Advertisement

Robert Pattinson finds himself in a ā€˜canā€™t winā€™ situation

Share via

NEW YORK ā€” Jon Stewart tried to bait him with Ben & Jerryā€™s Karamel Sutra. ā€œGood Morning Americaā€ host George Stephanopoulos offered him Cinnamon Toast Crunch. But maybe French fries would have been a better ploy to get Robert Pattinson to spill some juicy personal details about his breakup with costar Kristen Stewart.

ā€œMedia culture is a monstrous thing,ā€ Pattinson lamented Wednesday afternoon, jamming fries into his mouth between puffs on his electronic cigarette. ā€œYou canā€™t win. The annoying thing is that you canā€™t attack them, but you canā€™t defend yourself. The best thing you could possibly do is punch a paparazzi and give them their big payday.ā€


FOR THE RECORD
Pattinson box office: An article in the Aug. 17 Calendar section reported that actor Robert Pattinsonā€™s film ā€œRemember Meā€ collected $8 million domestically in 2010. The movie took in $8 million in its opening weekend and ultimately grossed $19 million domestically.


The 26-year-old actor has run a gantlet of publicity this week that was nominally about promoting his new film, ā€œCosmopolis,ā€which opens Friday. But the promotional blitz, which also included a New York premiere and other stops, seemed to be as much about proving his emotional resilience in the wake of the tabloid bonanza that exploded after photos surfaced of Stewart in compromising positions with 41-year-old Rupert Sanders, who directed her inā€Snow White and the Huntsman.ā€

Advertisement

PHOTOS: Robert Pattinsonā€™s career in pictures

Sitting alongside Pattinson for moral support at the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Columbus Circle was ā€œCosmopolisā€ director David Cronenberg. The Canadian filmmaker, whose challenging art house films almost never garner such wide attention, was there as a sort of buffer but also appeared to be quietly amused by the media circus. The actorā€™s manager would not allow Pattinson to sit alone for an interview with The Times, and even suggested that reporters not ask him about his personal life, or ā€œTwilight.ā€

But ā€œTwilight,ā€of course, is how Pattinson has become perhaps the most widely recognized young actor of his generation. In the movie franchise, based on Stephenie Meyerā€™s bestselling young adult novels, he plays a brooding vampire who falls in love with a human girl (Stewart). The film series has grossed over $2.5 billion worldwide since launching in 2008 and will conclude in November with a fifth installment, ā€œBreaking Dawn ā€” Part 2.ā€ Pattinsonā€™s off-screen romance with Stewart only stoked the popularity of the vampire movies.

Advertisement

When the Stewart-Sanders affair burst onto the cover of Us Weekly in July, it initially seemed like there was little upside for Pattinson. But Stewartā€™s public apology generated not only sympathy for the man wronged but also a fresh wave of interest for ā€œCosmopolis,ā€ which had premiered to mixed response at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

PHOTOS: Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart through the years

That could help Pattinson as he strives to craft a post-ā€Twilightā€ career. While both of his ā€œTwilightā€ costars, Stewart and Taylor Lautner, have each taken center stage in studio pictures, Pattinson has mostly stayed in the indie world. His biggest non-ā€Twilightā€ film to date was last yearā€™s ā€œWater for Elephants,ā€ a modestly budgeted period romance with Reese Witherspoon that took in a respectable $117 million worldwide. Pattinsonā€™s less-commercial projects, however, have tanked at the box office ā€” the Sept. 11 dramaā€Remember Meā€ only collected $8 million domestically in 2010, and the 19th century-set dramaā€Bel Amiā€ flopped in June, never expanding beyond 15 theaters.

Advertisement

In ā€œCosmopolis,ā€ Pattinson plays a young billionaire on the verge of financial ruin who self-destructs over the course of one day, and he has earned some of the best reviews of his career for his performance as the detached whiz-kid.

Cronenberg, who adapted ā€œCosmopolisā€ from Don DeLilloā€™s book of the same name, said he felt Pattinson was right for the part largely because of his good-looking face, which appears in nearly every frame of the movie. Before casting him, the director watched all of the films the London native has appeared in, and viewed a number of interviews with Pattinson on YouTube to get a better sense of his personality.

