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Sette settimane nel caldo torrido dell’outback del Sud Australia hanno condotto a qualcosa di più rispetto a ciò che un esercito vendicativo di Volturi avrebbe potuto fare.
Definita da una rivista autorevole del settore come "ridefinizione della carriera", l’interpretazione di Robert Pattinson accanto ad un vagabondo ottuso nel deserto, nel thriller The Rover, gli ha permesso di lasciarsi alle spalle la lunga ombra proiettata dalla franchise di Twilight.
Questo potrebbe spiegare l’atteggiamento rilassato e affascinante del 28enne attore inglese durante le interviste con David Michod, caldamente atteso dopo Animal Kingdom - il film che ha reinventato sia Jacki Weaver che la carriera di Ben Mendelsohn – che crea un netto contrasto con il suo gentile e senza pretese, ma leggermente evasivo, approccio con i media, al culmine del fenomeno Twilight.
Pattinson dice che le recensioni entusiastiche ottenute durante Festival di Cannes il mese scorso, dove The Rover ha avuto una prestigioso midnight screening, sembravano sottoporre il film a validazione "per circa cinque secondi".
“ Per quanto riguarda Twilight, posso tranquillamente dire che se non fossi parte del progetto, sarei io a giudicare me stesso,'' dice.
"E' quasi come la creazione di un marchio. Se ottieni abbastanza recensioni buone in modo da creare alte aspettative nella gente che non vede l’ora di vedere i tuoi film, allora metà del lavoro è ampiamente fatto ."
Guy Pearce, co-star di Pattinson in The Rover, è passato dall’essere considerato attore rubacuori sentimentale ad attore serio due decenni fa con The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, che è stato selezionato a sua volta per un midnight screening a Cannes.
"Fondamentalmente, è un leader ma caratterizza sempre le sue parti '', dice Pattinson.
" Ho sempre avuto una sorta di ammirazione verso quel che fa ed è fondamentalmente lo stesso percorso di carriera che mi piacerebbe intraprendere. "
L'attore ha appena finito di girare la sua personale, Queen of the Desert, con al timone il veterano regista tedesco Werner Herzog e interpretato da Nicole Kidman nei panni dell’archeologa Gertrude Bell, in Marocco.
Il ruolo di T.E. Lawrence, dice, è stata finora il più impegnativo.
"Anche se ho girato solo un paio di scene, è stata sicuramente la cosa più spaventosa che ho fatto. Interpreto Lawrence d'Arabia. Quelle sono enormi scarpe da riempire. E' stato semplicemente pazzesco anche il fatto di camminare avendo su un vestito. "
Anche quando Edward Cullen dominava sulla sua vita, Pattinson ha avuto tempo per altri progetti , come Remember Me con l’ australiana Emilie de Ravin, Water for Elephants, con Reese Witherspoon e Christoph Waltz, e Bel Ami con Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas e Christina Ricci.
Le sue collaborazioni con il veterano regista canadese David Cronenberg, Cosmopolis e Maps to the Stars, in quest’ultimo la co-protagonista Julianne Moore ha vinto come miglior attrice al Festival di Cannes di quest'anno, gli sono valse un notevole rispetto.
Ma è il carattere di Rey, un disadattato ottuso indigente quasi al punto dell’ auto-annientamento, che ha tirato le somme nel post-Twilight.
Michod ha scelto Pattinson dopo due rigorose sessioni di tre ore di audizione davanti a lui.
"Ho subito pensato che fosse un po' rigido, un super bel ragazzo meditabondo,'' dice il regista.
"Allora l'ho incontrato e ho scoperto che in realtà lui era molto più interessante di quello che mostrava. Non era solo un bel ragazzo. Aveva un viso davvero interessante. Ed era interessante constatare quanto fosse a disagio. E chiaramente molto brillante. "
"E il fatto che lui fosse disposto a tornare due giorni dopo (per una seconda audizione) mi ha fatto capire del tutto quanto in realtà volesse fare questo film e quanto volesse davvero lavorare sodo. "
" E inoltre disse che era abbastanza umile da capire che non tutto potesse essergli consegnato su di un piatto. "
Dal momento che The Rover aveva un budget di $ 12 milioni, e ha richiesto molto impegno, sette settimane di riprese nell’ Outback del sud Australia in febbraio e marzo, è chiaro che né le scimmie né il glamour sono stati fattori che hanno determinano il desiderio di Pattinson di avere questo ruolo.
