Kurt Cobain, ‘The Godfather’ influenced Robert Pattinson’s performance in ‘The Batman’

PTI, Mar 7, 2022, 5:26 PM IST

Los Angeles: Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone from ”The Godfather” and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain were two of the biggest influences for Hollywood star Robert Pattinson in portraying his version of the Caped Crusader in Matt Reeves critically-acclaimed ”The Batman”.

One of the most revisited and explored characters in the comic book canon, Batman has been portrayed by some of the biggest names in Hollywood, right from George Clooney to Ben Affleck but only a few stand out, most notably Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne aka Batman in the Christopher Nolan’s trilogy: ”The Batman Begins”, ”The Dark Knight” and ”The Dark Knight Rises”.

When Pattinson’s name was announced as the new Batman, the ”Twilight” star faced a lot of trolling which the actor said did not surprise him. “I was actually mocked less than I usually am. I was quite shocked. ‘Only 70 per cent negative? A-plus!’” Pattinson, who has mostly balanced his early mainstream success with outings in art-house movies such as ”Good Time”, ”Cosmopolis” and ”The Lighthouse”, told The Los Angeles Times in an interview.

The 35-year-old actor was cast in the role after the exit of Hollywood star Ben Affleck, who played the character in ”Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and later in the controversial ”Justice League”.

Affleck, who like Pattinson faced a lot of backlash, decided to step down as director, writer and the star of ”The Batman” eventually, following which Reeves joined as the director of the mega project from Warner Bros. Pattinson and Reeves wanted to bring a fresh approach to the character that has been a part of the pop culture for 80 years.

The actor said Cobain and ”The Godfather” helped him understand the psyche of Bruce Wayne, who is born into a rich family but is an essentially tormented guy.

”In our first meeting, Matt mentioned Kurt Cobain was one of the linchpins of the character. Just that put something in my head. There’s something about this kind of self-imposed torment that I always found really interesting and also inheriting a life that you’re not entirely sure you want but also feel like you cannot give up at all. I remember we also talked a lot about Michael Corleone,” Pattinson said in the interview.

Elaborating on his lead star’s Bruce Wayne, Reeves, who also sat down for the interview with the actor, said, the Batman is a character ”who essentially is stunted”. ”He’s sort of stuck emotionally at being 10 years old, and that’s exacerbated by the fact that he has this safety net of being incredibly rich. But he chooses to do this very brave, daring, reckless, almost suicidal thing, trying (to) make meaning out of his life by going out and taking the law into his own hands,” the director added.

”The Batman”, also starring Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Colin Farrell, Jeffery Wright, John Turturro, and Andy Serkis, released last week.