Robert Pattinson has shared the worst day he had shooting The Batman, and it wasn’t the day his eyeliner ran. In a recent Q&A, via Screen Rant, Pattinson opened up about the challenges that come with acting while wearing a heavy leather cowl that covers half your face.
Matt Reeves, director of The Batman, backed him up, saying the decision to make emotions visible through the mask was a “terrible mistake” because of how hard it was for Pattinson to walk the thin line between expressing himself and chewing the scenery like a hungry beaver. Pattinson, in particular, admitted to getting very frustrated with Reeves asking him for “more”.
“That was maybe the worst day of the whole shoot, because I really, genuinely thought it was [Reeves] that was wrong,” said Pattinson. “And then I was like, ‘How can we be doing 40 takes?’ And then you’re like, ‘Just come and look at it.’ And I was looking at it, and I go, ‘Wow, I just look like — there’s nothing.'”
Reeves admitted that showing actors their work on the monitor is something he likes to do as it helps them understand what he’s asking for.
“One of the things I love to do when I’m working with actors is say, ‘Well, come take a look,'” Reeves explained. “[Pattinson would] be like, ‘How can that not be enough? I’m overacting. It’s ridiculous.’ And I’d say, ‘Come take a look, Rob.’ He’d go, ‘Oh, you can’t see my eyes.’
This isn’t the first time Batman’s cowl has got in the way of an actor’s performance. The heavy rubber hood Michael Keaton wore for Tim Burton’s Batman movie forced him to turn his entire body just to look left or right. Christian Bale had a similar problem until The Dark Knight, when the costume team finally designed a suit with a full range of human motion.
If you love the DCEU and its comic book action movies, then check out our guides on Aquaman 2 and The Flash.