Several elements served as the inspiration for this short, from witnessing people all over Chicago setting out with video cameras to catch a glimpse of the
The Dark Knight : Le Chevalier noir (2008) crew shooting during the summer of 2007, to 'Batman' Issue 584 by Ed Brubaker which was titled on the cover "Batman: Urban Myth Or Reality" and within: "The Dark Knight Project!" It chronicled the adventures of two teenaged boys interviewing a slew of Batman regulars, from Commissioner Jim Gordon to the Penguin and Two-Face in their quest to determine if Batman was real or an urban legend. Wanting to stay within the continuity of 'Christopher Nolan''s universe, writer director 'Jerry Vasilatos' took the idea of kids wanting to catch Batman on video and spun it into events that could have taken place between
Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight, with Batman emerging as a mysterious new figure that some Gotham citizens believe could be a hoax perpetrated by the police department. In a tip of the hat to another independent film that inspired Brubaker's comic book tale, Vasilatos named his characters "Heather and Mikey" after the teenaged characters in
Le Projet Blair Witch (1999). Thankfully, this Heather and Mikey survive their documentary filmmaking efforts. Christopher Nolan and writer David Goyer were inspired by similar comic book moments while penning Batman Begins, most notably a passage in Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's "Batman: Year One" where Batman uses a radio frequency to draw bats from all over Gotham to cover his escape from a Gotham Police Department SWAT team.
