By Josh Bate
Ever since casting for the film was announced, Robert Pattinson’s lead role in The Batman has arguably been the aspect to cause the most discussion from fans. Most were positive, and many were excited to see what the former Twilight actor would bring to the role, particularly due to his career after the teen vampire franchise.
The buzz around Pattinson is no different after The Batman has released, with fans discussing his unique performance and take on the character. The film itself has received rave reviews from fans and critics, and Pattinson’s performance has also been praised. The fan discussion has continued, particularly around this new iteration of Bruce Wayne, who is far from the suave playboy that he was in previous films. Instead, Wayne is quiet, awkward, and seems to suffer from PTSD and possibly other mental illnesses. His hair is also vastly different from other Batman actors, with Pattinson sporting longer dark hair that falls across his face, leading some fans to dub him the “emo” version of Batman.
Recently, hair stylist Zoe Tahir, who worked with director Matt Reeves and Pattinson to craft Bruce Wayne’s new look and is also credited on Batman Begins and Justice League, spoke to E! News about The Batman:
“When I went to meet Matt Reeves for an interview, I walked into that cold. I hadn’t read a script, I didn’t know anything about his version of what it was going to be like. But I brought my own mood board along to present something and it was very grungy and raw and street and dirty and dark. And Matt had presumed I had read the story and I think my take on it was that we all have these preconceived notions of Gotham, but I really wanted to run with that and make it really real. And he really loved that and that is what his thinking was for the Drifter, his character before he became Batman.”
Tahir and Reeves definitely seemed to be on the same page in regards to Pattinson’s look right from the very beginning. Tahir went on to discuss the inspirations behind the hairstyle, and how COVID-19 impacted the look:
“Matt Reeves was kind of obsessed with Kurt Cobain and that was very much the look he wanted to drive forward for Robert as the Drifter. So we played around with that idea and when Robert came to us, his hair was short and blonde from his previous movie. I knew we had some time to grow his hair out and explore what would suit him. We actually began shooting and it worked, it was long. But then we had the lockdown and we were able to grow it out a few more inches. I remember coming back after that and I said, ‘I’m going to leave it, it’s going to work.’ The stuff we shot prior was the funeral, where he had to be a bit neater as Bruce Wayne, so it all worked out really well and have his hair a lot longer for the stuff we hadn’t shot yet, which was great.”
Despite Tahir working on the character of Batman on a few occasions prior to this, and the unique inspirations for Wayne’s new hairstyle, the stylist was still surprised by the initial reaction:
“It was a surprising reaction and it wasn’t planned. I guess that’s just the movement of fashion and the way things go. Everything just all happens together if you got your finger on the pulse, subconsciously, you’re always creating, thinking about the way things are moving forward. And combined with the character we were trying to create, it coincidentally is the way it turned out, which was kind of freaky. But it’s all very timely, with everything else going on in the music and punk world. It fit perfectly and it’s great, we will run with that!”
The Batman is in theaters now.
Source: E! News
Images courtesy of DC and Warner Bros.