What’s better than one Robert Pattinson-starring Batman film? A whole trilogy of them, obviously.
After the news of R-Patz’ decision to take on the role as the caped crusader was confirmed, today, June 4, we’ve had word from the Gotham underground the Twilight star will be heading up not one but three films as Bruce Wayne/Batman.
Pattinson is no stranger to being at the helm of a huge franchise, but since he ended his tenure as Edward Cullen, the 33-year-old’s been on a mission to distance himself from the vampire world he once inhabited, opting instead for more leftfield, indie-minded films like Claire Denis’ High Life and Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse.
We’ve still got a couple of years to wait before we see Pattinson in the iconic cape, but production is expected to get underway any day now, as Deadline reports. Warner Bros. were taking their time choosing the next Batman, with it coming down to screentests between R-Patz and Nicholas Hoult.
The trilogy will be directed by Matt Reeves, who previously directed the two Planet of the Apes sequels.
Pattinson’s turn as Bruce Wayne/Batman is set to focus on the superhero’s formative years, as Reeves has said – he’s excited by ‘how personal it can be.’
The director told The Hollywood Reporter:
It’s very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale. It’s told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it’s going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional. It’s more Batman in his detective mode than we’ve seen in the films. The comics have a history of that.
He’s supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, and that’s not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been. I’d love this to be one where when we go on that journey of tracking down the criminals and trying to solve a crime, it’s going to allow his character to have an arc so that he can go through a transformation.
Despite Reeves taking the reins from Ben Affleck, who was working on the project up until 2017, the forthcoming trilogy will be a complete departure from the work Affleck did in Batman Vs. Superman and Justice League.
The Batman is due to start production in the first quarter of 2020, giving the team the rest of this year to fill out the cast, while a June 2021 date is marked for the film’s release.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.