31 minute read
SPORTS
from 3/24/22 Full Edition
Christina DeNovio, denoca20@wfu.edu Essex ayer, thayse20@wfu.edu
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OLD GOLD & BLACK
PAGE 11
THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2022
Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics Men's basketball moves to NIT Elite Eight
The Demon Deacons will face off against Texas A&M for the right to go to the Final Four in New York City
CHRISTIAN ODJAKJIAN Staff Writer
Seventeen days after a Senior Night win over NC State, Wake Forest played their actual last home game of the season. e Demon Deacons played two more games at the Joel this season than originally scheduled due to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) and won their last home game 80-74 over Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) on Saturday afternoon in the second round.
Wake Forest has now reached the quarter nals of the NIT, and will take on Texas A&M in College Station, Texas on Tuesday. e winner will play in the NIT semi nals in Madison Square Garden.
Although the Demon Deacons went into the locker room with a 43-35 lead, VCU fought hard and kept it close. However, VCU never whittled their lead down to less than a three point de cit. e Demon Deacons were led by a balanced scoring attack and notched 14 assists on their 22 made baskets. Alondes Williams scored 19 points and added ve assists. Dallas Walton dropped 16 with seven rebounds. Jake LaRavia, Davien Williamson and Cameron Hildreth scored 15, 14 and 10 respectively. Williamson drilled a clutch, dagger three pointer with just over three minutes remaining, stretching the lead to nine.
Forbes revealed after the game that Williams has been dealing with a turf toe injury, which explains his slight dip in production at the tail end of this season. It also makes his dunk in the nal minute – in which he brought the ball down to his waist and reverse-slammed it over his head – even more impressive. at play brought the crowd of over 4,000 to their feet.
VCU is one of the best defensive teams in the country, forcing the eleventh most turnovers per game (17.06), and the sixth best defensive e ciency on KenPom. However, Wake Forest came out on top in terms of the turnover battle. ey committed 15 themselves but forced 19. ere was quite a choppy nature to this contest. e o cials were constantly blowing their whistles, and 49 total fouls were called in the game. VCU likes to play an “ugly” style of basketball, and that is what ended up happening. e Demon Deacons chance at victory remained at the free throw line in this game, as the Deacs connected on 29 of their 37 attempts. e matchup versus Texas A&M will be played Wednesday night at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.
Page 12 | Thursday, March 24, 2022
Old Gold & Black | Sports Baseball wins series with No. 10 Georgia Tech
ESSEX THAYER
After taking one game from No. 7 Florida State in a three-game series, the Wake Forest baseball team was even more successful this past weekend, earning a series win against then-No. 10 Georgia Tech in Atlanta. e Demon Deacons are now 16-4 on the season and 3-3 in the ACC, good for third place in the Atlantic Division. Despite not being ranked by the NCAA, Wake Forest was rated the No. 24 team in the country by Perfect Game.
On Friday, Wake Forest’s pitching led the team to a 5-3 victory. Sophomore starting pitcher Rhett Lowder faced strong competition and only allowed three runs — two earned — over ve innings. en, the combination of sophomore Camden Minacci and redshirt sophomore Eric Adler closed the game with four scoreless innings.
On Saturday, it was the Demon Deacons’ o ense that propelled the team to clinch the series. Freshman Nick Kurtz knocked six hits and six RBIs, while sophomore Brock Wilken and redshirt junior Brandon Tinsman added two home runs each leading Wake Forest to a blowout 27-7 win. ose 27 runs, along with 28 hits, are both a program record within an ACC game.
On Sunday, to end the series, Georgia Tech nally found their stride and looked like the No. 10 team in the country in a 14-5 victory. After being the No. 2 starter to begin the season, freshman Josh Hartle was in the No. 3 slot this past weekend and was knocked around by the Yellow Jackets, giving up eight runs over 2.2 innings.
In the rst inning on Friday, the Wake Forest bats went right to work, with redshirt junior Michael Turconi hitting a three-run home run to left eld. Georgia Tech also got on the board in the rst inning with a elder’s choice and error bringing in a run. In the second inning, the Yellow Jackets inched within one run of the Wake Forest lead, as a single up the middle scored a runner from second — who was there by way of a wild pitch.
