The movie Robert Pattinson thought he was “absolutely terrible” in
Robert Pattinson is the kind of actor who has achieved the rare combination of success in both the independent and commercial filmmaking scene but still shows a level of humility and self-doubt that you wouldn’t associate with an actor of his calibre.
With a silently brooding and naturally introspective demeanour, Pattinson slotted perfectly into the world of Robert Eggers in The Lighthouse, the manically protective brother in Good Time and the mind-bending world of Tenet, continuing to captivate audiences in a wide slate of projects. However, despite critical acclaim for his work, Pattinson was very critical of his performance in one particular film, one that was perhaps the most anticipated of his career thus far.
When Matt Reeves announced he was working on a Batman remake, the internet was whipped up into a frenzy. How was he going to interpret this iconic character? And who would play Batman? When Pattinson was revealed to be taking on this part, the expectations were very staggeringly high. The character has previously been played by actors like Jack Nicholson, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton and George Clooney, so the bar had been set very high.
But Reeves explained that this wouldn’t be a version of Batman that we had seen before, that we wanted to take it to new levels and explore the grungier side to the anti-hero, something more akin to a film-noir detective story rather than a classic comic book film. When Pattinson was approached for the part, he recalled Reeves telling him, “I want to do a really dirty, dirty, slimy Batman”. And this is certainly what they both achieved together.
When Batman was released in 2022, it captured a new side to this character that hadn’t been seen before, one that was perfectly suited to Pattinson. In his hands, Batman was almost cripplingly insecure and gloomy, a cloud of constant nihilism hanging over him, almost as if he was resigned to all the evil in the world. The world created by Reeves feels disgustingly grimy and unforgiving, and watching it in the cinema made you feel as though you needed to take a shower afterwards.
It’s bleak and utterly devoid of hope, shining a new darkness on the character and a different lens on how he reacted to his own pain and tragedy. Pattinson embodies this character in a whole new way, hiding away in his apartment as he desperately tries to make sense of the suffering in the world around him, but haunted by the reality of the people he knows that threaten to destroy everything. However, Pattinson revealed that he wasn’t initially happy with this performance, stating, “Your first thought is, ‘oh my god, I’m absolutely terrible”.
While Pattinson has been praised endlessly for his portrayal of the iconic figure, perhaps his naturally cynical attitude is what created the perfect combination of broodiness and reluctant hope that we see on screen; someone who could never quite settle and find peace, and that this is the secret to playing the modern Batman that Pattinson beautifully delivered.
