Last night, Variety posted an article about Robert Pattinson being in talks for the role of Batman in Matt Reeve’s new reboot of the character for Warner Bros. It’s easy to make jokes about the guy (even we did it in our post last night). After all, he was in the Twilight movies. That said, he was also in a bunch of other movies where he did an excellent job. It’s very easy for fans to react to news that isn’t what they were expecting in a negative way. That’s fine. It’s part of life. But, media outlets stoking the fire is just stupid.
There are several articles from different entertainment sites this morning talking about these petitions that are popping up to stop Robert Pattinson from being Batman. These sites are using inflammatory language that makes it sound like there’s a massive upswell of support. One site is even using the headline of “Unhinged BATMAN “Fans” Have Already Started Petitioning For Robert Pattinson Not To Play The Next Dark Knight.”
Do you know what these articles aren’t saying about all the outrage? They aren’t saying that it’s really not there. There are two main petitions up right now on Change.org that people are citing. At the time I’m writing this, one of them has 89 signatures and the other has 39. Not 89,000, not 3,900, just a combined total of 128. If this was a true groundswell of outrage, we’d be seeing thousands of people signing up already.
Sadly, you are going to see these numbers swell today. Why? Because more and more news sites and entertainment blogs are going to post articles about the outrage. It’s the media making the story instead of just reporting on it.
When it comes to Matt Reeve’s take on The Batman, here’s what we know. He is going for a much younger Batman that is early on in his crime-fighting career. The film will undoubtedly have action, but it is primarily a story that will focus on Bruce Wayne as The World’s Greatest Detective. Go back and look at films like Cosmopolis, Water For Elephants, High Life, and Good Times. The man can act. Reeves is looking for someone who can play the part, not just look it.
Our advice, just chill out and wait. If it turns out that the movie is bad, don’t go see it. If it doesn’t make money, they won’t use him for a second film. Think about those other actors that fans were completely against taking on big roles. I’m talking about how upset people were at first that Hugh Jackman was cast as Wolverine and that Heath Ledger was cast as The Joker. According to the original news story, the deal isn’t even signed. We haven’t seen a script, a second of footage, or even a photo.