Thanks to Bru for the tip
FULL Translation of the interview After The Cut
Thanks to Lena & Over the Rainbow
This interview is a MUST Read! It's FULL of win! Rob talks about having 5 YES 5 Projects lined up!
It's 1:30pm in the hall of Soho House, a very private & select club on Sunset Boulevard, in Los Angeles. Members Only... If the hostess is letting us go upstairs with a smile, it's because we said the magic words: "We have a meeting with Robert Pattinson at 2pm".
Surprise.: the actor arrives at the same time, 30 minutes earlier than expected... and wearing a heavy beard, that he did not let grow because of the paps but to prepare for his future role in the movie about the rock band "The Band". We're here today to talk about Cosmopolis, the adaption of the novel by Don DeLillo by David Cronenberg, electric shock that is programmed to be at the 2012 Cannes Festival.
The Canadian Director surprised everyone when he gave the role of Eric Packer to the Twilight star.
This 28 year old yuppie new-yorker who decides to go across town in his limousine to get a hair cut, while demonstrations are turning the town into chaos & that threats are putting the life of that billionaire in danger. A ride to hell that will change him forever. The 'him' here, could be used to described Pattinson, which gives here a stunning performance and that happens at a perfect time. Mid-november, when the last chapter of the Twilight saga will come out in theaters, the teen idol could disappear to be replaced by the major actor revealed by Cosmopolis. The metamorphosis is starting now.
PREMIERE: Rob, the last time we met, you had just finished shooting Cosmopolis & you told me: "I didn't understand a thing about what we were doing. And when I was asking David what it was about, he told me:" I don't know, we don't care about that!" But, seeing the film, I found it extremely clear.
ROB: During the first screening, I was alone in the room & when I came out, I was really perplexed. At that moment, the music wasn't yet included in the movie. I saw it again with other people & they were very quick to react. They wouldn't stop laughing. I told myself: 'Oh.. But it works in the end" (laughing)
I can't wait to see how the public is going to react to it. It's the first time that I can watch a movie that I made as a "Movie", maybe because Cosmopolis belongs entirely to David Cronenberg. It's really "His" movie.
PREMIERE: Frankly, it's yours as well.
ROB: It's still pure Cronenberg, no doubt about that. Most of directors take your hand. They tell you "I will help you reach that or you need to..". David shoots a scene and he's like. "Okay, it's done. Next!" He's very sensible to the actors' performances though. He won't give you a lot of indications, but he is devilishly precise. He doesn't miss a thing. If you lose your concentration for only a second, he notices it instantly. It's almost destabilizing to work with someone like that. During the wrap party, I asked him if he had seen some scenes, he answered me that he had just watched the entire movie. He had already put together everything! As I was really curious, I told him: 'So, do you know what it is about now? -Not at all. But, it's good. It's funny."
Then he quoted Fellini, telling me a movie is dead once there's no more interrogation about it. On set, David was delighted with the omnipresent confusion that everyone was feeling, including the actors, more experienced, like Paul Giamatti.
PREMIERE: The director is always supposed to be ahead of everyone else.
ROB: And to not be afraid of anything as well. I had never worked with any director that possessed that much confidence in his capacities. If he didn't know how to shot a scene, he would do something else. He knew the script by heart so he could allow himself to do such things. It was really stressful at first, but considering I am in every scene, I knew the whole script by heart as well, just like a play.
PREMIERE: Is it good for an actor to be scared or not?
ROB: The first day of shooting, I really wasn't trying to be clever. While we were waiting to shoot the first scene, Sarah Gadon (Who plays his wife) asked me: 'So, how did you prepare for the role?" I lost it completely & I left the limousine, really angry while screaming: "Why are you judging me like that? Are you trying to test me or what?" (laughing)
PREMIERE: Cronenberg told us you were scared you were going to ruin his movie...
ROB: I'm in a phase where I'm trying to determine what I can do as an actor. It's even more complex to arrive with a certain passivity, but people like David don't care about that stuff.
PREMIERE: I advised him to watch the fourth Twilight, which is quite like 'Cronenberg' sometimes...
