Robert Pattinson Has Wanted to Play a Superhero for Quite Some Time

The search for the next Batman appears to be over. Variety has revealed that Robert Pattinson is in negotiations to play the hero in Matt Reeves’s The Batman, which will see DC’s flagship superhero get a much-needed revamp following Ben Affleck’s recent decision to hang up the cape. More importantly, though, this news has made our own M.G McIntyre’s dreams come true.

Naturally, the internet has been in an uproar since the news hit the street. On the one hand, excitement fills the air because Pattinson has established himself as an exciting talent since his heartthrob vampire days. On the other, some people are unaware that he’s delivered a string of critically acclaimed performances since Twilight and they fear that his version of the shadowy superhero will sparkle in the sunlight. Still, for the most part, people are happy about Pattinson’s appointment.

Of course, the news is still unexpected. Pattinson has distanced himself from mainstream Hollywood movies since the Twilight saga ended. These days, the actor is known for starring in arthouse fare like David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis and Claire Denis’s High Life. At the same time, he’s always been open to starring in a superhero film.

In a 2012 interview with George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, the actor praised Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight for showing what mainstream blockbusters can be when they’re fearless enough to take some risks.

“[The Dark Knight] is just slightly outside the box of what people are used to seeing, and I really thought that was going to change everything about how the big budget movies are made. But it didn’t, at all. If every single actor wasn’t afraid of trying to do something slightly abstract and not concerned about their movie making tons and tons of money, then eventually the industry would change.”

Later in the conversation, Pattinson said that he was chasing his own superhero movie. However, judging by what he had to say about Nolan’s film, coupled with his tendency to pursue projects that interest him ahead of fortune and fame, we always knew that it would take a unique superhero movie to really interest the actor.

The topic of superheroes came up again in a 2017 interview with Collider. Once again, the actor stated that he’s open to starring in one of these movies, but only if the project aligned with his oddball sensibilities.

“I feel like you have to earn something with an audience. If I just did it now, I think producers on any superhero movie, I think they wouldn’t trust me to do it the way I’d want to do it, because I’d want to do something basically really strange. I think you have to earn that freedom to do stuff like that. So I think, if I keep kind of chipping away, trying to do good movies and interesting, strange movies then people will eventually trust you to do that on a bigger scale.”

Like Pattinson, Reeves isn’t interested in repeating the tried-and-safe formula that’s brought so much success to modern superhero movies. He’s promised that his film will be a “new and cool” take on Gotham’s son, with more focus placed on the World’s Greatest Detective aspect of Batman’s personality than the badass crime-fighter who’s dominated all previous live-action films. Now that sounds like the type of Batman movie Pattinson can sink his teeth into. I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us.

Of course, it remains to be seen how weird and interesting the new Batman movie will be. However, Reeves is a brilliant filmmaker who brings something unique to the modern blockbuster. I’m confident that this movie is going to be unlike the other live-action incarnations of Batman. And if anyone can introduce Pattinson’s strangeness to the grand stage, it’s Reeves.

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