New/Old HQ Portrait of Rob from Cosmopolis US Promo

More portraits were posted here

Source | Via

David Cronenberg talks about Rob, Cosmopolis and fans

At first glance, Packer appears to be a soulless character. He initially exhibits little to no outward emotion, not while receiving updates about his dwindling finances, not during sex, not ever. That sense of detachment is enhanced by the limo, which is smooth-running, soundproof and bulletproof, with tinted windows that minimize Packer's view of outside events and prevent prying eyes from looking in at him.

"You can see his soul as the movie progresses, as he approaches his childhood," Cronenberg said, "because, really, we begin to realize that the barbershop represents his childhood. It's his childhood barbershop. It's where he used to live. It's where he came from.

"Eric wasn't born into money. I think you see Eric become more vulnerable and more childlike and naive, and when he's in the barber chair he becomes like himself as a child, before he'd erected this Eric character, this Master of the Universe guy. So you should gradually warm up to him as you realize how vulnerable and how wounded he is.

"It's why I cast Robert," Cronenberg added. "It's a very uncompromising performance. We don't go out of our way to make him more likable than he is, but you want to watch him. He's very charismatic, Rob."

"Cosmopolis" is Pattinson's show, and it's as far removed as it could be from the commercial gloss and sparkly vampires of the "Twilight" films in which Pattinson has starred as Edward Cullen. The actor has been in the news of late, owing to the demise of his relationship with "Twilight" co-star Kristen Stewart, but Cronenberg lauds his leading man for his often-overlooked, still largely untapped talents as an actor.

"Rob is in every scene of this movie," the filmmaker said, "and I needed a guy who could support that. His accent is spot-on - it's very much like Don DeLillo's accent. He brings a wry sense of humor, and he brings that strange emotionality that you feel from underneath because, as I say, it's not there from the beginning, because it's a journey in more ways than one.

"You have to see Eric evolve and, thanks to Rob, you do," Cronenberg said. "I think it's a spectacular performance, very nuanced and detailed."

Like everyone with a stake in "Cosmopolis," Cronenberg hopes that Pattinson's legions of "Twi-hard" fans will turn out en masse for "Cosmopolis." Based on the production of the film, he said, that might happen.

"The Twi-hards followed this movie hugely," Cronenberg said. "There were 20 to 30 sites devoted to 'Cosmopolis,' some of them really quite spectacular, professional and slick, and they were being done mostly by Twi-hards, who are mostly girls, and they were reading the book. They were reading the book and commenting on it, on these sites, before the movie was finished."

The director is clearly impressed.

"That was incredibly satisfying," he said. "They were loving the book and the idea that Rob was doing it, and they're supporting Rob's choice.

"I got a lot of props myself," Cronenberg added with a laugh, "because the Rob fans are rooting for him to show what he can do as an actor and, therefore, they loved me for giving him the chance.

"That was their attitude, though my attitude was that I felt lucky to have Rob."

Read Cronenberg's full interview at The Reading Eagle

Gorgeous Pictures of Rob at the NYSE Now in HQ

Most of these pictures were posted in MQ HERE, now they're in HQ. Much better :)

New Rob and Cronenberg Interview with Detroit Free Press - Talk about shooting Cosmopolis, celebrity-driven culture and independent movies

It's Day 3 of the Robert Pattinson publicity tour, an event marked by widespread curiosity about ... well ... you know.

Yesterday, he was given ice cream on "The Daily Show" as a setup for Jon Stewart's humorous effort to dish with him about relationship breakups. This morning, it was George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America" who offered him breakfast cereal.

Is the 26-year-old actor tired of getting media food bribes? "Food bribes," he repeats rather quizzically. "Oh yeah, I got offered some Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal this morning. I don't even know (why). I haven't had Cinnamon Toast Crunch for about six years. I actually ate some french fries just before these interviews. I had a carbohydrate O.D."

The pleasant British chap talking on the phone could be any hot young star promoting a movie. Except that he's not just anyone. He's RPattz, the hunk from the phenomenally successful "Twilight" films who's making his first public forays since his long-rumored girlfriend and "Twilight" costar Kristen Stewart made their relationship official. With a public apology to him. After some photos surfaced of her dalliance with her "Snow White and the Huntsman" director. Which caused an online/celebrity media frenzy approaching the level of the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes split.

Awkward! Only Pattinson is handling it about as well as anyone could. He's already made it clear on his TV appearances that he isn't going to discuss such personal matters.

During this interview, he politely deflects a question about the comparisons between the movie's strange world and the weird celebrity-driven culture that surrounds him. "I don't know if our culture is celebrity-driven at all," he says. "I think it just drives itself."

He sounds quite levelheaded and likable as he talks about "Cosmopolis," his new movie opening Friday in metro Detroit. The unusual film is loaded with metaphors and big statements on capitalism, technology, wealth, fear, paranoia, ambition and emotional isolation. But its leading man seems refreshingly uncomplicated.

