File this under the biggest “Maybe” you can find.
Ever since a new Batman movie was announced, all eyes have been on who would play the baddies.
We are fully on board for Robert Pattinson as The Batman – handsome, broody, great actor, so it’ll 100% work – but if they don’t pair him with good actors as great villains, then it’ll all crash and burn.
A few months ago, it was reported that the two villains had been chosen, with one of the casting decisions close to being confirmed.
However, a recent profile on Pattinson by Variety may have offered up some new details that disproves those rumours.
During the lengthy interview, he discusses some of his upcoming projects, including mind-bending horror The Lighthouse, as well as epic sci-fi action thriller Tenet, which is directed by Christopher Nolan, the man behind The Dark Knight Trilogy.
When asked by the interviewer how many Batman movies he’s signed up for, Pattinson replies “I don’t know anything. I’ve got an idea how to do about four scenes, and then I’m working on the rest gradually.”
Then something interesting happens, which Variety describes as following:
At one point in our conversation, he offers a mundane comment about Joaquin Phoenix, who stars in Joker (a movie he hasn’t seen yet), before asking to retract it. “Oh shit,” he says, adding that he’s not accustomed to thinking about spoilers. “I definitely should not say that. I’m so used to pretty art-house movies, where you can watch the movie three times and still not know what it’s about.”
Now… did Pattinson just reveal that Phoenix will be staying on as Joker in his Batman movie, but then asked for that to be retracted?
Up until now, it was stated that Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker movie was a one-and-done movie, not to be tied into the rest of the DC Movie Universe as it stands.
If he hasn’t seen the Joker movie, then he can’t have spoiled anything about that movie, so there doesn’t seem to be too many alternatives as to what Pattinson thinks might be spoiler’y.
Having said that, Joker is set in the 1980s, and from all accounts, The Batman is set in the present day, so if Phoenix is returning to the role, it will require some heavy special effects and/or make-up to age him realistically.
If Phoenix is returning, considering the incredible reviews he has received in the early festival screenings of the movie, then we are 100% in support of this, too.
The Batman is due to arrive in Irish cinemas in June 2021, while the final trailer for Joker was released last week, and Phoenix’s turn as the maniacal clown will hit Irish cinemas on Friday 4 October this year.
Clip via Warner Bros. Pictures
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