Robert Pattinson talks to ASOS about The Rover, Rey and finding the right pair of jeans
From ASOS, Robert Pattinson talks The Rover and finding the perfect pair of jeans:
Your softly spoken, impeccably clad Imaginary Boyfriend Robert Pattinson is in town for the Sydney Film Festival, and guess who caught up with him?! Fresh off the Cannes press circuit, the man formerly known as R Patz sat down with yours truly to discuss his latest film, The Rover. It’s a bleak, futuristic Aussie western set after the global financial collapse, in which former solider Eric (Guy Pearce) forms a tenuous friendship with the emotionally limited Rey (Pattinson). We don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say the drama (directed by Animal Kingdom's David Michôd, FYI) couldn’t be further from vampire romances and the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Without further adieu…
Hi Robert! Welcome to Sydney. Tell us, what piqued your interest in the film?
‘I thought the script was so sparse and direct. It even looked different on the page, like the formatting was different. There were no commas! I thought it was so original, and my agent told me it was an offer, and I was like “Really? I never get offered stuffed like this!” And then he was like… “Oh no, I sent you the wrong email, everyone’s auditioning for this.” [laughs].’
How would you describe your character, Rey?
‘He’s very… dependent. He’s been told by everyone around him that there’s something wrong with him, that he’s kind of deficient in some way, and it’s not really established whether he is or he isn’t.’
What were some of the challenges in bringing Rey to life?
‘Mainly the costume! It sounds ridiculous but that was the most important part. As soon as I got the right pair of jeans – we went through, like, a million pairs of jeans! – And once we found the right jeans for him to plod around him, and sneakers that were slightly too big, [it all came together].’
Can definitely relate to that feeling! How important is fashion and costume is to a movie? Is it something you really focused on?
‘It’s massive for me! It’s weird though; I had such a specific look in [The Rover] – down to the colours of the t-shirt. We did a few screen tests and [when you have the right clothes] you suddenly walk different.’
What was the hardest scene to shoot? There are so many graphic, confronting moments.
‘My hardest scene – and this is probably a bit of a giveaway – but I had to have a pipe up my leg, with three guys controlling my pump, and that was probably my biggest scene in the movie. I didn’t know how complicated it would be with the set up.’
What do you think makes Australian film unique?
'For the last few years, it suddenly became such a unique genre. I don’t know what it is! There’s something about it being so isolated – I think it feels very foreign. I think there’s a confidence in the filmmaking that doesn’t exist elsewhere. In Australia, there’s kind of vitality to it. A grim vitality.'
From Daily Mail/Australian Associated Press (see some of these quotes on video HERE):
Amidst the flashing cameras, fans and buzz of The Rover's Australian premiere, its star Robert Pattinson was really just missing the Outback.
Pattinson, his co-star Guy Pearce and director David Michod walked the red carpet in Sydney on Saturday night for Michod's much-anticipated follow-up to Animal Kingdom, which is screening as part of Sydney Film Festival.
Hundreds of fans waited along the street for the Twilight star, some who had been there since early that morning.
The anticipation seemed to be too much for one, who climbed over the barrier for a closer look, before realising it probably wasn't a great idea to stand in the middle of three lanes of CBD street traffic.
When the stars turned up, one lane outside the State Theatre was blocked off to allow Pattinson and Pearce to meet and take photographs with the crowd. Cars crawled past as people, realising what the fuss was about, pressed against windows with their phones trying to get a snap.
Pearce says the turn-out wasn't shocking because Pattinson "deserves it totally".
"It's pretty full on though," he says. "I'm glad it doesn't happen to me all the time."
Pearce would have had a taste of this kind of hysteria over the years, particularly on Neighbours, but admits "it was never quite this mad".
Director David Michod knew when Pattinson signed onto star in The Rover that this kind of fanbase existed, but he didn't really know what it would feel like to be around it.
"With Rob it's Beatlemania," he says.
"But it's been one of the great, sort of most rewarding things for me about this whole experience is realising that the guy who's at the centre of this bizarre bubble is actually a really wonderful gentle, humble, interesting, funny human being."
The Rover was filmed over seven weeks in remote South Australia. And for Pattinson, being in the Outback allowed him to feel a bit more free.
"I really miss the Outback, I loved it out there," he says, adding he will also miss Australians in general.
In The Rover, Pattinson plays Rey, a young, simple Southern American who finds himself alone and forced to help Pearce's Eric - a cold, angry loner - find the gang who stole his car. Pattinson's performance, filled with tics and vulnerability, has been called "career re-defining" and for Pearce, seeing him play Rey was "utterly heartbreaking".
"In fact, I don't think I worked on the first day and on the second day I went out and was watching Rob do some stuff and I was really quite taken by what he was doing," he says.
"I'm embarrassing him by saying this right now, but I just found it a really extraordinary, really beautiful performance."
* The Rover is screening as part of Sydney Film Festival. It opens in Australian cinemas on June 12.
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