"It's a guy who's having a strange day," he says with a laugh in what could be the understatement of the month.

Directed by David Cronenberg, a modern master of weird cinematic think pieces, "Cosmopolis" explores where society is going -- or the rather bleak place it already may have arrived. Drenched with elaborate, almost free-verse dialogue, it gives Pattinson an opportunity to veer as far as possible from the mainstream romantic melodrama of "Twilight."

The action centers on Eric Packer, a young king of Wall Street whose billion-dollar empire is crumbling with the shifting sands of monetary exchange rates. As Eric spends most of the day riding around in a limousine, he meets with employees, watches angry protests erupting in the streets and, yes, has a medical checkup inside his limo that includes a prostate exam.

The screenplay by Cronenberg is based on the 2003 novel by Don DeLillo, an author who, like Cronenberg, is known for intellectually hefty, psychologically jarring material. Long before the Occupy Wall Street movement, DeLillo saw the growing divide between the 99% and the financial tycoons who make money by moving money around.

Although "Cosmopolis" has a chilly, otherworldly feel to it, Cronenberg, who is joining Pattinson for interviews, doesn't think it's that removed from the world we live in. "Don (DeLillo) really had his finger on the pulse of what was happening at the time and it's just emerged more clearly now," he says. "I don't think it's futuristic at all. I think it's actually pretty strangely accurate."

On this particular week, Pattinson has been generating megawatts of promotion for the sort of film that normally would have to compete mightily for attention.

Even without the current gossip frenzy, Pattinson's "Twilight" fame -- the final installment, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2" opens Nov. 16 -- has put him constantly in the public eye over the past few years. He's been using that cachet to take challenging roles in smaller films and work with directors he admires. He's reportedly set to star next in Werner Herzog's "Queen of the Desert" as T.E. Lawrence -- the British figure played by Peter O'Toole in "Lawrence of Arabia."

Pattinson has an easy explanation for why he wanted to work with Cronenberg. "My main thing is that David is consistently good," he says. "There are very, very few people who have been good twice in a row, let alone for a long time, and very few people who have been good once."

For Cronenberg, casting the role of Eric Packer was critical, "because this character is in absolutely every scene in the movie, without exception, so you've got to get the right guy. It is a case of even beyond the norm, that if you miscast it, you've killed your movie."

To prepare for "Cosmopolis," Pattinson concentrated on the screenplay. "When I first read it, I really, really just enjoyed the cadence and the rhythm in the writing. I wanted to read it out loud as soon as I started reading it."

Cronenberg says he was surprised, "in a great way," by his leading man every day, noting that Pattinson brought subtleties and nuances to the character and shifted from vulnerable and soft to hard, cold and crystalline at unexpected times.

"I loved the way that he was very attentive and very sensitive to what the other actors were doing, which meant that his performance would become very, very modulated and subtle and curvy and have many twists and turns to it."

The bizarre world of "Cosmopolis" is familiar territory for Cronenberg, whose films include 1988's "Dead Ringers," a thriller about twin gynecologists played by Jeremy Irons, and 1986's "The Fly," the remake with Jeff Goldblum that spared no ickiness in showing how a man morphs into an insect. But Cronenberg speaks more like a wise professor than an eccentric artist.

"We had a lot of laughs," the director says of making "Cosmopolis," which was shot in about a month in Toronto. "It was a lot of fun. Making a movie, when it works, when you've got the right people, is a lot of fun. It's like child's play, literally, in the best sense."

And Pattinson, far from being the brooding figure of his sparkly vampire alter ego Edward Cullen, or having the jaded, melancholy arrogance of Eric Packer, comes across as someone at a healthy remove from his own fame and the darker themes of "Cosmopolis."

"I think the movie's really funny. My initial thought about it was how funny it was. It was hilarious, the script. It was a really very light set. It wasn't like making a -- I can't even think of a director who's very somber -- a Tarkovsky movie," he says, citing the stark style of Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky.

As Pattinson approaches life after "Twilight," he sounds ready for new challenges. He has no problem distinguishing projects that want him on board as an actor from those that just want his marquee value. "It's generally pretty obvious," he says. "If it's purely for financing, you can tell in two seconds. And really, only bad directors want that, or people who just don't care about what they're making."

He's clear about how he makes his career choices. "You pick things for a lot of different reasons," he says. "But one thing I like doing is ... things that are not really provided for in the film marketplace. I like the idea of trying to contribute in some way."

So it helps if a project isn't so marketable? Says Pattinson with a laugh, "Generally, the less marketable, the better for me."

Source | Via

New/Old Rob Interviews from the 'Cosmopolis' NYC Premiere Red Carpet

Parts of this interview were posted here, here and here, but this is an extended video with some new quotes. Youtube or watch at the source.



