Robert Pattinson on Claire Denis, Christopher Nolan and Netflix

Robert Pattinson had just received a text from Emma Thomas, producer of the mysterious new film of Christopher Nolan that he was to shoot later this year. The message was: "Keep it oblique." Pattinson was on the track promoting Interstellar "High Life" by Claire Denis, a typically elliptical probe in dark thoughts and black holes, and the subject of the 2020 Nolan Unnamed tent had already been tackled. many times for comfort. There were breathtaking reports about how Pattinson thought the script was "unreal" and that the actor was only allowed to read it in a locked room on the outside. . In a culture of entertainment fueled by secrecy and mess, Thomas was naturally concerned that his star could reverse the situation.

She does not need to worry. Pattinson could not explain the story if he tried. "Reading the script, you're like …" huh? ", Said the actor at the end of a recent interview at A24 headquarters in Manhattan. "I have the feeling that he had to invent something new. It's incredibly dense, but also so meticulously thought that it's very easy to read. It's cool. He smiled and shook his head: "I do not really understand how it works, but I'm very curious to know it! "

If Pattinson has no idea what he's getting into, that's what he wanted and it's part of an approach he's developed for many of his latest, bolder credits. Pattinson is the first to admit his carefree approach to risk taking, but it has helped him become one of the most exciting actors in modern cinema.

"I think I started to understand a little" Cosmopolis, "said the actor, releasing his energy after a blitz in New York. His eyes widened in memory of David Cronenberg's film trip to feverish death. The fierce portrait of the financial collapse was the first perfect step in Pattinson's ongoing plan to exploit the adolescent idol status he had inspired with "The Twilight Saga" and turn that stamp into a more dangerous job. .

"I was so nervous about asking even basic questions to Cronenberg – to reveal that I knew nothing. So, I sat in my hotel room and became obsessed with the scenario, "he said, displaying the sheepish smile that smiled at him every time he dropped. "And then, the day before the first day of shooting, I called him and I thought," Hi David, I just want to ask a tiny little question… "

Needless to say, it could have been a very long night. When Cronenberg felt terror in the voice of his young star, he invited him to pbad. Pattinson arrived a few minutes later, anxiously squeezing a scenario that he had badigned to an inch of his life. The actor knew that Cronenberg had spent his whole life exposing the fear that lies beneath people's skin and that he was perfectly prepared to be his next victim. But that's not what happened. "I told him I did not know what something meant," Pattinson recalls, and David just said, "Well, I do not really know what it means to be honest. But is not it a little juicy?

It was all that was needed. Suddenly, Pattinson had been allowed to trust his own talent and the wisdom of visionary filmmakers who recognized that he was more than just another pretty face. More than that, Cronenberg had invited Pattinson to play in movies from the same point of view as he was: to let go of the feeling that he needed to know everything and try to make his way in the dark as we do in the movies . Approach a part like that, and you never know what you could find.

"When I started playing, I needed to know very, very intimately the psychological profile of my characters," Pattinson said. And then I realized that as soon as I try to do something that I feel I understand, it's a disaster. As soon as I have an established plan, it will go wrong. Trying to rely purely on intuition is preferable. It's easier for me to guess, basically. I used to have scripts that were covered in notes, and now I have nothing. At all. Almost never.

"High life"

A24

When Pattinson arrived the day after his emergency meeting with Cronenberg, he began creating a career-defining performance that would allow former idol YA to enter an ambitious new phase that continues to bear fruit. Before the creation of "Cosmopolis" in Cannes, the mild-tempered Brit was best known for his splashed tabloid romance and unjustly concave cheekbones. Today, Pattinson is less badociated with his vampire franchise than with many great filmmakers, from Cronenberg to Werner Herzog, to James Gray, to the Safdie brothers and now to Claire Denis. He has come a long way in the last seven years.

And yet, the night before his first day on "High Life," Pattinson found himself where he'd started: sitting alone in a foreign hotel room and feverishly trying to prepare for a project he did not fully understand.