Two innings later though, Kurtz extended the lead for the Demon Deacons, bringing in freshman Tommy Hawke despite hitting into a double-play. Despite a third run from the Yellow Jackets in the following half inning, sophomore Jake Reinisch gave Wake Forest the extra cushion they needed, adding a fth run in the top of the fth inning. From there, with a two-run lead, Minacci and Adler closed the door on Georgia Tech, only allowing one hit over four innings.
Minacci has been especially valuable for the Demon Deacons in this early season. In 17 innings pitched, the sophomore has only allowed nine hits and two runs, good for a 1.06 ERA, one of the best in the ACC. Walter lauded Minacci’s success after the game.
“Obviously, Cam Minacci, you can’t throw the ball any better than that,” Walter said. e following day, the Yellow Jackets were the team to get on the board early, tagging three runs on sophomore starter Seth Keener in the rst inning. In the next half inning, though, Tinsman hit his rst home run of the day — a tworun shot. Both teams added a run in the third inning, with Wilken doing so for Wake Forest by way of a sacri ce y. In the fourth inning, the Demon Deacons took a one-run lead with a 2-RBI double by Kurtz and an RBI single by redshirt sophomore Pierce Bennett.
By the end of the fth inning, Wake Forest had extended its lead to 13. Wilken kicked o the inning with a solo home run, which was followed by a RBI single by freshman Danny Corona. en, singles by Hawke, Kurtz and Bennett each brought in a run. A two-run single by Turconi increased the lead to eight. en, Wilken and Tinsman home runs added another ve runs.
In the sixth inning, a 2-RBI single by Reinisch added to the scoreline, while a seventh-inning hit from Bennett added another. An eighth-inning double by Kurtz gave Wake Forest a 23-5 lead. In the ninth inning, both teams added two runs, giving the Demon Deacons the 27-7 win.
In the rst inning on Sunday, the Yellow Jackets picked up their game, scoring six runs. ey added to that lead with three additional runs between the second and sixth inning. Down 9-0 in the seventh inning, Wake Forest attempted to mount a comeback, scoring four runs o the bats of Reinisch, Tinsman and Corona, but it proved to be too little too late. Georgia Tech added three additional runs after the Demon Deacons rst got their name on the scoreline, leading to the victory.
Regardless, Wake Forest left Atlanta with two wins against a Top 10 team in the nation, and Walter recognized that.
“It was a good weekend series all-inall,” Walter said. “Anytime you win two of three on the road in this league, it’s a good weekend for your ball club.” e road ahead doesn’t get any easier for Wake Forest. is coming weekend, the Demon Deacons are set to face o against another Top 10 team, the University of Virginia, who are currently ranked No. 10 in the NCAA. In the ACC, the tough contests never really end.
Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics
Sophomore Brock Wilken celebrates a base hit. Wilken had two home
Contact Essex Thayer at thayse20@wfu.edu
WBB’s season ends with second-round NIT loss
The Demon Deacons will now look ahead to the 2022-23 season with key talent set to return
IAN STEFFENSEN Staff Writer
Postseason play continued for Wake Forest women’s basketball as they faced o against Middle Tennessee in the WNIT second round. Despite a hard- fought contest, the Demon Deacons came up short with a nal score of 6755.
“For our young team, these two games and this experience will be invaluable going into next season,” Wake Forest Head Coach Jen Hoover said. “ e end stretch of this season was promising and something we will continue to grow on the next few months as we head into the 2022-23 season. I am looking forward to putting the work in with this team as we look ahead to next year.”
Senior forward Christina Morra scored the rst six points of the game for Wake Forest, and freshman guard Elise Williams soon followed up with two points from the charity stripe to pull the Demon Deacons to within one of Middle Tennessee, 9-8. e Blue Raiders controlled the pace in the rst half, but Wake Forest would not go away, with junior forward Olivia Summiel hitting a triple from the left wing to get them within two at 15-13. Middle Tennessee answered with scores on back-to-back possessions and ended the rst up 2013.
