Robert Pattinson Admits He Couldn’t Hear Anything Wearing The Batman Mask

It may be more than nine months since the release of The Batman, where MarkMeets attended the London film premiere but lead star Robert Pattinson is likely to still be reveling from the sensational success of the DC film.

The story of Batman is one that has been told on the big screen for decades now. As such, it speaks to the work that Pattinson and the entire cast and crew did in this iteration by Matt Reeves that it still evoked such an overwhelming response from fans and critics alike.

Following its release, The Batman would go on to smash box office records, becoming the fifth-highest grossing film of 2022. From a budget of around $200 million, the movie grossed well over $700 million in cinema ticket sales.

Fans began to clamor for a sequel, and it wasn’t long until those calls were satiated with an announcement that there would indeed be two follow-up films. Two spin-off television shows are also in development for HBO.

Pattinson has already been confirmed for The Batman 2. Fans are over the moon as a result, but the actor himself will be returning to a number of challenges that he faced while filming the first movie.

Robert Pattinson Struggled To Film In The Batsuit

Even before the release of the film, Robert Pattinson had already recounted his struggles to film while in the Batsuit. In an interview with Digital Spy in February, he explained how he had to adapt once he put on the suit and the cameras started rolling.

“The first day you put on the suit, you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I’d be scared of this guy if he’s walking down an alley trying to beat me up,” Pattinson said. “[But] when you’re actually shooting it, there’s a whole host of unforeseen issues that you just can’t predict when you’re trying to imagine how you’re going to play the part. You have to constantly reconfigure your performance at every single hurdle.”

One of the things that the actor had to adjust to was the fact that he couldn’t hear a thing under the Batman mask that he had to wear.

A big movie set in Hollywood is usually rife with walkie-talkies that allow the entire team to remain in sync. Despite not being able to hear through the mask, Pattinson found himself inundated with everything being said on The Batman set.

Robert Pattinson Had An Earpiece In For Direction

Robert Pattinson revealed exactly how he was able to follow direction, and consequently know when and how to react.

“I couldn’t hear anything [through the mask],” he revealed. “I also had an earpiece in which I was having direction through… Occasionally they’d leave on every single person’s walkie-talkie on the entire set and I couldn’t get it out myself so I’d be literally listening to every single thing that’s happening.”

The 36-year-old also disclosed that as a result of constantly having everyone almost literally in his ear, he could track the director’s temperament at any given moment. “Sometimes [Matt Reeves would] leave the mic on and you could hear, if it was a tense scene, his breathing would accelerate,” Pattinson added.

The actor also expressed his sense of gratitude to be walking in the shoes of all the legendary actors who have played Batman before him. “I mean the legacy of the actors who played [the role]…. It’s just incredible to be a part of the same coterie,” Pattinson reflected.

Robert Pattinson Also Faced Mental Challenges When Filming The Batman

Beyond the physical challenges of donning the Batsuit and mask, Robert Pattinson revealed that filming The Batman also took a mental toll on him.

“The nature of the shoot was so kind of insular, always shooting at night, just really dark all the time, and I felt very much alone,” just before the release of the film. “Even just being in the suit all the time. You’re not really allowed out of the studio with the suit on, so I barely knew what was going on at all outside.”

To try and cope, Pattinson would stay in his tent on set making music and trying to read, albeit without much success. “I’d be in the tent just making ambient electronic music in the suit, looking over the [mask],” he explained.

“[But] there’s something about the construction of the [mask] that makes it very difficult to read books, so you have to kind of almost lean forward to see out.”