Last week, the internet scuttlebutt was that Robert Pattinson had been cast as Bruce Wayne for director Matt Reeves’ latest reboot of DC/Warners‘ key superhero. Then there was some backtracking as it appeared he was, more accurately, high on a shortlist which also included the likes of X-Men/Tolkien‘s Nicholas Hoult. However, industry site Deadline which preached caution on the matter, is now saying that the necessary contract negotiation are a formality and with the studio now in agreement, Pattinson will indeed be donning the caped crusader and Dark Knight armour to play the troubled billionaire and vigilante. Variety goes a step further and says the deal is now signed.
Initially, there was some consternation amongst cinema-goers about Pattinson taking the role – largely because the Twilight saga (full of lovelorn vampires and more angst than you could shake at a CW primetime schedule) cast a long and twinkling shadow from which the actor has never quite escaped – at least in some people’s eyes. That being said, Michael Keaton also felt a similar backlash in the 1990s and is now considered one of the screen’s better Batmans (Batmen?) and Pattinson has actually done some more serious and critically-acclaimed films in the years since (The Rover, Cosmopolis, High Life and Good Time) and those more familiar with the wider body of work may feel he’s not a bad fit for a new saga said to entail three films and a decidedly different tone that Christopher Nolan’s worthy but cerebral trilogy. (Pattinson is currently filming Nolan’s latest film Tenet).
Matt Reeves took over the project when Ben Affleck bowed out (as star and director) last year and appears to be signing a three-picture deal which will chart the early and formative years of Wayne’s mission against the rising villainy in Gotham, the first chapter due in cinemas 25th June 2021.
