I’m Vengeance.

When the film opens, it’s Halloween night and everyone is in costume.  Bruce Wayne is patrolling the streets not as himself, not in the Batsuit, but as someone in between Bruce and the Bat—a shadowy persona that Reeves dubbed the Drifter.  Clad in non-descript, dark clothing with, kohl-rimmed eyes, the Drifter's brooding, nihilistic bearing hangs heavy on his frame…and his soul.  This is where Bruce often chooses to dwell, deep in the shell of a man at the edge of despair, who sees no hope for the city and its residents, looking for a reason to attack.

If the Drifter looks for trouble, it is as The Batman that he takes action once he finds it.  Bruce is in year two of his self-appointed role as Gotham’s embodiment of vengeance—the nocturnal vigilante who strikes fear in the hearts of criminals.  A reclusive scion of Gotham’s richest family questioning his family’s legacy, The World’s Greatest Detective employs a lethal combination of mental mastery, physical strength and expert technology.  Yet it’s emotion that drives him.

“There's a level of rage in him, which makes him difficult to beat,” Pattison observes.

“The idea was to explore the concept of being masked and what it means," says Reeves. "You have a guy who, at the end of the day, may think he’s mastered himself, but is ultimately trying to find meaning in his life after the death of his family.  When he masks himself and he’s in pursuit of this goal, he becomes the shadows.  That complexity is really unique to Batman.”

Reeves cast Pattinson in the role because, he says, “I was keen to show a different side to the character; I wanted him to have almost a recluse rock-and-roll vibe, a cross between Kurt Cobain and Howard Hughes.  Bruce has retreated from being a Wayne and if you see him, it’s like seeing a rock star, but instead of going out and playing gigs at night, his gig is to be Batman. He’s an obsessive guy, and that was one of the things that was exciting to me about Robert Pattinson: he has the intensity to bring that to life.”

Reeves began considering Pattinson for the role while he and co-writer Peter Craig were developing the screenplay.  The filmmaker recalls, “I started thinking I should really look at actors in this age range, and I’d always been a fan of Rob’s.  James Gray, who’s a friend of mine since film school, made a movie called ‘The Lost City of Z,’ and I remember him telling me that he’d cast Rob in the movie.  We always share the cuts of our movies with each other, and when he showed me the movie I had forgotten that he’d cast Rob.  So, when Rob appears in the movie, he has this enormous beard and is unlike any version of Rob you’ve ever seen and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s Rob Pattinson; how interesting, he’s a chameleon.

“And then I just started watching a bunch of his movies and every time he was totally different,” Reeves continues.  “One of the movies that somebody suggested I take a look at was ‘Good Time,’ and in that movie, I saw something that, to me, really connected to Batman.  In it you can feel his desperation and you can feel his drive, as well as a level of vulnerability.  I wanted this version of Batman to be driven to be scary, but I also wanted to see his vulnerability; when I saw all the different aspects that Rob brought to his roles, I really felt this could be Rob, and I started writing with him in mind.”

This vision of taking Batman back to the early years to bring about a shift in the character's emotional and psychological make-up disoriented the actor upon his initial read of the script.  “I couldn’t quite tell why Bruce Wayne felt so radically different,” he says.  “And then I realized it's because he’s not a playboy in this story.  That is such a key element of previous Batman films, so it does feel really strange.  Bruce is so alone and isolated and that is fascinating.  I knew Matt saw him as a slightly nihilistic character, but there’s something more emotional there, too.  Bruce doesn’t know he’s going to save the day, he doesn’t know if being Batman is going to work, but he’s compelled to do it and he knows that there is no other option.  There’s a kind of desperation to it, which is a little bit different.”

When delving into the core of the character, Pattinson was spurred by the question of “Who is Bruce Wayne?” as opposed to “Who is The Batman?”  “Bruce is quite an obsessive character and I think the concept of Batman has been fermenting for years,” he posits.  “But at this stage, he doesn’t have that much in the way of technology to give him an advantage, just a few layers of bulletproof armor and, as the story goes on, the Batmobile and a few gadgets, but it’s pretty rudimentary.  So, he’s very fallible, but he keeps at it; I think he’s really working out this rage.  I get the impression that he just wants to keep recreating the night where his parents die.”

The very definition of insanity, perhaps, for a man on the edge trying to save a city on the brink.

“I think it’s about alter ego and identity,” adds the actor.  “If he puts on the suit, and he believes in it so much, it elevates him as a creature; he isn’t Bruce, he is The Batman.  I wanted him to be less human when he has the suit on; I wanted to get that into his movements.  Bruce is still trying to figure out who exactly Batman is, and that makes for a very reactive version of Batman, and that’s new.  

“That is why the fights he has seem very personal, too,” he continues.  “The reason why he outmatches these people is because every time he’s fighting a stranger it’s as if they have personally harmed him.  In a way, he’s imagining that his adversary is the person who killed his parents.  Ultimately, that's not a winning strategy, because if you are fighting too emotionally, you will make mistakes and you’ll lose.  But, I don’t think he cares about surviving at all, he just wants to inflict pain, inflict his form of questionable justice.”

Pattinson appreciated Reeves’ deliberate work, not only on the page, but on set, too.  Of the director’s measured approach, he relates, “Matt is incredibly patient.  He’s like a conductor of an orchestra, able to keep the entire story in a macro view in his mind the entire time.  He’s never rushed, he will only move on when he feels like he’s got what he needs.  He isn’t afraid to stray a little from the Batman canon and he definitely made some pretty bold stylistic choices, and that’s exciting.”

Check the exclusive photos here: