Robert Pattinson’s favourite Jennifer Lopez film: “Such an amazing movie”
Robert Pattinson is so hilariously disinterested in the world of Hollywood that it’s become one of his defining qualities, preferring to work on self-proclaimed weird projects and avoid the mainstream limelight as much as he can. His work with auteurs like Robert Eggers, the Safdie brothers and the upcoming Kristoffer Borgli film showcases his impeccable taste for deliciously odd and peculiar scripts that push against the binaries of the film industry, with an expansive personal taste in cinema. And in a recent conversation with Jennifer Lopez, he revealed his favourite film of hers that shows his love for all genres within the medium.
Lopez has had a varied career, with a number of romantic dramas and action thrillers under her belt before her critically acclaimed dramatic performance in 2019 with Hustlers, playing a New York stripper who hustles wealthy Wall Street men out of their money in a high-end strip club. It was one of the few times I actually tuned into the Oscar awards ceremony, surprisingly finding myself very invested and passionate about Lopez winning ‘Best Actress’ for her performance in the zany and nuanced drama about class, power and misogyny.
Pattinson had similar levels of success during the same year, with a knockout performance in The Lighthouse alongside Willem Dafoe, playing a lonely and horny pirate who develops a strange relationship with the only other man tending to the lighthouse.
When asked about the logic behind his creative choices, Pattinson said, “I love finding something where I have absolutely no idea how to do it. I don’t approach parts if there’s something relatable. If I was going after parts which seem somehow relatable to my real self, I would be consistently playing chronically insecure losers”.
In an unlikely pairing, Variety brought the two actors together for a conversation about their roles in both films, in which Pattinson revealed his favourite piece of work from Lopez, saying, “You know what I love of yours, which I think is such an amazing movie, is The Cell.”
The Cell was directed by Tarsem Singh in 2000, the iconic cult director most known for The Fall. The story follows a psychotherapist who journeys into the mind of a subconscious serial killer in order to discover life-saving information about his recent victim. It was one of the few horrors that Lopez has starred in and a bold choice from the actor in this slow-burning and engrossing tale. It is visually stunning, with Singh showcasing the elevated style he is famous for through the tropes of a new genre, feeling like a trippy version of Silence of the Lambs.
Pattinson’s love for the project is reflective of his own love for surprising and disturbing stories, starring in films like High Life, Good Time and the upcoming psychological thriller Die, My Love from Lynne Ramsey, which will no doubt challenge the actor in new ways with the queen of weird herself. Lopez hasn’t had another dramatic role similar to that of Hustlers since, but who knows what tricks she has up her sleeve.
