The Batman Stuntman Reportedly Tests Positive for COVID-19

The Batman‘s production has reportedly suffered another coronavirus-related setback. According to The Sun, one of the film’s stuntmen tested positive for COVID-19. The stuntman is part of a bubble that includes nine other members of the production’s staff, all of whom will quarantine for 14 days and may not return to work until Christmas. This episode follows a six-month delay to filming in March due to the coronavirus pandemic’s onset, plus an additional two-week delay after star Robert Pattinson tested positive in September. Sources say that the film’s core cast is unaffected by the stuntman’s diagnosis but that filming certain stunt scenes will be pushed back until the infected crew recover.

Warner Bros. rescheduled The Batman’s release as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Director Matt Reeves remains confident in the process.

“It was going great,” Reeves said in an interview in April. “We shot about a quarter of the movie so far; we have three quarters to go. And when the time is right, and it’s safe to do so, we’ll return to it. It was a really exciting period to be exploring. Robert is a fantastic actor, and we have so many great actors in it! It’s been really, really exciting to go on this journey with them, and to feel like we are trying to do something different.”

Photos from The Batman‘s Chicago filming suggest the point in time that the film takes place. Shots of a motorcycle chase scene surfaced in October.

The Batman stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne. Zoë Kravitz is playing Selina Kyle, the cat burglar known as Catwoman, who is sometimes romantically entangled with Batman. Paul Dano is Edward Nashton, a version of The Riddler. John Turturro is Carmine Falcone, a Gotham crime boss, while Collin Farrell plays Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot, a.k.a. The Penguin.

Earlier this year, Pattinson talked about how he wants to push Batman to the character’s limits. “The only thing that’s more complicated is the rating,” he said. “As soon as you make something an R-rated movie, you’re freed up to do so much stuff. In terms of the character itself, I want to push it as far as it possibly can go. And I think Matt Reeves does as well. You can do crazy stuff with that part.”

Farrell recently discussed the film’s script. “I have been watching the Batman films with my kids, but this script is something that feels incredibly original,” he said. “It leans into it, but it doesn’t borrow; it’s born of the mythology of that character, Bruce Wayne, Batman, and Gotham. But it feels like a treatment and a version that I hadn’t seen before. Matt Reeves has done an incredible job of keeping it familiar and, at the same time, unique and new. It’s really exciting to be a part of it.”

The Batman opens in theaters on March 4, 2022.