New Batman casting went right down to the wire

We all know that Robert Pattinson was cast as the new Batman but it was a pretty close casting process.

The actor was up against fellow Brit Nicholas Hoult for the role in Matt Reeves’ The Batman reboot and it came right down to the wire.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Reeves was keen on both Pattinson and Hoult, both of which he met in April, but had a slight preference for the former because of his recent work in High Life and Good Time.

He also didn’t have the baggage of previously appearing in another superhero franchise, while Hoult plays Beast (AKA Hank McCoy) in the X-Men series and will be in cinemas this week in Dark Phoenix.

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“Execs believe that cross-pollination dilutes both brands and can cause confusion for audiences, especially from a marketing point of view,” THR says but that didn’t mean Reeves held that against Hoult as he’s more of a supporting X-Men player, who spends a lot of the time in his Beast form, so wouldn’t be that confusing.

Still, it’s claimed that the director had Pattinson in mind since he was brought on in 2017 to work on a Batman movie revolving around a 30-something Bruce Wayne.

The former Twilight star flew to Los Angeles straight after appearing at Cannes to promote his new movie The Lighthouse in order to do a screen test for the role.

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Both actors tried on a Batsuit worn by a previous Batman, as is tradition, and performed for Reeves and the execs during the week commencing May 20th.

“(Reeves) wanted very specific things,” an insider told THR. “He knew what he was looking for.”

The process casting process had altogether been described as “surprisingly quick” with the final decision being made on Friday to cast Pattinson so that Warner Bros could make the announcement the same day.

The Batman is expected to begin filming in 2020