Morra continued to be a presence in the second quarter, adding to her total of 13 points in the rst half. Junior guard Kaia Harrison went 3-3 in the quarter to add six points. Yet, the story of the second half was the red-hot shooting from Middle Tennessee. e Blue Raiders knocked down 58% of their shots in the quarter. e Demon Deacons trailed 38-25 going into the locker room.
Williams led Wake Forest in scoring with six points in the third quarter, as the team had no answer for Middle Tennessee. e Demon Deacons couldn’t contain the Blue Raiders as they continued to grow their lead. Middle Tennessee led by as much as 27 points and continued their dominant performance. Heading into the nal quarter of play, Wake Forest trailed 59-36.
In her nal outing as a Demon Deacon, Morra continued to make an impact. She hit her rst career three-pointer on her rst career three-point attempt. Wake Forest closed the gap at the end, going on a 17-2 run to nish the game. Harrison nished with 10 points, Williams nished with 13 and Morra led the team in scoring with a game-high 18 points. Despite winning the rebounding margin by 10, Wake Forest struggled with shooting, making a mere 30.6% of their shots from the eld.
e loss ends the season for the Demon Deacons, who will look to build on these e orts next season.
Contact Ian Steffensen at
CHRISTINA DENOVIO Sports Editor
As the season progresses, Taha Baadi, a junior on the men’s tennis team, is zoned in on one nal goal: redemption. e Montreal, Canada native came a long way from home in the spring of 2020 only to have his season shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, two years later, Baadi has hit his stride as his consistency has proven to be an asset to the team.
So far during the 2022 season, Baadi has accrued nine wins in comparison to six losses at positions ranging from No. 2 to No. 6 singles. With the ACC and NCAA tournaments a month away, he and the rest of the team are gearing up for a comeback after falling short last season. While Baadi is currently concentrating on playing well in these tournaments to assist his team, a strong performance would further propel his chances at a successful career playing professionally after his time as a Demon Deacon.
Christina DeNovio: When did you start playing tennis? Did you play other sports growing up?
Taha Baadi: I rst started playing tennis when I was eight. Before that, I was playing soccer. I was playing soccer and tennis until I was 12, but then I had to make the decision to pick a sport. I decided to pick tennis because I liked the individual aspect of it, and I just began to like it more.
CD: Did you have a favorite tennis player growing up?
TB: It was always Roger Federer. e rst ever tennis match that I watched was Federer against Andy Roddick at Wimbledon. I was watching with my dad, and that’s when I told him I wanted to try it out.
We bought some cheap rackets, and we started playing in a random park. en, I got more and more interested in the sport, and that’s how I got into it. Federer was de nitely a player who inspired me to play tennis.
CD: How did you choose Wake Forest?
TB: In tennis, you have until you’re 18 to decide if you want to play professionally or if you want to go to college and then try playing professionally after. So during my last year of junior tennis, I was playing a lot of tournaments, and I was getting recruited by some schools. Wake Forest was just coming o an NCAA title and was No. 1 in the country.
I picked them because I thought they were the best team in the country, and I really clicked with the coaches. I didn’t even know about Wake Forest before speaking to the coaches. ey told me how it was a small school and that the campus was very nice. I came to visit it, and I liked it. I liked the fact that it was small and that a lot of people knew each other and that you can build relationships with others.
CD: Have you noticed if players from di erent countries have di erent styles of play? How would you compare these styles to your own?
TB: We only have four
Americans on the team out of the 18 guys. Everyone is from everywhere in the world. In tennis, depending on where you’re from, you’re taught to play a di erent style of tennis. For example, Luciano Tacchi is from Argentina, and
Thursday, March 24, 2022 | Page 13 Taha Baadi
Deacon “Sportlight”
the way they play over there is by making the rallies very long. ey try to make the match as physical as possible.
On the other hand, players from North America — let’s say Canada or the United States — play very aggressive tennis. ey try to end the rally as quickly as possible, and they try to hit as hard as possible.