ROB: I still find that difficult to believe there are still one to come. (Breaking Dawn, Part 2, Out on November 14th). In fact, I'm supposed to shoot more scenes for it in a few days.
PREMIERE: Did you think Twilight was behind you?
ROB: Yes. I'm really different from who I was at the beginning of the saga. I got older... When I'm going in the make up trailer, I can see all these wrinkles that appeared since then. It's really frightening. I got fatter as well. As I didn't have any clothes when I started the first movie, I stole a few from the production at the end of the movie. I can't even get in them anymore!
PREMIERE: During you first visit at Cannes, in 2009, you had provoked a riot next to a beach, where 700 fans were waiting for you. Bodyguards had to lift you off the ground to take you out of that place...
ROB: That year, they'll all ignore me telling themselves "We don't care about him, he's not in the Hunger Games!." (laughing)
PREMIERE: By the way, it looks like the Twilight cast has a date on the croisette considering Kristen Stewart will be there as well with "On The Road". The Festival is looking like a graduation ceremony.
ROB: I'm really glad to go. Shooting Cosmopolis with Cronenberg changed something in my. It gave me balls (laughing) I have five projects lined up right now? Before, I used to doubt all the time. When I was reading a script, I would annoy myself, wondering if I was worth the role or if I could do it. Now, I tell myself: "Fuck it! If they're ready to hire me, go for it."
PREMIERE: You haven't shot any movie since Cosmopolis, as if you were waiting for more offers that the movie would bring you. Is that the case, here?
ROB: More or less. Breaking Dawn had me busy till the end of the year & there are not a lot of movies shot in the winter. I started panicking three months ago, but that's when all those projects started to come. If everything goes well, I will start shooting in the fall.
PREMIERE: Two years ago, you seemed surprised that some people would hire you for certain movies & you said that you would still act as long as you would have that opportunity. I feel like the way you think about acting has changed. Now you know where you want to go.
ROB: I've always wanted to make good movies. "Before, I used to doubt myself. As soon as I'd read a script I liked, I would get worked up and wonder if I was good enough to do it & say: "If people don't like me, they can go fuck themselves!" (laughing) It's different nowadays : I want the people that I respect to respect me as well. It seems easy when you say it like that, but sometimes, you need time to understand that having the respect of others is what is the most important. And whining about it won't make you succeed. When David came out of nowhere to ask me to be a part of Cosmopolis, I asked him tons of questions. I wanted to know absolutely what he has seen in me, what he thought about me... But he couldn't answer me.
PREMIERE: The Cosmopolis teaser had the effect of a bomb on the internet...
ROB: I've been doing movie for 8 years & I've been criticized often & all of a sudden, this teaser is released & everyone is excited. "It looks great! His acting is good in it!" It's ridiculous! It's what makes you understand how the critical mind of some people work.
PREMIERE: Most of the critics said you sucked without having seen you in any movies. And you were good in Twilight!
ROB: In some scenes maybe... I tried anyway.. I'd like to ask a question to those people who think I just started acting well: What do you think I was doing in twilight? Do they think it's how I act naturally? No, I had to take decisions as an actor. I find it funny when I read stuff like (He uses a dramatic voice) "Will Cosmopolis finally prove that he can act?" What does that even mean?
PREMIERE: Before he was discovered by Burton & Fincher, Johnny Depp & Brad Pitt were more or less known as 'pretty faces'. I feel like the same thing is happening to you with Cosmopolis.
ROB: The good news is that the way the industry perceives actor is changing, even if Brad Pitt is to me, one of the most unfairly underestimated actor in the world. It's not said enough but he never delivered a bad performance. Nowadays, no one wants to make drama for adults because people say no one is going to see them. No one. Except Brad Pitt. It's how you make a career last. We still see those kind of movies in the world of independent movies, but those dramas, held by stars have almost disappeared. It must be because those stars lost their part of mystery. How do you want to play roles like that if people know everyone about you & your life?
PREMIERE: Before, talented actors were turning into big stars. Nowadays, we become a star before we've had time to prove that we're a talented actor.
ROB: Celebrity is one of the only thing that we can access without having any qualification. And when you dare to say something negative about fame in the media, you're sure that you're going to get a lot of crap. People don't want to hear about that at all. It's not jealousy, it's just that they don't want you to shatter their dreams.
