Robert Pattinson is in negotiations to play Batman, aka Bruce Wayne, in The Batman, the latest movie reboot of the popular DC Comics superhero, BuzzFeed News has confirmed.
The film will be written and directed by Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes), and is expected to open in June 2021.
On Friday, Variety reported that Pattinson “is officially” Batman, but a spokesperson for Warner Bros. told BuzzFeed News the casting is “in negotiations.”
After launching his career as Cedric Diggory in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Pattison became a global heartthrob after he was cast as the dashing vampire Edward in the Twilight series. Since that franchise concluded in 2012, however, Pattison has spent the better part of the decade pursuing a series of character-driven roles in smaller, often independent productions, including the 2016 biographical adventure drama The Lost City of Z, the gritty 2017 crime thriller Good Time, this year’s sci-fi art film High Life, and the period drama The Lighthouse, which just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
With The Batman, Pattinson joins the rarefied troupe of leading men who have also put on the Dark Knight’s cape and cowl, including Michael Keaton (for 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns), Val Kilmer (for 1995’s Batman Forever), George Clooney (for 1997’s Batman & Robin), and Christian Bale (for the Dark Knight trilogy spanning from 2005 to 2012).
Most recently, Ben Affleck played the Caped Crusader for 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and 2017’s Justice League. Affleck was initially attached to direct and star in The Batman, but he left the project and Reeves stepped in.
It remains unclear whether Reeves’ film will connect with the ongoing loosely connected cinematic universe of DC Comics characters launched by Batman v Superman. The next installment in that series, Wonder Woman 1984, is scheduled to open June 2020.