Matt Reeves is the one in charge of directing the upcoming The Batman film. He’s bringing us something very different and unique. Reeves came into the picture after Ben Affleck left the project, first as the writer & director and then as the actor too. Ever since the news of Robert Pattinson becoming the new Caped Crusader came up, fans were divided (just like every time). But after the arrival of the teaser, things are looking quite promising. Matt Reeves is bringing his vision to life in a great way with Robert Pattinson at the center of it. Here, check out the first trailer of The Batman, if you haven’t already:
Well, if this trailer doesn’t make you excited about RP’s Batman then you’re not alone. There are many fans who still believe that a better actor could’ve been cast for the role. But Reeves bet on the versatility of Robert Pattinson, and we hope his decision turns out to be satisfying, if not great.
Recently at the panel discussion during DC’s FanDome event, a fan asked the director Matt Reeves what makes Robert Pattinson the best choice to play the Batman. Reeves cited many reasons but mainly talked about his range of acting and recent critically acclaimed works after his stint as Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise. He said,
The thing about Robert Pattinson is that he’s an incredible actor. I feel like the work that he’s done in the last, I don’t know, six years has been incredible. A friend of mine made a movie called The Lost City of Z, and Rob appeared in that movie and I was like ‘who is that guy?’ Just such charisma, and he, Rob in the movie has this incredible beard and you were like ‘who is that’ and it’s Rob. And Rob in the Rover, and Rob in Good Time, he is like a chameleon…he’s just a gifted actor. He’s been working on his craft in this really incredible way, and he also happens to be a tremendous, passionate sort of fan of Batman that way that I am and so… it was an incredible thing to be able to connect with him and to share the excitement about the character and to work with him. I mean, you know, he looks like Batman but more than anything, he has the soul of someone I think can play a Batman-like you’d never seen before.
We also believe the Matt Reeves is totally correct; while Robert Pattinson is mostly known for his work in the infamous Twilight films, he’s surely a lot more than a sparkling vampire. The actor has shown in the past years what he’s truly capable of with his critically acclaimed roles. Over the years, he’s tried different types of roles and has proved his mettle. But could he own the character like Bale did? We think that’s too early to talk about. Let’s give him a chance and see how the film turns out. We should give this version of Batman a chance and stop worrying too much about our favorite superhero.
The teaser has made people believe that this new Batman could be a great attempt and they’ve even started to like this version. But before Pattinson was cast as the new Dark Knight, Nicholas Hoult was the actor who came very close to becoming the new Batman. Both of them reportedly went through the screen testing process, wearing the Batsuit. But Pattinson was the one who was ultimately selected for the role.
Director Matt Reeves also talked about the story. Here’s what he iterated during The Batman panel:
“I mean, for me, the idea of the story was a story in which Gotham has that sort of depth of corruption, and then the idea that we could actually do a series that is going deeper into an aspect of it, which in this case is the corrupt police department and the inner workings of the city. And the way we’re going to do the series which is — I mean, Terence Winter is just like an incredible writer. So the idea that we got him to do this just is literally a dream. And the idea is we go back to Year One, and Year One is the beginning of the emergence and is the first appearance of this masked vigilante that starts to unsettle the city, and you start to see the story through the point of view of these corrupt cops and one in particular, and the story is actually a battle for his soul.
He’s an over-generalization and the history of corruption in Gotham is enormous and goes back many years as the story. It’s like as you realize that there’s this myth building in the background, you’re actually in a new place where you’ve never seen these characters before, some of which we’ll touch on what you may have seen from the comics, but others totally go down an avenue and go into detail that you couldn’t do in a movie and to go into these sort of rich places and meet entirely new characters that Terrence is going to be writing and I’m incredibly excited.”
What do you think about the casting of Robert Pattinson as Batman? Do tell us in the comments. The Batman hits the theaters on October 1, 2021.