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Robert Pattinson is stepping into the shoes of The Dark Knight in The Batman next year – and he’s recently revealed the advice given to him by The Lighthouse co-star Willem Dafoe, himself no stranger to the world of comic book movies with his turn as Green Goblin in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man.
Speaking to sister publication Total Film magazine, Pattinson said Dafoe’s drive to be cast as Green Goblin mirrored his own chase for the cowl, "Actually, I did talk to him about the Green Goblin. Because he really, really wanted to do it. He said he was auditioning for it, and really, really went after it. And I was like: it’s interesting – I think a lot of actors who’ve done loads of stuff, it’s like, they come to you."
Pattinson adds: "He was saying, ‘People didn’t really understand why I liked that character so much. It’s just a great, great character.’ It’s kind of how I feel about Batman."
Dafoe says the move towards the world of comic book movies is "a combination of keeping things interesting, and not repeating yourself," before recalling, "The Green Goblin, I look back on it, and you’ve got to remember: that [comic-book movies] wasn’t an industry at that moment.
"That was like a new kind of thing to do... But I do recall, at the time, some people that know me more from, you know, the independent world or art films, who were rolling their eyes, like: ‘What would you want to do a comic-book movie for?’ But I’ve never been a snob that way. I like to mix it up."
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Read the full interview with Pattinson and Defoe, in which they discuss at length their roles in The Lighthouse, in the new issue of Total Film, available now.
