After years of delays, The Batman is finally edging closer to production. With Ben Affleck stepping away from the role, Cloverfield and Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves is gearing up to get the latest Batman movie in front of cameras, with Robert Pattinson stepping up to don the iconic cape and cowl.
The next cinematic outing for the Dark Knight has been the subject of speculation and rumors from the moment it was first announced, and while there are still no concrete details yet about the plot or the other members of the cast outside of the title character, we now know that Pattinson has already tried on the iconic costume.
Speaking in a recent interview, the 33 year-old admits that while there’s a sense of awkwardness that comes with being wedged into an uncomfortable outfit, there’s also a certain sense of pride and power that comes with officially suiting up as Batman for the very first time.
“It’s maybe the craziest thing I’ve ever done in terms of movie stuff. I put it on. I remember saying to Matt (Reeves), ‘It does feel quite transformative!’. He was like, ‘I would hope it does! You’re literally in the Batsuit.’ 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.”
Having turned his back on starring in blockbusters following his breakout role in the Twilight series, Pattinson has gone on to reinvent himself as a critically-acclaimed actor thanks to a string of well-received dramatic performances, and having shed the stigma of being a sparkly vampire a long time ago, he looks to be an excellent choice to take up the role of the Caped Crusader.
Ironically, Pattinson will move onto The Batman once he wraps globetrotting thriller Tenet, directed by The Dark Knight Trilogy‘s Christopher Nolan. There’s no doubt that the actor will be picking Nolan’s brain about the character, and now they can at least share some war stories about dealing with the Batsuit.