The Batman: Matt Reeves reacts to the Robert Pattinson backlash and why he chose Twilight star as caped crusader

The Batman is all set to return to screens to protect Gotham City from the serial killer Riddler (Dano), whose target is Gotham's elite. Fans of the DC superhero are excited to see the cape crusader fight the crimes in the new reboot of the film franchise again. But when the news of actor Robert Pattinson playing the superhero broke, it did not quite go down well with them. The actor and makers had faced severe backlash for their casting decisions. With the film nearing its release, the director opened up about the backlash and why he decided to have the Twilight actor as the batman. 

In an interview with Esquire, Reeves recalled how every actor has received backlash when they were announced as the Dark Knight and Pattinson did too. He said, “There has been no actor, when his announcement that he was going to be playing Batman in one of the feature films was announced, that has not received a backlash.” The director has made a fair point. Earlier, fans were not very happy when it was announced that Ben Affleck will play the role of Bruce Wayne in 2013. The fanbase initially expressed disappointment about Heath Ledger's casting as Joker too. The director adds the negative reactions could most possibly be because of the actor's big break in the Twilight movies. Pattinson is also known for his films like The Lighthouse and Tenet and Reeves said many took the news in the right and positive sense as they knew his work post Twilight. “The people who were excited, I knew it was because they knew Rob’s work post-Twilight. The people who weren’t excited, I knew it was because they didn’t know Rob’s work post-Twilight,” he told Esquire.

He further said why he decided to cast the actor as Batman. He said he wanted a younger man to play the role and while he was working on the movie, he happened to see the 2017 film Good Time and was impressed with Pattinson's performance. He said the actor conveyed the emotions that he wanted out of Batman. "I watched [the fantastic 2017 Safdie brothers film] Good Time, and I thought, ‘Okay, he’s got an inner kind of rage that connects with this character and a dangerousness, and I can feel this desperation.’ And I became dead-set on it being Rob. And I had no idea if Rob had any interest! Because, of course, he had done all of these indie movies after he established himself in Twilight,” he said. 

He also shared that when he met the actor to discuss the script and had a long conversation with him, he realised that he is a huge Batman fan himself. 

Earlier, Batman was portrayed by Ben Affleck in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2019). The superhero was also portrayed by Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. Robert Pattinson's The Batman is all set to release in theatres on March 4, 2022. The film also stars Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis and Colin Farrell.