The film""s screenplay by first-timers David Newman and Robert Benton (both editors atEsquirewho had never written a screenplay) - a composite image of many early 20th century outlaws, was loosely based on the historical accounts of two 1930s Depression-era, social misfit bandits who terrorized the Midwest.He found Fox dead -- hanging in mid-air from a wooden beam in the upper barn rafters, pinned there by a pitchfork through her neck(# 3 death)(off-screen).With a production budget of $250 million (estimated) - the most expensive of the Batman films (to date).He tried to gain her sympathy:"It wasn""t my fault...You saw what they did o me when I was a kid.You saw.I loved you and your mother.I ried so hard to be good...But when they took you from me, it wasn""t right."But Maggie was enraged and continued to battle him.She disarmed him of his clawed glove with one violent swing of her bat, and it sparked to a stop on he floor.