And CBS News has new short interview from the premiere. Rob talks about DeLillo's work and the Cosmopolis' script - at 0:20 (click on the screencap to watch)



Thanks to Gossipgyal for youtube.

More from Rob and David's Syndicated Interview for Cosmopolis US Promo

More new quotes from the interview posted here

As you may have heard — it has been in the news here and there — Twilight stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart broke up this summer.

Actually, everyone has seen the stories — including Pattinson. “Yeah, I read it,” the 26-year-old British actor says during an interview at a New York hotel. “It’s my life. You sort of want to read it. You feel like you need to read it. It’s one of those things where you keep picking a scab. You know you shouldn’t be doing it, but it’s a weird kind of addiction. You desperately want to stop.”

About a month ago, a tabloid published photos of Stewart, Pattinson’s live-in girlfriend of four years, in an embrace with her Snow White & the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders. Since then, the media seem able to talk of little else.

“At times, I find the whole thing pretty funny,” Pattinson admits. “It is pretty funny. My life is kind of ridiculous to me. It’s so absurd at times.” Pattinson would rather talk about his new film, the David Cronenberg drama Cosmopolis. When the noted independent filmmaker, whose credits include A History of Violence (2005) and Eastern Promises (2007), gave Pattinson the script for Cosmopolis — based on the Don DeLillo novel — the actor could see himself as Eric Parker, the 28-year-old billionaire asset manager whose world falls apart around him as he rides in his stretch limo to get a haircut while wagering his company’s massive fortune on a bet. But Pattinson had one problem.

“I was honest with David and said that I loved his script, but I didn’t fully understand it,” Pattinson says. “I knew, if I tried to have a BS conversation about it, that David would call me out.”

Cronenberg, too, had some reservations — about Pattinson. “Could this British guy do a New York accent where it’s not agonizing?” the filmmaker recalls wondering. “Could he play that age? Does he have the charisma to hold the audience for the whole movie, because he’s literally in every scene? “I did my homework and watched Little Ashes (2008) and Remember Me (2010),” Cronenberg says. “I even watched interviews that Robert did. I wanted to know what this guy was like when he was just being himself. I wanted to get a feel of what he was like as a person. I wanted to know that he had a sense of humor, and he does.

“I finally said, ‘OK, this is the right guy.’  ”

Most of Pattinson’s films have required him to forgo his natural British accent, so he had no problem finding Eric’s New York speech patterns.

“I don’t even know what accent I was doing half of the time,” he admits. “I always found that the dialect was written in the lines. The voice was also part of the preparation. I wasn’t even trying to get a New York accent.”

His next film is, of course, the series-ending Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2, due in November. Cosmopolis is nothing like that, which is by design. “I try to do something different from vampire Edward Cullen each time I’m not doing a Twilight film,” Pattinson says. “I even try to make him different each time I do Twilight.”

As a child growing up in London, Pattinson had dreams of stardom, but they involved music. That he ended up as an actor still bemuses him. “When I’m asked to write down my occupation, it’s still hard for me to write actor.”

After auditioning for Troy (2004) but not getting the part, Pattinson was cast in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) as the handsome, charming and doomed Cedric Diggory. Three years later, he began his turn as soulful vampire Edward Cullen. For “Twi-hards” dreading the end of the film franchise, Pattinson offers some words of hope. “I’m sure they’ll have a Twilight TV-series spinoff soon,” he says. “They’ll do it again.” That presumably wouldn’t involve Pattinson. There is talk of a film prequel, however. Would he be willing to play Edward again? “Who knows?” says Pattinson, laughing. “The only thing that creates a little bit of a problem is that I’m supposed to be 17 forever.”

Source | Via

New Fan Pictures and Videos of Rob from Cosmopolis US Promo

David Cronenberg talks about Rob and Cosmopolis at the Lincoln Center Q&A

source

Catch up on everything Cosmopolis US Promo - All pictures, videos, interviews and more

This post will keep being updated with all pictures, videos, interviews and more. - Everything Cosmopolis US Promo



List of theaters playing Cosmopolis in the US (updated)

Cosmopolis Premiere

Master Post 1 - More than 250 HQ pictures + MQ pictures, fan pictures and videos
Master Post 2 - More than 290 HQ pictures from the premiere + new videos
Master Post 3 - More than 160 New HQs and video
Fan Pictures - Fan pictures and videos from the premiere and Times Q&A

