Remember the whirlwind of news surrounding the casting of the Dark Knight for Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman in May? When Robert Pattinson’s name flurried across the web, Twilight memes and online petitions were the least of his worries. He had yet to audition when the news leaked and he was worried the premature backlash would bruise his chances of nabbing the role. In Pattinson’s words:
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.
He was en route to the Cannes Film Festival in France from Los Angeles when the news broke. Robert Pattinson found himself nervously scrolling through the internet in fear Warner Bros. would rescind its interested in the Good Time actor after witnessing the internet’s response to his casting. Then he found himself in interesting company:
I was sitting next to Christopher McQuarrie. I’d never met him before. Oh, God! He’d seen me Googling myself for the past hour!
You know – Christopher McQuarrie, the director of the two recent Mission: Impossible films and Usual Suspects writer? Robert Pattinson told Variety the filmmaker was understanding of his situation, nodding and assuring him with “I’d probably be doing the same thing.”
When Pattinson got off the plane, he attended the world premiere of his new indie The Lighthouse alongside co-star Willem Dafoe. As the black-and-white film received a standing ovation at the screening, he still had the Batman role looming over him. He continued with:
It was terrifying… I was like, ‘Oh fuck! Does that screw me because they are so intent on secrecy?... I’m literally in Cannes in my hotel room [rehearsing]. The whole thing was a lot.
He briskly flew back to Los Angeles to complete the audition process and even tried on the Batsuit as well – the last stage of the casting. He won the role over X-Men’s Nicholas Hoult and amidst hate that actually didn’t end up bothering him much. He said the discourse wasn’t as bitter as he’d thought it would be and finds it fun to be an “underdog” when expectations are low.
Oddly enough, the actor learned he’d be starring in The Batman on his first day on the set of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. How strange to be making a movie under the director of the Dark Knight trilogy as he becomes the hero himself!
Although the actor has leaned to independent movies since wrapping the Twilight saga in 2012, Robert Pattinson will be the center of two blockbusters two summers in a row. Tenet comes in July of 2020 and The Batman June 25, 2021. The actor said he always loved the comic character and approached Matt Reeves multiple times before the writer/director agreed to consider him.
The Batman will begin shooting this winter. You can catch Robert Pattinson in The Lighthouse October 18 and donning a blonde wig on Netflix’s The King November 1 next.
