After an almost six-month shutdown due to the covid-19 pandemic, The Batman went back into production this week. It then took only three days for things to shut down again. That’s when star Robert Pattinson tested positive for covid-19.
“A member of The Batman production has tested positive for Covid-19, and is isolating in accordance with established protocols. Filming is temporarily paused,” a Warner Bros. spokesperson said initially. Soon after, Vanity Fair broke that the person was, in fact, Pattinson himself.
Gizmodo reached out to Warner Bros. and Pattinson’s reps but had not heard back as of publication.
The actor is just the latest major star to reveal they’ve contracted the disease. As recently as Wednesday night, Dwayne Johnson said his whole family had it but has since recovered. Statistics suggest it’s likely Pattinson will recover too, but who knows if he spread it to other members of the production or not.
While the delay of one movie, even a movie as big as The Batman, isn’t a huge deal, it’s yet another example of how trying to start the world back up before it’s actually safe to do so could have serious or even deadly consequences. Film productions that have resumed are taking extensive measures to protect everyone involved from covid-19. The fact that Pattinson was tested at all is likely due to those measures. But if arguably the most prominent person on that film set — the one in the Batsuit — can get sick, anyone can get sick.
There’s no word on how long the current shutdown on the film will last, but the aim is still for The Batman to open a little over a year from now, on October 1, 2021. The impressive first trailer, released last month, was culled from footage after only 25 per cent of filming — so once everyone is safe and healthy, it sure looks like writer-director Matt Reeves has a special film on his hands. Let’s all hope he can finish it quickly and safely, and that Pattinson’s recovery will be swift as well.
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