Robert Pattinson Felt "Powerful" Trying On The Batsuit

There's nothing so powerful as not being able to turn your head. Robert Pattinson learned that when he first tried on Batman's iconic Batsuit for Warner Bros. executives ahead of his starring turn in Matt Reeves' highly anticipated superhero movie The Batman. But despite experiencing "someone squeezing my butt cheeks into the legs," Pattinson couldn't deny the "transformative" power of the Batsuit.

In an in-depth interview with Variety, Pattinson described leaving the standing ovation and rave reviews for his performance in the Robert Eggers psychological thriller The Lighthouse in Cannes, and flying back to Los Angeles to put on a (bat) show for a group of Warner Bros. executives. It was a dramatic difference for Pattinson, but no less powerful — once he got over the "humiliating" experience of actually getting into the suit:

"You do feel very powerful immediately. And it's pretty astonishing, something that is incredibly difficult to get into, so the ritual of getting into it is pretty humiliating. You've got five people trying to shove you into something. Once you've got it on, it's like, 'Yeah I feel strong, I feel tough, even though I had to have someone squeezing my butt cheeks into the legs.'"

But Pattinson, who has wrestled with cowboys in Damsel, the existential horrors of science in High Life, and his own self-destructive actions in Good Time, said that it was stepping into the literal boots of the Caped Crusader that was "maybe the craziest thing I've ever done in terms of movie stuff."

"I put it on," he said, describing the moment. "I remember saying to Matt, 'It does feel quite transformative!' He was like, 'I would hope it does!!! You're literally in the Batsuit.'"

It's unclear yet whether this is a mock-up Batsuit or the final version that Pattinson will wear in the film. But Pattinson remains an inspired choice to play the hero of Matt Reeves' The Batman, which has been described as a noir-inspired mystery thriller that introduces a younger Dark Knight than the one most recently played by Ben Affleck in 2017's Justice League. The film is being written and directed by Reeves, and shot by Rogue One DP Greig Fraser.

The Batman swoops into theaters on June 25, 2021.