Interviews from the Premiere

NEW FOX 411 and CBS News - Extended interview from the premiere (Rob talks sex scenes, Twilight fans, Cronenberg and more) and a short one talking about DeLillo and the Cosmopolis script
E!Online - What would Rob say to his fans outside the premiere? NEW: Added more from his interview - talks about what atracts him on scripts
Extra TV - Rob talks about his fans and walks away at the end of the interview
ET Online - Rob talks about filming in the limo and working with Cronenberg
Zoominuk - Rob talks about working with Cronenberg
Associated Press - Rob talks about sex scenes
Reuters - Rob talks about the fans supporting Cosmopolis
Various media outlets - ShainaTV video - Rob talks about New York and Cosmopolis
MTV - Cute interview, Rob talks about the pressure is all on David "It's his movie"
Access Hollywood - Rob talks about Cosmopolis and the fans' support

Cosmopolis NYC Junket

NEW Detroit Free Press - Rob and Cronenberg talk about shooting Cosmopolis, celebrity-driven culture and independent movies
Dispatch.com - More from Rob and David's syndicated interview for Cosmopolis US Promo
Chicago Sun Times - Rob talks about Edward, 'Cosmopolis', his fans and the media's attention. - syndicated interview
Screenslam - Rob and Cronenberg talk about directing, the atmosphere on set and Rob as Eric Packer
FOX411 - Rob and Cronenberg talk about Cosmopolis, Rob talks about his career and more.
Arizona Central - Rob and Cronenberg talk fame, Cosmopolis, fans and Twilight
The Boston Globe - Rob and Cronenberg discuss Cosmopolis, fans, fame and more.
The Miami Herald - Rob and Cronenberg talk about about Cosmopolis
Associated Press - Article - Rob talks about Cosmopolis, being an actor and more
ET Online - Rob and Cronenberg talk about Cosmopolis, working with each other, David talks about the first time he met Rob, Rob's preparation for the role and more
The Playlist - Rob and Cronenberg talk Cosmopolis, working with each other, The Rover and Mission Blacklist. NEW: Added more from their interview at the bottom of the post
LA Times - Rob and Cronenberg talk about Cosmopolis, tabloids, fame, money, the media culture, Twilight, and paparazzi.
Associated Press - Rob and David talk about Cosmopolis, reading reviews and how they deal with money.
Next Movie - Rob and David discuss Cosmopolis, reactions to the movie and more
Cosmopolis Facebook - Rob and David answer facebook fan questions
Moviefone - Rob and Cronenberg talk about Cosmopolis, having his hair cut for the movie, NYSE and more.
TIME - Rob and Cronenberg talk about Cosmopolis (hilarious convo about the sex scenes and prostate exam), Map to the Stars, Mission Blacklist and The Rover
Showbiz Tonight - Preview - Preview of the interview. Interviewer asks if Rob is okay.
First Picture of Rob and Cronenberg from the Cosmopolis NYC Junket - Picture of Rob and Cronenberg's interview with Showbiz Tonight

Rob and Cronenberg Ring the Opening Bell at NYSE

Rob and David Cronenberg ringing the opening bell at NYSE - HQ pictures, fan pictures and video
New Pictures of Rob Leaving NYSE and Heading to the Cosmopolis Junket and Video - Smiley Rob leaving the NYSE and heading to the press junket

Cosmopolis Times Talks Q&A

Cosmopolis Times Talks Q&A with Rob and Cronenberg - Video of the full Q&A, HQ pictures, fan pictures and screencaps NEW: Added more pictures of Rob arriving at the Q&A at the top of the post
Fan Pictures - Fan pictures and videos from the premiere and Times Q&A

MTV First: Robert Pattinson

MTV First: Robert Pattinson - Videos of the full interview and pictures. Rob talks Cosmopolis, The Rover, Mission: Blacklist, Breaking Dawn - Part 2, writing music and a lot more. UPDATED: Added 2 more portraits (scroll to "Pictures"

TV Appearences

Jimmy Kimmel Live - Video of the full interview, 125 HQ pictures, fan pictures and videos of Rob signing for fans outside Kimmel
Rob on Jimmy Kimmel Live - HQ Post 2 - 83 More new HQ pictures of Rob at Jimmy Kimmel
Stills of Rob on Jimmy Kimmel Live - HQ tills from Rob's interview. NEW: Added another HQ still at the top
Good Morning America - HD video, HQ pictures, fan pictures and HD screencaps of Rob's interview on GMA. NEW: Added 10 more HQ pictures of Rob arriving at ABC studios
HQ Stills of Rob on Good Morning America - HQ stills from Rob's interview
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - HD video and screencaps of Rob's interview with Jon Stewart