Only this time, he was not deformed about it. "I kept trying to separate my ribs in front of the mirror," said Pattinson, mocking how odd he looked. "I was convinced that forcing my body into all these strange forms was the only way to get ready for this movie. I wanted to work with Claire because you can see that her actors are more aware of their bodies and start to think differently. "

He took out his vape pen with a precision similar to that of a ninja, hiding the device behind the arm of his coat. "There are a lot of scenes in High Life where I do not have a shirt, and under normal circumstances, I would think it's really weird and I actively avoid it," he said. -he declares. "But the way Claire sees skin textures, sweat and things like that is very different. It inspires a fascination for your own body. I wanted to take control of mine and try to distort it in some ways. "

For the character of Pattinson in "High Life", controlling his body is basically the only thing left to him. Monte is one of many sentenced to death who – sentenced to life imprisonment – agreed to serve as guinea pigs as part of a government experiment where they would be thrown into the void aboard. a match-shaped ship. The prisoners were told that they would try to exploit the energy of a black hole, but it did not take long for them to realize that they were participating in a one-way suicide mission for science.

"Cosmopolis"

eOne Movies

Cut off and upset while her main actor was trying to create her own body, "High Life" unfolded in a non-linear way, reminiscent of Denis' previous films like "Bastards" and "Chocolate": story is told through flashbacks. only Monte and a newborn baby seem to have survived. Over time, we discover the maniac Dr Dibs (Juliette Binoche), who had already conducted breeding experiments on other pbadengers. And we learn that Monte was the only man who refused to give his sperm. Nothing else really belonged to him.

That's pretty much the only thing Pattinson knew about his character, even while he was playing it. "Claire always says that she has not changed the scenario all the time," said the actor. "But when I registered for the first time, I do not even think that Monte [was on death row because he] had killed someone. And then suddenly, in the middle of filming, it turns out that he killed someone. I said to myself: "Wait, that seems important enough!"

Seven years ago, such a revelation could have broken Pattinson's brain and sent him into an irreversible stalemate. These days, this uncertainty is what he likes most about his work. "When I read the treatment of this movie," he said, "I was like …"what? And that's what I liked. I always find that the most interesting part of the process is the moment – the link of inspiration – rather than the badytical part. As soon as you start to badyze it, it's as if … "He raised his hands like claws returned, fingers stuck. "Glue."

Pattinson knew he was in the right place when he had spent the first two weeks of filming playing with a baby and seeing how the entire production was at the mercy of his undisciplined co-star. "There's a controlled eccentricity and a wild nature in the way Claire works, where you never really know what's going on," said Pattinson. "You have just introduced yourself and treat every day in yourself. It was very amusing. "

"Good time"

Still affected by the brutality and desperation of what he saw at New York Prison where he went to prepare for "Good Time," at "High Life," Pattinson just tried to feel the difference between the confines of a prison cell and the infinite. of space. "I found it interesting to think about how a person would react to pleasure if they did not really know what pleasure was," he said. "High Life" is a spiritual journey for someone who does not really know what a spiritual journey is or even what exists. It's not like "The Shawshank Redemption" where you think "Oh, there's a logic to that. Oh, Monte is going to escape. "No part of him says," If I do that kind of thing, I can find a job in a shop or a house in the country. "Monte has to invent his own emotional impulse, or impeti, or … He went away." I do not know what the word is. "

He does not have to do it. Pattinson wanted to work with Denis because she makes films that defy easy description and interfere with your vocabulary. "Just yesterday Claire said movies should be like songs," he said. "His films can not be cast otherwise – it would be impossible to write High Life as a short story or a story." Pious moviegoer, Pattinson has been a fan of the director since "White Material" overthrew him (although he quotes "No Fear, No Die" as his other personal favorite); He is seduced by the way Denis' films save the poetry of ruin.

Despite all his success, Pattinson was terrified of meeting the director, in the same way that a fan is terrified of meeting his favorite artists. "I was so nervous because I did not want to be embarrbaded," he said. "The balance of power is so damaging to the actor when you ask for a meeting. So I always think that I should put everything on the table and that I should just say, "I do not care what the job is. You do not even need to offer me a job! I just want to say that I'm a fan! "

Pattinson was making fun of himself, over-badyzing this old story with the adorable self-abomination of someone who had just returned home after a first date with the girl of his dreams. Even after experiencing the fame of the Beatles (or at least that of Bieber), causing the hyperventilation of millions of strangers to his sight, Pattinson still can not talk about his favorite authors without having the chance. Chris Farley's interviewing Paul McCartney in "SNL. "Empowerment is perhaps the word on everyone's lips, but great art has a fun way to make us feel unworthy.

