There comes a time in everyone’s life when they say something that gets blown out of proportion. Such moments include Robert Pattinson claiming he didn’t work out before donning the cowl in The Batman—a remark he wants to set straight by letting fans know he put himself through the wringer to get his Bat-bod.
In an interview with GQ, Pattinson spun the block on a statement he made during The Batman‘s press tour about how absurd it is that actors transform their bodies for superhero roles. It was back in 2020 when Pattinson told GQ that he was “barely doing anything” to bulk up as the Caped Crusader, while his costar Zoë Kravitz was exercising five days a week to get into shape as Catwoman. After years of what can only be described as a vocal minority of fans clowning on his physique, it turns out that Batinson was lying about his lack of a workout routine to sound cool.
“‘You didn’t work out at all.’ I worked out every fucking day,” Pattinson said, mimicking the criticism lobbied against him. “Even after that, I still look like I didn’t work out. I worked out twice a day at, like, three o’clock in the morning. I’m like, it’s just because I said it in an interview, I was trying to sound cool!”
As The Hollywood Reporter notes, Pattinson hasn’t been shy about the male body standards he’s felt pressured by throughout his career. He admitted to feeling insecure while starring opposite Taylor Lautner in Twilight to Mexican magazine 15a20 (via Glamour) in 2011, and he’s voiced how “very easy,” “extraordinarily addictive,” and “insidious” it is for actors to fall into the pattern of training their bodies intensely for a role in an interview with The London Standard in 2023.
That’s not to say he wasn’t spitting with his take here. Far from it. It’s just funny that he had to set the record straight in an “I’m not owned” moment that no one felt inclined to call him out on, except himself, from a movie that’s arguably the greatest Batman film ever made—a feat whose near-perfect ranking isn’t being held back by his physique but by the film feeling the need to cram the Joker in there for no reason at all. But that’s just me.
From what we can glean from his recent GQ interview, it sounds like Pattinson has gotten into a routine to get his body trained up for The Batman Part II, Matt Reeves’ long-awaited (and delayed) sequel film, by installing a home gym. Evidently, Batman prep time didn’t spill over into real life for Pattinson because he wasn’t aware of what his film schedule would look like for The Batman Part II, which is currently in production.
“And I just heard from the stunt guy the other day. He said, ‘Ooh, 11 weeks of nights,’” Pattinson told GQ. “I’m like, ‘Excuse me?’ I’m like, ‘No one’s even sent me a schedule.’”
Pattinson expanding on his interview answer about working out for The Batman is hilarious in the context of him just saying out-of-the-blue remarks to sound cool, when you consider he has always been a wildly entertaining interviewee at press junkets. I mean, this is the same guy who said he’d do “art house porn” if The Batman flopped.
Still, seeing how busy Pattinson’s 2026 has already been doing “fucking a lot of movies” in the interim of The Batman and The Batman Part II with The Drama, The Odyssey, Primetime, and Dune Part II, we have complete confidence in his work ethic and look forward to seeing how toned his body is once The Batman Part II rolls back around.
The Batman Part II hits theaters on October 1, 2027.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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