People talking about Rob

Lincoln Center Q&A - David Cronenberg talks about Rob and Cosmopolis
Oregon Live/IFC/Indiewire/Film School Rejects - David Cronenberg and Paul Giamatti talk about Rob
Movies About - David Cronenberg talks about casting Rob and chemistry in the film.
Examiner - Emily Hampshire, Sarah Gadon and David Cronenberg talk about working with Rob and him being a "normal guy"
The Museum of the Moving Art - David Cronenberg talks about Rob and Cosmopolis at The Museum of the Moving Art
Salon - Cronenberg talks about casting Rob and discusses his career.
Indiewire - Cronenberg talks about casting Rob and how Rob surprised him
Rotten Tomatoes - Cronenberg talks about casting Rob, convincing him to do 'Cosmopolis' and about Rob working with Herzog
Live - Emily Hampshire and David Cronenberg talk about Rob
Gilt - Denise Cronenberg talks about Rob's style in 'Cosmopolis' and off-camera
E!Online - Sarah Gadon, David Cronenberg and Paul Giamatti talk about Rob
Movie Bytes - Cronenberg and Rob co-stars talk about him
ET Online - Paul Giamatti, Cronenberg, Sarah Gadon and Emily Hampshire talk about Rob
ZoominUK - Cronenberg and Sarah talk about working with Rob
Paul Giamatti talks about Rob with GMA - Paul talks about not knowing who Rob was + New Cosmopolis clip
Paul Giamatti talks about Rob with Access Hollywood - Paul talks about Rob - says he's great

Pictures/Videos

More New Pictures of Rob in NYC on August 16 - More pictures from August 16
More New Pictures of Rob in NYC on August 14 - More pictures of Rob out for dinner on August 14
Rob in NYC on August 16 - Pictures of Rob in NYC on August 16 with Bobby Long.
HQ Stills of Rob on Good Morning America - HQ stills from Rob's interview
Rob in NYC on August 14 - Pictures and Video of Rob in NYC during Cosmopolis Junket
Rob in NYC on August 14 - Night - Rob in NYC after a day of Cosmopolis Junket NEW: Added 8 more pictures at the top - Rob with Bobby Long and video

Rob talks about Edward, Cosmopolis, his fans & the media's attention with The Chicago Suntimes

It has been a summer of discontent for Robert Pattinson. Since his longtime girlfriend and “Twilight” co-star Kristen Stewart was photographed in intimate poses with another man a few weeks ago, the heat on his life has been daunting.

How does he deal with it?”

“It drives you nuts,” he says of all the hoopla. “It’s just nuts.

“I don’t know how I cope with it. I really don’t know,” he says in a good-natured voice.

“At times, I find the whole thing pretty funny. It is pretty funny. My life is kind of ridiculous to me. It’s so absurd at time.”

Last week he fended off countless questions about the scandal while making the media rounds to promote “Cosmopolis,” his new film with director David Cronenberg (“A History of Violence,” “Eastern Promises”).

Through it all, he felt the love of his fans. The Twi-hards definitely have been Team Robert.

“I don’t credit that to myself,” Pattinson says. “It’s just that there is something elemental about the ‘Twilight’ books and the movies. The core story has connected to people.

“The fan love from that is kind of amazing. I guess it’s so much better than everyone hating you.”

By now he should have developed an attitude — if only he knew how.

“I want to change. I can’t make myself change. I can’t develop an attitude,” Pattinson says with a goofy giggle that is his trademark.

Adds Cronenberg, “I’ve seen him even try to change and it’s pathetic.”

In “Cosmopolis,” based on the novel by Don DeLillo, Pattinson plays a 28-year-old financial whiz kid and billionaire asset manager whose world is exploding. He gets into his stretch limo to get a haircut from his father’s old barber while wagering his company’s massive fortune on a bet against the Chinese Yuan. His trip across the city becomes a journey as he runs into city riots, various visitors and intimate encounters.

Filming in a limo for so long wasn’t claustrophobic.

“I actually kind of enjoyed it,” he says. “In the beginning, I wanted to stay in the car for the entire day. But it was so unbearably hot. I couldn’t really do this method.

“The car made me really concentrate.”

The London-born actor does an American accent in the movie. “I don’t even know what accent I was doing half of the time,” he admits. “I always found that the dialect was written in the lines.”

This fall, he plays vampire Edward Cullen in “Breaking Dawn — Part 2,” meant to be the final installment of the “Twilight” franchise.

Fans of the series are about to enter the depression zone, and Pattinson offers some words of hope.

“I’m sure they’ll have a ‘Twilight’ TV series spinoff soon. They’ll do it again,” Pattinson says.

Would he ever play Edward Cullen again?

“Who knows?” he says. “The only thing that creates a little bit of a problem is that I’m supposed to be 17 forever.

“I’m not sure I can be 17 forever,” he says with another giggle.

He is excited to see what the future holds for him in Hollywood and elsewhere.

“Life is all about luck,” he says. “Getting to this point was lucky. I just hope that my luck holds out.”

Ask him what he knows about life at this point that he didn’t know when he was younger, and he giggles again.

“I basically have learned that I know absolutely nothing,” he says. “I thought I knew it all. Again, I knew absolutely nothing.”

