Click on the pic below or HERE to watch Rob, Josh & Benny talk Good Time in this great 20 min interview with Collider!
Try not to let Rob distract you with all his hair twirling!
Once best known as the undead teen Edward in the Twilight series, Robert Pattinson is slowly but surely reinventing himself – from broody cutie-pie to go-to leading manMORE AFTER THE CUT
Stormont may be in crisis and regional unemployment rates do not make for happy reading, but at least Northern Ireland can boast – albeit temporarily – one Robert Pattinson.
Last month, the former Twilight and Harry Potter star delighted two Co Down newlyweds when he agreed to join their wedding hooley. He also hit Cypress Avenue to mark Van Morrison’s 70th birthday, and has been deemed a most excellent sport when it comes to Belfast-based autograph and selfie hunters.
Even by Pattinson’s own account, the sun shines just a little more intently when he graces the northeast: “It’s been sunny every time I’ve been here,” marvels the heavily bearded young actor. “They tell me it rains. But I haven’t seen it.”(Kate: I am saying nothing. We all know Rob's effect on the weather. Rob is welcome to come and stay with me for 6 months ;})
Pattinson has decamped to Ulster with a purpose. Following in the footsteps of Game of Thrones and the incoming Dad’s Army reboot, James Gray’s The Lost City of Z is the latest major production to shoot across various Northern Irish locations, including Methodist College, Strangford Lough and Craigavon House. Not that Pattinson has spent too much time in these stately locations. “I have mainly been on the boat that’s falling apart,” he laughs.
The Lost City of Z charts the exploits of the British explorer Percy Fawcett who, in 1925, disappeared in the Amazon while looking for an ancient lost city. In the subsequent years, as many as 100 explorers and scientists have gone missing while attempting to find evidence of Fawcett’s party.
Filming The Rover in a remote part of south Australia with cast and crew all staying in a local pub was just about perfect, says Robert Pattinson. The filmmakers all mucked in together, braved filming in soaring temperatures, and at night bonded over a drink or two. Pattinson wouldn’t have had it any other way and says that it helped director David Michôd and his cast and crew build an unbreakable bond.
“It was amazing,” he says. “Because the whole crew was staying in the same place and there was nothing else to do, we were living in a pub. It’s annoying if you’re in an unfamiliar city and all the people you work with are from that city, they all go home, so you’re just stuck in your hotel.
“When you can hang out with a bunch of new people, you get close to them really quickly, especially when there’s literally nothing else to do. It’s really fun. I hadn’t done that for a long time. I had a fantastic experience making this film.”
Pattinson was born and raised in London and started his professional career as a 16 year old in the TV film Ring of the Nibelungs. A year later, he played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He starred in five, hugely successful Twilight films and his other film credits include Bel Ami and Cosmopolis.
Q: How’s it going?
“I always forget in the evening that I’ve got to do a bunch of interviews in the morning, so I stay out all night (laughs). It’s horrible!”
Q: How was shooting in rural Australia?
“For me it was really fun. It was kind of relaxing. I loved shooting out there. There was no pressure, and no one around.”
Q: Was it a relief getting away from people?
“Yeah, just in terms of performance. I like doing little things before a take, sort of staying in character a little bit, and if you’ve got a bunch of people trying to take pictures of you doing a stupid face or something, then you’ve just constantly got it in your head, and you’re never really quite in what you want to do. Out there you can kind of do anything you want. They might think you’re a weirdo, this guy doing all this weird stuff (laughs), but it was quite freeing.”
Q: Did you enjoy playing a less beautiful character?
“Yeah, I mean it takes away constraints. If someone’s saying, ‘You’ve got to look pretty!’ for one thing you feel like a bit of an idiot, because you’re a guy, and then you’re kind of thinking about stuff that really doesn’t mean anything – you’re just posing. As soon as you take away the allowance for your own vanity, then it’s kind of a relief.”
Q: How would you describe the themes of The Rover?
“I think it’s just a story about survivors. I think they’re quite simple people in extraordinary circumstances. They’re trying to figure out how to live when it seems like there’s not a lot of hope. It seems like there’s nothing to do tomorrow, so what are you supposed to do at any point during your day? Even the gang I’m in, they’re stealing money and there’s nothing to use the money for at all (laughs). Eric [Guy Pearce] says, ‘It’s worthless, it’s just paper.’ It’s very difficult to know why to keep living if everything seems totally worthless, and yet people do.”
LOS ANGELES—“Don’t hate me ’cause I’m beautiful/ Don’t hate me ’cause I’m beautiful/ Now do the pretty girl rock, rock, rock.” Robert Pattinson singing along to Keri Hilson’s “Pretty Girl Rock” playing on the radio in his car, before a violent moment, is a rare humorous relief in David Michod’s “The Rover.” It prompted a question in a recent interview at LA’s Four Seasons on whether Robert plans to record an album anytime soon.
“I’m always trying to figure out how… but it’s quite difficult,” replied the actor, looking boyish with his short haircut, dark pants, black jacket over a brown shirt and white tee. Laughing, the 28-year-old Robert said, “I want to do it before I’m 30 because I think it gets slightly embarrassing after [that].”
Robert revealed that, originally, he was to sing along to The Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha.” (That would have been a hoot, too.) “But David e-mailed me that Keri Hilson song,” he said. “I thought it was a new song. I didn’t realize it had like 500 million (actually 48 million plus) views on YouTube.” (Kate: Thank God I wasn't the only one who thought that {blush})
He explained, “Initially, David was saying that he wanted me to sing it like it was my favorite song—loudly in the car. Luckily, it didn’t end up that way. That would have been a bit too random. But the song is perfect in the movie.”
David noticed that his films seemed to be from the perspective of a child. He thought that The Rover was the first time this wasn’t so, but then realised that Rob’s character Rey can be considered childlike in The Rover so maybe he hasn’t really distanced himself from that. (Kate: Childlike ReyRob, God help us all)
After the success of Animal Kingdom he was given the opportunity to direct other people’s scripts, but he realised what he loved the most was that he liked to build films himself from the ground up. He worked on the script of Animal Kingdom for about 10 years (whilst he did other jobs of course) and he wrote the first draft of The Rover with Joel Edgerton in about 10 days before he even filmed Animal Kingdom.
I can’t tell you enough how much praise David heaps on Rob. David said he “loves talented people”. He also said numerous times how smart Rob is. Really smart. (Kate: God I love this guy. David Cronenberg watch out, you have competition here! :))
David said he he finished The Rover about one to one and a half months ago and that noone has seen it yet. He wanted to bring a teaser for us today, but he just wasn’t ready to reveal it yet. (Kate: *cries* I can be patient, yeap I can, I really can. Uh-huh patience is my middle name ;})
He said they are rolling it out and showing it to people over the next few months. He said he felt the same at the end of The Rover as he did with Animal Kingdom.
David “absolutely loved the work done by Guy and Rob. They created great characters and loved their performances”. (Kate: Can't wait to see Rob and Guy act together in this and this is making me even more excited)