The Batman Director on Initial Reactions to Robert Pattinson’s Casting

Before Robert Pattinson was gearing up to fight in the streets of Gotham, he was probably best known for being a sparkling vampire in the Twilight films. While some people still have no faith in Pattinson’s upcoming turn as the Dark Knight, director Matt Reeves tries to explain his choice when it came to casting.

Talking to Esquire, Reeves explained:

“There has been no actor, when his announcement that he was going to be playing Batman in one of the feature films was announced, that has not received a backlash… The people who were excited, I knew it was because they knew Rob’s work post-Twilight. The people who weren’t excited, I knew it was because they didn’t know Rob’s work post-Twilight.”

Though Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck may be praised for their versions of Batman now, fans can remember a time when there was a lot of negativity surrounding the announcement. Even Affleck has a story when he was seeing first reactions to his casting:

Going back to Pattinson though, Reeves does have a point when he says that Pattinson has been doing great work post-Twilight; he particularly mentions the film Good Time, explaining, “he’s got an inner kind of rage that connects with this character and a dangerousness, and I can feel this desperation. And I became dead-set on it being Rob.”

While there are still some fans who want Affleck to come back, Reeves new take on Batman looks like something we haven’t seen on the screen before. Fingers crossed that Pattinson and the rest of the cast knock this movie out of the park.

Catch The Batman when it hits theaters on March 4.