Robert Pattinson Slams Hollywood For How It Treats Men
Robert Pattinson says the Hollywood pressure for male actors to be in peak physical shape is "insidious" and "addictive."
Robert Pattinson says the pressure in Hollywood for men to become increasingly ripped and in shape is “crazy.” According to a new interview in ES Magazine, the Batman actor says the push to watch calories and constantly focus on conforming to a certain muscular beauty standard is “extraordinarily addictive — and you don’t quite realise how insidious it is until it’s too late.” Although the pressure on male actors to be Marvel-level ripped is not as well-documented as similar influences on their female peers, it is clear that Robert Pattinson does not have positive feelings about it.
In addition to calling the muscular hunk beauty standard insidious, Robert Pattinson said that it is “quite embarrassing when you get into a pattern of answering questions about your workout because there’ll always be a guy who’s in better shape than you.” It has been noted that in the last several decades, Hollywood has trended toward casting larger and more muscular actors. Stars like Hugh Jackman can be used as a timeline of the kind of vein-bulging physical fitness that Hollywood demands, even as rumors of anabolic steroid use dog them for years.
Famously, Robert Pattinson refused to do intense physical training to star in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, in contrast to past actors in the role like Christian Bale who made their transformation part of the marketing of the film. However, Robert Pattinson does say that he has “basically tried every fad you can think of” in terms of dieting from keto to eating just potatoes for weeks at a time (which he does admit made him lose a lot of weight).
Robert Pattinson is not the only superhero actor to have conflicted views about the push for Hollywood stars to get inhumanly ripped. Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani says he was not asked by Marvel Studios to get superhero-level jacked for Chloe Zhao’s film but did it on his own terms; however, he also said that “since I did that picture, that I am very uncomfortable talking about my body—and it’s become less and less and less comfortable.”
Robert Pattinson is currently set to star in Mickey 17, an upcoming science fiction film from Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, alongside Hereditary’s Toni Collette, The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun, and the Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo. The movie is an adaptation of a novel by Edward Ashton, in which the title character is a disposable human who is regenerated over and over during the course of a corporate colonization of an ice planet.
The actor is also expected to reprise the role of Bruce Wayne in the sequel to Matt Reeves’ hit film. While there are few details available about the film so far, Reeves has already said that Robert Pattinson apparently would really, really like to fight Batman villain Condiment King. We do not see that realistically happening, even though pretty much everyone in the world would also like to see Robert Pattinson get shot in the face with a stream of mustard and ketchup. We can only dream.
