10 July 2022
IndieWire picked up this little tidbit from Claire Denis’ recent interview with The Playlist below. I can’t believe I missed it.
“Denis revealed that they almost collaborated on a stage play. After speaking about her passion for working with actors, Denis was asked if she has considered directing theatre. Not only did she say yes, but she revealed that she was once developing a play that would have starred Pattinson.
“Yeah, I have thought about it,” Denis said. “There was a moment when I was talking about doing something like that with Robert, before he was our Batman.”
6 July 2022
The Playlist recently spoke to Claire Denis “at a tiny Upper East Side hotel to discuss her shyness about sex, the profound impact that Batman has had on the logistics of her next film” and Rob. This is what Claire had to say:
I’ve been looking forward to speaking again. We’ve sat down once before, for “High Life” after the premiere in Toronto back in 2018.
On that huge screen in that huge theater. Fuck me up. When I think of it, I was seated by Robert [Pattinson], and for me and Robert, that was like a nightmare. I told [Toronto International Film Festival CEO] Cameron [Bailey], “You cannot do that to film.”
…
Robert Pattinson was set for the lead role, but then he dropped out. How’d things play out there?
No one saw COVID coming, of course. The plan was he would finish “The Batman,” and I’d wait for him, and he’d be free by September of that year. That was good for me as well, because it would be the right season in Nicaragua. Then in one moment, COVID came, and Robert was working in London. I couldn’t even go and see him. Then Nicaragua went through a terrible thing: Daniel Ortega, the President, wasn’t supposed to re-present himself in the election. But he did, and he isolated Nicaragua even more. So there was an issue, I didn’t know what to do. And Robert was still in the middle of the Batman process at this point, which was a painful moment because I love both Robert Pattinson and Nicaragua a lot.
I was losing every part of the film, except for Margaret [Qualley]. Because she told me, “I’m waiting,” I decided I had to do this. Every morning, I’d wake up and say, “I quit.” But I’d think of Margaret, and she’s been waiting without complaining, so I kept on. I thought Panama could be our plan B, not totally sure. As soon as I could travel, I went to Panama, and at this time, Robert is still in London playing Batman. I must cast someone else, which at first made me feel like I was dying. But I did it! Because Margaret was still there.
28 May 2022
Claire Denis’ The Stars at Noon debuted at the Cannes Film Festival to mixed reviews. She told Reuters the reason why Rob had to drop out of starring in the film:
“The pandemic came and ‘The Batman’ shooting took him almost two years and Robert was very tired. He said ‘I can’t’. And then I was lucky, so lucky, that Joe was interested,” said Denis.
Thanks @Monsieur_HJ for heads up.
20 April 2022 – ComicBook.com
In an interview with ComicBook.com ahead of The Northman’s release, Eggers recalled learning from Pattinson that he was going to take on the Caped Crusader gig.
“When we were doing his ADR in London we had a drink afterward and he was like ‘I need to play Batman,'” Eggers explained, re-enacting Pattinson taking a breath and a sip while sharing the news. “And I was kinda like, ‘Okay, whatever man.'” Eggers, of course, watched the Matt Reeves-directed comic book film which starred his Lighthouse star and is giving it a seal of approval. “I think [Pattinson is] awesome, you know?” Eggers said. “And I also like give like major props to Matt Reeves for like keeping his authorial voice in making a comic book movie.”
11 April 2022 – The Observer
Robert Eggers mentioned seeing The Batman during his promo interview for The Northman with The Observer. This is what he had to say about Rob:
He doesn’t watch superhero films, having left them behind with the comics of his boyhood, though he recently made an exception for Matt Reeves’s mood-heavy The Batman, which impressed him: “I saw it really just because Rob [Pattinson] is my friend. But I liked it, and I learned a lot of stuff from it, frankly. I applaud Matt Reeves for keeping an identity and making a film like that. I can’t imagine. I guess I just made a big movie, but it’s not the same.”
Elvis Mitchell from KCRW recently interviewed Matt, you can listen to the podcast below. Here’s an extract of what Matt had to say about working with Rob:
KCRW: We’re talking about Robert Pattinson for those who missed the news. So often, he plays guys who don’t know what to do with their bodies. I don’t know what he’s like in real life. but it’s an interesting thing when you see him, not quite knowing how to stand in movies or where to stand next to people. And that way he has of acting really effective physical awkwardness and an inability to connect with people, that must have been a gift to have that to use.
Reeves: Not only is it a facet, obviously, of who he is, because obviously that’s partly him, but it’s something he’s in control of as well. One of the things I found so fascinating about working with him is he works in a way that feels almost like a method actor. And yet, you can see that he has great access to his emotions, and he puts himself into a state. But he’s also in incredible control of his instrument, the way he moves. It’s all very technical, and it’s very intentional. So I could say to him, I need this to be hotter, and he could access that very easily. [And I could say] but I also, because of this cowl and the way the light is hitting your eye, I need you to lean a little bit more to your left, because otherwise I won’t see your eye. And he could do both those things at once.
