The Batman: Robert Pattinson’s agent thought he only wanted to play ‘total freaks’ before first superhero audition

‘Twilight’ star said he was ‘aiming for quite different stuff’ when the part came up

Robert Pattinson has admitted that his desire to play Batman shocked his agents, who had assumed that the actor only wanted to portray “total freaks”.

The British actor will play the caped crusader in Matt Reeves’s forthcoming film – titled The Batman – which also stars Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright, Paul Dano, and Zoe Kravitz.

At the time of his casting as Batman, the former Twilight actor had moved away from the blockbusters that made him a star and was appearing in critically acclaimed indie films such as Good Time and The Lighthouse.

In a new interview with Total Film, Pattinson said that The Batman was the first superhero film he’d auditioned for and had come at a time when he was “aiming for quite different stuff”.

“Obviously it’s basically the jewel in the crown of the parts you can really get as an actor,” he said.

“But I’d never really thought I was anywhere close to doing it, and especially with the other parts I was attracted to at the time.”

Pattinson continued: “I just kept obsessively checking up on it for the next year or so. Even my agents were like, ‘Oh, interesting. I thought you only wanted to play total freaks?’ And I was like, ‘He is a freak.”

Last week, the actor clarified a joke he made about his Batman role back in 2020 that “really came back to haunt me”.

The actor had previously said that he was “barely doing anything” to physically prepare for the part, but said two years later that he’d downplayed it as “I just always think it’s really embarrassing to talk about how you’re working out”.

“I think it’s an English thing,” he added. “Unless you are in the most unbelievable shape where people are just genuinely curious, going, ‘How have you achieved, like, physical perfection?’ or whatever.”

The Batman is released in UK cinemas on 4 March.