"Il contesto in realtà non ti permetteva di andare fuori'',ha detto durante una pausa dalle riprese in città in un pub di Marree, all'incrocio tra Birdsville e Oodnadatta Tracks.
Il tempo e la distanza hanno cambiato la sua prospettiva.
"Sono costantemente spinto a raccontare quanto sia stato terribile'', ha detto Pattinson durante una conferenza stampa la scorsa settimana prima della premiere australiana del film al Festival del Cinema di Sydney.
"Ma in realtà mi è piaciuto molto. Ho scoperto che mi trasmetteva una certa serenità il fatto di guardare verso l’orizzonte. Mi è molto piaciuta anche la durezza del paesaggio. C’è un qualcosa di stranamente mistico al riguardo."
La trasformazione esterna di Pattinson dal bel rubacuori a vittima abbruttita ha necessitato di qualche trucco.
Gli hanno applicato una combinazione di olio di oliva, spray e creme solari per ottenere un colore giallastro, e per dare quindi un colorito malsano al personaggio di Rey. Le braccia dell'attore sono state rasate per farle sembrare più sottili, ancora più bianche e più vulnerabili. Gli sono stati tagliati i capelli in modo grossolano per contribuire a dare l'impressione che fosse affetto da un brutto caso di rogna. E' stato un processo quotidiano che prendeva quasi due ore per essere completato.
Ma il cambiamento interiore di Pattinson è ancora più sorprendente.
Ironia della sorte, l'attore considera la sua esperienza con i film di Twilight come un fattore importante che lo ha aiutato a trovare quel carattere che gli ha permesso di andare avanti.
Seven weeks in the baking heat of the South Australian Outback has accomplished something even an army of vengeful Volturi couldn’t.
Described by one influential industry magazine as “career redefining”, Robert Pattinson’s against-type performance as a slow-witted drifter in desert Noir thriller The Rover has enabled him to emerge from the long shadow cast by the Twilight franchise.
That might explain the 28-year-old English actor’s relaxed and charming demeanour during interviews for David Michod’s hotly-anticipated follow-up to Animal Kingdom — the film that reinvented both Jacki Weaver’s and Ben Mendelsohn’s careers — which stands in marked contrast to his polite and unassuming but slightly-guarded approach to the media at the height of the Twilight phenomenon.
Pattinson says the glowing reviews that came out of the Cannes Film Festival last month, where The Rover screened in a prestigious midnight slot, felt like a validation “for about five seconds”.
But his next film is almost more important.
“With all that Twilight stuff, I know that if I was not me, I would be judging me,’’ he says.
“It’s almost like setting up a brand. If you get enough good reviews so that people go in expecting a good movie, then half your job is done.”
Guy Pearce, Pattinson’s co-star in The Rover, made the transition from soapie heart-throb to serious actor two decades ago with The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, which was also selected for a midnight screening slot at Cannes.
“Basically, he is a leading man but he consistently does character parts,’’ says Pattinson.
“I always kind of admired how he did that and it is basically the same career path that I would like to have.”
The actor has just finished filming his own Queen of the Desert, helmed by veteran German director Werner Herzog and starring Nicole Kidman as archaeologist Gertrude Bell, in Morocco.
The role of T.E. Lawrence, he says, was his most challenging thus far.
“Even though it’s only a few scenes, it was definitely the scariest thing I have done. I am playing Lawrence of Arabia. Those are huge shoes to fill. It was just crazy walking in with the outfit on.”