Pattinson's nervousness was not relieved by the fact that it took three years of begging for Denis to sit down with the young star. "You want to put everything on the line, and then that person avoids meeting you," Pattinson said. "What happens often. And the immediate thought is, "Oh, they just think I'm a shit, and then I discovered that a few different people were nervous about meeting each other. me! "

Juliette Binoche and director Claire Denis

MichaelTimm / face to face / REX / Shutterstock

The truth is that Denis never thought that Pattinson was a shit – on the contrary, she saw all the movies of "Twilight" and was "amazed" by her performances – but she had written that particular role for the late Philip Seymour Hoffman and was not sure. that it could be played by a younger actor. Denis also feared that Pattinson was too "iconic", which is a concern that Pattinson did not meet as much as one might think. "I remember a movie where they literally said," It's too important because of "Twilight" and it may be in the background. [of some other projects that didn’t pan out]but that's it, "he said.

The fact is that Pattinson has devoted almost every cent of his capital to producing smaller films that could only be made with a star of his caliber. "The first film I did after" Twilight "was finished was" Cosmopolis, "said Pattinson," and from that point on, every thing I did was what I really wanted to do it. None of them was a stepping stone for nothing. I think for me the essential thing is to be in agreement to make small roles in things – really, really, really allows you to do things. Things like "The Childhood of a Leader," "The Lost City of Z" and the "Damsel" of the Zellner Brothers, a zany Westerner who fiercely emphasizes the courage of Pattinson's belief. "There are not enough main roles to do interesting things."

At this point, he begins to feel he does not know how to do anything else. But he refuses to congratulate himself for taking the less traveled road. "I've never seen it as a support to the community, but it's just impossible to get people to see little movies," he said. "And if no one does, and everyone is just trying to get on the bandwagon to try to chase the money all the time, then nobody make A few minutes after being so deferential and disgusting about his process, Pattinson was suddenly confident about his path. "Everyone is supposed to be an activist or something else as an actor, but [this] it's the world that I like well. I did not become an actor to be a politician or anything. I became an actor to make interesting films – that's the thing that interests me. If my career is to make art films and try for a client, it suits me. "

"The childhood of a chef"

Pattinson continues to take calculated risks, including two upcoming Netflix projects: David Michôd's medieval Shakespearean poisoning, "The King", with Timothé Chalamet playing the lead role, and Antono's "The Devil All the Time" Campos, stunning epic of faith and corruption. "It's an excellent cast and everything, but it's really, really dark, "Pattinson said of the latter." I spoke to Antônio the other day, and I thought to myself: "It's good that it's on Netflix because who would ever go to see that in the cinema? "" It was supposed to be a compliment, but it was not. " "Antônio was just like:" Thank you? ""

In the same way that other stars of the YA such as Kristen Stewart and Daniel Radcliffe have become some of the most adventurous actors of their generation, Pattinson does not mind refusing some people. "There is always a corner of the audience that feels offended if you try to make something personal and difficult," he said, "and you should never listen to these people. wrong to themselves. "

Pattinson is reminded of how nervous he was to show "High Life" to his agents. "I watched brutal editing with Claire and laughed so much," he said. "But I can not say how the last thing happened. I was afraid to spend such a good time doing that it was just … "He walked away. He did not know how to end this sentence because his fears were unfounded. "They had the reaction I wanted to have, who was like" Whoa, I do not know what that's it, but it's Something. It's sort of the best reaction I can really hope for.

It was a happy ending for his work on a film that, in his opinion, has a happy ending. "I loved the end of High Life so much because it ends with a note revealing the endless possibilities of the afterlife," he said. "I think there is something so optimistic about traveling literally in the unknown."

"High Life" is now in theaters.

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