In addition to the pressures of bringing an iconic character to life inThe Batman, starRobert Pattinsonhad to learn how to act and move in a Batsuit that wasn’t always conducive to airflow, small spaces or wide fields of vision.
“It must have been about 10 months before I first put on the suit,” he tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I did a screen test in George Clooney’s suit and it was terrifying because it was absolutely boiling hot and [I was] pouring sweat. I sweat a lot anyway, and this is just like a torrent coming out the whole time. And I thought that was what it’s going to be like when I was shooting the movie. I’d been thinking, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I need to get some Botox in my sweat glands or something because otherwise there’s absolutely no way of doing this movie.”
Pattinson, 35, says he was relieved to find out there had been some beneficial design changes to his suit when he finally got to put it on.
“It was just so nice. And it was so incredibly well designed,” he says. “First of all, it looked so cool. Normally all the Batsuits are these pristine superhero suits, these latex, or rubber suits. And this was like a dusty soldier’s suit with bullet grazes in it and gashes all over it. And the bat symbol has tons of scratches and wear. There’s little blood stains on it and things, I really wasn’t particularly expecting that. And then I put it on and it felt so well articulated. You look in the mirror and it’s completely transformative. I mean, you suddenly [feel] 10 times the size.”
Robert Pattinson inThe Batman(2022).Jonathan Olley/Warner Bros.
Where actors who’ve previously played the Caped Crusader have had issues with ventilation and design, Pattison said he mainly had trouble getting in and out of smaller spaces due to the size of some of the suit’s features.
“The main thing was the shoulders and also the neck. Because I could technically get out of my clothes, but I couldn’t see where anything was,” he says.
CostarZoë Kravitz, who plays Catwoman/Selina Kyle in the film, says she observed many of those moments herself.
“I remember watching you try and put things in your pockets,” she says.
“And then try and turn around, you get trapped in rooms,” says Pattinson. “You could get in, but you couldn’t get out without going backwards.”
Adds Kravitz: “You had to reverse and try from a different angle.”
In addition to mastering certain movement in the Batsuit, Pattinson says landing the role has given him some extra cachet with a few friends.
“My friend Kurt was one person who, I don’t understand how he managed to see, but there was like an early tweet [with the news] and he must have seen it. I was like, ‘Do you have Google alerts on my name?’ Because he must have called me up within seconds.'
Quips Kravitz: “You’re like, ‘Are you obsessed with me?'”
“I could not believe how excited he was,” says Pattinson. “He’s definitely asked me the most about it.”
The Batmanflies into theaters March 4.
source: people.com
