He’s been trying to shed Edward Cullen for years — and now he may finally have done it.
Robert Pattinson rose to megafame playing Cullen, a lovelorn vampire, in the “Twilight” series, but has in his off-dury hours been trying to become something more interesting than a leading man. After the period piece “Bel Ami” and the romantic dramas “Remember Me” and “Water for Elephants” didn’t connect, Pattinson has styled himself as a versatile supporting actor. In David Cronenberg’s “Cosmopolis,” Pattinson, perpetually picking up new visitors in his limousine, was nominally the lead but was willing to cede the role of most interesting person on-screen to just about anyone who crossed his path; in Cronenberg’s forthcoming “Maps to the Stars,” Pattinson plays the limo driver.
And in David Michôd’s new film “The Rover,” Pattinson makes his greatest departure yet, playing a mentally challenged vagrant who’s migrated to a post-apocalyptic Australia and finds himself on a quest to help Guy Pearce find his car. It’s the sort of role that at a different time of year, and in a tonier, more tasteful sort of film, ends up in Oscar conversations: Pattinson has mottled brown teeth and a thick Southern accent. If this sounds like a way for Pattinson to finally shed the constraints of his leading-man roles, it is — but it’s clear that Pattinson is having fun while doing it.
He seemed open and relaxed in his standard white T-shirt when we met at New York’s Bowery Hotel, where he chugged sparkling water between answers. He spoke freely about what’s next up — including James Gray’s “Lost City of Z” adaptation and “Life,” a James Dean biopic by Anton Corbijn. Spoiler alert: Pattinson is not playing Dean.
When you go for weeks at a time promoting something, are there questions you’re repeatedly asked that you’re tired of answering?
Well, I can never remember what I’m asked. But I kept getting asked about flies in the outback, because I’d mentioned one time in the very first interview I did, “Oh, there’s loads of flies there — it’s really crazy.” And when interviewers will ask you again, I’m like, “Surely, surely you’ve seen this. Yes, there are a lot of flies.” And they just keep asking. What do I say? “Oh, actually flies are amazing; it was the best part of all of it.”
TWITCH: In contrast, there is Pattinson’s character, who I think is extraordinary in this film. Can you talk about bringing him into the role? How did you work with him on attenuating his performance, making sure it didn’t get too broad?
MICHÔD: In a way, the answer to both questions is that Robert came in and tested for me and his tests were just extraordinary. I, like everyone else, didn’t know what he was capable of. Certainly his previous work didn’t give you a clear indicator. I met him before I even knew I was going to make The Rover, and there was something about him that I really liked. He’s obviously intelligent and really wonderfully emotionally available. When [Pattinson] came in to audition for me, he came in with a really beautifully defined and sophisticated reading of the character that seemed from the outset to avoid all of those possible moments of caricature that that character could so easily slip into.
How did Pattinson get hooked into the project?
I had a meeting with him maybe a year before I made the movie and it became immediately apparent to me in that meeting that he not only loved Animal Kingdom but had seen all of the shorts that I had made with my friends. He had beyond that a really eclectic, sophisticated interest in cinema. He was actively looking for interesting things to do and actively looking to meet interesting filmmakers.
Had he done any of his Cronenberg work when you first started working together?
Yes, I had seen Cosmopolis. I had even had a phone conversation with Cronenberg to see what working with Rob was like generally. [With] Cosmopolis, that is another character that is quite brooding and still in a way that’s not similar to the stuff he does in Twilight. It didn’t give me a clear indication that he could do the 180 degree shift that I was going to ask him to do on The Rover.
I always needed to see an audition. He was willing to do it because he knew that he wanted to play the character and that he needed to work hard to get it.
I love that whole notion of you as a director in Australia just calling up Cronenberg and asking him for advice. Is that a common thing? I picture some secret handshake between directors where you exchange private numbers.
I think in the world of filmmakers and generally those kinds of phone calls are reasonably easy to facilitate because they’re reasonably important. I didn’t want to ask David whether or not Rob was a good actor. I felt that I had seen that in the tests and long auditions that he had done for me. What I wanted to know was what he was like as a human being on set because those things can be important. David shared his experience which turned out to be much the same as mine, that he was delightful and hard-working.
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