Robert Pattinson embraces darkness in ‘The Batman’ trailer

Los Angeles, Aug 23 (IANS) Filmmaker Matt Reeves has unveiled the first trailer of his film, The Batman, which shows actor Robert Pattinson taking on the avatar of the caped crusader for vengeance.

The teaser shows a new dark, gritty, and violent take on the iconic superhero. The footage plays against a haunting version of Nirvana’s “Something in the way”.

Reeves also shared he hasn’t traced the origin of the superhero in his movie.

“It’s about the early days of him being Batman and he’s very far from being perfect,” Reeves said unveiling the trailer at the DC FanDome virtual event.

“One of the things that are interesting is learning how to be Batman. It’s a criminological experiment. He’s trying to figure out what he can do to change this place. He’s seeing he’s not having any of the effect he wants to have. That’s when the murders start to happen… and it opens up a whole new world of corruption. Without being an origin tale, it ends up touching on his origins.

“It’s a detective story, a mystery, it’s got, of course, action, and it’s incredibly personal for him. He’s kind of a growing legend and (criminals) are afraid of him. He’s not a symbol of hope yet. One of the things he has to deal with is how he’s perceived… What was exciting for me was not doing the origin (story) but to meet him in the middle and to see him make mistakes and grow and fail and be heroic in a way that felt very human and very flawed,” he added.

The first glimpse made it clear that Pattinson’s version of Bruce Wayne is a little more unkempt and a little more goth. The trailer also introduces Jeffrey Wright’s James Gordon and Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman, while Andy Serkis can be heard as Alfred. It also revealed the first full look of Pattinson in the Batsuit and driving the Batmobile, and gives a glimpse of Batman’s brutal approach to fighting crime.

“I never even imagined… that I would do genre movies, because I loved certain kind of movies that are character-based,” Reeves said, adding, “What excited me, and the thing I related to, is he isn’t a superhero in the traditional sense… so the idea of being that driven by your past… he’s a very alive character… it’s about the early days… he is so far from being perfect… I felt like that was a way to do something that hadn’t been done.”

Talking about the characters, Reeves shared, “Ace Paul Dano plays a version of the Riddler that no one has ever seen before. What he’s doing is, I think, going to blow people’s minds… It’s always about trying to square what you know with what is new.”

“Selena isn’t Catwoman. It’s part of the journey. The whole movie is like a snowball rolling. You can feel the momentum,” he added.

The director revealed that the people of Gotham will fear Batman in the story.

“Because it’s still early and because he is a vigilante, which means he takes the law into his own hands — I mean, if you were in a city, and there was a guy who dressed up as a bat, and showed up out of the shadows and sometimes confronted those people and beat them up because he felt what they were doing was wrong so that he could put the fear of God in them about the crimes that they’re committing, I think we would wonder, ‘Well, gee, that, that guy sounds a little dangerous’,” he said.

Opening up about Pattinson’s process in becoming the superhero, the director shared, “The thing about Robert Pattinson is he is an incredible actor. I feel like the work that he’s done in the last, I don’t know, six years has been incredible. A friend of mine made a movie called ‘Lost City of Z’ and Rob appeared in that movie. It was like, ‘Who is that guy?’ He had such charisma. And he, Rob, in the movie, has this incredible beard and you’re like, ‘Who is that?’ And it’s Rob! And Rob in The Rover and Rob in Good Time. He is like a chameleon. He’s just such a gifted actor, and he’s been working on his craft in this really incredible way.”

“He also happens to be a tremendous, passionate fan of Batman the way that I am. It was an incredible thing to be able to connect with him and to share our excitement about the character and to work with him. He looks like Batman, but more than anything, he has the soul of someone that can play a Batman like you’ve never seen before,” he added.

“The Batman” is scheduled for release on October 1, 2021.

–IANS

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