‘Batman’ director says Robert Pattinson ‘can’t not wear’ emo eyeliner
Panic at the Batcave?
When the first trailer for Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” dropped in August 2020, DC fans went wild over star Robert Pattinson’s black eyeliner, which they dubbed deliciously “emo.”
Now, more than a year on, the director has finally addressed the caped crusader’s makeup in an interview with Esquire.
“You can’t wear a cowl and not wear that,” the 55-year-old “Cloverfield” director argued of Batman’s “Spiderman 3”-esque countenance. “All of the Batmen wear that.”
Reeves was likely referencing the prior film iterations of the Dark Knight, who sport black cosmetics around their eyes to prevent a ring of pale skin from appearing inside the mask’s eye holes. This eyeliner would then “magically” disappear when they removed the disguise.
And while his argument might seem a tad meta, Reeves said he “loved the idea of taking off [the mask] and under that there’s the sweating and the dripping and the whole theatricality of becoming this character.”
In fact, the filmmaker said that “The Batman” as a whole was inspired by none other than the late god of grunge, Kurt Cobain.
“When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s ‘Something in the Way,’ ” said Reeves. “That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse.”
Many Bat-fans found the angsty appearance quite apt, claiming that the Dark Knight is the ultimate “emo” superhero given his tragic orphan backstory and generally dark outlook on life.
Elsewhere in the interview, Reeves addressed fan backlash over selecting former “Twilight” star Pattinson, 35, to portray Batman.
“There has been no actor, when his announcement that he was going to be playing Batman in one of the feature films was announced, that has not received a backlash,” he explained. “The people who were excited, I knew it was because they knew Rob’s work post-‘Twilight.’ The people who weren’t excited, I knew it was because they didn’t know Rob’s work post-‘Twilight.’ ”
“The Batman” debuts in theaters nationwide on March 4.
