ROBERT THOMAS PATTINSON: 2012

Friday, August 17, 2012

And More Praise From Cronenberg - Talks About How Rob Surprised Him

Anne Thompson: Why did you cast "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson as your ice-cold 28-year-old Master of the Universe?
David Cronenberg: Of course you begin with the basics. Is he the right age for the character? Does he feel convincing as a screen presence? Obviously you need someone with charisma to hold the audience for the entire movie. He's in every scene without exception, that's unusual. You want someone proven, who people want to watch, who will never be boring. I knew I would be crawling all over his face for the entire movie, so I wanted someone whose face is constantly changing, through all the angles. And he had to have chops for tricky dialogue. The art of casting is to intuit, to see from what he's done before that he could do this.

Was there a particular performance that gave you confidence?
I saw him in "Little Ashes" as the young Salvador Dali. He does a Spanish accent, he was not afraid to play a character of ambiguous sexuality and eccentricity. That probably of all the things I saw made me think he was the right guy.

Did you cast Pattinson with a certain likeability factor in mind, so that audiences would like him in spite of the character he is playing? Feel some vulnerablity?
I really don't care. I want the lead character in a movie to be interesting, fascinating and complex, but to be likeable to me is way down the list. It's not on the list, because it is a simplistic thing for the lead character to must be likable. He has to be watchable, that's the key, and fascinating, and likeable if it works for the project, fine, let him be likeable. If not I don't worry about it.

There are actors who do not want to play unlikeable characters, afraid it will damage their credibility as stars or effect them personally. Actors who are more interested in being actors than stars, like Viggo Mortensen, don't worry about being likeable or not on screen.

How did Pattinson surprise you?
He literally surprised me every day, as he read dialogue and interacted with the other actors. We were throwing different factors at him almost very day because of the stucture of the screenplay. He really has extended scenes. With one actor at the end, Paul Giamatti, he really let it fly, in that he didn't cling to a preconceived idea of what he should be doing. He reacted spontaneously to other actors as they surprised him and he surprised them. He was terrific and not predictable and dead-on accurate.

How many takes do you do?
One or two. The whole last shot was a long take with Giamatti, three minutes in that last 22-minute scene.

Read the full interview at Indiewire

Great New Rob and Cronenberg Interview with ET

Great interview. They talk about Cosmopolis, working with each other, David talks about the first time he met Rob, Rob's preparation for the role and more

Youtube or watch at the source | Youtube thanks to @veronicaspuffy

Source | Via | Via

David Cronenberg about Rob "I knew he was good, but I didn't know he was brilliant until we did the movie"

Emily Hampshire at 1:28. David Cronenberg at 1:46

Denise Cronenberg Talks About Rob's Style in 'Cosmopolis' and Off-Camera

Was the suit Robert Pattinson wore in the film custom designed or can mere civilians get their hands on it, too?
The suit Eric wears in the film is by Gucci: the Signoria, two-button notch lapel, in black. It is definitely available to mere civilians.

It’s a great suit. When you picked it, how did you know this was the suit?
Clothes make the man. The suit, the white shirt and slim black tie, the shoes and belt (all by Gucci) helped Rob become Eric. Once Rob put the clothes on, I could feel the character, and looking at him completely dressed in the fitting, I knew I had made the right choice. And it doesn’t hurt that he wears suits beautifully.

Twenty-five years of dressing actors also helped in the decision. I actually knew it was the right suit just looking at it even before the fitting with Rob. The cut and fabric were beautiful, which is why I chose it.

Men’s style editors love to talk about wearing a suit three or four different ways; Rob’s teaching a master class on that in the film. How does each evolution (fully suited, sans tie, just the trousers and shirt) relate to Eric’s progression over the day?
After reading the script and talking to the director, it was clear that Eric wore the suit well pressed and impeccably styled in the beginning. But as his life started to unravel, his clothes would too.

I always leave room for the actor to decide just how far his shirt should be unbuttoned, or how he feels about a tie or no tie, a jacket or no jacket—whatever would help him play the scene. We (David, Rob, and I) decided Eric should never be too much of a mess.

We would have tried to take the wardrobe home after shooting wrapped. Does that ever happen?
Yes, people do take, or try to take, clothing home during and after a film. Rob did take one of his suits home (we had seven of them), but I asked him if he would like one. He has so many suits personally that he really doesn’t need any more.

You did one hell of a job dressing Rob for the film. What advice would you give him, if any, for dressing for the red carpet?
It’s not difficult to dress Rob and make him look terrific. He wears suits so well, and Gucci fits him so well. My advice to him is to keep doing exactly what he has been doing—wearing Gucci. You can’t go wrong.

