Pattinson has a Good Time changing image

'Invisible' Twilight star goes for grunge in Cannes.

by Richard Mowe

Joshua Safdie, Robert Pattinson and Ben Safdie in Cannes
Joshua Safdie, Robert Pattinson and Ben Safdie in Cannes Photo: Richard Mowe
Robert Pattinson: 'I was...  trying to disappear, trying to be a ghost in the crowd'
Robert Pattinson: 'I was... trying to disappear, trying to be a ghost in the crowd' Photo: Richard Mowe
The transformation of Robert Pattinson’s image from Twilight icon to an actor with a more serious intent continues apace courtesy of the Safdie brothers (Ben and Josh) and their Cannes Competition title Good Time.

He plays a grungy New York lowlife involved in petty crime with a brother who needs fraternal guidance.

Pattinson told a media gathering at the Festival today (May 25) that he was rather nervous about his fans finding out about the guerrilla style shoot on the streets of Manhattan and Queens. “That would have destroyed the illusion completely,” he said.

Experimenting with various looks including the addition of pock marks to his skin, he discovered that he could walk around incognito. “Not one person took out a cellphone to take a picture,” he said, pleased as punch.

“There was even a sequence on an underground train where he had a film crew and still nobody reacted.”

Robert Pattinson, who plays Connie in Good Time
Robert Pattinson, who plays Connie in Good Time Photo: Richard Mowe
Although most of the cast and crew were from New York, Pattinson managed to blend in to the ensemble. “What I was doing as a person was feeding into the character, trying to disappear, trying to be a ghost in the crowd. The character was a combination of the energies of a lot of people,” he added. “The script went through a lot of incarnations over the months. I was living around the corner from Josh in New York so we would see each other a lot before the script finally was locked down.”

Pattinson continues to ring the changes by taking the lead role in Claire Denis’ new English-language sci-fi production High Life, written with British writer Zadie Smith, in which he plays an astronaut. Denis’ latest film Let The Sunshine In, with Gérard Depardieu and Juliette Binoche, opened the 2017 Directors’ Fortnight section.

Share this with others on...
News

A little lightness Colman Mac Cionnaith and Michael Whelan on Room Taken

A hair's breadth from happiness Nicolas Keppens on low budget, high quality animation and Beautiful Men

Golden boy Krit Komkrichwarakool, Matt Dejanovic and Kenny Brain on Auganic

A collection of moments Mickey Keating on the metaphor and technique behind Invader

Family ties and trauma Laurynas Bareisa on relationship dynamics in award-winning drama Drowning Dry

Alliance of Women Film Journalists announces EDA Awards The Brutalist named best film

Wicked leads the way in SAG nominations Stars sing their way to success

More news and features

We're currently bringing you reviews from Palm Springs.



Towards the end of 2024, we covered DOC NYC, the French Film Festival UK, Tallinn Black Nights, the Leeds International Film Festival, Abertoir, the London Korean Film Festival, the Belfast Film Festival and Halloween Frightfest.



Read our full for more.


Visit our festivals section.

Interact

More competitions coming soon.


DJDT

Versions

Time

Settings from settings.local

Headers

Request

SQL queries from 1 connection

Templates (12 rendered)

Cache calls from 2 backends

Signals