Robert Pattinson rumoured to now be in talks to portray a villain in Matt Reeves’ Batman

Boss Logic created quite a stir back on 4 February 2019 when he posted that Rob was being talked about as the new Batman in Warner Bros | Matt Reeves’ film.

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A choice that I never would have thought to try but been hearing some background chatter about Robert Pattinson being looked at, if the talks (source) are true then all of our predictions were wrong 👀😁 This might be your new Bruce #thebatman #batman

A post shared by Bosslogic (@bosslogic) on Feb 3, 2019 at 6:21am PST

If you follow RPAU on twitter, you would have seen that we retweeted quite a bit of support for Rob in this role and I’m not talking about current fandom. If there’s one thing that has come about from this debate is how much recognition Rob has received from his roles in The Rover, The Lost City of Z and obviously Good Time (to name a few). This morning the plot thickened with a tweet that Rob is in fact rumoured to be in talks to portray a villain., possibly The Riddler. I don’t know about you, but I have a vague recollection of Rob mentioning he thought he could portray Magento – whether tongue in cheek or not – who really knows with Rob. I’m not going to pretend I know whether Rob would consider a role in a superhero film because the only thing I know for sure about Rob is that he is full of surprises. We also know his film choices depend on whether he wants to work with the director. Is Matt Reeves on Rob’s list – time will tell.

In the meantime, I did a little bit of digging about Matt Reeves’ “The Batman”, because to be honest, I’m not very well versed in the superhero universe be it DC or Marvel. Back on 7 January 2019, THR had this to report:

Last week came word that Matt Reeves’ The Batman has a finished script, and that while it is still undergoing some tweaks, is aiming to start shooting in November. 

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Reeves is a filmmaker interested in psychological damage. FromCloverfield (2008) to Let Me In (2010) and his Planet of the Apes films (2014, 2017), Reeves has shown an interest in exploring the toll of lives lived under duress and the worst of circumstances. With this in mind, it seems likely Reeves will be the filmmaker to push beyond Miller, not into camp, but into a world for a Batman stranger and more unexpected than any we’ve seen before, and hopefully one that leaves room for Robin and the rest of the Bat-family.
The best Batman actors — Adam West, Michael Keaton, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck — were all unexpected choices. It wouldn’t be surprising if Reeves continues this trend. To navigate a strange world, Reeves would be best paired with an actor that has tics, an uncanny quality that suggests a man grappling not just with a battered body, but a battered mind. 

and on 30 January 2019, THR followed up their Batman story with this:

Director Matt Reeves tells The Hollywood Reporter he is focusing on the superhero’s detective roots and plans on having him face off against multiple villains.

There are few movies as shrouded in as much mystery as writer-director Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Among its many unknowns: What villain will The Dark Knight be facing? It turns out there will be multiple villains, Reeves reveals as part of a Creative Space interview with The Hollywood Reporter‘s West Coast TV editor Lesley Goldberg.

“You can’t have Batman without a villain,” Reeves tells THR. “There will be a rogues gallery.”

The filmmaker says the casting process will begin shortly, and while the Warner Bros./DC film has no official release date, he could see it landing in late spring or summer 2021.

Reeves is remaining mum when asked if The Batman will feature villains new to the big screen or baddies audiences have seen before, but when pressed he did react to Josh Gad’s not-so-subtle Twitter teases that fans have interpreted as the actor lobbying to play the classic villain The Penguin.

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“We’re starting to put together our battle plan,” says Reeves of the process for casting his rogues gallery. “The studio has a definite shape in mind for when they see us doing it, and I think it’s aligning pretty well with what we’re thinking, too.”

Reeves’ pic will depart from previous big-screen iterations of Batman by zeroing in on the notion that he’s the world’s greatest detective.
“It’s very much a point-of-view-driven, noir Batman tale,” he says. “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.”

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Reeves’ Batman film comes at a time when Warner Bros. has been recalibrating its features to focus more on stand-alone projects rather than emphasizing a shared universe, a la Marvel Studios. The DC film universe saw Aquaman become its first $1 billion grosser earlier this month, and has Shazam! due out in April, The Joker opening in October and Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 slated for 2020. Each movie is billed as having a different style with distinct filmmakers behind them.
“That is what they’ve been talking about, and that’s the support that they have given me,” says Reeves.

Rob as The Riddler would be fabulous with his cheeky humour. Either way, as I mentioned, even if these rumours are just that rumours, it’s been great reading all the positive comments about Rob and his acting abilities. There’s too many for me to post each and every single one (you can always scroll through our Twitter feed to catch up on some of them).