UPDATE (May 31, 2019): Variety officially confirms Robert Pattinson will star in The Batman in 2021.
EARLIER: As much as I see this as a developing story, fans are already head deep in the breathless reporting over Robert Pattinson being cast for The Batman ahead of what looks to be a summer start of pre-production.
Reports came Thursday night with talk of the Twilight star standing as the front-runner for the role in a shortlist that also listed Tolkien star Nicholas Hoult. As Justin Kroll reported at Variety however, the actor “was cast even as Reeves continues to polish a final version of the script.”
The update also serves as a major milestone as DC takes 2019 by storm to cheer the character’s 80th birthday through the release of new comics and new events throughout the country in a celebration dubbed “Long Live The Bat”.
Principal photography on The Batman may commence either later this year or in 2020 before releasing June 25, 2021. If, and ultimately when, confirmed, it seems, Pattinson will be seventh in line to don the cape-and-cowl as the world’s greatest detective for the big screen.
Matt Reeves is currently pushing the needle forward with the film’s script, and will produce with Dylan Clark. Pattinson will next appear in Robert Egger’s upcoming horror, The Lighthouse, which also stars Willem Dafoe and will release later this year in the U.S. from A24.
This news only just broke about 10 hours ago as of this post, so I’ll update here if anything changes to the matter.