He had a tremendous ability to access his emotions, but also be in control of his movement, so all of that stuff is coming from a very internal place. But he has a tremendous facility with himself physically. He’s just very able to access all of that stuff, but also weirdly at the same time, while he can be out of control, he can also be incredibly in control in terms of how to calibrate his voice, the way he’s leaning, where he’s standing. And so all of those choices I think he’s making are on some level, very conscious, too, even though I know some of it has to be unconscious because it is coming from a very instinctual place.
Polygon spoke to Naomi Donne who did Rob’s makeup for The Batman. This is what Naomi had to say about Bruce Wayne’s smokey eyes:
The hero of Matt Reeves’ The Batman boldly does something none of his previous onscreen counterparts have done: When the cowl is off, he wears a heavy, smokey eye.
While Robert Pattinson’s darkly lined eyes certainly make for a compelling, unforgettable look, that aspect of his character design isn’t all about the aesthetic. (To be fair, it is a lot about the aesthetic.) The eye makeup has a practical purpose: Bruce Wayne needs to cover the area around his eyes in order to completely conceal his face while wearing his black cowl. Other actors playing Batman in live-action films usually also wore these raccoon eyes, but The Batman is the first to acknowledge that the illusion of darkness requires some cosmetic skills.
As makeup designer Naomi Donne tells Polygon, director Matt Reeves really wanted a makeup look that focused on how Batman looks immediately after taking off his costume.
“Matt was really keen that there were remains of [the eye makeup] when he took his cowl off,” she explains. “So we pushed that. We actually took the cowl off and looked at what was left, and we used that. It’s really hard to get black eye makeup off, and we used that.”
It was a process of trial and error, Donne says, to get that perfect blend of dark eye makeup that would look good, but also stay on. Between the film’s rainy setting, the sweaty costume, and the intense action scenes, they needed something with a lot of staying power. In the end, Batman’s perfectly calibrated emo look was a mixture of pigment, a creamy eyeliner, pencil, and a liquid paint makeup.
“And then,” she says, “to brighten it up, we used this lightly sparkly pigment to give it a bit of light, so that it reflected lights in the same way his Batsuit would’ve.”
While the dark eyeliner certainly brings to mind emo and goth subcultures, Donne says Reeves’ touchpoint for Batman’s look came from a different specific source: Kurt Cobain. Reeves previously revealed how the Nirvana singer inspired his take on the Caped Crusader, and how he leaned more on a tortured Bruce Wayne instead of a playboy millionaire. In fact, that connection led Reeves to cast Robert Pattinson. It makes natural sense that the deeper character threads tying Kurt Cobain and this version of Bruce Wayne would also extend to their visual aesthetics. After all, Cobain rocked the black-eyeliner look in the ‘90s — even if it wasn’t as messy as Bruce Wayne’s getup in the movie.
“I loved that at times it was very smudged and running down his face, and at times it was just a smokey eye. But at all times it was never clean. It always came from the remains of the cowl,” says Donne. “It was the way of Batman lingering in Bruce Wayne after he’s taken his costume off.”
But as much as we can wax on about the metaphors in eye makeup and how the lingering specter of Batman will forever haunt Bruce Wayne, Donne boils it all down to a universal truth: “It also looked dead sexy. Men in black eye makeup look really good.”
The Wrap recently spoke with The Batman cinematographer Greig Fraser. Note are spoilers in the article, but this is what Greg had to say in response to the camera test with Rob in the Batsuit:
I’m also curious about the camera tests with the Batsuit and figuring out how to lens it. I know someone has said – and maybe it was you — the two hardest things to light are the Batsuit and the Darth Vader helmet, and you’ve done both.
Yeah, I said that. I told Robert that. I think I said it to him apologetically as I was adjusting an eye light a millimeter at a time. And the poor guy standing there with this big leather suit on. So I think I felt really bad, having to say, “Hey man, I’m so sorry. I really want to see your eyes.” But it’s tricky because getting the light into the eyes, yet not putting too much on the cowl, is the balance. It’s a really hard balance to strike because when you over-light the cowl — I mean, listen, it’s a beautiful costume, of course. But if you over-light that cowl, it can lose some of the power, you know? It can lose some of its menace, and it doesn’t then feel like it’s servicing that story as well.
From Rappler:
The Filipino-American stunt choreographer shares his experience in training the lead stars of ‘The Batman’ for their elaborate fight scenes
…
Aside from being a trainer, Alonzo is also responsible for the other physical demands involved in the massive action sequences of the film. He is also a second unit director, which means he is responsible for shooting the supplemental footage that complements the original footage, like major shots involving stunts and transitions.
In an interview with Warner Bros., Pattinson, who stars as Bruce Wayne in the DC film, said he was completely prepared for the fight scenes because of the weeks of preparation with Alonzo.
“Rob [Alonzo] has a great style. You learn certain signature moves, which you can build into different patterns really quickly,” said Pattinson.
Kravitz, who has worked with Alonzo for most of her life, said that he and his team are incredible people.
“He (Alonzo) was really concerned about everything feeling grounded and being motivated by emotion, and that’s really great,” said Kravitz, who stars as Selina Kyle in the movie.
…
Read Full Article
