Matt Reeves confirmed that Robert Pattinson is in “almost every scene” of “The Batman,” drawing comparisons to Jack Nicholson’s private investigator role in “Chinatown,” during an Entertainment Weekly cover story. Writer-director Reeves confirmed that while Pattinson’s character-study take on the Dark Knight is “not the usual way these movies are done,” “The Batman” is proudly an “emo” film, despite its PG-13 rating. “It’s a very Hitchcockian kind of point of view where you are wedded to his experience,” Reeves continued, adding that the story follows a “younger Batman who was beyond his origins but was imperfect.” Star Jeffrey Wright, who portrays Lieutenant (not quite Commissioner yet) Jim Gordon in the new film, called Reeves’ vision a “real departure” from former Batman films.
“But at the same time, it was a throwback to the origins of the comics, which is grounded in mystery and detective work,” Wright said. “There’s an awareness of an instability within Gotham that I think is reflective of the times. There’s an awareness of certain class tension and pervasive distrust in Gotham. In the way that Matt shaped the Riddler here, it speaks to a kind of present-day virality that we see used for communication of certain ideas and propaganda.”
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Producer Dylan Clark added, “I didn’t want to overly inflate [Reeve’s] ego about it, but I kept saying to myself, ‘Oh, I’ve never seen that.’”
And the emphasis on Pattinson’s performance led to “one of the hardest things” the “Good Time” alum has achieved in his life.
“Normally, I don’t have a problem [leaving a character], but this was so all-encompassing. I just stayed in a hotel for the whole week right next to the studio because I’d have to get there at like 4:30 a.m. to start training, and then you’d train after, so you’d be finished at like 9:30 at night. You’re just constantly in that world,” Pattinson said. “When I look at photos of myself from the makeup test on the last day, I don’t even look human by the end of it. I look like I’m a piece of bubble gum that’s been stuck on the streets for like three years and has just been scraped off and put in a Batman outfit.”
But Reeves is ready for round two: “What I really wanted this movie to do was create a Batverse,” Reeves continued. “You don’t do a story and go, ‘This is Chapter 1’ because you might not get to do Chapter 2. So, the story had to stand on its own. But the thing about it is that the Bat world is so rich with character that as you’re starting to come to an end, you can already start thinking about the next thing. Because the idea, of course, is that Gotham’s story never ends.”
“The Batman” premieres March 4.
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