Unlikely Couple: Robert Pattinson and Claire Denis
Wednesday, August 26, 2015 at 9:30PM Here's Murtada with the week's most interesting casting news.
Robert Pattinson is starring in Claire Denis’ next movie. Are we being punked? No. Actually to judge from his last few choices it's just another day, another auteur. He’s becoming a top director magnet and has been using his bankability to make interesting choices. He’s confirmed as the lead of Denis’ untitled first English language film. The story is set in space in a “future that seems like the present” with Pattinson reportedly playing an astronaut.
This particular project is intriguing beyond Pattinson. Denis of course is reason enough to be excited. Her last movie Bastards (2013) may have been less heralded than usual but it was a provocative visceral experience. Collaborating with her on the screenplay is novelist Zadie Smith (On Beauty, White Teeth) whose books have always been cinematic and full of fallible compelling characters. Smith writing her first screenplay? Now that’s exciting!
Pattinson with Cronenberg at the Cosmopolis Cannes premiere in 2012
Post Twilight Pattinson hasn’t done any big studio movies or attempted to secure another franchise. It’s been indie movies all the way. Albeit with established directors. He’s certainly trying and his bankability ensures that he stays at the top of casting lists. But where’s the acting and/or magnetic screen presence? He’s been mostly wan or at best pleasant. His committed go-for-broke performance in David Michod’s The Rover was polarising and the movie fared worse than Michod’s Animal Kingdom. Some may have enjoyed him becoming David Cronenberg’s recent muse in Cosmopolis and Maps to the Stars. However he was the least interesting actor in both. And as far as muses go, going from Viggo Mortensen to Pattinson is certainly not an upgrade.
So what do these directors see in him? It can't just be the fame. Yes he's a name that can get a movie financed but so far none of these post Twilight movies have fired up the box office. Maybe those of us who are not fans are missing something? Already this year Pattinson has appeared on the festival circuit with Anton Corbijn’s Life (playing a reporter who’s writing a story about Dane DeHaan’s James Dean) and Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert as T. E. Lawrence to Nicole Kidman’s Gertrude Bell. He got some positive reviews for the former while being mostly ignored for the latter. He’s charging forward though with a few more projects on the docket. Maybe one of them will do the trick.
as T.E. Lawrence in Queen of the Desert
Let’s see who Pattinson is working with next in addition to Denis:
- James Gray in The Lost City of Z (set in the 1920s about a legendary expedition in the jungles of the Amazon in search of a fabled civilization).
- Brady Corbet in Childhood of a Leader (might be most interesting in relation to Pattinson because it's a fellow actor making his first film as a director).
- Harmony Korine in The Trap (a supporting part in a revenge tale set in the Miami music scene).
- Ben and Joshua Safdie in Good Time (plot details are sketchy but the Safdie brothers found critical success with the addiction drama Heaven Knows Best).
Which of these upcoming collaborations do you think will bring forth a new facet of Pattinson’s talent?
Reader Comments (13)
Haha this post is kinda mean. I like it!
I'm very into the Patti-sance. I loved what he did in The Rover.
"So what do these directors see in him? It can't just be the fame."
Oh, but it can. It is becoming increasingly impossible to finance indie films, even for name directors. Attaching Pattinson to a script means instant money. Not attaching him could mean eight additional years of financing.
But on to more important matters: CLAIRE DENIS AND ZADIE SMITH ARE MAKING A MOVIE TOGETHER!!!!!!!!
How much does that sound like the cultural-elitist rejoinder to 'Amy Schumer and Jennifer Lawrence are making a movie together'
Pattinson is a strange one. I deeply admire his decision to go with so many strong auteur directors and have found him solid here and there, if not quite more than that. I keep hoping his skills will blossom in a manner akin to Stewart's, but who knows if that will occur.
I like his performance in Cosmopolis. I happen to like Cosmopolis where others did not.
He's probably very typecast, like Stallone and Reeve were after their big breaks. So good for him for trying different, independent things.
Long before Twilight, Pattinson gave a respectable performance in Little Ashes. He's no Brando, but at least he's making interesting choices. And I have a feeling he is fine with critics saying nothing about his recent performances. No notice is better than the savaging he got for the Twilight series. And he's always be better than K.Stew. One slightly decent performance playing your sour-faced self does not an actress make.
Denis has always cast actors whose silence speak volumes (Gregoire Colin, Alex Descas, Vincent Lindon). There's always this incredible depth stirring beneath them, and I just don't think Pattinson has that as an actor. Good on him for trying to carve a different path for himself though.
I honestly have no idea how he's racking up all of these high profile films (and then again, they have all...despite directors and hype...been rather underwhelming...so maybe that's why) but I see nothing in him, to be honest. I thought he was very good in The Rover, but the film was absolute trash, so whatever.
That being said, I'll watch anything Claire Denis does, so I'm in.
Pattinson must have a good on-set reputation. Hard working, easy to get along with, conversant with film-making's technical demands, etc.
I also think he adapts well to different eras. Lots of great young actors are very much of today. In period costumes, they still have a current mindset. Pattinson seems to get at the forgotten virtues of an era, so he's embodying something a little different, that looks right in the period.
He has an interesting presence; I find I'm fascinated by him even when he's not especially doing very much, and I suspect it's that "x-factor" which attracts auteurs to try and tap into it. He's attractive but not conventionally so. He's charismatic but quietly so. Those elements combined are more 'blank canvass' than, say, a Hemsworth rocking up on set and you already have a good idea of what you're likely to get.
I'd far rather watch someone try and make good on the doors which have opened for them. It's like what you sense Radcliffe has been working towards for the last few years; a focus on taking the big break seriously by achieving something of greater substance. Almost like a payback by instalment...
I find Pattison to be a singularly uninteresting actor. But Denis may find sometime in him that other directors have not. Denis' films are sui generis and her casting is usually impeccable. Let us await the final film with guarded but hopeful anticipation.
Annony - believe me I held back a lot!
All - interesting to read why he works for some.