It’s fun to have players from di erent countries so you can get di erent game styles all mixed together. at makes great practice. We de nitely can notice the change of game styles depending on where the guys are from.
CD: How many di erent places have you lived in? Is there a nationality that you identify with the most, or is it equally distributed ?
TB: I was born in Morocco, and I have a Moroccan nationality. Also, I live in Canada, and I play for Canada. When I play in an international tournament, I play for the Canadian ag. Obviously, now I’m living in the United States.
I would say that when it comes to tennis, Canada has done the most for me — they’ve paid for a lot of my stu , especially in juniors. I like representing the country — I think I owe them. I just like to say I have a mixed culture. I don’t feel more associated with one than the others. I have the Moroccan in me, the Canadian in me and now a little bit of American. It’s a good combo.
CD: What’s your favorite part of being on the tennis team?
TB: e fact that we’re probably the most diverse team at Wake Forest. We literally have teammates from all over the place. ese are going to be friendships that are going to last forever, hopefully. And it’s so fun to meet so many guys from di erent places, build connections and get to know their cultures and perspectives. We get to form very interesting relationships because everyone is so di erent. But we all get along so well, which is fascinating.
CD: Do you prefer doubles or singles?
TB: Singles. I don’t like doubles all that much, honestly. If you’re playing with your best friend, it’s kind of fun, but I’d rather play singles, for sure.
CD: How do you prepare on match day?
TB: I don’t have any superstitions — I just like to get a good meal before the match. I like to listen to some good music, nothing too crazy. I’m not the type of guy to isolate himself before a match to concentrate. I like to still be around people and talk. Isolating yourself can make it too serious, which I don’t like. I like to get a good physical warm-up and a good tennis warm-up, and then just kind of go with the ow.
CD: What are you most looking forward to in the second half of the season?
TB: De nitely the NCAA Tournament and the ACC Tournament. e rst half included more of the regular matches of the season, the out-of-conference matches and the National Indoors Tournament, which are all important as well. But, I think when you come to college, your rst goal is to win the NCAA, and you have to get through the second half of the season to get your team ready to do so.
Everyone is more locked in now because they know that NCAAs are coming up. It’s like the World Cup of college — everyone is waiting to see who’s going to take the NCAA title home. I haven’t played in the NCAAs before because my rst year COVID-19 canceled it. My second year, we lost right before the actual tournament. And this year, I think we’re in a good position to do well in it, so I’m excited to see how it goes.
Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics
Baadi and the rest of the tennis team are set to play Virginia Tech away on Friday.
CD: You’ve mentioned wanting to play professional tennis in the future. Are you looking to nish your four years or would you want to graduate early to pursue going pro?
TB: I mean, I only have two more years left. I know how prestigious it is to have a degree from Wake Forest and to get it for free is something that a lot of people would love.
I think it would be a good idea to get my degree from here. People can play for a long time when you play professional tennis. ere are guys that are in their late thirties and still playing professionally. If I graduate from here when I’m 21 or 22, I’ll have plenty of time to play professionally afterwards. I’m not in a rush to leave Wake Forest. But, obviously, if I get some unbelievable results in the summer and I just feel like I have to, then I would. But, we’ll see.
CD: What’s your major? Do you know what you want to do after tennis?
TB: I’m a communication major. After tennis, I think maybe I’d like to be a sports agent or just to get into entrepreneurship. I’m not really sure yet. Tennis is really my plan A. I haven’t really thought of plan B yet. Ideally, I’d want to do something related to sports and entrepreneurship.
Editor’s note: is interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
PAGE 14
THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2022 LIFE
OLD GOLD & BLACK
Adam Coil, coilat21@wfu.edu Josie Scratchard, scraja20@wfu.edu Previewing the Academy Awards
BEN WILCOX
Staff Writer e biggest night in Hollywood might have had some of the wind taken out of its sails over the last couple of years, but if you want to nd a movie to watch or root for, or simply to win some Oscar pools, this is the place to be. I’ll be covering every Best Picture nominee in this article, telling you about what it takes to be part of the biggest night in lm.
