Who is Bruce Wayne ?

Why a superheroes alter ego is more important in movies

So, we finally have another actor playing the famous vigilante. This time, it’s the turn of ex emo-vampire-pinup boy Edward Cullen, also known as the actor Robert Pattinson, who’s been cast for The Batman. It must have been some leap of thought by the studio to get an actor, who played a vampire, to play a vigilante who models himself on a human sized bat figure. In a recent online (clickbait) article, it was argued that he could be the best Bruce Wayne ever (not Batman, but Wayne), and that got me thinking.

We all roughly know the back story (it’s only been redone as an origin story several times over, on film and tv shows) – boy is tragically damaged by crime when his parents are killed in front of him, growing up swearing to avenge them, and fixing the cancerous crime killing his city.

By night he publicly patrols Gotham city, dressed as a huge bat, beating up bad guys to within an inch of their lives, while by day he portrays a billionaire playboy bachelor to his company’s board (Wayne Enterprise). In private moments, mainly in front of Alfred his trusty butler and surrogate father figure, he is someone else altogether. It’s here where most actors fail, or nail being the titular character of the movies, as after all, unlike other superheroes with a dual identity, Bruce Wayne arguably has 3 persona’s or identities. It isn’t hard to act as a primal, tough, unrelenting fighting machine, under a mask concealing much of your face. Nor is it hard to act as a spoilt, millionaire, playboy, driving fast cars, wearing sharp suits at boards meetings, and attending red carpet events, fashionably late, while paparazzi snap you with supermodels hanging off each arm.

For anyone in doubt, check out the portals to date by Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck. They all at least nail these above aspects of the character to some degree or another. However the 3^rd aspect, (will) the real Bruce Wayne (please stand up), has been hardier to portray believably on screen, and it’s surely in this aspect, which won’t be known until the movie is released, if Pattinson can really be held up as the ‘best Batman ever’.

We must believe that the person on screen is really damaged, determined, single-mindedly driven, to the point of being unhinged, and obsessive, with a cast iron will, but simultaneously wrecked with doubt, and frailty. Someone who has been so hurt, that they’ve constructed a mental wall inside their own mind and heart to protect themselves, that no one beyond potentially Alfred can ever enter, even if only briefly.

Christian Bale in some regards, has been the most complete Wayne/Batman/Playboy, and that is what also helps make his Trilogy with Christopher Nolan so stand-out. We stop believing we are watching acting, and that what we see is real. Of course, critics will point to his growling, inaudible voice in the suit (particularly the Joker interrogation scene) however Bale and Nolan have said this was intentional, and that the growling aspect was designed as part of the characters intimidation factor. His playboy-ing is one dimensional in aspects, que the waiter telling Wayne in the 1^st movie that his skinny-dipping supermodels can’t bathe in the large water feature, to be told “it’s fine I’ve just bought the place”, but it works in the sense of it’s what the Bruce Wayne persona would be like. In scenes with his butler Michael Caine (sorry, Alfred, but realistically just Michael Caine), Bale shows his insecurities and the frailties, in some ways regressing to an adolescent who still isn’t sure of himself, needing a timely lesson or wise word from a ‘parent’. Bale also perfectly conducts and channels the varying aspects of the character perfectly in and out of the suit, as well as in private one on one moments, whomever the character onscreen is, from Commissioner Gordon and Lucius Fox, to Ra’s al Ghul, Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent.

The other actors who have inhabited the role have also often been overcast by either a larger than life villain, or an insane number of gadgets which would have made even Bond blush. The former often being played by a ‘bigger’ more ‘famous’ actor than the one playing The Batman, and in the case of the latter pressure from the studio that if the movie flops, then merchandise mainly in the form of toys would recoup some of the lost money.

All of the above will affect the new Batman movie to some degree, and Robert Pattinson will have to rise above all of it to deliver a Batman to remember. Since his turn in both Harry Potter and Twilight, Pattinson has made attempts to distance himself from the stereotype given to him by Hollywood, and be taken seriously, as a proper actor. Working with the likes of David Cronenberg on Cosmopolis, and German director Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert. We’ll also get to see him sooner in Tenet, directed by Christopher Nolan, who himself will surely have given him nods and tips on taking on the role. Last year, he was also cast opposite Willem Dafoe in a black and white art house movie The Lighthouse. Playing a pair of lighthouse keepers of a remote lighthouse on a Canadian island who become stranded after a huge storm, the movie was critically well received, and its themes of darkness, isolation, and the impact it has on the human psyche (perfect Batman homework), as well its showing of the characters decent into insanity and psychosis praised. Pattinson received particular praise, with The Telegraph comparing his performance with that of Daniel-Day-Lewis’ in There will be Blood, therefore, the signs are promising of Robert Pattinsons casting.

As an interesting aside Pattinsons’ and Bales’ careers mirror one another to a degree, both child actors and stars (Harry Potter/Empire of the Sun), before wandering aimlessly through Hollywood for years (Twilight/Reign of Fire) before acting in leftfield non-mainstream movies (The Lighthouse/The Machinist), then ultimately taking on the role of The Bat.

The movie itself will also be directed by Matt Reeves, of the rebooted (and realistic) Planet of the Apes franchise. It will be focusing more on a younger Batman, with a noir tone that highlights the detective aspects of the character (in the DC comics his famous other alias, is the world’s greatest detective). An ensemble cast starring Colin Farrel, Andy Serkis, Paul Dano, Jeffery Wright, and John Turturro, means the ingredients are there for a successful reboot, that explores deeper aspects of the character never highlighted before. Plus – scenes were filmed in Glasgow’s famous Necropolis, to give it a more gothic feel, so that surely means it’s bound to be huge! Who knows, maybe instead of always asking who is the Batman, we’ll be asking – who is Bruce Wayne?

As always, let me know your thoughts below