Source

Looks like it's an interview sent to various media outlets. It was also published today in Diario de Mexico

David Cronenberg and Paul Giamatti Talk About Rob

David Cronenberg talks about Rob


From Oregon Live (click to read the full interview)

Given the heavy New York atmosphere of the film, it’s something of a surprise that Cronenberg should have chosen the British actor Robert Pattinson for the lead role. Pattison is best known, of course, for the relatively featherweight demands of the “Twilight” films, which reveal little of the heavy, internal and intellectual stuff that “Cosmopolis” demands. After declaring that “casting is a black art: there’s no rule book to guide you,” Cronenberg explains that he watched some of Pattinson’s non-“Twilight” work, especially “Little Ashes,” in which he played the young Salvador Dalí, and felt he’d found his man. Still, he admits, there is, in all such matters, a leap of faith.

“It’s just intuiting that he can do the role,” he says. “Because you’re asking him here to do things he hasn’t done before. But I was convinced by the time that I had done all my work that he was the right guy. I knew he was good, and he surprised me by how good he was.”

From IFC (click to read the full interview)

IFC: You mentioned wanting to see great actors speak the dialogue, and the movie is filled with them. But I’m curious about Robert Pattinson, who’s still a young actor and doesn’t have nearly as much experience as some of the supporting cast, but has a massive following. When you have a project like this, do you do more tailoring of the script to fit his strengths, or more work with him to match his abilities and talents to the material?
CRONENBERG: For all the actors, you don’t really know what you’re going to get. Except for some auditions that a few actors did for certain roles, I never heard the dialogue spoken until we were shooting. With Rob in particular, I never heard that particular dialogue spoken until we were shooting. You go into filming with confidence that you have the right guy, but you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. There’s a very organic thing that goes on in “Cosmopolis” that’s very spontaneous, because until Robert’s sitting in the limo with the actual actor opposite him who he’s playing the scene with — and there are so many different actors who come in and out of that limo — he doesn’t know how he’s going to react, because he’s not acting in a vacuum. He’s reacting to the other actor. . . . For example, the very first scene we shot was in the limo with Jay Baruchel. Rob was shocked by how Jay was playing it, because he was playing it with so much emotion and vulnerability, and Rob had never anticipated that. So he had to react to that. That’s the excitement of the movie: you mix all of these things that are potent and good, but you don’t really know what you’re going to get from that.

IFC: It’s sort of like cooking…
CRONENBERG: [Laughs] Yes, it is. It’s like cooking a meal you’ve never made before.

(...)

----- SPOILERS -----

IFC: On the subject of changes form the source material, I’m going to get into spoiler territory here for a moment and ask you about the end of the movie and how it differs from the book. The movie leaves things more uncertain than the book, it seems…
CRONENBERG: It’s hard to discuss without spoilers, but it would’ve been very easy to put a gunshot on the soundtrack and you would know that Eric was murdered. And in the book you know that he’s murdered, or at least if you believe Benno, he’s been murdered — but that’s the thing, because Benno is not exactly a trustworthy narrator. In the book there is still some scope for uncertainty as to Eric’s fate, but as we were shooting that last scene, I loved that these two guys were frozen in that last moment — almost frozen in an eternity of uncertainty. They’re bound together. They’re locked together in this sort of archetypal moment. I thought the moment should be eternal.

IFC: I can picture you going, “And cut it right… there!”
CRONENBERG: [Laughs] Basically, yeah. So it was more like that than a dramatic thing. It wasn’t like, “Oh, I can’t stand to have this character killed,” or “Rob’s fans won’t like it if I shoot Robert,” or anything like that. I wasn’t worry about that stuff. It was really spontaneous. As I mentioned, we could’ve easily made it clear that he’s killed, cutting to black with the sound of a gunshot.

----- END OF SPOILERS -----

Paul Giamatti talks about his scene with Rob



From Indiewire (click to read the full interview)

How did you wrestle with the verbose dialogue and own it? You essentially talk in wordy, extended diatribes in your scene opposite Robert Pattinson.
Well, I mean it was nice dialogue to say. It’s eccentric, and it’s definitely got a rhythm. It was a bit of a trick to feel your way into it. My character, he’s got a very elaborate fantasy life. He’s got a very intense story playing out in his own head about the other guy and about himself and this relationship. So I think one of the ways it helped me to feel like I could bring the dialogue to life was to make sure that I was constructing this elaborate, emotional life behind all these words so I could connect them all up. And it was weird, the leaps and logic between the speeches -- all of a sudden somebody would start talking about something that seems completely unconnected. So I had to make all these connections, and once I could emotionally figure out what was going on, the words then came pretty easily.

"Something about his style as a filmmaker seems to fit well with the book." It’s odd dialogue, it seems very kind of bare. I don't know if it’s very complex and intellectual, but it actually comes to an emotional life very well, at least for me. And I think that guy is, as you say, in some ways the most sympathetic because he’s the most visibly emotionally engaged.

