Robert Pattinson Is Embarrassed By His Offhand The Batman Joke
Robert Pattinson wishes he'd never said it.
This article is more than 2 years old
Back in the summer of 2020, GQ published an interview with a quarantine-crazed Robert Pattinson. From everything the actor said about his struggle with isolation, the one take-away most outlets ran with was a quote concerning Pattinson’s workout routine in preparation for the upcoming The Batman — as in, the actor said he wasn’t doing any exercise to prepare for the role. Now Pattinson is saying the comment was a joke that he wish he’d never made.
Speaking to Movie Maker, Robert Pattinson suggested he made the joke to be humble, and it was blown out of proportion. “I just always think it’s really embarrassing to talk about how you’re working out,” Pattinson explained. “I think it’s like an English thing. Unless you are in the most unbelievable shape, where people are just genuinely curious, going, ‘How have you achieved, like, physical perfection?’ or whatever.” Pattinson added, “You’re playing Batman. You have to work out.”
In case you missed that particular entertainment news cycle, in the 2020 interview Robert Pattinson told GQ that Warner Bros. hired a fitness trainer to help him prepare for his role as the Dark Knight, and that he promptly got busy ignoring her. Compared to his costar Zoë Kravitz, who Pattinson said was working out five days per week, the Batman actor told GQ, “I’m just barely doing anything.” He even seemed to get on a bit of a high horse about it, saying, “I think if you’re working out all the time, you’re part of the problem.You set a precedent. No one was doing this in the ’70s. Even James Dean—he wasn’t exactly ripped.”
Joke or no, Pattinson’s words about leaving the exercise to someone else quickly spread all over the internet, giving fuel to fans who were already bemoaning the casting choice. Publications like Men’s Health took the quotes seriously and chewed over whether or not it was a good choice. It eventually helped lead to rumors that Robert Pattinson was too out of shape to play the part.
The actor compared the media and fan backlash to what was apparently a joke he made back in 2009 during the era of the Twilight film series. While speaking to Extra (via MTV News), the actor said he never washed his hair or cleaned his apartment. Pattinson says this, also, was a joke and that it’s just stuck around for 15 years.
To be fair to the news outlets of the world, if Robert Pattinson’s decade-old comment about his hygiene deficiencies was a joke, it was a joke he kept telling. Along with telling Extra in 2009 he saw no point in washing his hair or cleaning his living space, three years later in 2012 he repeated the bit about his hair to the Chicago Tribune. Asked about how he styled his hair, the Twilight star said all he did was “wear a hat a lot.” He added that he had years worth of built up “residue crap” in his hair from not washing it, and claimed at press events he was constantly asking film studio reps to brush the dandruff off him. So, arguably, if it really is just a joke, and you’re tired of it being blown out of proportion, maybe stop using it as your go-to icebreaker with journalists?
We’ll all get to see whether or not Robert Pattinson looks like he worked out for the role soon enough. The Batman hits theaters on March 4, 2022. The film is directed by Matt Reeves. It stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton/The Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone.
