Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz on Character Complexity in 'The Batman'

Batman, the alter ego of reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne, has been a complex character since his DC Comics debut in 1939. The Gotham City vigilante has been portrayed on the silver screen by A-list actors like Michael Keaton, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck, and now Robert Pattinson is bringing new life to the franchise in the upcoming Warner Bros. film The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves.

“The Batman is such a feat of craftsmanship,” Pattinson told HYPEBEAST. “Matt has really destroyed himself over the last five years with [this film].”

Reeves, who first began penning the script with Peter Craig in 2017, set his take on the legendary character in the second year of his vigilante career as Batman. Drawing inspiration from comics including Year One (1987) and Zero Year (2013), the filmmaker devised a plot that incorporates several characters from across the DC mythos — including Selina Kyle, or Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), The Penguin (Colin Farrell) and The Riddler (Paul Dano), to name a few — while managing to offer up an entirely new storyline.

“The tiny in-between human moments, it’s all equally as important.”

“Matt is incredible,” Kravitz said. “He cares so much about the story that he’s telling, and he is so detail-oriented. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a director who pays so much attention to detail. Especially with a film of this size, it can be so easy to focus on the big action sequences, but he really does pay just as much attention to what is happening emotionally to the characters, the tiny in-between human moments, it’s all equally as important.”

The film follows Pattinson’s caped crusader, who is tasked with striking fear into the hearts of vicious criminals posing a threat to Gotham City’s elite. Working alongside a force of trusted allies, which includes Alfred Pennyworth, played by Andy Serkis, and Lt. James Gordon, played by Jeffrey Wright, Batman must investigate a trail of clues left behind by a ruthless killer. While unmasking the culprit, he encounters familiar faces — Catwoman, The Penguin and The Riddler — in the underworld.

“There’s an element of narcissism [in Batman], which was really interesting to work out.”

Pattinson, who previously said that playing the role of Batman was “by far the hardest thing [he's] ever done,” was challenged with crafting a fresh identity for the character by understanding the multi-faceted and intersecting identities of both Bruce Wayne and Batman, whose heroism is shadowed by a dark history.

“It’s interesting trying to dissect his certainty of thinking like, ‘I am the sole arbiter of justice in this city,’” Pattison said of playing the titular character. “And trying to figure out the direct line to his past and what he was born into and what he was struggling with — his inheritance, both with his wealth and also the moral standing that his parents held in the city. There’s an element of narcissism, which was really interesting to work out.”

Catwoman has a similar duality as both Batman’s enduring enemy and well-known love interest, though Kravitz’s take sees the character in an antiheroine role, in which she often finds herself at the center of trouble — for mostly-good reasons.

“Catwoman, in general, is such a wonderfully multi-dimensional character and it’s so rare that we get to see those layers of a woman in any film, but specifically in a film of this size.”

“And I’m not the first black woman to play Catwoman, which I love,” Kravitz said, referencing iconic performances by Eartha Kitt and Halle Barry, alongside other actresses.

Kravitz also praised the character’s strength and power. “I love the fact that we get to see a woman who is powerful, but also very feminine and very vulnerable at the same time,” she added. “I think a really important thing for women to remember is that to be powerful doesn’t mean we have to imitate masculine power.”

The Batman, which will clock in as the longest film in the franchise’s history at two hours and 55 minutes, is scheduled to premiere in theaters on March 4. Check out the latest trailer ahead of the movie’s debut.

Elsewhere in entertainment, Spider-Man: No Way Home has dropped a trailer for an 80-minute extended cut.