“Belfast” is one of those classic, feel-good romps for the whole family. Much like “Jojo Rabbit'', it centers on a child growing up in tumultuous times, who has enough heart to jump o of the screen. Esteemed director Kenneth Branagh brings this semi-autobiographical lm to life with tremendous performances from Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds and Dame Judi Dench, all of whom were themselves nominated for Oscars. is black-and-white feature can be described as Branagh’s version of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma”. is lm garnered not only a Best Director nod for Branagh but a Best Original Screenplay nomination as well. Once considered one of the frontrunners for Best Picture, the attention has subsided, but nonetheless, this was one of the most heartfelt movies I watched this year. And for our more casual viewers, you can watch the guy who played Gilderoy Lockhart in the “Chamber of Secrets” direct his butt o .
"CODA" "CODA", an abbreviation for Child of Deaf Adults, is the dark-horse contender this year. In a well-constructed coming-of-age piece, a girl with normal hearing discovers herself while living with her deaf family. Despite being nominated for only three awards, it currently has the second-best odds to win the Best Picture award.
In the other categories, Troy Kotsur, who portrays the dad in the lm, is the favorite to nab Best Supporting Actor, surging ahead of another actor we’ll touch on a little bit later. is movie has been a fan favorite, but I didn't have the same warm feeling after viewing it. is is also an Apple TV+ feature, so if you’ve had any relatives hounding you to catch up on some “Ted Lasso”, here’s your chance to kill two birds with one stone with a free trial.
"Don't Look Up" is movie was an uphill battle. Jonah Hill nails every scene he’s in, but outside of that, I don’t nd the lm to be too enjoyable. e movie is a slog, and I guess that’s intentional. I know our imminent environmental crisis is what "Don't Look Up" is satirizing, but it does a terrible job in doing so.
I do not think it will win anything come Oscar Sunday, but if you are as big of a Hill fan as I am, it’s worth tuning in just for him. You could also probably just get away with watching a YouTube compilation of his scenes, but you didn’t hear that from me.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Photo courtesy of IMDb Photo courtesy of IMDb
Photo courtesy of IMDb
“Drive My Car” is a tough pill to swallow. When you look up the de nition of a slow burn in the dictionary, it shows you this movie. "Drive My Car" is a very rewarding watch, and it may be the most well-made lm out of all of the nominations. However, you have to be emotionally prepared for a three-hour, foreign-language drama about grief and loss. is movie could potentially be another dark horse candidate for Best Picture, but I would not put my money on it.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
“Dune” might have been the best theatrical experience I’ve had all year. I was fortunate enough to catch it on opening night in IMAX with my friends and experience the rst part of this saga. is lm will sweep all the below-the-lines awards, especially considering that Hans Zimmer, one of the most acclaimed lm composers in modern cinema, created entirely new sounds for this movie. I would expect it to win most of its 10 Oscar nominations and deservedly so. is is one of my must-watch-in-theaters selections for this year. Hopefully seeing Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya on the big screen together is enough for the price of admission.
Will Smith is most likely going to win an Oscar for this movie. at should be enough incentive to tune in. If you need more convincing, this tells the story of Venus and Serena Williams' rise in the tennis world and the help they received from their father, Richard Williams.
Although I think that there are stronger performances this year — this is what we call foreshadowing — “King Richard” was my favorite “feel good” movie of 2021, beating “Belfast” and “CODA”. I might be a little biased as a former tennis player, but I found this movie to be so impressive in both the acting and tennis ability of its young stars. On top of this, I felt that Aunjanue Ellis gave one of the best performances of this year as the Williams sisters' mother.
“Licorice Pizza” is another stellar movie by the legendary director Paul omas Anderson. It’s already a classic bildungsroman that is the frontrunner for Best Original Screenplay. ere has been some controversy to the movie, but I would like to challenge these ideas. A lot of the controversy surrounding the movie is due to problematic scenes which some believe the movie condones. I’m of the mind that it’s more of a hang-out, coming-of-age movie set in the 70s. "Nightmare Alley"
is was easily my favorite movie of 2021. It’s an understatement to say that Bradley Cooper kills it in this movie — remember that foreshadowing comment from earlier? I don’t want to give too much away other than Cooper's performance, but this Guillermo del Toro directed feature is a must-watch.