Was it difficult to act opposite Pattinson, whose character is beyond detached from any semblance of emotion? Or did his passivity fuel the scene?
It's like a therapy session in that you keep switching back and forth between, who’s the therapist and who’s the patient? And so yes, some of his passivity absolutely brought a lot of it to life for me.

How long did you and Robert have to shoot the scene?
I think it took us about two-and-a-half days, maybe? You know, it’s a long scene. I think it was nearly twenty pages long, which is a lot for a single scene. So they had set aside maybe four or five days, but it only took us two and a half.

From Film School Rejects (click to read the full interview)

The tone of Cosmopolis is this very straight-faced, serious type of wacky. How did Cronenberg describe the tone to you?
You know, he didn’t, in a lot of ways. I think he just trusted we’d get a sense of it. Even though the dialogue is very odd, you know what his sensibility is anyway, so you kind of know what the tone is. I did something I don’t normally do on a movie…I just came in at the end, after they shot most of the movie, and I asked David if I could watch the footage, because I wanted to see the tone of the movie and what Rob looked like, talked like, and moved like. I felt it was something I needed to see, because I’m playing a guy who always has a fantasy of him in his head. I did ask to see the footage for exactly what you just said: it’s an odd tone. I wanted to just watch some of it, so I could see how I could fit into it and, in some ways, veer off of it.

(...)

It is similar to a few of his previous film in how abstract the story can be at times. When you get a script this dense and full of symbolism, do you try to apply meaning to everything or do you just go with it?
In this instance, with this script, I read this whole script many, many times. I usually do that anyway, but, on this, it felt essential for me to read it a bunch of times. It wasn’t about just concentrating on my stuff, partially because it was so interesting. I just had such a good time reading it and thinking about it. Like you said, there’s a tonal thing, and I needed to have a sense of that in my head. I also feel like the character has a real awareness of Rob’s character, so I felt like I needed to know Rob’s character. Certainly, in my scenes, it all had to make crystal sense to me [Laughs].

Rob and Cronenberg talk about Cosmopolis, directing, preparing for the role and more with Screenslam

Youtube or watch at the source



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New Cronenberg interview - talks about casting Rob, chemistry and more

As Eric, Pattinson is in every scene of the film, portraying a character unlike any he's tackled before. And in our exclusive interview in support of Cosmopolis' theatrical release by eONE Films, writer/director Cronenberg explained why Pattinson was right for the part of Eric and how he went about tackling the adaptation of DeLillo's novel.

In casting Robert Pattinson, it's kind of a double-edge sword, isn't it? You have his Twilight fans anxious to support him in whatever he chooses to do and then you have the people who dismiss him because he is 'that guy from Twilight'.

"Yeah. In a weird way, on the one hand of course I'm completely aware of all of those elements and also of course when you're making a movie that for an independent movie was relatively expensive, you have to have a leading character who is very charismatic and who can carry the weight and has the star quality and so on, because you're going to be looking at him. He's literally in every scene in the movie, and that's pretty unusual. I mean even in Tom Cruise movies, Tom is not in absolutely every scene of the movie - but Rob is. So he has to have that. But at the same time, you want to forget the movies, you know? You want to forget his movies and my movies because we're creating this completely new thing and you don't know what audience you're going to get. You can anticipate it, you can think about it, but really you don't know. So ultimately when you're making the movie you're saying, 'Okay, I'm here with these actors. They're wonderful actors, I cast them because they're terrific and they will bring great stuff to the script,' and then at that point you're just making a movie and you're not thinking about any other movie."

Needing an actor to carry the film by being in every scene, how did you figure out Robert Pattinson was the right guy to play Eric?

[Laughing] "Well, this is the magic of casting! I think as a director, it's part of your job. It's a really important part of your job. I think a lot of people don't even realize that the director's involved in casting. Some people say, 'Did you choose your actors?,' and I say, 'Yes. You're not a director if you don't.'"

"Of course, you're juggling many things, like I say. You're juggling, for example, their passports. This is a Canada / France co-production and we were limited to one American actor. Most people of course don't know that - nor should they. Paul Giamatti is the only American in this movie even though it takes place in New York City. So from that kind of aspect to just finding the right guy...of course he's got to be the right age, there are a lot of things that are just basic. And then after that, though, there are no rules. You as a director just have to intuit that this actor will be able to carry off this role."

"We often talk about chemistry, for example, in movies between actors, let's say. When I was doing A Dangerous Method, Keira Knightley and Michael Fassbender - how do I know they have chemistry together because I had never seen them in a movie together? They've never been in one; they've never met each other. I don't see them together until I'm actually directing them, so I have to be this kind of dating master who can anticipate that this couple will be good together. It's a strange kind of thing. So you give yourself credit when it works, and you have to berate yourself when somehow it hasn't worked. That's basically where you're left."

