The Nirvana Song In The Batman, Explained
Warner Bros. By Chris Evangelista/March 1, 2022 5:00 pm EST
Whenever a new “Batman” movie rolls around, there is a checklist of cinematic items you usually expect to run through. Gothic atmosphere. A colorful rogues’ gallery. High-tech gadgets. Brooding, moody moments. Darkness, no parents, etc. One thing you don’t normally expect to find in a Bat-movie, though, is a Nirvana song. And yet, the very first teaser for Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” featured a re-arrangement of Nirvana’s “Something in the Way,” which appeared on the iconic grunge band’s 1991 album “Nevermind.”
But this wasn’t just a case of a song being used solely for a trailer. No, Michael Giacchino’s massive “The Batman” score actually layers notes from “Something in the Way” directly into Batman’s theme music — and the song itself plays over multiple scenes, including a montage near the beginning of the film. So what’s the deal here? Did Matt Reeves just want to throw some sick Nirvana jams into his superhero movie? Or is there more to it?
Last Days
Warner Bros.
But why, exactly, is a Nirvana song so prominent in “The Batman”? There’s a rather simple answer to this, other than, “Because it sounds cool!” According to director Matt Reeves, when he was working on “The Batman” screenplay, he was listening to some music — and “Something in the Way” came on:
“When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s ‘Something In The Way’ … That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse.”
Reeves then took the Nirvana comparisons a step further, revealing that he tried to design the Bruce Wayne we see in “The Batman” on Kurt Cobain. Or, more specifically, a version of Kurt Cobain:
“So I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant’s ‘Last Days,’ and the idea of this fictionalised version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor.”
In “Last Days,” Michael Pitt plays Blake, a rock star clearly modeled on Cobain, right down to the way the character looks. The Cobain avatar in “Last Days” spends almost the entire movie wandering around his mansion, alone and mumbling to himself. He’s a broken man nearing the end of his life, and it’s clear that Reeves drew on that for his Bruce Wayne, who is portrayed by Robert Pattinson as a scruff guy wandering around his mansion, alone and mumbling to himself. It’s a close connection, and it’s definitely unlike any Bruce Wayne we’ve seen on the screen before. The Nirvana accompaniment only aids in the portrayal, giving this Batman a kind of grunge punk rock vibe that signifies audiences are in for something different here. And don’t be surprised if you walk out of the movie humming “Something in the Way” to yourself.
“The Batman” opens in theaters on March 4, 2022.
The Nirvana Song In The Batman, Explained
Warner Bros.
By Chris Evangelista/March 1, 2022 5:00 pm EST
Whenever a new “Batman” movie rolls around, there is a checklist of cinematic items you usually expect to run through. Gothic atmosphere. A colorful rogues’ gallery. High-tech gadgets. Brooding, moody moments. Darkness, no parents, etc. One thing you don’t normally expect to find in a Bat-movie, though, is a Nirvana song. And yet, the very first teaser for Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” featured a re-arrangement of Nirvana’s “Something in the Way,” which appeared on the iconic grunge band’s 1991 album “Nevermind.”
But this wasn’t just a case of a song being used solely for a trailer. No, Michael Giacchino’s massive “The Batman” score actually layers notes from “Something in the Way” directly into Batman’s theme music — and the song itself plays over multiple scenes, including a montage near the beginning of the film. So what’s the deal here? Did Matt Reeves just want to throw some sick Nirvana jams into his superhero movie? Or is there more to it?
But this wasn’t just a case of a song being used solely for a trailer. No, Michael Giacchino’s massive “The Batman” score actually layers notes from “Something in the Way” directly into Batman’s theme music — and the song itself plays over multiple scenes, including a montage near the beginning of the film. So what’s the deal here? Did Matt Reeves just want to throw some sick Nirvana jams into his superhero movie? Or is there more to it?
Something in the Way
YouTube
Slow and ominous, the song opens with Cobain droning, “Underneath the bridge, the tarp has sprung a leak, and the animals I’ve trapped, have all become my pets …” It’s an evocative opening; you can almost feel the muddy, dank, under-the-bridge dampness in Cobain’s thick, sleepy voice. Like most Nirvana songs, the lyrics are cryptic, which meant plenty of people had plenty of interpretations.
For a while, the most common reading of the song was that Cobain was singing about a brief period in which he was homeless and slept under the Young Street Bridge in Aberdeen, Washington. However, while Cobain was homeless for a period of time in his youth, those who knew him at the time later claimed he likely never slept under the Young Street Bridge, or any bridge for that matter.
Last Days
But why, exactly, is a Nirvana song so prominent in “The Batman”? There’s a rather simple answer to this, other than, “Because it sounds cool!” According to director Matt Reeves, when he was working on “The Batman” screenplay, he was listening to some music — and “Something in the Way” came on:
“When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s ‘Something In The Way’ … That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse.”
Reeves then took the Nirvana comparisons a step further, revealing that he tried to design the Bruce Wayne we see in “The Batman” on Kurt Cobain. Or, more specifically, a version of Kurt Cobain:
“So I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant’s ‘Last Days,’ and the idea of this fictionalised version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor.”
In “Last Days,” Michael Pitt plays Blake, a rock star clearly modeled on Cobain, right down to the way the character looks. The Cobain avatar in “Last Days” spends almost the entire movie wandering around his mansion, alone and mumbling to himself. He’s a broken man nearing the end of his life, and it’s clear that Reeves drew on that for his Bruce Wayne, who is portrayed by Robert Pattinson as a scruff guy wandering around his mansion, alone and mumbling to himself. It’s a close connection, and it’s definitely unlike any Bruce Wayne we’ve seen on the screen before. The Nirvana accompaniment only aids in the portrayal, giving this Batman a kind of grunge punk rock vibe that signifies audiences are in for something different here. And don’t be surprised if you walk out of the movie humming “Something in the Way” to yourself.
“The Batman” opens in theaters on March 4, 2022.
Reeves then took the Nirvana comparisons a step further, revealing that he tried to design the Bruce Wayne we see in “The Batman” on Kurt Cobain. Or, more specifically, a version of Kurt Cobain:
“When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s ‘Something In The Way’ … That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse.”
In “Last Days,” Michael Pitt plays Blake, a rock star clearly modeled on Cobain, right down to the way the character looks. The Cobain avatar in “Last Days” spends almost the entire movie wandering around his mansion, alone and mumbling to himself. He’s a broken man nearing the end of his life, and it’s clear that Reeves drew on that for his Bruce Wayne, who is portrayed by Robert Pattinson as a scruff guy wandering around his mansion, alone and mumbling to himself. It’s a close connection, and it’s definitely unlike any Bruce Wayne we’ve seen on the screen before. The Nirvana accompaniment only aids in the portrayal, giving this Batman a kind of grunge punk rock vibe that signifies audiences are in for something different here. And don’t be surprised if you walk out of the movie humming “Something in the Way” to yourself.
“So I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant’s ‘Last Days,’ and the idea of this fictionalised version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor.”
“The Batman” opens in theaters on March 4, 2022.
