The movie Robert Pattinson called “insane and difficult”
As obvious as it may sound, one of the easiest ways to avoid typecasting is to do the polar opposite of what audiences either want or expect to see. This is something that Robert Pattinson has excelled at since The Twilight Saga drew to a close.
Playing one of the two leads in a cultural juggernaut that had fans of multiple generations going weak at the knees, the actor went from an unassuming relative unknown to one of the most famous faces on the planet in no time at all. However, being the focal point of a franchise that soared past $3billion at the global box office presents its own unique set of problems.
Pattinson could have capitalised on his breakout role and continued chasing the easy paycheques that would increase his fame and visibility, or he could have spent the next decade intentionally choosing the strangest and most offbeat projects possible to showcase his untapped chops as a versatile performer.
Obviously, history has shown which path he opted to follow, even if he did make his return to blockbuster cinema in one of the highest-profile parts by headlining The Batman. The immediate post-Twilight years were of the utmost importance when it came to shaping Pattinson’s future, and a pair of projects sandwiched between the two halves of Breaking Dawn helped set out his stall.
Period drama Bel Ami wasn’t particularly good or remotely successful, but it did at least allow the leading man to give a fully realised performance. His next feature arrived just months later, and it partnered him with one of the most distinctive auteurs in the business when he headlined David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis.
It was the first of his movies for which Cronenberg had also written the screenplay since the sci-fi body horror Existenz. The experimental drama follows Pattinson as asset manager Eric Packer, who drives around New York City in his limousine, encountering a raft of offbeat figures and circling the drain of personal and professional despair.
Working on a Cronenberg production is never going to be easy, so it was only sensible for Pattinson to describe the experience of shooting Cosmopolis as being “insane and difficult” to The Guardian. There was huge pressure on his shoulders as the focal point of the narrative, and a character present in almost every frame, and the end result was comfortably the finest work of his career at that point.
Looking at the lengths he’s gone to for Good Time, High Life, and The Lighthouse in the years since, these days, “insane and difficult” have become par for the course for Pattinson as he continues to place his Twilight days further and further into the rear-view mirror.