And how about for daily life?
Rob's off-camera look is very relaxed, and it’s his personal taste. There’s also an element of trying to hide, with something like a baseball cap, but really, it’s comfortable. That’s who he is.

Read the full interview at Gilt.com | Robert Pattinson’s Style, on sale now on Gilt MAN.

Rob and Cronenberg talk Cosmopolis, working with each other, The Rover and Mission Blacklist with The Playlist

From The Playlist (click to read full article)

Catching up with Pattinson as he did press rounds for "Cosmopolis," he filled us in on what we might expect from Michôd's follow-up to his crime drama "Animal Kingdom." Set to shoot next year, "The Rover" boasts some pretty big ideas behind its deceptively simple set up. "It's a kind of a western," Pattinson explained. "It's very existential. It's really interesting. I couldn't really explain to you what it's about but it's sort of about how much pain can the world take and how much disgust and cruelty before love dies. I think that's kind of what it's about."(Cronenberg, who was in the room, chimed in with: " That sounds pretty heavy!")

Pattinson will co-star in the film with Guy Pearce, with the near-future-set story centering on a man who journeys across the Australian outback to find his stolen car, which contains something invaluable to him. However, Pattinson admits that perhaps his description might be a little more highfalutin than the actual movie. "David Michôd's going to read this and be like 'What the fuck are you talking about? It's a crime movie,' " he said with a laugh.

As for when "The Rover" is coming out, Pattinson admitted it is later than he originally wanted. "I wish it was shooting this fall," he said. "I was supposed to be doing this movie this fall but that was pushed to after 'The Rover,' which is a good thing because it needs a ton of work. But I really wish I could move 'The Rover' up. I've got to find something else to do."

ETA: Added more from Rob and Cronenberg's interview with The Playlist (click to read full article)

When it came down to casting, Cronenberg had to ask some essential questions: "How old is this character? How old are the actors around? Who can do the New York accent even if they're not from around there? Who has the star power to get you financing, which is always an issue?" Finally the director decided on Pattinson, best known for his role as vampire Edward Cullen in the insanely popular "Twilight" series. Even with Cronenberg's considerable cache, it took him a while to sell Pattinson on the project. Ten days, to be exact.

"I suddenly realized I had no idea how to do it at all," Pattinson said, seeming slightly embarrassed about the whole episode. "I knew it was really good but I was terrified of even calling. Actors are always trained to bullshit, even if you hate something. And I had nothing to say, at all. Because David did the script he obviously knows what it's about. As soon as I said, 'I don't know what it's about,' and he said, 'Me neither.'" And while that was reassuring to the actor, it wasn't the end. "Then I spent a week trying to figure out how to get out of it, where I got to the point where I was going to have to call up and say, 'I'm too scared because I don't think I'm a good enough actor and I'm a pussy.' I didn’t want to have that conversation."

Thankfully that conversation didn't happen, mostly because Cronenberg assured Pattinson that he was "absolutely the right person" for the role. And with Pattinson, the movie had an actual fighting chance of getting made (with a lesser box office draw, this would have been more or less an impossibility). "Well it was certainly a thrill to be able to help it get made… Especially one like this," Pattinson said. The actor said that Cronenberg was so legendary that Pattinson wasn't even sure he was still making movies. "He's one of those directors where he's not even on a level of 'Oh yeah I really want to work with him.'" That's when Pattinson turned to Cronenberg and lovingly said, "You have an adjective!" To which Cronenberg exclaimed (with a kind of demented glee): "Cronenbergian!" Pattinson then continued: "It's kind of changed my whole perception of who I can work with. There are people who I grew up watching who are so part of the film language that you don't even realize that they're still making movies." Cronenberg then shot back: "That they're still alive! Which is what he's trying to say."

(...)

Whatever Cronenberg ends up shooting next, he would like Pattinson to come along for the ride. "We had a great time and we just know we could do something really cool together," Cronenberg said, noting that the long-gestating Bruce Wagner project "Map to the Stars" "could be" one of those projects. "We just don't know what it is. So if you've got any ideas, please let us know."

Rob and Cronenberg Talk Cosmopolis, Fame, Tabloids, Money and More with LA Times

NEW YORK — Jon Stewart tried to bait him with Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra. "Good Morning America" host George Stephanopoulos offered him Cinnamon Toast Crunch. But maybe French fries would have been a better ploy to get Robert Pattinson to spill some juicy personal details about his breakup with costar Kristen Stewart.

"Media culture is a monstrous thing," Pattinson lamented Wednesday afternoon, jamming fries into his mouth between puffs on his electronic cigarette. "You can't win. The annoying thing is that you can't attack them, but you can't defend yourself. The best thing you could possibly do is punch a paparazzi and give them their big payday."

