23 May 2022
I realised I read this interview last week and omitted to update this post with the kind words James had to say about Rob with Collider:
From your perspective on the making of the movie, what do you think Batman fans would be surprised to learn in terms of the behind the scenes in your area of expertise?
CHINLUND: I think that Rob Pattinson is an incredibly nice guy. Damn, what a gentleman and what a hard worker. He just brought it every day. So on that level, I think he deserves the cape. He worked so hard …
8 March 2022
From Insider:
Robert Pattinson got to find out firsthand just how fast the Batmobile could go in “The Batman.“
According to the movie’s production designer James Chinlund, Pattinson, who plays Batman in the movie that chronicles year two of Bruce Wayne being the Dark Knight of Gotham, spent a lot of time behind the wheel of the Batmobile doing his own driving.
“Rob put it through its paces,” he told Insider. “He was out there working it out for sure. He got it to some top speeds, he was heavily involved in his stunt-driving work.”
But what exactly is “top speeds”? Insider contacted the movie’s special effects supervisor, Dominic Tuohy, who was in charge of the Batmobile build. He said with its powerful Chevy V8 627 horse power engine, the Batmobile easily got up to 100 MPH.
Chinlund said a “pod car” was also used a lot to film the Batmobile scenes. In that instance, a cockpit is rigged to the roof of the Batmobile where a stunt driver controls the car’s steering. So though it looks like Pattinson is driving if the camera is focused on him, above the car it’s the stunt driver doing all the work.
Chinlund added that along with the Batmobile being fast, it’s also nimble.
“It can jump, go on two wheels, do burnouts. So for me as a Batman fan, to see a car that actually drives — and that was [director] Matt [Reeves]’ initial goal from day one — the movie has one of the most visceral chases they’ve ever experienced in a ‘Batman’ movie,” he said.
And if like me you’ve seen The Batman and the car chase with the Penguin is one of your favourite scenes, you can read more at Aframe: The Batman’: Breaking Down the Sound and Fury that Brought the Batmobile to Life.
From Greig Fraser (Cinematographer) to The Wrap:
The cinematographer said that they only crafted shots with a motivation toward Bruce’s point of view, which is why one of the most stunning sequences – a car chase between Robert Pattinson’s Batman and Colin Farrell’s Penguin – is so thrilling. “We need to make sure that we were strapped to those cars,” Fraser said of the POV-driven approach to the sequence. “We need to be on those cars, in those cars, through the windshield, through the back window.”
