It is being reported that Matt Reeves and Warner Brothers might be close to announcing who will take on the role of Batman in its upcoming movies, beginning with Reeves’ ‘The Batman’, and it may be a higher-profile actor than expected. Earlier, up-and-comers like Jack Reynor, Alexander Ludwig, Jack O’Connell, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been mentioned, but now comes word that WB has narrowed its choices down to Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult. Deadline reports that “several sources” state that these two are on the list, so there may be additional actors under consideration. However, Variety says that Pattinson is actually in talks, making him pretty much a lock. As their report states: “While sources say it’s not yet a done deal, Pattinson is the top choice and it’s expected to close shortly. Warner Bros. had no comment.”
Obviously, Pattinson is best known for playing Edward, the lead vampire in the ‘Twilight Saga‘. Coincidentally, he is signed on to star in a film from Christopher Nolan, who directed the previous ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy. Since ‘Twilight’, Pattinson has purposefully avoided major franchises, choosing smaller projects that showed his range as a serious actor, like ‘Remember Me’, ‘Queen of the Desert’, and ‘The Lost City of Z’. His most recent movie, ‘The Lighthouse’ is in black and white and co-stars Willem Dafoe, and will debut at the Cannes Film Festival.
Hoult may be best known for playing a different superhero, Marvel’s The Beast, part of Fox’s ‘X-Men’ franchise. The final film in that series, ‘Dark Phoenix’ arrives in theaters on June 7. Hoult can currently be seen in biopic ‘Tolkien’. Last year, he co-starred in the award-winning film ‘The Favourite’. He has also appeared in ‘About a Boy’, ‘A Single Man’, ‘Clash of the Titans’, ‘Warm Bodies’, ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’, and ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. Hoult was actually previously rumored to be up for this role.
If either is cast as Batman, this will mark the second time a British actor has embodied the role, following Christian Bale.
‘The Batman’, which Reeves also wrote, is set during the early days of Bruce Wayne’s career as a crime fighter. It is expected to begin production late this year or in 2020.
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