Robert Pattinson Says His Batman Voice Sounded ‘Absolutely Atrocious’ at First
The Batman has finally hit theaters, and critics and audiences alike are praising Robert Pattinson’s rendition of the Dark Knight. The actor mastered everything from the DC hero’s demeanor to his iconic voice. Apparently, the latter was no easy feat. In fact, Pattinson says his Batman voice was “absolutely atrocious” at first.
Robert Pattinson took months to master his voice for ‘The Batman’
Capturing an iconic superhero like Batman is bound to come with obstacles, and getting the Dark Knight’s voice right is one of them. Robert Pattinson may sound like a pro in The Batman, but apparently, it took months to perfect his pitch.
During a Q&A reported by Insider, the actor admitted a lot of “trial and error” went into that aspect of his Batman. He and director Matt Reeves tested a number of voices before landing on the one that appears in the DC film:
“I think the first two or three weeks, we were kind of doing a variety of different voices, because there’s only a couple of lines in the first few scenes we shot. Me and Matt just sort of settled on something. It started to sit in a very particular place and it kind of felt like a progression from other kinds of Bat voices and felt kind of somewhat comfortable to do as well.”
According to Pattinson, he originally wanted his voice to sound different from his predecessors. However, initial attempts to make that happen led to suboptimal results.
The actor says his original Batman voice was ‘atrocious’
When it comes to portraying a character like Batman, actors are tasked with a unique challenge: making the hero their own while simultaneously bringing something new to the table.
Apparently, Robert Pattinson wanted his Batman voice to stand out from the previous live-action takes on the character. During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he admitted wanting to do something “radically different.”
To that end, The Batman star went for a lower, more hushed approach. Unfortunately, that didn’t pan out. He told Insider he was asked to stop using that voice after a couple of weeks:
“I just thought because everyone has this kind of gruff, gravelly thing, I’m like, ‘I’m gonna do the opposite, I’m gonna go really whispery.’ And I tried to do it for the first, like, two weeks, and it just looked absolutely atrocious, and they told me to stop doing it.”
Pattinson wasn’t the first live-action Batman to try speaking in whispers either. As it turns out, so did the actor who wore the suit in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies.
Robert Pattinson wasn’t the first one to try this tactic
That’s right, Christian Bale tried the same approach to Batman’s voice when he wore the suit — at least, according to Robert Pattinson.
“Then I found out from Nick, who was putting me in the suit every day, that’s what Christian Bale did in Batman Begins as well,” Pattinson told Jimmy Kimmel. “And if you listen to the first Batman Begins teaser trailer, you can hear the original voice. I just found this out a couple of weeks ago.”
If that’s the case, it seems experimenting with voices is a rite of passage when it comes to playing Batman. Fortunately, both Bale and Pattinson found what worked for them in the end.
The Batman is currently playing in theaters.
