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.”
When Kelly Reynolds’s husband died, he left her—the awkward, cautious one—to raise their two young boys. She’s pieced herself back together, barely. Now she takes refuge in her routine: running her kids around and running the trails near her Idaho home.
Two years after her husband’s death, a chance encounter on a run brings Andrew into her life. But Andrew is Andy Pettigrew, the Andy Pettigrew, famous actor. Kelly hates risk, and a love affair with Andrew is certainly tempting fate. She doesn’t fit into his Hollywood world. She doesn’t own a pair of Louboutins, and she couldn’t walk five paces in them if she did. Andrew oozes cool. She reeks of dork.
But despite this, they click. It may be inexplicable, but it works. However, it’s also becoming clear that Andrew struggles with the pressures of his fame. Kelly’s hold on a so-called normal life is already tenuous, and as much as she might want to indulge the fantasy, she doesn’t know how either of them is supposed to cope with stalkerazzi and tweet-happy fans with camera phones. She and Andrew both have secrets that seem impossible to keep.
Beck Anderson’s witty, engaging writing yields an emotional tale of love, loss, and all the little things that make up a life. In the end, what is it that really holds us together? Kelly must decide if love can fix two people who might be broken beyond repair.Click HERE if you want to read an excerpt and see a trailer on Beck's website! We're giving away 2 books - one signed and one paperback.
I believe you said you’d make three films and then evaluate from there, and “Life” is your fourth film. Yeah and for the first three films I made a book about the films because I also [thought they were] going to be my last films. It’s just snapshots with some lighting. But for the fourth film I decided not to do it anymore, so I don’t feel it’s my last film.
That’s interesting there’s no book, just because “Life” has a photography component, with Dennis Stock.I know, and it’s always in the back of your mind because you have the camera ready if there’s a picture I can take anywhere. But you should actually concentrate on other things. And with “Life,” we shot it in the winter in New York and Toronto, and it was the worst winter in 30 years. I have very low blood pressure so I can’t touch these things.
In “Life,” Dane DeHaan will be playing James Dean. How difficult was it to cast someone in that role?It was difficult. Also I think for the actors it’s very difficult to step in his shoes. But Dane DeHaan plays it well. He’s a tremendous actor. I don’t think he wanted to do it initially. He wouldn’t take a meeting with me because he didn’t want to be persuaded. But luckily he came to me and he was persuaded. He’s amazing.
He’s great in “Kill Your Darlings.”Yeah, and “Place Beyond the Pines.” I haven’t seen “Spider-Man [2].” “Lawless” I have seen. And he’s in “Devil’s Knot” and “Life After Beth.” I haven’t seen that. I was in Sundance but I didn’t manage to see a single film.
What about Robert Pattinson’s work in the movie?Rob and Dan very different kind of actors. They’re very, very different kind of people in the film, so it was fantastic. They were so different naturally. For Rob to play a photographer is quite interesting because he’s being chased by photographers all the time. Rob is of course a film star, but he likes to be seen as an actor, so he works very hard to be an actor and be valued as an actor. And in the film he plays this photographer who wants to be seen as a great photographer. So I think there’s a parallel there that’s helpful.
He’s made a lot of interesting acting choices, “Cosmopolis”…...Yeah, “The Rover.” I hear that “Map to the Stars” is a really great film. I am looking forward to seeing it.
I was hoping to see “Life” announced as part of the TIFF 2014 lineup. Yeah, I was hoping that too, but we are too far from finishing, because we finished [shooting] in late October.
Will we see it at on the fall festival circuit anywhere?I reckon it will be 2015.I'm so so so looking forward to this film in 2015. SO looking forward.
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