‘I was scared’ The Batman’s Paul Dano ‘lost sleep’ over intense scenes

Although there have been a few different cinematic versions of Batman in the past decade, Robert Pattinson’s upcoming version is set to blow them all away with his sheer brutality. That extends to his villain, as well, with The Riddler already being touted as a methodical, maniacal serial killer rather than a moustache-twirling villain. But this effect made a mark on Dano, who plays the evildoer.

Dano recently opened up about some of the horrifying acts his character was forced into during filming. The trailers have already shown him duct taping up dead bodies and strapping bombs to people’s chests. But Dano explained how one scene with one Gotham city resident left a mark on him emotionally.

He said: “There’s a sequence with Peter Sarsgaard’s character. That was intense. There were some nights around that I probably didn’t sleep as well as I would’ve wanted to just because it was a little hard to come down from this character.” (Via Entertainment Weekly)

Dano noted how it took a lot of “energy” to get himself to such a dark place for the film. He said: “And so, you almost have to sustain it once you’re there because going up and down is kind of hard.”

As if the emotional portion of the role wasn’t bad enough for Dano, he also revealed how he was physically hindered during one unexpected moment.

READ MORE: The Batman: Robert Pattinson film ‘left girlfriend sobbing’

Dano revealed he went “straight home” after the first night in plastic. He said: “I almost couldn’t sleep because I was scared of what was happening to my head. It was like compressed from the sweat and the heat and the lack of oxygen. It was a crazy feeling.”

Although director Reeves didn’t want his actor in a bad way, he did want to create a “captivating” villain that would be remembered.

Reeves said in the same interview: “The Riddler is omnipresent, but almost as a ghost. When I came up with the idea that the Riddler would be sending correspondence to Batman, [what] was captivating to me was if you’re a character whose mode is to work as a symbol, be anonymous, to come out of the shadows, nobody is supposed to know who you are; your power comes from the fact that you’re anonymous.”

He added: “Then suddenly someone starts to rob you of your anonymity, you start to lose a bit of your power and it starts to unsettle you.”

The Batman hits cinemas on March 4.

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