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."