The Game Of Thrones Actor Who Was Considered For Batman Before Robert Pattinson
by Devin Meenan · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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Robert Pattinson is about to show audiences another one of his trademarked weird performances in "Primetime," the docudrama about former "To Catch A Predator" host Chris Hansen. But the same fans awaiting "Primetime" also yearn for his return as another, even more theatrical vigilante: the Dark Knight himself in director Matt Reeves' long-delayed "The Batman Part II" (currently scheduled for a February 2028 theatrical release).
Asking fans to rank their favorite Batman actor is inviting conflict, but Pattinson already has a strong claim to that cowled crown. Reeves' "The Batman" doesn't fall into the trap many other Batman movies do of letting villains hog the spotlight. There, Pattinson's Bruce Wayne is absolutely the story's lead and center. Indeed, this Batman is a reclusive, emo outsider who barely even puts up a facade as Gotham City prince Bruce Wayne. The wildness or arrogance Pattinson brings to most of his roles is absent — this Batman is a very self-serious guy. He's got a whispery voice, but there's anger brimming under every word he speaks.
It's been reported that Reeves' casting of Batman came down to Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult (who has mixed feelings on losing the part). Earlier in development, though, Kit Harington (who famously played Jon Snow on "Game of Thrones") took a meeting about starring as Batman. Harington revealed this in a recent appearance on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast with Josh Horowitz. "I think I met someone early on, but I think it was like, when I heard it was Robert Pattinson, I was like, 'Yeah, of course. That's who you should go for," Harington recalled.
It makes sense that Harington would be on the shortlist to play Batman in the early 2020s, though, and not just because "Game of Thrones" was the biggest show in the world.
Could Kit Harington have pulled Batman off?
Jon Snow is seemingly the illegitimate son of Lord Ned Stark (Sean Bean). Bastards are scorned in Westeros, so, to restore his honor, Jon joins the Night's Watch. Jon is a mopey dark-haired young man. He's also got anger and a chip on his shoulder from a lifetime of being treated as dishonor made flesh and bone. And though he has strong convictions about honor and justice, the longer he stays in the Night's Watch, the more he finds himself torn between duties and his heart — like when he falls for the "wildling" Ygritte (Rose Leslie).
All these qualities, plus Jon's black costuming, are rather Batman-like! Compare Jon's doomed romance with Ygritte to the ending of "The Batman," where Selina/Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) glances at Gotham's skyline and realizes Batman will never commit to her because "[he's] spoken for." But would Kit Harington have been able to command the screen in the batsuit?
I have my doubts. Eight seasons of "Game of Thrones" showed that Harington had Jon's brooding down, but that was largely it. Jon in George R. R. Martin's original books has an edge that Harrington just doesn't bring to the part. Take the scene in "Game of Thrones" Season 5, Episode 3, "The High Sparrow." Jon, newly-minted as Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, personally executes the disobedient Janos Slynt (Dominic Carter). In "A Dance with Dragons" Jon's icy calm and determination at carrying that out is chilling, the kind of fear that Pattinson-as-Batman provokes with beating up a thug and growling "I'm vengeance!" In the show? Not so much.
Since "Game of Thrones" ended, Harington has found his niche on HBO's "Industry." Playing depressed, blue-blooded entrepreneur Harry Muck is much more in his groove as an actor than Batman.