David Michod talks about meeting & casting Rob, Cannes and Reynolds
Having Robert Pattinson by your side no doubt increased the amount of flashes going off on the red carpet the other night.
Yeah, there were moments where I realized that none of them were actually pointing at me [laughs].
(…)
It does boast the lightest scene of Cannes, where Pattinson’s character sings along to a Keri Hilson jam alone in a car.
You’re the first person to bring that up! I kind of half expected it would be a thing. When I was doing press for “Animal Kingdom” every press person would ask me about “All Out of Love.”
What went into selecting that song?
One of the things that was challenging for this movie was it was set in a period of the future, so it makes musical choices really kind of difficult. I’d imagine that maybe there’s a sense that pop is still some kind of functioning genre, like the equivalent to classic rock. I wanted at that point in the movie to remind people that Rob’s character is a lost kid, one who in different circumstances would have favored pop songs. I just wanted that moment in the film to be a strong reminder of the fact that he just wants to be a kid.
About his performance, he’s a true revelation in “The Rover.” What led you to cast him?
It was a meeting. I still haven’t seen the “Twilight” films. I don’t feel I need to. I had a meeting with him before I knew I was going to make “The Rover,” and found him instantly beguiling.
Why did you meet with him if you weren’t familiar with his work?
I’d seen nothing. It’s that weird thing that happens after a movie you’ve made has gotten some attention — you go on a billion blind dates. And this was one of them. I didn’t really know anything about him, but I really liked him. He was really smart, funny and open. He seemingly had great taste. He had a really interesting and eclectic knowledge of cinema. When it came time to cast for “The Rover,” I just had this weird feeling that he was the one I wanted to see the most. Fortunately he really wanted to do the movie.
I mean I put him through the wringer. We worked for three of four hours during our camera test, but I felt I knew within the first few minutes that I found the guy for the character. The next few hours were just us exploring. He helped me find the character.
Robert Pattinson knows a thing or two about the price of fame, so it’s worth listening when he says he worries about the child stars he meets in Hollywood. “When you see these kids, there is only one way: you either get in therapy now or become a serial killer, or kill yourself. I mean, you can see it really early on—it’s terrifying.”
VF Hollywood: David Michôd has talked a lot about the back story for The Rover, which is set “10 years after the collapse.” How much did he tell you about your character?
Robert Pattinson: Well, not a lot. I kept questioning that aspect of it. “What is this economic collapse? I want to know the details about it.” Then I realized it didn’t really make any difference to my character.
Guy Pearce’s character refers to your character as a “half-wit.” Were you playing him as someone with a real disability, or just someone who hasn’t been that well educated?
I was thinking he’s almost like someone who’s been told there is something wrong with him and there actually isn’t—but he has been told there is so many times that he has just sort of accepted it.
CANNES, France — Robert Pattinson has terrible, rotted teeth and is caked in dirt for his leading role in The Rover. The star could not be happier with the transformation after years of being a heart throb in the Twilight films.
“I am trying to eliminate any bit of vanity,” says Pattinson of his grimed up role. “I want to avoid any opportunity to pose (for the camera). Or whatever. Because if you get that opportunity to pose, you will probably take it.”
He plays in two movies at Cannes, The Rover by the Australian David Michôd. In a post catastrophy world, he plays a mugger sort of naive and a little banged up. Rob: I think it’s kind of funny, I do weird movies and I like weird movies, and those little girls screaming when they’re going to see The Rover. It’s kind of hilarious.
The other movie in which plays Robert Pattinson is in competition for the Palme at Cannes, Maps to the Stars by David Cronenberg.
Yes, in Maps to the Stars he plays a limo driver who dreams of becoming an actor. A secondary part but no worries, it’s Cronenberg who two years ago, decided to give him the main role in Cosmopolis, presented at Cannes too, and let him practise his growth as an actor. Cronenberg: I like to take credit for that. He was a very, very underrated actor but I knew he was talented. My instinct told me he was a star before he had the chance to prove he was a real actor. I mean it’s like when he gave the Palme to Rosetta, everyone told us, it was terrible and now the Dardens keep coming back here and their actors have a great career. That’s when you know your instinct is right and that of course makes you feel really good.
Robert Pattinson expresses then all his gratitude to Cronenberg. Rob: It’s just someone believing in you. Someone who you really respect and who makes you think about yourself differently afterwards. I was always quite ambious when I was younger but after Cosmopolis you kind of feel like you fufilled those ambitions afterwards and you believe in yourself a little bit more.
Post-apocalyptic western, “The Rover”, thats screened out of competition, takes place in the Australian outback. But the film caused a sensation at Cannes, thanks to it’s Hollywoodian cast: Guy Pearce (“LA Confidential”) and Robert Pattinson, star of “Twilight,” that play lawless men, struggling to survive.
Yesterday we met also in Cannes for “Maps to the Stars,” by the Canadian David Cronenberg.
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