Robert Pattinson on Preparing for Batman: “Lots of Things Going on in My Head”

Robert Pattinson admitted he has to lean into “different iterations of vague” when asked about The Batman, where Pattinson is the next actor to step into the cape and cowl of the Dark Knight.

“There’s a lot going on in here, lots of things going on in my head,” Pattinson told TheWrap with a laugh when asked about his mental preparation for the role during the Toronto International Film Festival, where Pattinson is promoting black-and-white horror The Lighthouse.

Pattinson has said little about the Matt Reeves-directed Batman during TIFF: the star laughed off questions about the secretive project after admitting to Variety he’s “so used to pretty art-house movies, where you can watch the movie three times and still not know what it’s about.”

Early reports said Pattinson will star as the caped crusader across a movie trilogy, but Pattinson won’t yet confess the number of movies he’s committed to in his first franchise since Twilight.

“I don’t know anything,” Pattinson said. “I’ve got an idea how to do about four scenes, and then I’m working on the rest gradually.”

But the role — which is “actually an interesting part,” Pattinson said, noting the crimefighter “doesn’t have any superpowers” — is one Pattinson pursued, despite having “some fear” going down the blockbuster moviemaking path after the five-movie Twilight saga.

“I’d had Batman in my mind for a while,” Pattinson told Variety. “It’s such an absurd thing to say. I sort of had an idea to do it, and I’d been prodding Matt. He didn’t accept any prods. I kept asking to meet him.”

After Pattinson’s prodding, Reeves only met with his eventual leading man after completing his script.

“And then I had to kind of try to imagine what he’d written, and I hadn’t even read the script,” Pattinson said. “I’d come with this pad full of notes.”

Though Pattinson won’t confirm or deny if The Batman is a detective story, Reeves has openly described the project as one centered on a fresher Batman who must utilize his world-famous sleuthing skills to solve a mystery taking him out into the seedy streets of Gotham City.

Described by Reeves as a “noir-driven definitive Batman story,” reported plot details that have recently surfaced say Batman will investigate when Gotham citizens “start dying in strange ways,” forcing Batman “deep into the dark world of Gotham.” Batman will have to unlock a “mystery/conspiracy connected to Gotham City’s history and criminals,” bringing him into conflict with an already established rogues gallery of villains that includes Catwoman and Penguin.

The Batman is set for June 25, 2021.