Even when Edward Cullen was dominating his life, Pattinson still made time for other projects, such as Remember Me with Australia’s Emilie de Ravin, Water for Elephants, with Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz, and the period drama Bel Ami, with Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci.
His collaborations with veteran Canadian director David Cronenberg, on Cosmopolis and Map to the Stars, for which co-star Julianne Moore won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival this year, gained art house respect.
But it’s the character of Rey, a slow-witted misfit needy almost to the point of self-annihilation, that has drawn a firm post-Twilight line in the sand.
Michod put Pattinson through two rigorous three-hour audition sessions before casting him in the role.
“I had always thought he was some angular, super good-looking brooding guy,’’ says the director.
“Then I met him and he was way more interesting than that. He wasn’t just a pretty boy. He had a really interesting face. He was interestingly awkward. And clearly very bright.
“And the fact that he was willing to come back two days later (for a second audition) said to me quite definitively that he really wanted to do this movie and he really wanted to work hard.
“It also said that he was humble enough to not think it should be handed to him on a platter.”
Since The Rover had a budget of $12 million, and required a challenging, seven-week shoot in the South Australian Outback in February and March, it’s clear that neither money nor glamour were driving factors in Pattinson’s desire to land the role.
But the remoteness of the locations might actually have been a bonus for Pattinson, who would have been keen to escape the media attention that followed his split with long-time girlfriend Kristen Stewart in the wake of her affair with Snow White and The Huntsman director Rupert Sanders.
“The environment doesn’t really let you go outside,’’ he said during a break from filming in the one-pub town of Marree, at the intersection of the Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks. The mercury on set that day hovered around the early 40s.
Time and distance have changed his perspective.
“I am constantly being prompted to say how awful it was,’’ Pattinson said during a press conference last week ahead of the film’s Australian premiere at the Sydney Film Festival.
But I really liked it. I just found it incredibly serene being able to look to the horizon. I liked the hardness of the landscape as well. There’s something strangely mystical about it.”
The external transformation of Pattinson from handsome heart-throb to brutalised victim took some doing.
The hair and make-up department sprayed him with a combination of olive oil, fly spray and sunscreen to achieve Rey’s sallow, unhealthy-looking complexion. The actor’s arms were shaved to make him look thinner, even whiter, and more vulnerable. And his hair was shorn crudely to help give the impression that he was suffering from a nasty case of mange. It was a daily process that took almost two hours to complete.
Pattinson’s internal shift is even more startling.
Ironically, the actor credits his experience on the Twilight films as a major factor in helping him find that character that allowed him move on.
“I never really had anyone pick on me at school. I think I just managed to skirt the edge of every different little group imaginable,’’ says Pattinson.
“But for some reason, I just got Rey, who has been bullied his whole life.
“I think it’s about fear as well. And I guess maybe the last few years, being a little scared of crowds, being a little bit paranoid when you are walking down the street, that fed into it a little bit.
“(That sense of) being extremely wary and also not knowing how people will react. There are trust issues there. Being a little more isolated, you get bit dislocated from normal behaviour.
“Rey is looking at people not knowing whether they are going to slap him or laugh.”
The Rover opens in Australia on June 12.
Described by one influential industry magazine as “career redefining”, Robert Pattinson’s against-type performance as a slow-witted drifter in desert Noir thriller The Rover has enabled him to emerge from the long shadow cast by the Twilight franchise.
That might explain the 28-year-old English actor’s relaxed and charming demeanour during interviews for David Michod’s hotly-anticipated follow-up to Animal Kingdom — the film that reinvented both Jacki Weaver’s and Ben Mendelsohn’s careers — which stands in marked contrast to his polite and unassuming but slightly-guarded approach to the media at the height of the Twilight phenomenon.
Pattinson says the glowing reviews that came out of the Cannes Film Festival last month, where The Rover screened in a prestigious midnight slot, felt like a validation “for about five seconds”.
But his next film is almost more important.
“With all that Twilight stuff, I know that if I was not me, I would be judging me,’’ he says.
“It’s almost like setting up a brand. If you get enough good reviews so that people go in expecting a good movie, then half your job is done.”
