben Affleck dropped out of the director’s spot and the script had to be completely re-written, is currently slated for a 2019 release date.