In case you missed it, there was a fair amount of backlash from certain sections of the internet when it was first announced that Robert Pattinson was set to suit up and star as the title character in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, with a lot of the criticism directed towards his past life as a teenage heartthrob at the center of the Twilight franchise, completely overlooking the fact that the 33 year-old had totally reinvented himself over the last decade thanks to a string of critically-acclaimed roles in low budget independent movies.
Those who’ve been following Pattinson’s career in recent years have marked him out as a solid choice for the dual role of Bruce Wayne and his costumed alter ego, and he’ll no doubt offer a completely different interpretation of the comic book icon to the many actors that have played Batman over the years. After spending so much time consciously staying away from studio blockbusters following the conclusion of Twilight, Pattinson will finally return to the big budget realm in a big way this summer with Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated Tenet, before moving straight onto The Batman.
In a recent interview, the actor went into more detail about why he decided to sign on to one of the most talked-about superhero movies in years, despite the genre seemingly not being in his wheelhouse.
“There was something that always appealed to me about it. I feel like it sort of exists outside the realm of this sort of blockbuster. Batman movies have always attracted really good director, and had really good actors playing in it. It’s got a legacy and a lineage to it, which it’s never seemed to me like it’s been a cash-in for something.”
If you completely ignore the existence of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, then he makes a great point. Heath Ledger famously won a posthumous Oscar for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight, with Christopher Nolan assembling a star-studded ensemble cast to craft one of the all-time great trilogies.
Similarly, Christian Bale and George Clooney have gone on to win Oscars after playing Batman, while Ben Affleck already had two under his belt by the time he joined the DCEU. Based on the cast of The Batman and the quality that Reeves brought to the Planet of the Apes series, it looks like DC and Warner Bros. could have another real winner on their hands here.