The 26-year-old actor has run a gantlet of publicity this week that was nominally about promoting his new film, "Cosmopolis,"which opens Friday. But the promotional blitz, which also included a New York premiere and other stops, seemed to be as much about proving his emotional resilience in the wake of the tabloid bonanza that exploded after photos surfaced of Stewart in compromising positions with 41-year-old Rupert Sanders, who directed her in"Snow White and the Huntsman."

Sitting alongside Pattinson for moral support at the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Columbus Circle was "Cosmopolis" director David Cronenberg. The Canadian filmmaker, whose challenging art house films almost never garner such wide attention, was there as a sort of buffer but also appeared to be quietly amused by the media circus. The actor's manager would not allow Pattinson to sit alone for an interview with The Times, and even suggested that reporters not ask him about his personal life, or "Twilight."

But "Twilight,"of course, is how Pattinson has become perhaps the most widely recognized young actor of his generation. In the movie franchise, based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling young adult novels, he plays a brooding vampire who falls in love with a human girl (Stewart). The film series has grossed over $2.5 billion worldwide since launching in 2008 and will conclude in November with a fifth installment, "Breaking Dawn — Part 2." Pattinson's off-screen romance with Stewart only stoked the popularity of the vampire movies.

When the Stewart-Sanders affair burst onto the cover of Us Weekly in July, it initially seemed like there was little upside for Pattinson. But Stewart's public apology generated not only sympathy for the man wronged but also a fresh wave of interest for "Cosmopolis," which had premiered to mixed response at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

That could help Pattinson as he strives to craft a post-"Twilight" career. While both of his "Twilight" costars, Stewart and Taylor Lautner, have each taken center stage in studio pictures, Pattinson has mostly stayed in the indie world. His biggest non-"Twilight" film to date was last year's "Water for Elephants," a modestly budgeted period romance with Reese Witherspoon that took in a respectable $117 million worldwide. Pattinson's less-commercial projects, however, have tanked at the box office — the Sept. 11 drama"Remember Me" only collected $8 million domestically in 2010, and the 19th century-set drama"Bel Ami" flopped in June, never expanding beyond 15 theaters.

FOR THE RECORD - Pattinson box office: An article in the Aug. 17 Calendar section reported that actor Robert Pattinson's film "Remember Me" collected $8 million domestically in 2010. The movie took in $8 million in its opening weekend and ultimately grossed $19 million domestically.

In "Cosmopolis," Pattinson plays a young billionaire on the verge of financial ruin who self-destructs over the course of one day, and he has earned some of the best reviews of his career for his performance as the detached whiz-kid.

Cronenberg, who adapted "Cosmopolis" from Don DeLillo's book of the same name, said he felt Pattinson was right for the part largely because of his good-looking face, which appears in nearly every frame of the movie. Before casting him, the director watched all of the films the London native has appeared in, and viewed a number of interviews with Pattinson on YouTube to get a better sense of his personality.

"The strength of the 'Twilight' movies is not the acting," acknowledged Cronenberg. "But it's not understood that doing 'Twilight' requires presence and professionalism. Are you saying this is an Academy Award performance, or Alec Guinness? That's a whole other discussion. But you throw somebody on a grueling set like that — a normal person would be dead in an hour."

Warming to his own defense, Pattinson interjected: "With this movie people keep saying, 'Is this gonna be the movie where he can prove he can act?' It's like, 'What do you think I have been doing?'"

"By the way," Cronenberg added, "he's a British guy doing an American accent. People don't realize that there are a lot of very good actors who cannot do accents, and they don't give Rob credit for that."

"Oh, give me anything!" Pattinson said with a laugh and taking a drag on his cigarette, which glowed an electronic red with each inhale.

Still, it's clear Pattinson sometimes questions his acting ability. Before production began on "Cosmopolis," he said he was so unsure of his ability to pull off the role that he sat "trembling, absolutely terrified" during the first screen test.

The nerves are somewhat surprising, considering Pattinson's part in "Cosmopolis" doesn't seem all that distant from his own life. Like his character in the film — who remains isolated in a limousine for hours as he slowly traverses Manhattan to get a haircut — Pattinson said that since "Twilight" opened, he has "had four years of gradually being put more and more into smaller and smaller boxes, and you have a desire to break out." He's also a part of the 1% — according to Forbes, he earned $12.5 million for the last two "Twilight" pictures — a number he says is "completely not true."

"Weirdly, I went to the bar the other day and there were a bunch of people protesting some 1% thing," he recalled. "I drive this kind of [junky]-looking truck sometimes because I started surfing — it's this 2001 Silverado I bought off of Craigslist for, like, $2,000 or something. So I was hiding in the back of the truck when I saw the protest thinking, 'I don't want to get involved in this.'"

