Robert Pattinson: Batman Backlash Was “Less Aggressive” Than Reactions to Twilight Role

March 6, 2022, 12:05am

The Batman star Robert Pattinson says online backlash to being cast as a rebooted Batman was “less aggressive” than reactions to his Twilight Saga role as Edward Cullen. After a guest-starring role in the fourth Harry Potter film in 2005, Pattinson sunk his teeth into franchise stardom as a heartthrob vampire in young adult hit Twilight. Between 2008 and 2012, Pattinson played Edward opposite Kristen Stewart’s Bella in five films adapted from author Stephenie Meyer’s romantic fantasy novels — a worldwide phenomenon on the page and the screen. Like Batman predecessors Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck, both met with negative reactions before donning the cape and cowl of the Dark Knight, Pattinson’s casting sparked a frenzy in 2019.

“It was less aggressive than when I got cast in Twilight. Which is strange because no one even knew who I was,” Pattinson told MTV News of the role Meyer once envisioned for future Superman actor Henry Cavill. “That was literally off of one photo, and they were like, ‘Absolutely not!’ (Laughs) That was way more painful.”

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On the mostly-positive reception to his playing Batman, Pattinson said, “I was quite surprised, there was a kind of weirdly positive reaction. I think it’s because it was so left field.”

In the years after Twilight, Pattinson found acclaim from collaborations with auteur filmmakers like David Cronenberg (Cosmopolis), the Safdie Brothers (Good Time), and Robert Eggers (The Lifehouse). Director Matt Reeves, who handpicked Pattinson for The Batman, was drawn to the actor by his versatile performances in such films as The Lost City of Z and The Rover.

“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,” Reeves recently told Esquire. “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.”

Starring Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell, The Batman is now playing exclusively in movie theaters.

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