Robert Pattinson Says All His Movie Roles Have Had 1 Bizarre Thing In Common

Robert Pattinson first became famous for playing Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and that particular clean-cut character probably would not fit in Pattinson’s gallery of weirdos he’s played. Maybe that sounds derisive, but that’s the word the actor himself has used to describe his roles since the Twilight days. 

Fairly or not, he will always be Edward Cullen to some people. And those people will have a hard time accepting him as Batman, although in many ways, Batman may be the greatest weirdo of them all. 

Robert Pattinson has gone arthouse since ‘Twilight’ 

The five Twilight movies cemented Pattinson’s fame, but he has not rested on his financial laurels. Much like his former co-star Kristen Stewart, Pattinson has gone out of his way to seek offbeat roles. The directors of his movies read like a laundry list of independent Spirit Award/Cannes Film Festival types. 

Consider: He worked with acclaimed horror director David Cronenberg (The Fly) not once, but twice, on Cosmopolis and Maps to the Stars. He worked with the Safdie brothers in Good Time, and Adam Sandler followed in Pattinson’s footsteps to great effect with Uncut Gems.

Last year alone, he appeared in films by Claire Denis (High Life) and Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse.)

Practically nothing since the last Twilight movie could be considered mainstream, but he’s making way back there with two big films: This July’s time-bending thriller Tenet, in which Pattinson is said to look like a young version of director Christopher Nolan, and next June’s The Batman. 

Just how ‘weird’ are Robert Pattinson’s characters?

Screen Rant noted that Pattinson himself told Vanity Fair, “”In the last five or six years, I’ve almost exclusively played weirdos. It was almost a relief to be like, ‘At least I’ve got Dior coming out, so I don’t look like I’m just completely enveloped by the dark side yet,'” he said.

So extreme have been Pattinson’s forays off the beaten path, that more than one outlet has reported Pattinson’s characters have a penchant for masturbating. Pattinson said to Variety, “

“I keep masturbating,” he said. “In the last three or four movies, I’ve got a masturbation scene. I did it in High Life. I did it in Damsel. And The Devil All the Time. I only realized when I did it the fourth time. But when I saw the clay figure of the mermaid, if you’re getting turned on by that, you’re in a very strange place in your life.”

If that doesn’t pull Pattinson out of the long shadow of Edward Cullen in the eyes of reluctant viewers, it’s scary to imagine what would. 

Batman: the weirdest of all superheroes

While playing Batman would seem to be about as mainstream as you can get, in many ways, Batman is just the highest profile weirdo Pattinson has ever played. Almost every version of the character in the past few years, from Michael Keaton to Christian Bale and even Ben Affleck, has played Batman as the ultimate damaged soul.

He is determined to avenge the murder of his parents, with no little to no regard for his own personal cost. Entire books could be written about the damage Batman has done to Bruce Wayne or vice versa. 

Of putting on the suit, Pattinson said, “You do feel very powerful immediately. And it’s pretty astonishing, something that is incredibly difficult to get into, so the ritual of getting into it is pretty humiliating. You’ve got five people trying to shove you into something. Once you’ve got it on, it’s like, ‘Yeah, I feel strong, I feel tough, even though I had to have someone squeezing my butt cheeks into the legs.'”