PREMIERE: You have to maintain the illusion, no matter the price...
ROB: The paradox is that they want to maintain it & shatter it at the same time by accumulating as many things as possible about your private life.
PREMIERE: Am I wrong or it seems like you're going to favour ambitious projects, without giving up to the Hollywood sirens?
ROB: It's almost more dangerous to try the Hollywood adventure, in fact. Recently, I read the script for a big movie worth 80 million dollars that I liked a lot. it was the first time a studio was sending me a script that I liked and I was really excited. I was telling myself: "This is it, I finally have that cool blockbuster that i was looking for!" But when I went to the meeting, I was told that I was too marked by Twilight & that it wouldn't be possible. I was disappointed. Then I read the script again & realized that, in the end, it wasn't that good. (laughing)
PREMIERE: It's like destiny was trying to tell you something...
ROB: Possible. It's said often that you need to alternate the projects that you do for yourself & the ones you do for the studios. But I don't believe that. If you shoot a shitty film.. well, you just made a shitty film. The money it will make at the box office won't change a thing about that. And success is never a sure thing: look at "wrath of the titans" which just failed at the B.O...
PREMIERE: Have you ever tried to accept a role for money?
ROB: Yes. But something always happened at the last minute & it ended up not happening. Of course, I've done five Twilight, but I never did that for the money, even if I would have found that really unfair to let that money go to somebody else. (laughing). I learned one thing & that is that everything that makes you win money is never "free". I feel like, the more money you gain, the more problems you have on the side. Like.. to barricade your house for example. When someone tells me: "But it's just a movie!", I want to tell them: "Yes, but you can pay it for the rest of my life!"
PREMIERE: It's hard to get your soul back once you've sold it.
ROB: Especially in Hollywood, where everyone is judging you. I've always admired Nicolas Cage, who always did whatever he wanted with his career without caring about what others thought about it. And after 15 years, they finally realized that he was a genius. He's not only one of the most fascinating actors in the world, but he's also a real artist.
PREMIERE: The hostility that Twilight received might have made you used to not live your life according to how people perceive you..
ROB: When you suddenly become known, you have no control over what people think of you anyway. You need to learn how to fight the storm, especially when you understand that you're just a pawn within an enormous machine.
ROB: When you're doing interviews, one after the other, to promote a movie but no one asks you about your work, you end wondering if you're even an actor. I often ended up in front of people who had probably never seen any Twilight & only wanted to know what it was like to be a celebrity.. "People recognize you in the street, they take your picture all the time & it's really weird, Here you go.."
While I'm talking about that, something happening to me at the beach not long ago. I was trying to learn how to surf - So I looked like an idiot, you can't even imagine -, when I thought I had seen paps, trying to hide behind rocks. When I got the confirmation, my body acted on impulse & I ran in their direction. But in the middle of my run, I started asking myself what I would do once I was in front of those guys. I wasn't afraid of being beaten up, what you would be scared of in those kind of situations, but I was scared of ending up in court if I hit one of them. Fortunately, Those paps were such cowards that they left immediately. I have no idea what would have happened if they had not left.
PREMIERE: The good news is that the hysteria will be over soon... (Kate: you think? {giggles} *Shakes head*)
ROB: I'm going to be 26 & I can tell you that it's starting to freak me out that I'm appealing to girls that are 13 yo. I'm often wondering how things will change now.
PREMIERE: Things will change starting this months, when the public will discover Cosmopolis.
ROB: I've always felt like people judged the performance of actors as if we were in American Idol. That we need to cry or scream really loudly for people to find you good. That way, I'm trying not to delude myself.
PREMIERE: I'm surprised that you're still able to keep your head on your shoulder. Have you ever found yourself acting like a star/diva?
ROB: It might have been different if people kept telling me I was a genius all day long, but that's not the case.
At the beginning, I tried to break through as a model, without being offered a single job. When you've done more than 2, 000 castings & the guy in front of you doesn't even look at you once in the eyes, looking at your pictures one after the other while saying "No, no.." in a disgusted tone, you end up being immune to a lot of things.
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