REVIEW: ā€˜Cosmopolisā€™ money and mind games spin their wheels

ā€œThe strength of the ā€˜Twilightā€™ movies is not the acting,ā€ acknowledged Cronenberg. ā€œBut itā€™s not understood that doing ā€˜Twilightā€™ requires presence and professionalism. Are you saying this is an Academy Award performance, or Alec Guinness? Thatā€™s a whole other discussion. But you throw somebody on a grueling set like that ā€” a normal person would be dead in an hour.ā€

Warming to his own defense, Pattinson interjected: ā€œWith this movie people keep saying, ā€˜Is this gonna be the movie where he can prove he can act?ā€™ Itā€™s like, ā€˜What do you think I have been doing?ā€™ā€

ā€œBy the way,ā€ Cronenberg added, ā€œheā€™s a British guy doing an American accent. People donā€™t realize that there are a lot of very good actors who cannot do accents, and they donā€™t give Rob credit for that.ā€

Advertisement

ā€œOh, give me anything!ā€ Pattinson said with a laugh and taking a drag on his cigarette, which glowed an electronic red with each inhale.

Still, itā€™s clear Pattinson sometimes questions his acting ability. Before production began on ā€œCosmopolis,ā€ he said he was so unsure of his ability to pull off the role that he sat ā€œtrembling, absolutely terrifiedā€ during the first screen test.

The nerves are somewhat surprising, considering Pattinsonā€™s part in ā€œCosmopolisā€ doesnā€™t seem all that distant from his own life. Like his character in the film ā€” who remains isolated in a limousine for hours as he slowly traverses Manhattan to get a haircut ā€” Pattinson said that since ā€œTwilightā€ opened, he has ā€œhad four years of gradually being put more and more into smaller and smaller boxes, and you have a desire to break out.ā€ Heā€™s also a part of the 1% ā€” according to Forbes, he earned $12.5 million for the last two ā€œTwilightā€ pictures ā€” a number he says is ā€œcompletely not true.ā€

ā€œWeirdly, I went to the bar the other day and there were a bunch of people protesting some 1% thing,ā€ he recalled. ā€œI drive this kind of [junky]-looking truck sometimes because I started surfing ā€” itā€™s this 2001 Silverado I bought off of Craigslist for, like, $2,000 or something. So I was hiding in the back of the truck when I saw the protest thinking, ā€˜I donā€™t want to get involved in this.ā€™ā€

The demonstrators, Pattinson said, didnā€™t recognize him and a friend. ā€œWhen the protesters saw us, they were like, ā€˜Weā€™re not even shouting at you. Youā€™re driving this piece of .... Youā€™re not part of the 1%.ā€™ā€

Pattinson insists heā€™s terrible with his finances: ā€œThe only thing Iā€™m good at with money is blowing it. I donā€™t even understand [what I spend it on]. I have the exact same lifestyle as when I was 15.ā€

Advertisement

ā€œLook at the way he dresses,ā€ chimed in Cronenberg, alluding to Pattinsonā€™s informal, almost frat-boy get-up of a polo shirt, jeans and backward cap.

The actor said he feels a pressure to appear ā€œunbearably conservativeā€ because he senses his every move is being scrutinized. He says heā€™d like for bankers to be hunted by paparazzi and TMZ instead, but knows thatā€™s unrealistic.

ā€œThe tabloid industry does terrible, terrible things for the world. It makes people stupid,ā€ he said, his cheeks flushing. ā€œPeople say [tabloids] are about escapism, and people have got to get away from the misery of the world. Itā€™s like, ā€˜No, people are lazy, and they donā€™t want to try.ā€™ ā€¦ Every time Iā€™ve looked at a magazine like that, Iā€™ve regretted it. I gain absolutely nothing from it. And neither does anyone else.ā€

ALSO:

9 things we learned from the ā€˜Cosmopolisā€™ trailer

Kristen Stewart could still reprise ā€˜Snow Whiteā€™ role, studio says

Advertisement

Stewart-Sanders cheating scandal: does it matter if they didnā€™t have sex?

amy.kaufman@latimes.com

PHOTOS AND MORE:

PHOTOS: Celebrity portraits by The Times


PHOTOS: Peril on the set - Celebrity injuries


TIMELINE: Kristen Stewart cheating scandal

Advertisement