“ e Power of the Dog” is the prohibitive favorite to pick up Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay. It has received nominations in every acting category but Best Actress.
It’s a ne movie but is de nitely a slow burn. In fact, I missed a major plot point the rst time I watched it. It’s the most-nominated movie from the last year, and I expect it to pick up some awards, but I remain skeptical that it will win Best Picture.
is might be the most impressive feat of the last year — Steven Spielberg adapted the unadaptable. With input from Tony Kushner and Stephen Sondheim before he passed on, I found this version to be even more enjoyable than the 1961 lm.
Ariana DeBose will likely win Best Supporting Actress for the same role that won Rita Morena her Oscar. Although it’s not in the top three of odds (“ e Power of the Dog,” “CODA,” and “Belfast”) — the Academy has had an extreme anti-streaming bias, which would most certainly a ect “ e Power of the Dog” and “CODA” — this lm is an amazing production that has generated a lot of buzz going into the big night. Out of all these lms, this is my pick to win Best Picture on Sunday.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Photo courtesy of IMDb Photo courtesy of IMDb
Photo courtesy of IMDb
People prefer modern entertainment over reading
Print readership has faced a decline as society has become more tech-focused
JOSIE SCRATCHARD Life Editor
Imagine you’re trapped in the prison of your fifth-grade classroom, staring longingly beyond the bars at the vacant jungle gym while your captor drags on about Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. You wonder what crime you must have committed to deserve this punishment. Of course, when you fly off the school bus, the last thing you want to do is glue your eyes to any academic task — and become trapped as you have been for the past seven hours. Why on earth would you pick up a book to read when you could play basketball or video games or ride your bike?
As you progress through the school years, books only become more metaphorical and less interesting, leading you to believe that there is nothing you could possibly read that could capture your attention. After all, reading is just a recommendation by boring teachers and your parents, and what do they know?
Unfortunately, this mindset is far too common among kids and even many adults. Reading has become a chore to many, leading them to not only believe that it is painful to endure but that it is not beneficial.
At Wake Forest, I’ve met several people who claim to not like reading. When questioned further, it becomes evident that they haven’t taken it upon themselves to read beyond books assigned in school — if they even read those.
Despite this claim, I refuse to believe that these students do not like to read, but rather that they have been led to think that about themselves. After all, if they have never placed their eyes on a page outside of school assignments, then they are missing all of the wonderful novels written for pure entertainment, fascinating studies conducted in non-academic settings and inspiring nonfiction stories.
When asked how many TV shows, movies, and athletic events the same people have watched in the past year, the answer is typically outrageously high. People have become convinced that reading is boring or takes too much time because their other entertainment choices enthrall them immediately and hold onto their attention for dear life. People want to see an instant return on their time investment, and reading doesn’t provide that.
If this is the case for adults, it is certainly the case for children. Books have been overlooked as a source of entertainment and learning for children's requirement of a long attention span. Children’s ability to concentrate is already short enough, so reading tends to frustrate children who refuse to accept the delayed gratification that a story’s plot provides.
This mindset appears to have originated with the development of alternative entertainment options like television. Entertainment preceding television was quite limited beyond simple imagination and books. For this reason, it was not as difficult as it is today to entice children to pick up books.
At the peak of virtual entertainment and the internet, children have many more choices in which to learn academic material and keep themselves occupied. It is easier for the parent and teacher to introduce computer games and online assignments with which to learn and be entertained. This institutes the issue of reliance on technology to facilitate interest in any activity, not just learning. Thus, activities like reading fall by the wayside.
Reading is an activity that sometimes takes a special book to draw them into the activity for eternity. Those who haven’t taken the time or effort to read outside of what was required in school are missing out on the possibility of a new love, which is sincerely disheartening.
