How Twilight Star Robert Pattinson Became Batman

While surprising at first, vampiric heartthrob Robert Pattinson (Twilight, High Life) is officially the Dark Knight. With news that Pattinson will lead a trilogy of Batman films, how he landed the role was "quicker than normal," according to a Warner Bros. insider.

In a Hollywood Reporter post, director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) had a few actors in mind when penning the script. Among those actors was 33-year-old Pattinson, who has since disappeared into smaller movies after stealing teenage hearts in the Twilight series of the late 2000s. The Batman's script called for a Bruce Wayne in his 30s. The story would focus more on how Wayne becomes the genius detective he is, instead of rehashing his origin story or displaying his later years as a grizzled crimefighter.

And so, according to sources familiar with Reeves and his thinking, the American director was attracted to Pattinson because the English actor deliberately sought out more lowkey roles in lesser-known movies. Despite ultimately winning the role as the Caped Crusader, Pattinson still had competition.

Reeves was also considering 29-year-old Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class, The Favourite), who's most known as the furry blue Beast in the X-Men franchise. THR notes that nothing prohibits Marvel actors from appearing in DC/Warner Bros. pictures and vice versa, but the cross-pollination could cause confusion between branding and characters. Though Hoult wasn't eliminated because of this potential issue, what seems to have secured Pattinson the role as Batman was how convincing he was in the suit during screen tests.

Both Hoult and Pattinson put on a previous Batman suit, common in the Bat-test--Christian Bale wore Val Kilmer's Batman Forever suit before landing Batman Begins--and what Reeves was looking for were answers to a series of questions: Did they embody the character? How did their eyes look and act? Is there a specialness to them?

As one insider put it, "(Reeves) wanted very specific things. He knew what he was looking for."

The Batman is scheduled to hit theatres on June 25, 2021.