LOS ANGELES — When director Matt Reeves announced he had tapped Robert Pattinson to play Batman in his much-anticipated franchise reboot in 2019, fans from every corner of the internet immediately began sharpening their knives.
Never mind that Pattinson had spent years taking a sledgehammer to his tween-heartthrob image in a series of unglamorous arthouse roles, from a small-time bank robber in the grungy "Good Time" to a lonely 19th century lighthouse keeper in the hallucinatory "The Lighthouse." For many, the idea of the one-time "Twilight" vampire tackling one of the superhero canon's most iconic characters in "The Batman," which opens Friday, seemed like a potential bat-astrophe in the making.
Pattinson took the initial backlash in stride. "I was actually mocked less than I usually am," the actor, seated alongside Reeves, said over Zoom on a recent afternoon. He laughed. "I was quite shocked. 'Only 70% negative? A-plus!' "