Contact Josie Scratchard at scraja20@wfu.edu
Robert Pattinson's Batman displays growth
After his sub-par role as Edward Cullen, the actor has stepped up his game
MELINA TRAIFOROS Staff Writer
Most people --- including the actor himself --- can agree Robert Pattinson’s iconic role as Edward Cullen in the lm “Twilight” (2008) falls considerably short of an Academy Award, including the actor himself.
Interviews criticizing his character’s cartoonish look and absurd actions — notably the scene in which he performs a cesarean section by chewing through a placenta — con rm that Pattinson despises his involvement in the
franchise. He publicly bashes the series so often that a popular Tumblr account, @robertpattinsonhatingtwilight, posts his commentary under the preface “no one hates Twilight more than him”. e portrayal is — in Pattinson’s own words — a nightmare.
Pattinson’s lack of talent cannot be the culprit of his poor “Twilight” performance when the actor has recently ended his near ten-year hiatus from mainstream roles and delivered a haunting performance in “ e Batman” (2022).
Pattinson is far from the rst performer to answer to the Bat-Signal. e character has progressed from Val Kilmer’s hokey hero to Christian Bale’s hard-nosed billionaire playboy, but Batman is not meant to be charming. A trauma victim who copes by toeing the line between savior and criminal ought to be haunted. is is the premise that makes Pattinson’s performance shine: a Batman who spends the movie in his own head.
Where Cullen’s silent stares are vacant, Bruce Wayne’s carry tortured inner turmoil. As he stares after a newly orphaned child for a long moment, the audience feels the pain of each memory. When Wayne’s idolized image of his late family unravels, only minute expressions betray his anguish. e performance’s vulnerability grips fans well after the movie is over.
What changed? GQ Magazine recently released an article titled “ e Metamorphosis of Robert Pattinson”, which shares the actor’s thoughts on his tumultuous career and a photograph of him bleaching his hair in a public restroom, among other attempts to break away from the past. is alludes to what the story dubs a decadelong prison break from Pattinson’s career trajectory post-”Twilight”. He spent years starring in small, arthouse roles with singular lmmakers.
“I grew up liking classic movies,” Pattinson said to GQ. “I wanted to work with those people.”
ese lms struck young Pattinson in a careeraltering way. He veered from blockbuster icks to rediscover why he pursued acting. is journey led him to “ e Batman”.
Pattinson describes his acting process as chaotic — he feels that he must hit rock bottom before striking authenticity.
“You have to feel the pain,” the actor said to GQ. “And then suddenly it’s like God gives you a little treat.”
His portrayal of Wayne understands pain well. e traumatic death of the character’s parents spurs his descent into vigilante madness. Most people seek out a support group, but Wayne dresses up in a bat costume and takes down Gotham’s criminal underworld.
Pattinson describes Batman as a freak. Yet, assuming a disguise and hiding in the shadows is not foreign to the star — he has spent a lifetime dodging paparazzi. An interviewer once joked as Pattinson sought a hidden spot for their session, that he wanted to return to the bat cave. e actor once shared that he uniquely alters his voice for each new character. As one journalist put it, “Pattinson seems to have long been good at being at least two things at once. An authentic singular somebody to his core. But also
someone very good at pretending to be somebody else.” is cinematic mask allows the actor to shed his personal demons and chase a greater purpose.
Similarly, Batman is a regular man until he dons the mask and becomes a symbol of hope in a lawless city. Pattinson’s performance resonates because he understands his character.
One of the lm’s most powerful moments is when Wayne’s butler-con dante, Alfred, asks what his father would think of his violent gig that is damaging the family name, to which he replies, “this is my family legacy. If I don’t do this, then there’s nothing else for me.”
Pattinson said to GQ, “It’s kind of about him trying to nd some element of hope in himself and not just the city.”
When asked why he accepted the role, Pattinson simply responded, “It’s a legacy part, right? I like that.”
Cullen keeps Pattinson from this legacy; Wayne allows him to chase it.
Photo courtesy of Free SVG
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TOP 10 PEOPLE WHO CAN WRITE A BETTER 'HOT LIST' THAN THE
ACTUAL 'HOT LIST' WRITER
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Adam Coil
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