‘Twilight’s’ Pattinson Wants To Be ‘Serious Actor’
Written by Wayne Hall on March 15, 2010 – 11:00 am -
Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen in the Twilight series of films, said he wants to be considered a serious actor, according to the Star-Ledger.
Director Allen Coulter, who worked with Pattinson in his recently released film Release Me, noted that although Pattinson had signed for his small drama before the fame of Twilight really “went haywire,” afterward he remained committed. He didn’t try to back out so he could take on a bigger-budgeted, better-paying job.
“On the contrary, he really wanted to do it because he knew it was an opportunity to prove he wasn’t just this flash-in-the-pan guy from Twilight,” the director said. “And he does prove it … He’s not extremely experienced, and he’d be the first to say that. But he’s very smart and very dedicated and very, very hard on himself. Not on others — he’s generous and complimentary about everyone else. But he’s not generous with himself. And that’s actually a pretty endearing trait.”
Pattinson says he just appreciated the chance to prove he can be more than a glittering vampire.
“I was reading tons and tons of scripts and thinking about what to do after Twilight, and there were so few that didn’t follow the same pattern,” he said. “Young guys, completely innocent virgins who learn the way of the world — every single story followed the same pattern, and Remember Me didn’t really at all. It didn’t feel like it started at the beginning and ended at the end. It felt like it sort of started with chapter nine and ended seven chapters before you expected it to.”
Pattinson knows that people will attach outsized expectations to the movie just because of his participation. (“If it doesn’t make any money, what is he? What is his worth to the world?”) But he’s trying to ignore them.
However, it was the filming that was the worst part of Remember Me. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it coming,” he said. “I thought I’d be doing this tiny little film in New York, just hang out in New York.”
Instead, “it was nightmarish,” said Coulter, who handled the on-location shoot. “How he managed it, I don’t know. The paparazzi and the hordes of females?”
At one point in the movie, Pattinson’s character — a Holden Caulfield-ish rich kid named Tyler — has a chat with his tween sister in a city park. Coulter says hundreds of screaming fans showed up, hoping for a glimpse of the actor.
“Just bedlam,” the filmmaker said. “But I thought he handled it very well. He thought about nothing but the film. He’s quite an actor.”
The actor who auctioned off $28,000 kisses, Pattinson’s not complaining, not really. And even if he’s sick of the paparazzi, he is certainly not whining about his fans, the “Twihards” who stand screaming outside premieres or shakily hand him photos to sign.
“People coming up to you in the street is nice,” he said. “It’s just when people know they can make money off your life, that’s when it becomes difficult — because they’re relentless.”
“It’s a bit of a hassle, but if you make sure you don’t go where the crowds will be, if no one finds out where you’re staying or having dinner, then it’s fine,” he said. “People say I should just accept it, don’t let it rule my life, but having photographers surrounding me when I’m trying to have dinner? That’s not life for me at all. If you can avoid that — which is possible, most of the time — then it’s not crazy every single day.
“And then when it isn’t,” he adds with a grin, “then you can actually enjoy the kind of hysterical parts.”
Pattinson’s already working on his next project, a new version of de Maupassant’s Bel Ami, playing a heartless seducer. And there is the third Twilight picture, “Eclipse,” scheduled for June — and, eventually, the series’ finale, “Breaking Dawn.”
After that? He shrugged and laughed, “I don’t really know,” he said. “I hardly like any scripts I see. I’m sure it will end up looking quite random when you see what my next jobs are.”
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Tags: Alen Coulter, Release Me, Robert Pattinson, Twlight
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