Robert Pattinson on The Batman delay: "Having some time off is not the worst thing in the world"

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has put many movie productions on pause, including The Batman, the upcoming superhero movie from director Matt Reeves. Robert Pattinson will portray the Dark Knight and has seemingly been thankful for the break from filming.

"We’d really gotten into a really good rhythm as well, so it’s kind of strange to be pausing. But, again, it’s a hard movie. I mean, obviously it’s Batman, so it’s kind of nice," Pattinson tells Total Film while promoting the release of Tenet. "I basically went straight from Chris [Nolan’s] movie into that. And, yeah, I was feeling a little bit loopy anyway. So having some time off is not the worst thing in the world. But hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later that everything is hopefully in a better place."

Are you a Total Film fan? Subscribe to the magazine now and get exclusives – and more – sent directly to your door/device

The actor also confirmed that he found out about getting the Batman role on the first day of filming Tenet. "The morning of the first day," he says. "It was kind of insane. It was a very, very intense weekend. That was a crazy way to start Chris’ film. [laughs] I think I was doing the screen test, as well, on the Saturday before I started."

Article continues below

The Batman was filming in the UK and the production remains on pause. Meanwhile, Tenet adorns the cover of the new Total Film magazine (order here), which includes extended interviews with Nolan, Pattinson, John David Washington, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kenneth Branagh. Total Film readers who have already subscribed will get an exclusive cover featuring John David Washington's protagonist, and the newsstand cover features Washington and Robert Pattinson. Check them out below.

Total Film's Tenet subscribers' cover — (Image credit: Warner Bros/Total Film)

Total Film's Tenet cover — (Image credit: Warner Bros/Total Film)

The issue is available in shops from Friday, and will also be available digitally for your tablet from wherever you get your digital mags. You can start a Total Film subscription beginning with issue 299 (the Tenet issue) by heading to MyFavouriteMagazines.

Tenet is scheduled to open in cinemas on July 17, 2020.

Matt Maytum is the former Editor of Total Film magazine. Over the past decade, Matt has worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.