In a recent “Roll Play” video interview with BAFTA, Robert Pattinson had the following to say about THE BATMAN EPIC CRIME SAGA and playing The Dark Knight (full video at the end of this article):
On wanting the role of Batman
The idea first hit him almost ten years ago. He’d never auditioned for a superhero movie and figured they were out of reach — but Batman was the one he’d have wanted, calling him “the coolest superhero by a million miles.” He later learned Matt Reeves had seen GOOD TIME while writing the script and sensed something in that vibe; reading it, he found the reinvention unusual and inspiring, especially the atmosphere.
On playing Batman
Pattinson says he really connected with it, calls shooting the films an unbelievable experience, and that he wants to “keep doing it for as long as I can.”
On THE BATMAN PART II
He’s currently back at work filming with “some ways to go,” but the new script is “just amazing” — “another completely different world,” and has “an understanding of Bruce Wayne and Batman’s psychology in a way that I don’t think has been seen before,” despite the many interpretations out there.
Lots to take in here…
Listen to what the man is actually saying. Robert Pattinson isn’t counting down the days until he hangs up the cowl — he wants to keep doing it “for as long as I can.” And he wants to keep doing it here, in Matt Reeves’ world, telling Matt Reeves’ story. Nobody’s fitting him for a team-up. Nobody’s making him Superman’s best pal. Thank goodness for that.
Because THE BATMAN EPIC CRIME SAGA is something special. It’s a rare thing in modern superhero movies: One filmmaker’s vision, uncompromised, unfolding at its own pace. That’s not a placeholder while the “real” Batman gets cast somewhere else. That’s not an Elseworlds kinda-sorta version of Batman. It is the main event.
And it should not be messed with — rushed, shortened, or quietly smothered — simply because James Gunn wants his Batman for his universe right now.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Stories matter more than connectivity. Reeves is telling a great one, and his Batman wants to keep telling it with him.
Let them. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
