I felt that it was very important
to design the Batmobile first...
...before we approached any of
the other aspects of design of the film...
...because I had a very specific idea
in my head...
...about a contemporary approach
to a Batmobile.
And our approach to it
would tell everybody who saw it...
...a lot about what we're doing
with the whole film...
...which is a more grounded reality
in which we're trying to base the story.
When we first started talking...
...Chris had this idea of crossing
a Lamborghini and a Humvee.
Chris was sort of making a little
primitive model out of Play-Duh...
...and said, “Sort of like this."
It was very, very crude. It looked
more like a croissant than a car...
...but I felt strongly that if we
cracked that and showed it to people...
...they'd get it or they wouldn't,
and if they didn't, I'd know I was in trouble.
Fairly early in the process, Nathan Crowley,
the production designer, came on...
...and while I was writing--
This was crazy.
--He created a little model shop
in Chris' garage.
It was very much a film-school atmosphere.
That was part of the fun.
We really decided to be private...
...and just started what I call
“model bashing"...
...we just started making models of cars.
It's got bits of stealth bomber in it,
it's got bits of Lamborghinis...
...bits of Hummers
and all different things put together...
...in this marvelous combination.
Chris would write his script
and then come into the garage...
...and I'd be covered in glue,
with car concepts.
The funny thing is, the craftsmanship
was really good too.
You could see in Chris a kid that had built
little car models when he was younger.
He and Nathan had this down.
As an evolutionary process...
...Nathan was able to build one,
and I would look at it...
...and make suggestions
or actually change things on it myself...
...and then we would move to the next step
and then the next one.
We made about five or six Batmobiles.
The one that is the finished Batmobile
actually, I think, is the mock five...
...so we took about eight weeks to build.
When the script was done,
we sort of presented not only the script...
...but all these great
Photoshop elements...
...of what the world
and the Batmobile would look like...
...so that Warner Bros.
could get the whole picture.
And that initial prototype is 90 percent
what the finished Batmobile became.
We took that model to England...
...found these great guys
to produce the car full-size.
Chris wanted the Batmobile to be a real car,
not just a car that looked pretty...
...but didn't actually function, you know.
His jam was like:
“I want this to be a mean machine.
I want it to perform...
...I want it to go through things.“
And that was how we went into
developing this whole car.
The challenge is how to make something
as complicated as that steer and work.
Every piece of it has been made.
You start with a clean jig...
...put the chassis on, start building
the roll cage around the driver...
...and the occupants in there,
and build it up from nothing.
The front end of the car is what is
so different. There is no front axle.
There's nothing holding the wheels
in the conventional way.
The wheels have to be held
from the outside.
It was difficult,
but we always knew it was possible.
And three, two, one, go.
Chris had described a cockpit opening
like the petals of a flower.
We tried several times to talk him
into an easier system...
...which made our life a bit easier,
but he was not gonna have that.
The mechanism ended up where the front
windscreen went up into the roof...
...and then the whole roof slides back,
and then the two cockpit seats rise up.
It was a nightmare trying to get that right.
You've just got to have guys who've got...
...technical knowledge and know how
to put all of this together.
They were so faithful
to our original kitbash model...
...that the glue globs that Nathan
had put into the model...
...had been reproduced full-size.
It was quite a strange thing to look at.
It's 9'4“ at it's Widest,
and lengthwise it's 15 feet.
And height-wise it's about 5 foot, I think.
Weighs 2 and half tons.
There's nearly half a ton of rear axle
and wheels and tires...
...so there's a big chunk of the weight
sitting there.
Everybody was surprised to find
that the Batmobile was ready...
...before we thought it was gonna be.
That's been very thrilling,
to watch a model...
...that Nathan Crowleyjust built
in my garage back in L.A...
"become a full-size working vehicle.
Here we have Andy and Jim
going for the land-speed record.
It was about two weeks
before we started filming...
...that we got the first prototype
without all the bodywork on...
...just a working chassis
with the engine in.
So we were sneaking the oar around...
...taking it out to sort of
hidden tracks and things...
...seeing what breaks,
what doesn't break.
Start off testing it slowly,
just drive it in a straight line...
...make sure it handles okay.
