Every time I write an article on Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader in Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman, the comment section gets flooded with pissed off keyboard warriors claiming that Warner Bros is going to ruin Batman by casting a “gay, sparkly vampire” to play the character.
Look, I get it. Pattinson once played Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise, in which he did nothing but sparkle and scowl for five movies straight. But since then, he has transformed his career around and is now the most exciting actor working in Hollywood today. Pattinson is a performer of immense talent — just check out Good Time on Netflix. Besides, before The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger played a pretty boy in Brokeback Mountain, so stop being a baby and get over it. I’m confident Pattinson will deliver a transformative performance and silence his naysayers, especially considering how passionate he is about the role.
In an interview with Variety, Robert Pattinson mentioned that he had been wanting to play Batman for quite some time.
“I’d had Batman in my mind for a while. It’s such an absurd thing to say. I sort of had an idea to do it, and I’d been prodding Matt. He didn’t accept any prods. I kept asking to meet him.”
Eventually, Pattinson was in the running to play Gotham’s Dark Knight. However, when the news leaked and started circling the internet, he panicked, wondering if the opportunity was squandered.
“When that thing leaked, I was fucking furious. Everyone was so upset. Everyone was panicking from my team. I sort of thought that had blown up the whole thing… It was terrifying. I was like, ‘Oh fuck! Does that screw me because they are so intent on secrecy?’”
Thankfully, everything turned out okay for the actor who also once played Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter franchise. Interestingly enough, Pattinson officially won the role of Batman over fellow front runner Nicholas Hoult on his first day of filming Christopher Nolan’s next film, Tenet. This gave Pattinson the chance to ask the director of The Dark Knight trilogy for some tips:
“It’s so bizarre. I was like, ‘What a coincidence this is happening. It’s absolutely crazy. I was talking [with Nolan] about things to do with the Batsuit. How to get more movements in it.”
Pattinson also goes on to describe what it was like to put on the Batsuit for the first time.
“You do feel very powerful immediately. And it’s pretty astonishing, something that is incredibly difficult to get into, so the ritual of getting into it is pretty humiliating. You’ve got five people trying to shove you into something. Once you’ve got it on, it’s like, ‘Yeah, I feel strong, I feel tough, even though I had to have someone squeezing my butt cheeks into the legs.’… You’re trying to think of the way to balance, how to bring something new to it and not want to scare people off, and work in the confines of the costume.”
Apart from Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Robert Pattinson is also currently working on Christopher Nolan’s upcoming mind-bender, Tenet. And this October will see the release of The Lighthouse, an indie horror film helmed by the director of The Witch.
The Batman will begin filming this November/December and is set for a summer 2021 release.
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