Guy Pearce, Pattinson’s co-star in The Rover, made the transition from soapie heart-throb to serious actor two decades ago with The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, which was also selected for a midnight screening slot at Cannes.
“Basically, he is a leading man but he consistently does character parts,’’ says Pattinson.
“I always kind of admired how he did that and it is basically the same career path that I would like to have.”
The actor has just finished filming his own Queen of the Desert, helmed by veteran German director Werner Herzog and starring Nicole Kidman as archaeologist Gertrude Bell, in Morocco.
The role of T.E. Lawrence, he says, was his most challenging thus far.
“Even though it’s only a few scenes, it was definitely the scariest thing I have done. I am playing Lawrence of Arabia. Those are huge shoes to fill. It was just crazy walking in with the outfit on.”
Even when Edward Cullen was dominating his life, Pattinson still made time for other projects, such as Remember Me with Australia’s Emilie de Ravin, Water for Elephants, with Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz, and the period drama Bel Ami, with Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci.
His collaborations with veteran Canadian director David Cronenberg, on Cosmopolis and Map to the Stars, for which co-star Julianne Moore won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival this year, gained art house respect.
But it’s the character of Rey, a slow-witted misfit needy almost to the point of self-annihilation, that has drawn a firm post-Twilight line in the sand.
Michod put Pattinson through two rigorous three-hour audition sessions before casting him in the role.
“I had always thought he was some angular, super good-looking brooding guy,’’ says the director.
“Then I met him and he was way more interesting than that. He wasn’t just a pretty boy. He had a really interesting face. He was interestingly awkward. And clearly very bright.
“And the fact that he was willing to come back two days later (for a second audition) said to me quite definitively that he really wanted to do this movie and he really wanted to work hard.
“It also said that he was humble enough to not think it should be handed to him on a platter.”
Since The Rover had a budget of $12 million, and required a challenging, seven-week shoot in the South Australian Outback in February and March, it’s clear that neither money nor glamour were driving factors in Pattinson’s desire to land the role.
But the remoteness of the locations might actually have been a bonus for Pattinson, who would have been keen to escape the media attention that followed his split with long-time girlfriend Kristen Stewart in the wake of her affair with Snow White and The Huntsman director Rupert Sanders.
“The environment doesn’t really let you go outside,’’ he said during a break from filming in the one-pub town of Marree, at the intersection of the Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks. The mercury on set that day hovered around the early 40s.
Time and distance have changed his perspective.
“I am constantly being prompted to say how awful it was,’’ Pattinson said during a press conference last week ahead of the film’s Australian premiere at the Sydney Film Festival.
But I really liked it. I just found it incredibly serene being able to look to the horizon. I liked the hardness of the landscape as well. There’s something strangely mystical about it.”
The external transformation of Pattinson from handsome heart-throb to brutalised victim took some doing.
The hair and make-up department sprayed him with a combination of olive oil, fly spray and sunscreen to achieve Rey’s sallow, unhealthy-looking complexion. The actor’s arms were shaved to make him look thinner, even whiter, and more vulnerable. And his hair was shorn crudely to help give the impression that he was suffering from a nasty case of mange. It was a daily process that took almost two hours to complete.
Pattinson’s internal shift is even more startling.
Ironically, the actor credits his experience on the Twilight films as a major factor in helping him find that character that allowed him move on.
“I never really had anyone pick on me at school. I think I just managed to skirt the edge of every different little group imaginable,’’ says Pattinson.
“But for some reason, I just got Rey, who has been bullied his whole life.
“I think it’s about fear as well. And I guess maybe the last few years, being a little scared of crowds, being a little bit paranoid when you are walking down the street, that fed into it a little bit.
“(That sense of) being extremely wary and also not knowing how people will react. There are trust issues there. Being a little more isolated, you get bit dislocated from normal behaviour.
“Rey is looking at people not knowing whether they are going to slap him or laugh.”
The Rover opens in Australia on June 12.
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