Dear Gossips,

Earlier this month it was announced that Matt Reeves had to step away from production on The Batman: Part II due to a family matter. No details about that have come out, and I haven’t gone looking for them. It’s obviously something major, and Reeves and his family deserve their privacy. But it did leave Part II in an awkward spot, with production temporarily paused. Now, however, a solution has emerged, as Steven Soderbergh will “step in” to “complete the final weeks of principal photography” on the film.

The story being presented publicly is that Soderbergh is an “admirer” of Reeves’ work, and he reached out to offer his assistance in completing principal photography. I guess we have no reason to disbelieve that, except that DC Studios in now finessing a very complicated situation, trying to keep a major production on track while also protecting a filmmaker’s privacy while also trying not to get into another Zack Snyder/Joss Whedon situation. The emphasis here is on harmony and cooperation, no hint of one filmmaker being pushed out for another.

Reeves himself backed this up, commenting on Twitter that he is “profoundly grateful” for Soderbergh’s help, while also underlining that he is not leaving the project:

The intention is for Soderbergh to work with Reeves to finish physical production, and then Reeves will once again take the reins in post-production. It’s certainly a better outcome than a wholesale replacing one filmmaker with another. And Soderbergh is always working in different styles and genres, he’s a very adaptive filmmaker, so it’s not hard to envision him taking over filming without wrecking the lead filmmaker’s intentions.

I do wonder how this factors into the string of delays The Batman: Part II has already faced. I haven’t gone looking for what is going on with Reeves, because that’s ghoulish, but I did hear it’s not a new situation, so this might be at least part of why this film has seemed so challenging from the moment the sequel was greenlit in 2022. Whatever the case, I am hoping for the best for Matt Reeves and his family. The film will get done some way somehow, hopefully all is well with him and his family.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah

Photo credits: ZUMAPRESS.com/MEGA/WENN

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