Robert Pattinson will soon be donning the cape and cowl to play Batman in Matt Reeves’ upcoming film, but before that, he will star in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which is currently in production. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him but Christopher Nolan is responsible for The Dark Knight trilogy and (imo) the best Batman movie of all time, so he knows a thing or two about the Caped Crusader. So yes, Robert Pattinson totally asked Christopher Nolan for Batman advice, as he explained:
I was talking about things to do with the Batsuit. How to get more movements in it.
It would have been a complete missed opportunity if the future Batman didn’t ask the man responsible for the most popular Batman movies for his advice and thankfully, Robert Pattinson took advantage of working with Christopher Nolan. Although, as he told Variety, Robert Pattinson’s questions to Christopher Nolan about Batman weren’t about character or psychology, they were about the Batsuit.
Apparently Robert Pattinson, who previously revealed he had already tried on the Batsuit when he began filming on Tenet, wanted to get some pointers on acting in the costume. The Batsuit isn’t generally known for its comfort or freedom of movement and although he already knew physically how he wanted to play the Dark Knight, doing that inside the Batsuit is an entirely different thing than outside of it.
How he moved was different within the suit, so he had to adjust things like his balance to compensate for the costume. I imagine it’s a bit like when you do drownproofing in school and are sure you know how to swim in a bathing suit; then when you’re in full clothing, your movements don’t work the same way or achieve the same effects.
So, Robert Pattinson consulted with Christopher Nolan on how he could get more movements within the Batsuit. Kind of like when Bruce Wayne went to Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight with some new designs, I imagine Nolan may have responded, ‘You want to be able to turn your head.’
You might think that Christian Bale or Ben Affleck would be better people to ask for advice on moving around in the Batsuit, but Robert Pattinson was working on a Nolan movie and Christopher Nolan was the one who was directing Christian Bale on how to move within that Batsuit for three films. I'd imagine that's not a bad place to start.
I don’t suspect the Batsuit that Robert Pattinson will be wearing in Matt Reeves’ film is the same as any that came before it, but there are probably only so many ways to make a Batsuit; in fact, most superhero suits have similar restrictions and thus Christopher Nolan’s advice was still valuable. That advice will hopefully come in handy and we’ll get a Batman from Robert Pattinson that is physically convincing and allows the actor’s performance to shine through the suit.
It looks like the script for The Batman is finally completed and it could begin shooting early next year for a June 25, 2021 release date.
Before that you can see Robert Pattinson in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet on July 17, 2020. For movies still to come this year, check out our premiere guide.
