‘It’s very odd,” Robert Pattinson says. ”There’s something strange and disturbing about the whole relationship.”
The Twilight actor is talking about the two characters at the heart of his new film, The Rover, which finished shooting on Saturday in outback South Australia.
He plays a young man, Rey, caught up in an uneasy, dangerous alliance with a stranger, Eric (Guy Pearce), in a not-too-distant future.
The Rover is the much-anticipated new film from David Michod, the writer-director of Animal Kingdom. The title refers to Pearce’s character: damaged, solitary, utterly without hope.
Eventually work on the mainland beckoned so I loaded up my pushbike and trailer and headed back to Adelaide to join The Rover. Writer director David Michod had hit the jackpot with his debut feature Animal Kingdom, produced Porchlight Pictures, a regular client over my career. His Animal Kingdom cast had enjoyed massive career boosts from the films local and international acclaim, and everyone was waiting to see what David would do next. The production rolled into my hometown Adelaide, bringing with it actors Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson, before heading off to shoot in the extremely remote and dangerously hot far north of South Australia. The prospect of working in that environment at this time of the year, with daily temperatures expected to be around 50 degrees, scared off many experienced local crew, but a brave crew was assembled and the film making road trip commenced.
Australia was founded as a repository for crooks and criminals — a wretched hive of scum and villainy, like the British Empire’s own Mos Eisley. Of course, that was a long time ago and the Australian national demeanor has since shifted from “kill or be killed” to “live and let live,” but David Michôd’s gritty 2010 drama Animal Kingdom chronicled some of the country’s more modern criminal descendents. In his upcoming sophomore effort, The Rover, the director takes things even further.
Robert Pattinson plays a denizen of the Outback in the near future, after a worldwide financial collapse has sent many like him running to the still viable mines of the Australian desert. “It’s like a new gold rush,” says Michôd. “Where people from all corners of the world have come out to the desert to scrape out an existence. Petty criminals and miscreants and hustlers.” Guy Pearce, who had an uncharacteristically reserved role in Animal Kingdom, gets to sink his teeth into a nicely nasty part opposite Pattinson. “The basic story is really quite elemental,” says Michôd. “You’ve got a really dark, dangerous, murderous person in Guy’s character, and in Rob’s character you have a quite troubled and damaged, but beautiful and naïve, soul.”
Of course, just by its setting and basic plot, The Rover is poised to draw comparisons to one of the antipodean country’s most memorable cinematic contributions. “You put cars in the desert in Australia and people are going to think of Mad Max,” says Michôd. “And with all due respect to that film — and I stress that — I think The Rover is going to be way more chillingly authentic and menacing.”
For more on The Rover and first looks at other upcoming projects, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly on stands Friday.
Samuel Johnson from http://loveyoursister.org/ is riding around the Australia on a unicycle to raise $1 mill for cancer research. Along the way he snapped this picture of Rob and Guy. Follow, share and Donate for Samuel Johnson’s cause via twitter HERE and facebook HERE.
Hollywood Life caught up with Rob’s The Rover costar Guy Pearce, while he was at Sundance promoting his latest film “Breathe In.” He had plenty to say about Rob!
“He just seems like a bright and sensitive kid,” Guy tells us. “So I just think he’s really right for the role.”
We told Guy, who has starred in movies like The Kings Speech, Memento, Lawlessand the upcoming Iron Man 3, that we bet Rob thinks it’s pretty cool to work with such an experienced actor.
“Um I don’t know, hopefully he thinks so!” Guy says. “I think it’s about collaborating and all getting on the same page. It doesn’t matter how experienced or inexperienced someone is, you hopefully just all understand each other and realize you are all on the same film together.
We can’t wait to see them together on the big screen.
Synopsis: A dirty and dangerous near-future western set in the Australian desert.
Why We’re Looking Forward To It: The last time Guy Pearce starred in a Australian western we got John Hillcoat‘s fantastic The Proposition. This time around, we’ve got Animal Kingdomdirector David Michod, Robert Pattinson (proving his talent in David Cronenberg‘sCosmopolis), the underappreciated Scoot McNairy (Killing Them Softly, Argo, Monsters) and a near-future setting — it’s safe to say we’re quite excited. With a shoot gearing up in a few months, we hope this one will make it to theaters before the year’s end. – Jordan R.
Director/Writer: David Michôd Producer(s): David Linde and Liz Watts U.S. Distributor: Rights Available Cast: Robert Pattinson, Guy Pearce, Scoot McNairy
His four-star, stellar criminal underworld saga Animal Kingdom officially put first-time helmer David Michod on the map. His sophomore film was a top sales title in Cannes 2012, and the pic contains an impressive trio of three so far (further casting announcements should be made shortly) with Scoot McNairy easily enjoying his time in the spotlight.
Gist: The Rover is set in the Australian desert in a dangerous and dysfunctional near future. Eric (Guy Pearce) has left everything and every semblance of human kindness behind him. When his last possession, his car, is stolen by a gang of dangerous criminals, Eric sets off to track them down and is forced along the way to enlist the help of Reynolds (Robert Pattinson), the naive member of the gang left behind in the bloody chaos of the gang’s most recent escape.
Release Date: Production begins this month in Australia, so this means programmers from Telluride, Venice, Toronto, NYFF all have wishes of nabbing a world premiere. Surprisingly, no U.S. distributor has sunk their fangs into this.
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