Supervising Producer Butch Lukic gives Gotham City the full noir treatment in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One as seen in four new images released today by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

“I wanted to give the film a timeless look, kind of like the book, where you can’t pinpoint the actual time period,” said Lukic, who cited 1940s crime films and The Godfather as further inspiration for the film’s stylish, nuanced art direction. “I really set out to make Gotham City a character onto itself. All the backgrounds were thought out to have a look or feel of classic cinematography. I even shadowed most of the backgrounds myself to get the right style of lighting needed for particular scenes, and to give the film that classic noir look.”

Chasing Catwoman across the skyline of Gotham City, Batman leaps from one building to another – perfectly framed by the full moon – in this scene from Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One.

 

Butch Lukic’s art direction shines throughout Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, particularly in his use of shadows and lighting – as evidenced by this image of Catwoman (and her shadow) sprinting across a Gotham City rooftop.

Deep shadows and a dark, haunting color palette go beyond the dialogue to inform the scenes in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, and this is particularly noticeable in this image featuring Bruce Wayne meeting with Carmine Falcone in The Roman’s office.

Wayne Manor offers an even more ominous appearance in Supervising Producer Butch Lukic’s vision of Bruce Wayne’s stately home in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One.

 

Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC, the feature-length animated Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One will be distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Digital and Blu-ray on June 22, 2021.

Norman Gidney is the founder and editor-in-chief of HorrorBuzz, which he launched in 2015 to cover everything that goes bump in the night: horror films, haunts, books, games, and the people who make them. He also runs The Screaming Room Film Festival and hosts the Horror Movie Night series at The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, California.