Last week, I had the opportunity to see the highly anticipated film, The Batman! Afterward, the screening, I had a chance to attend the Q&A with some of the cast and crew from the film.

In the first part, Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson discuss what it was like to find the iconic voice for the caped crusader. 

With Batman playing a character that’s so iconic. Everyone focuses on the voice of Batman. So what was your process like in determining how you wanted to approach the voice of Batman?

Pattinson: It was a lot of trial and error. I mean, I kind of, I had a lot of time to think about it. I think it was cast about seven, seven, or eight months before we started shooting. So I was experimenting with a lot of different things. And I think the first two or three weeks, we’re kind of doing a variety of different voices. Because there’s only a couple of lines and the first few scenes we shot. And I think, yeah, it kind of – me and Matt just sort of settled on something, it just kind of started to sit in a very particular place. And, and it kind of felt like a progression from other kinds of bat voices. And, felt kind of somewhat comfortable to do as well.

And it’s weird, it just suddenly starts to feel right. And it kind of seems to be the more you embody the suit, the more you embody the kind of character. It just started to come out quite organically, and I think that’s kind of what I was trying to do with the character as well. I was trying to think he’s not putting on a voice. It seemed kind of he puts on the suit and then the voice just starts happening for him as a person as well.

Reeves: Like Rob said, we were exploring a lot. So there were different versions. Actually, in the beginning, I would say that the first scene that we shot was the scene in the mayor’s crime scene. And so you know, just that first line was like the thing about and where your voice was gonna sit. That was a whole thing. I have to say that. One of the amazing of many amazing things about Rob is he has such incredible technical control of himself of his instrument. I mean, as he would say, in terms of the acting, and he could do things with his voice, it was a crazy thing. I was like going, ‘Oh, you can go lower.’ Like, that’s amazing.

And he would just he went through this process of searching for where it felt like that voice should sit. And you know, one of the things that I was asking Rob about, you know, you have, he has an incredible ear for mimicry and accents. He can pick up anyone’s accent, there’s no dialect coach, this doesn’t happen. That’s just who he is. He’s like this. He’s an incredible person. And the thing I said, I said, ‘Well, gosh, you know, that’s so interesting.’ And he said, ‘Well, you know, I think and you can tell me if this is what I’m saying is total crap. But the voice is one of the key ways into the character for you, right?’ You told me that if you played someone who had exactly your accent, your voice would probably not come out exactly in your voice that that’s one of your ways in. So would you say that – now I’m interviewing you – but would you say that that is true? That it just seems to me that you have a very special process? 

Pattinson: I think, yeah, the one thing about this character, though, you kind of don’t, you don’t really, I mean, it seems obvious in retrospect, but you don’t really realize that it’s kind of a lot of it as like the whole character. The whole performance is your voice and it’s kind of how many different shapes you can do with your mouth. Kind of. But yeah, you don’t kind of realize until you’re doing and you’re like, ‘Oh, there has to be kind of subtle intonation changes and stuff.’ 

Be sure to check out Robert Pattinson’s Batman voice when The Batman arrives in theaters on March 4.

Published by Dorian Parks

Owner/Founder& CO-EIC of Geeks of color. Contact: Dorian@geeksofcolor.co View all posts by Dorian Parks