How State Farm Brought Batman and Gotham to Life for Super Hero Film

If you were in trouble with a group of maniacal super villains, you’d want Batman to turn up and save you. If Jason Bateman showed up, while admittedly very funny, you probably wouldn’t feel quite so relieved.

Following this logic, State Farm’s latest campaign suggests that having any old insurance just isn’t the same as being covered by State Farm. And it’s not just the ‘Arrested Development’ star and the Caped Crusader who responded to the Bat-Signal to help tell this tale.

Created by Chicagoan agency Highdive and directed by Hungry Man’s Bryan Buckley, the 'Batman vs. Bateman' film was initially planned for the Super Bowl and takes audiences on a hilarious, action-packed journey through Gotham City. Iconic Batman foes and celebrity cameos, such as SZA, Kai Cenat and Jordan the Stallion, pop up throughout the spot to highlight Bateman’s ineptitude compared with the real Dark Knight.

The ad ended up debuting later in the year, during the college basketball Big 10 Men’s Championship – “a similarly broad, diverse audience with a wide appeal across age groups and interests” – but still has that Super Bowl scale and flair to it.

After the brand went all-in on comedy with 2024’s Big Game blockbuster ‘Neighbaa’, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito, Highdive CCO Chad Broude tells LBB that this year’s project was about blending the laughs with cinematic visuals that would make fans of the DCU proud.

“James Lee, our creative director on the project, spent hours of time working with [VFX house] Parliament to perfect every little detail of Gotham City and the Batmobile. James also collaborated closely with wardrobe and make-up to nail every super villain's look. Emily Sander (ECD) and Ben Doesell’s (CD) work on the script, especially their focus on capturing each Batman character’s essence, including The Joker’s iconic laugh, was all in commitment to creating an authentic experience for fans.”

Already a massive fan of Christoper Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’, Bryan Buckley was on board with the ad’s “ridiculously, other level funny” idea from the very first call with Highdive in early November. “I’ll be honest, from there, all I can remember is that Chad Broude and [ECD] Emily Sander easily out-texted my pregnant wife until we staggered off set on the night of December 23rd.

“I felt the ideas just never stopped flowing. Nor did the casting, as we were constantly adjusting to a plethora of scenario changes. After all, Batman has a pretty big list of enemies.”

The Batman IP was brokered by Creative License from Warner Bros. Discovery, who were enthused by the idea from the start, and a vital partner in ensuring the ad was “hyper authentic” to the characters. “They even came to the set,” says Chad. “And the response from fans has been incredible, with so much appreciation for the great lengths we took to ensure everything was accurate.”

These lengths included Bryan dialling in a quintessentially gloomy visual style with DoP, and first-time collaborator, Ben Seresin. “We wanted to go where you’re basically told never to go in comedy - especially commercial comedy - which is extremely dark and moody,” says Bryan. “All practical locations, which we wanted to be oversized. State Farm wanted as many red-cues as possible, which worked out nicely.”

This practical approach with oversized gothic architecture, along with matte paintings influenced by major city skylines, brought Gotham City to life - before being enhanced by Parliament's VFX work. “Without them we would have never gotten to where we landed. What can I say? They threw everyone they had on this. And then some.

“Then there was the costume challenge,” he adds. “The Batman costume used in ‘The Dark Knight’ took Nolan more than six months to build. By the time we got the green light, we had about two and half weeks - during the holidays.”

Enter wardrobe designer, and “model of calmness and absolute genius”, Anette Cseri. Alongside her assistant costume designer, Stacy Caballero, she quickly assembled a crack team of designers. Jose Fernandez and the team at Ironhead Studios created the Batman and Bateman costumes, and Andrew Clement’s team at Creative Character Engineering handled fabrication for Catwoman and Poison Ivy.

“Many others lent their talents to deliver the on-screen looks,” says Bryan. “All of which had to run through both DC and Warner Bros. for approval. And we can’t forget our hair and makeup wizard of cosmetic transformation, Dominie Till. She worked her magic on every character, along with some prosthetic help from Tinsley Studio.”

As the super suits were being made, Bryan was able to oversee who would be wearing them, and learned some valuable tips about casting his very own Batman. “Jaw line, eyes, and the ability to throw some mean kicks were essential,” he explains. “As far as the others, it was really about feeling that the actor owned the role. Were they believable to the core? I wanted them to come in character during casting. And stay in it. Hopefully not after they left to go Christmas shopping.”

The film is also stacked with non-actor talent, namely singer SZA, social media star Jordan the Stallion, and streamer Kai Cenat. Discussing the latter, Chad says, “On the client side, [State Farm head of marketing] Alyson Griffin and [marketing executive] Patty Morris are always geniuses with choices like this. It was their suggestion to include Kai. They understand better than anyone that not only does a talent like Kai attract a younger and socially active audience, but influencers like that come with a baked-in media buy.”

“It was a total trip. They all were flipping out that we were doing a Batman film,” adds Bryan. “Then in comes Bateman who just is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. A ridiculously great actor, but also a damn good director in his own right. He was just aware of it all and elevated every moment. He’d always come to every setup armed with a bunch of funny lines he wrote in the trailer.”

This collaboration was just as fun for the Highdive team, who enjoyed creating different interactions between Jason and the Batman villains – like the actor being grossed out by Two-Face, or annoying The Riddler.

“The best part of the process was landing on 8-10 line options per villain and then workshopping them with Jason over a zoom,” says Chad. “He has this unique ability to change a word, or tweak things in a very Jason Bateman way that makes everything five times funnier.”

But again, it wasn’t all about the laughs – despite what The Joker might tell you. The film opens with an ambitious, explosive set piece that sets the tone for the comedy-comic book movie hybrid. As Batman’s arch nemesis saunters off screen – much to Kai Cenat’s surprise – an armoured truck lands on top of a State Farm-red car, causing a huge fireball that immediately heats up the action.

Of the stunt, Bryan says, “First we found an epic place to practically drop the two-tonne armoured truck. We did it with a series of plates — background action, Kai Cenat and The Joker, the truck drop, all having their own plate — and by moving the camera at all times with precise timings. Oh, and we only had one armoured truck. And one car to crush.”

But for the director, the shot that will stick with him, and potentially audiences, long after the NCAA Basketball tournaments have concluded, is one that will be familiar to all Batman fans.

“Bateman on the roof, with the Bat-Signal in the background - that Bat-Signal just brought back so many cinematic memories. I couldn’t believe I was standing next to it. Looking out at Gotham City at midnight. It was surreal.”