While promoting the upcoming release of The Batman on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Robert Pattinson admitted that his original take on the iconic Caped Crusader’s voice was not a hit.
Pattinson is the latest in a string of revered actors to take on the task of playing one of DC’s most famous characters. Talking to Kimmel, he discusses how he was worried about what the reception to his portrayal of Batman would be like, with Kimmel joking, “there is nothing worse than being a bad Batman.” Pattinson responded, “well I don’t want to be remembered as the worst one and that’s what I get remembered for!” One issue that Pattinson did have whilst trying to make the character his own was his approach to the voice.
“I wanted to do a radically different thing to all the Batmen, cause everyone always does this gruff gravelly thing and I’m like, I’m gonna do the opposite – I’m gonna go really whispery. I tried to do it for the fist two weeks and it just looked absolutely atrocious, and they told me to stop doing it.”
What Pattinson found interesting was that his predecessor, Christian Bale, had also tried the exact same thing in his first few weeks on Batman Begins, telling Kimmel, “If you listen to the first teaser trailer for Batman Begins you can hear the original voice.” Pattinson did end up scrapping this “radically different” voice and eventually ended up in that lower register that we have come to associate with the character, “you can feel when it feels right” he says, “you put the suit on, and you have to speak in a certain way.”
This will be the first big franchise that Pattinson has worked on since his role in the Twilight Saga franchise. He will be starring alongside Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis and Paul Dano.
The Batman swoops into theaters next month.