The demonstrators, Pattinson said, didn't recognize him and a friend. "When the protesters saw us, they were like, 'We're not even shouting at you. You're driving this piece of .... You're not part of the 1%.'"

Pattinson insists he's terrible with his finances: "The only thing I'm good at with money is blowing it. I don't even understand [what I spend it on]. I have the exact same lifestyle as when I was 15."

"Look at the way he dresses," chimed in Cronenberg, alluding to Pattinson's informal, almost frat-boy get-up of a polo shirt, jeans and backward cap.

The actor said he feels a pressure to appear "unbearably conservative" because he senses his every move is being scrutinized. He says he'd like for bankers to be hunted by paparazzi and TMZ instead, but knows that's unrealistic.

"The tabloid industry does terrible, terrible things for the world. It makes people stupid," he said, his cheeks flushing."People say [tabloids] are about escapism, and people have got to get away from the misery of the world. It's like, 'No, people are lazy, and they don't want to try.' … Every time I've looked at a magazine like that, I've regretted it. I gain absolutely nothing from it. And neither does anyone else."

LA Times

Cosmopolis Released in NYC and LA Today - Get your tickets now + Poster/Soundtrack/Book Giveaway

ETA: Added the list of theaters playing Cosmopolis on August 24 at the end of the post

Cosmopolis is out in NYC and LA today!

Get Your Tickets Now!

In NY you can get tickets at Landmark Theaters - Sunshine and Film Society Lincoln Center
In LA at Landmark Theaters - Los Angeles

Ticket information for the rest of the country will be provided shortly. ETA: Added the list of theaters playing Cosmopolis on August 24 at the end of the post

Win a Cosmopolis poster, soundtrack and book

In support of the release, eOneFilmsUS sent us an awesome prize pack that includes a Cosmopolis poster, soundtrack and book.

To participate on the giveaway you only have to RT THIS TWEET on twitter. US followers only

Updated list of theaters playing Cosmopolis (Source)

08/17/2012 Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center, New York, NY
08/17/2012 Sunshine Cinema 5, New York, NY
08/17/2012 The Landmark 12, West Los Angeles, CA
08/24/2012 Kendall Square Cinema 9, Cambridge, MA
08/24/2012 Criterion Cinemas 7, New Haven, CT
08/24/2012 Palace 17 & Odyssey, Hartford, CT
08/24/2012 Ritz at the Bourse, Philadelphia, PA
08/24/2012 E Street Cinema, Washington, DC
08/24/2012 Landmark's Century Centre Cinema, Chicago, IL
08/24/2012 Cedar Lee Theatres, Cleveland Heights, OH
08/24/2012 Lagoon Cinema, Minneapolis, MN
08/24/2012 Sandy Springs 8, Atlanta, GA
08/24/2012 Ballantyne Village 5, Charlotte, NC
08/24/2012 Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, Austin, TX
08/24/2012 Arbor Cinemas at Great Hills 8, Austin, TX
08/24/2012 South Beach 18, Miami Beach, FL
08/24/2012 Sunset Place 24, Theatres South Miami, FL
08/24/2012 Gateway 4, Fort Lauderdale, FL
08/24/2012 Delray Beach 18, Delray Beach, FL
08/24/2012 Shadowood 16, Boca Raton, FL
08/24/2012 Winter Park Village 20, Winter Park, FL
08/24/2012 Denver Film Center/Colfax, Denver, CO
08/24/2012 Los Feliz 3, Los Angeles, CA
08/24/2012 Art Theatre, Long Beach, CA
08/24/2012 Playhouse 7, Cinemas Pasadena, CA
08/24/2012 University Town Center 6, Cinemas Irvine, CA
08/24/2012 Rancho Niguel 8, Cinemas Laguna Niguel, CA
08/24/2012 Cinemas Palme D'Or 7, Palm Desert, CA
08/24/2012 Hillcrest Cinemas, San Diego, CA
08/24/2012 Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara, CA
08/24/2012 Shea 14 Theatre, Scottsdale, AZ
08/24/2012 Tempe Marketplace 16, Tempe, AZ
08/24/2012 Fox Tower 10, Portland, OR
08/24/2012 Meridian 16, Seattle, WA
08/24/2012 Varsity Theatre, Seattle, WA
08/24/2012 Lincoln Square Stadium 16, Bellevue, WA
08/24/2012 Embarcadero Center Cinema 5, San Francisco, CA
08/24/2012 Camera 7, Campbell, CA
08/24/2012 Shattuck Cinemas 10, Berkeley, CA
08/24/2012 Rialto Cinemas 9, Sebastopol, CA