Alongside the reveal of two new images, The Batman director Matt Reeves has said Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne is inspired by Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.
The Batman is part of Empire Magazine's "Huge 2022 Preview" issue, and it includes two brand new images of Robert Pattinson with and without the iconic Batsuit. The images come accompanied with some words from Reeves, who shared how this connection to the late Nirvana lead singer and guitarist came to be.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE IMAGES ALERT 🚨
— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) December 18, 2021
Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne in #TheBatman is inspired by Kurt Cobain, says director Matt Reeves.
Read more and see TWO brand new images: https://t.co/buUfNEeRC4 pic.twitter.com/MZKCyJ05dr
“When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s ‘Something In The Way’,” Reeves said. “That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse. So I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant’s Last Days, and the idea of this fictionalised version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor.”
Reeves also discussed how he knew Pattinson was right for the job after seeing his performance in the Safdie Brothers' Good Time.
"In that movie you could really feel his vulnerability and desperation, but you could also feel his power,” Reeves said of Pattinson. “I thought that was a great mix. He’s also got that Kurt Cobain thing, where he looks like a rock star, but you also feel like he could be a recluse.”
Empire's #TheBatman issue – with two collectible covers – hits newsstands in the UK on Thursday 23 December.
— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) December 18, 2021
Or, you can order a copy of either cover online here: https://t.co/pJLGxmlEVa pic.twitter.com/iiyfuIvXSc
With a different Bruce Wayne also comes a different Batman, and this film will see our favorite Dark Knight with "fewer of the flashy gadgets afforded by Lucius Fox in the Nolan trilogy, and a more home-spun, self-constructed edge."
"Bruce has been hiding away,” says Pattinson. “He’s not really a socialite at all. He’s building all these little contraptions and things, just with Alfred. And even Alfred thinks he’s gone insane!”
This change will also be seen in his Batsuit, which looks much worse for wear than we usually see in Batman films.
"He’s been out every single night for two years, getting beaten up and shot and stabbed and burnt, and it shows,” Pattinson explains. “There’s a bullet graze on the cowl, right at the beginning. I don’t think that’s been done before.”
For more, check out The Batman's latest Japanese trailer, the film's synopsis that reveals Year Two details, and 5 reasons why Pattinson's Batman might just be the craziest yet.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
