Nicholas Hoult Says Robert Pattinson Was Announced For ‘The Batman’ While He Was Still About To Audition

It’s been several years since it was announced that Robert Pattinson would suit up as Batman in Matt Reeves’ aptly titled, “The Batman.” Many people might have already forgotten that Nicholas Hoult was one of the final people in the audition process for that role. In fact, according to the actor, he heard that Pattinson was going to take on the role before his final audition. 

Speaking on a recent episode of the “Happy. Sad. Confused.” podcast, Nicholas Hoult talked about his new film, “Juror #2,” and also about what it was like to audition for the role of Batman for Matt Reeves. As mentioned above, he also talked about how he heard Pattinson landed the role before his final audition for the role. 

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“I remember a week before we did the Batman test, I was driving in my car, and I had the radio on, and they were talking on the radio about how Rob was going to be the new Batman,” Hoult said. “And I was like, ‘It’s not confirmed yet! I’m auditioning next weekend. Give me a chance.’”

Hoult explained that auditioning to play such an iconic character was “a lot to put yourself through emotionally” and that losing the role was “of course, it’s an emotional blow.”

Hoult continued, “Your imagination does not know…you are aware on a practical level: ‘I know I am auditioning against Rob.’ And Rob is fantastic in that movie. That was the right decision. But you get excited by the prospect. Matt [Reeves] is a fantastic director and the script. It’s a cool movie, and I want to be a part of it. It’s a brilliant character.”

The actor also explained exactly what it was like to watch “The Batman,” having gone through the grueling audition process for the role. 

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“There’s a weird period before you can get to the acceptance and see the movie and be like that was the right choice, you go through the period of, ‘What could I have done different? Why not me?’ You run through all those things,” said Hoult.

During the interview, Hoult also credited James Gunn for understanding his dismay at losing out on Batman. The actor, of course, has already been announced as landing the role of Lex Luthor in Gunn’s upcoming “Superman.”

“James Gunn is such a fantastic director and I was so excited by what he was building at DC. When we spoke…because they knew I had been through [‘The Batman’] process, they didn’t want me to necessarily have to go through that again,” Hoult said. “That was very kind of them. There was an element of them being like, ‘We like you as an actor. We want you to be in this world.’”

You can see the full discussion below: