Pattinson tried to sneak the “Tenet” set for a “Batman” screen test, but Nolan knew what he was up to right away.
The hush-hush atmosphere of any Christopher Nolan set means the director knows a thing or two about keeping a secret. As revealed in a new feature on “Tenet” in The Irish Times, star Robert Pattinson said he tried to kill off the set, and blamed a “family distress”, for a screen test for Matt Reeves’ The Batman. ‘But Nolan apparently knew what he was doing right now.
“It’s funny because Chris is so secretive about everything to do with his movies,” said Pattinson, who was cast in “The Batman” at the end of May 2019 when “Tenet” began filming. The Irish Times. ‘And then I had to be really secretive about’ Batman ‘things. That I had to lie to Chris about having to go for a screen test – I said I had a family need. And as soon as I said ‘it’s a domestic emergency’ he said, ‘You’re doing the Batman audition, aren’t you?’ ”
At the end of 2019, Pattinson was on a narrow shortlist to replace Ben Affleck as the new Caped Crusader, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Armie Hammer, and Nicholas Hoult also reported in the mix. Although Pattinson’s casting was announced on May 31, it had apparently leaked two weeks earlier, which Pattinson said in an interview last year, made him “fucking furious.”
In The Irish Times piece, Pattinson said the intense regime for suites to play Batman was useful for his work on ‘Tenet’ opposite former footballer John David Washington.
“When I run on screen, I’m generally paired with John David, who’s an ex-NFL player, so it was the most unfair thing in the world,” Pattinson said. “The maximum training I do most of the time is a casual walk. John David can run all day. It was good that I was finally fit. But absolutely, in the beginning, there were days when I just could not keep up. ”
Pattinson also talks about the nerve-wracking set pieces required by “Tenet,” including the film’s harrowing auto-chase sequences.
“There was a scene where we were walking about five miles of a highway in Estonia with hundreds of cars,” Pattinson said. ‘So John David gets in the passenger seat and Chris is like just following the camera car. Take it easy the first time. John David turns to me and says, ‘Are you like a really good driver or something. That I shoot myself while driving at 80 miles per hour between cars and behave like Chris is completely normal. ‘
Three times already delayed since the pandemic, “Tenet” is set to launch internationally on August 26, followed by what theaters it can in the United States on September 3. Production on “The Batman,” meanwhile, was stopped in the UK back in March, but is expected to resume this September. As of now, Warner Bros., which is also releasing “Tenet”, has dated the superhero tent pole before October 1, 2021.
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