Exclusive: Robert Pattinson Wants A Long Halloween Adaptation For Batman 2
We've exclusively learned that Robert Pattinson has his own ideas for The Batman 2.
This article is more than 2 years old
We haven’t seen The Batman yet, but we’ve been waiting for it long enough that it feels like forever. In the normal way of things, we would have seen the film in theaters June 2021, so it’s fair enough that while we haven’t seen it yet, it’s come time for folks to be speculating about The Batman 2. Where is director Matt Reeves going with his Bruce Wayne stories? Will Peter Craig, who wrote The Batman, pen the second script? What are his plans? While audiences may have come up with plenty of ideas of their own, Robert Pattinson would also like to weigh in. Thanks to some work from one of our trusted and proven inside sources, we’ve learned that Robert Pattinson wants The Batman 2 to be a Long Halloween adaptation.
Many actors have the freedom to voice some opinions and feelings on where they think a story should go, particularly in a sequel. An adaptation from a classic DC comics run shows Robert Pattinson’s head is in the right place. We were unable to learn what Matt Reeves or the studio think about the possibility of adapting Long Halloween for The Batman 2, however, it feels safe to say that the writer and director probably already had plans for their second film. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t pivot, but Pattinson will have to make a strong case for adapting the 13 run comic series from the mid-1990s.
We aren’t sure why Robert Pattinson chose this particular Batman run for The Batman 2, but it makes enough sense at first glance. It’s a popular story. The comics were actually recently adapted in animation with Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles as Bruce Wayne. In terms of DC comics timeline for Bruce Wayne stories, The Batman takes place during Year Two. Meanwhile, Long Halloween is said to be a follow-up to Batman: Year One, continuing those events. This could roughly make Long Halloween work for The Batman 2 and Long Halloween, especially if the adaptation was a little free with the story.
From what we learned, it sounds like Robert Pattinson wants to pull heavily from the comics for this, though that’s only our interpretation. We didn’t learn specifically what elements he feels are essential for the Long Halloween story, which covers things like a crime war between two powerful families, a serial killer named Holiday, and the transformation of Harvey Dent to Two-Face. It’s a dark story, which makes sense for what we’ve seen of The Batman so far, and may be why Pattinson chose these comics. Though, story itself may not be the only reason.
Putting ourselves in the head of Robert Pattinson for a moment, he knows that when this film comes out, his name is going to appear in a lot of articles and Top 10 lists comparing him to every other actor who has ever played Batman. Arguably, his biggest competition is Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight. Rumors have come out suggesting that Pattinson has been thinking through these comparisons. It’s been said that he wants his character and the story itself to be darker than Christian Bale’s.
If we assume that this is heavily influencing Robert Pattinson’s headspace, which seems likely since it would be difficult in his position not to have that on your mind, then his desire to do a Long Halloween adaptation takes on even more light. Long Halloween was a 13 issue run. It had a lot of story in it. One of the key elements was the story of Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face. This was something covered in Nolan’s films. These specific comics were a source of inspiration for Nolan. While there will naturally be inspirational overlap when adapting Batman’s story for DC, using the same comic run as inspiration treads into territory that may cause comparison problems.
None of that is to say that it would necessarily be a bad idea for Long Halloween to influence The Batman 2. It’s an excellent piece of DC comics history. It’s popular. It’s been recently adapted in animation and used as inspiration for great Batman films. It is to say that Robert Pattinson campaigning with the people behind the scenes may be met with some hesitation, depending on how much story he wants to pull.
In terms of the two mob families fighting, The Batman will have John Turturro playing Carmine Falcone. This establishes a powerful player for one side of those events. Long Halloween also has a long list of appearances from villains, which is something it has in common with The Batman. These elements make a case that there’s strong material to be used for a natural sequel to Robert Pattinson’s first movie, from what we know so far about its plot. If the actor gets his way, it’ll be interesting to see what parts they pull and how they avoid comparison to other adaptations.
