When you hear the phrase “are you excited for the upcoming Batman movie?” you probably fall into one of three camps. One, you say “I didn’t know there was one. What was wrong with Christian Bale’s movies”. Two, you’d say; “I don’t like Batman so I don’t care”. Or; “Marvel is better and Batman is overrated”. Despite the profound stupidity of that third entry, you’d be forgiven for not knowing there’s a new Batman in town.
Side note Marvel fans, you wouldn’t have half of your roster without the success of Batman in the 30s so calm down.
Robert Pattinson is the new Bruce Wayne, and his casting has been met with some surprising silence. By silence I just mean that I have yet to see a parade or a riot, unlike when Affleck was announced as the new Batman.
Lets start our own parade, because Pattinson might just become the best Batman actor of all time.
Pattinson has done a LOT to distance his career from Twilight
You’d be forgiven for only knowing who Pattinson is due to his role as Edward the Vampire from Twilight. The young adult movies that focused on the romance and conflict between the human Bella and the, well vampire Edward.
They’re also world renowned for being extremely overrated and shoddily made. For better or for worse, they made Pattinson into a household name, and then promptly tore that house down when Twilight finished.
Funnily enough, it did not take Pattinson long to prove that he was much more than just a pretty face. His first role after Twilight Breaking Dawn Part II was in a film called ‘The Rover’. A thriller that saw him embracing his inner villain and playing a turmoil central character. He followed it up with a WWI introspecitve epic in ‘The Childhood of a Leader’. In 2016, 2017 he proved his was an acting force to be reckoned with in ‘LIFE’ and ‘Good Time’.
Not only did he prove that he was a good actor, but in films like ‘Lost City of Z’ and ‘The Lighthouse’ he proved he was amazing.
Pattinson overcame his typecast, almost immediately. Doing so alongside such accomplished costars like Guy Pierce, Charlie Hunnam, Willem Defoe and Timothee Chalemet. It is nothing short of impressive.
Method Acting, without much of a method
When your only point of recent reference for Pattinson is ‘Good Time’ and ‘The Lighthouse’, you’d think Pattinson is method. however, you’d be very wrong.
For the unfamiliar, method acting is the act of never breaking character during a shoot. This could involve anything from keeping the characters quirks and mannerisms to literally selling everything and moving to a foreign country. It is a form of acting that has been both praised, and shunned by filmmakers for it’s dangers. However, the impressive results are hard to deny.
Strangely though, Pattinson just seems to be a really good actor.
“I always say about people who do method acting, you only ever see people do the method when they’re playing an a–hole, You never see someone being lovely to everyone while they’re really deep in character. I need to know when you’re on stage and when you’re off stage. I need to know that between action and cut, that’s the thing. That’s the safe space. I need to know it ends. I need to know there’s a cut coming, and then I’ll feel safe. If it just feels like you can’t get out, that’s when you go crazy.”
Robert Pattinson
The reason I mention this is because the biggest praise given to the Batman role is that of Christian Bale in the Christopher Nolan films. Whereas Pattinson is not the biggest fan of method, Bale is notoriously difficult and hard on method acting.
He might not be method, but he doesn’t need to be
When you can look at your filmography and say “hey, he’s incredibly underrated”, you know he’s something special. He’s been on many indie filmmaker’s radars for a while now.
Being able to provide a method actors level of charisma and dedication without compromising as a method actor, is hard. And I don’t mean that it’s difficult, I mean that it is damn near impossible.
So what do you think? you think Pattinson is going to kill it or do you think he’s being overhyped? I know here, at least two of us think he’s going to kill it! Nonetheless, we are very excited to see what he brings to the role.
