Pattinson: My dark Batman would be a black metal, drone techno obsessive

By Javier Romualdo

Los Angeles, Mar 2 (EFE).- Young, insecure and filled with self-doubt.

That’s how Robert Pattinson describes his embodiment of Gotham City’s most famous superhero in “The Batman,” a film with the air of a noir thriller that is set to debut in the United States on Friday.

“(My Batman) would be listening to Norwegian black metal or maybe drone techno. That definitely seems like (what) would reflect his mental state,” the actor joked in an interview with Efe when imagining what musical tastes his dark take on Bruce Wayne (Batman’s real identity) might have.

Warner Bros. Pictures is counting on Matt Reeves’ direction and the charisma of Pattinson to help ensure the success of this reboot of the DC Comics franchise, a picture that entertainment magazine Variety says has a whopping $200 million budget.

That studio is looking for a big turnaround after a trio of under-performing DC Comics films: “Justice League,” “The Suicide Squad” and “Birds of Prey.”

Unlike “Batman Begins,” “The Batman” steers clear of the character’s origins and instead follows a thirty-something Wayne in his second year as a superhero, a time when he still makes mistakes and is still understanding his facet as Gotham City’s protector.

“We’ve been making this movie for like three years, and (there’s been) the same level of interest the entire time,” the actor said of his return to the blockbuster realm after his turn as a sinister preacher in the 2020 crime drama film “The Devil All the Time.”

“And now that it’s coming out people are still excited about it and seemed to get more excited every single trailer that came out, so I’m very, very thankful.”

Pattinson made it clear in signing on to this superhero saga that he wanted to put his own stamp on the iconic character.

First off, he defied the wishes of the casting directors and successfully argued for a slender Batman, a physique that marks a radical departure from the chiseled bodies that predecessors Christian Bale and Ben Affleck brought to the role.

He also fought to shed Bruce Wayne’s playboy persona and instead showcase a character who is still battling to overcome his childhood traumas.

Pattinson, who co-starred alongside Kristen Stewart in the wildly successful vampire-themed Twilight film saga, said he is excited to be in a project once again with loads of expectations and demanding fans.

“You kind of need to have that energy in a fandom. You need to have people fighting with each other and you know saying they like this bit more, someone else likes something else more. It’s exciting. If everyone was just like, ‘yeah we’ll love anything,’ it’s kind of boring,” Pattinson said. “There needs to be a bit of danger.”

The actor acknowledged, however, that the process of making the film had its challenges, recalling that finding the right voice for his character was a matter of trial and error and that during the first three or four weeks of filming he tried out different ones.

The collaboration between Reeves and Pattinson led to a nearly three-hour epic that has more of the feel of a gritty film noir than a superhero blockbuster.

In an interview last month with Esquire magazine, Reeves said the picture was inspired in part by 1970s Hollywood classics like “Chinatown” and “Taxi Driver” but also by the music of American grunge rock band Nirvana, whose song “Something in the Way” is part of the film’s soundtrack.

Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne shares the screen with other well-known characters from the Batman ecosystem such as Catwoman (played by Zoe Kravitz), James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), the Riddler (Paul Dano) and the Penguin (Colin Farrell).

All of those actors could have the chance to reprise their roles in sequels or television show spinoffs, the director said.

“We’re trying to launch this universe. If the world embraces it, we have a lot of different ideas,” Reeves said during the presentation of “The Batman” at Warner Bros.’ studios. EFE