Robert Pattinson has gained something of a reputation for making rather peculiar acting choices when it comes to getting into character, so we’re equal parts intrigued and apprehensive to see what picture he paints of reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne in The Batman.
The actor has already teased that he’ll be leaning into the unusual nature of a rich guy who dresses up as an armored flying mammal to pulverize criminals with his bare hands, and his turn stands every chance of being the darkest yet. Getting Bruce right is arguably a lot more difficult than his costumed alter ego, but we’ve got every faith that Pattinson can deliver.
Director Matt Reeves has offered up another strange comparison in an interview with Empire, where he drew parallels between the Caped Crusader and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s ‘Something In The Way’. That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse.
So I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant’s Last Days, and the idea of this fictionalized version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor. In that movie you could really feel his vulnerability and desperation, but you could also feel his power. I thought that was a great mix. He’s also got that Kurt Cobain thing, where he looks like a rock star, but you also feel like he could be a recluse.”
While this hopefully doesn’t mean we’re getting a grunge-influenced Dark Knight a quarter of a century too late, it could hint that Pattinson and Reeves are treating the man behind the cape and cowl as a troubled, introspective figure that hates the attention he’s constantly the center of, which would definitely see The Batman stand out from the back catalogue of live-action blockbusters that have seen all of the stars fully embrace the playboy double life.