The Batman actor Robert Pattinson says he “obsessively” followed up on the role of Batman before he was eventually cast in Matt Reeves’ upcoming film.
In a new interview with Total Film, Pattinson opened up about the time before he was chosen to play the next Caped Crusader, including just how eager Pattinson was to land the role. To the point where even his agents were surprised.
“I just kept obsessively checking up on it for the next year or so,” he says. “Even my agents were like, ‘Oh, interesting. I thought you only wanted to play total freaks?’ And I was like, ‘He is a freak!'”
Pattinson said he was aiming for different types of roles at the time of his audition for The Batman, and he never thought he’d come anywhere close to getting the part. Ever since becoming a household name for roles in mega franchises like Twilight and Harry Potter, Pattinson spent the following years focusing on indie films.
In fact, Pattinson said The Batman was the very first comic book movie he ever auditioned for. That’s because Pattinson is especially attracted to the character, saying he’s always had a different attachment to the Batman films compared to other superhero movies.
“Out of all the comic-book characters and that kind of movie, I’ve seen every single one of the [Batman] movies in the cinema, which I can’t really say I’ve done for any other series,” Pattinson said. “I was always really looking forward to them coming out. There was the combination of just being so attracted to it, but also feeling like it’d had a lot of movies made about it, and none of them are bad movies.”
We’re just about a month away from seeing how much of a freak Pattinson’s Batman is, as The Batman is set to release on March 4, 2022. We’ll also get to see plenty of Pattinson, as the movie is set to be the longest Batman movie yet with a runtime of two hours and 55 minutes.
For more on The Batman, check out a 3-minute scene from the movie revealed by director Matt Reeves after it leaked online last week. And, read why Reeves turned down the chance to direct a Ben Affleck solo Batman movie.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
Image Credit: Warner Media