It strikes me with Cosmopolis that the chemistry actually needed to come between you and Robert more so than between Rob and any of his co-stars.

"There's truth in that too. That is the unspoken thing is the chemistry between the director and the actors is the key. And at a certain point I think Rob would...you know, he's a serious actor and he didn't want to be the one who was going to blow this movie. He was kind of thinking, 'Well, I'll be alone in that limo because I won't have one person who is always playing opposite me. It's really a one-man show with a lot of day players coming in.' And I said, 'No, you won't be alone because I'll be there. I'll be with you every moment.' And so that is a real element."

Do you think that you view the character of Eric the same way that author DeLillo did? Or do you think that you two don't necessarily agree on how an audience should look at him?

"I think we actually illuminate things for each other. I've been on the road doing publicity with Don in several countries and I think he was pretty intrigued by seeing what would happen. Because, after all, once you put Rob Pattinson in that role, that's a very specific thing. You've got a particular face and a particular voice and a body, and that's something that the novel can not have. That's one of the things that movies can do that novels can not do, and so it immediately shapes the character in a way that he wasn't shaped in the novel. So, there are differences, I think, but it's not a major split or divergence. It's just really shading and shaping things. It's just really hearing the dialogue spoken, which was something that when I read the novel, I thought, 'Yeah, I really want to hear this spoken by really great actors.' Just doing that immediately changes your reaction to the characters and to the words. So there is a difference, definitely."

Read the rest of the interview at the source | via

Emily Hampshire, Sarah Gadon and Cronenberg talk about Rob being a "normal guy" and about working with him

Emily Hampshire talks about Rob at 1:20. Sarah Gadon talks about him at 3:29 and Cronenberg at 5:39



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Rob and Cronenberg Interview With Fox News - Talks Cosmopolis, His Career and More

Rob and Cronenberg Talk Fame, Cosmopolis, Fans and Twilight

The phone call began with Pattinson and Cronenberg laughing.

Question: Sounds like you two aren't having any trouble having fun.
Pattinson: We rollick and frolic. We have no problem.

Q: And Robert, you haven't been in the news enough lately.
Pattinson: Heh.

Q: Your character is a disconnected guy trying to connect. Or maybe it's the other way around. How do you play that?
Pattinson: I think he's just very, very self-obsessed. It's going deeper and deeper into self-obsession until it kind of implodes. It's also just the words. Everything is done for me. I sort of instinctively felt like I knew what to do from the beginning because the script was so good.

Q: Is it tricky to direct someone having a prostate exam (as Packer does in the film)?
Cronenberg: For me? Oh, no problem.

Q: Robert, I assume you're rich. But Packer is incredibly rich. Is there a freedom to that?
A: I think it's actually quite a difficult way to live. I've met a few people who have fictional money (laughing). If you have any interest in the world, it's very difficult to see. Your eyes are totally different to most people. Money really does change people. You have to make an effort to be normal, I think.

Q: Did you go through that when you became successful?
Pattinson: It's different. Dealing with fame is different. Everyone gets stuff thrown at them in life, and you have to figure out how to deal with it.

Q: There's a ton of publicity surrounding you now, good and bad. Presumably you're in a bubble while shooting the film, so not as many people are keeping up.
Cronenberg: In fact, a lot of the "Twilight" fans were keeping up. They made websites, and they had spy-cams. But all of that was really quite sweet. It was quite gentle and quite affectionate, and you had these young girls who had never read anything but "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" before (but) were reading "Cosmopolis," they were reading Don DeLillo and writing about it on their blogs.

Q: Robert, "Twilight" is winding down. What has that been like?
Pattinson: Pretty crazy (laughing). No one ever believes me, but no one involved with the first movie had any idea that it was going to turn out to be what it was going to be. We didn't even know if we were going to make the sequels. You go on this runaway train that I was entirely unprepared for. And at the same time, I was kind of figuring out whether I wanted to be an actor or not, which is kind of interesting. You're in your 20s, you're trying to figure out what you want to do with your life.

Q: What about the fame aspect of it? Isn't that kind of a weird way of life? You can't even walk across the street without someone taking a picture.
Pattinson: Yeah. It's just how you deal with it. Everyone has to figure out how they want to live. It's a challenge.

Cronenberg: I can say that Rob was definitely able to walk across the street in Toronto (where "Cosmopolis" was shot) and no one noticed. And he could go to a bar and he could go to a restaurant. Really, part of it has to do with where you are and how much you're publicizing yourself. If you're Lindsay Lohan and you're making sure that everybody knows where you are at all times, then you know what the consequences will be. But if somebody doesn't want that, there are ways you can do that.

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David Cronenberg talks about Rob and Cosmopolis at The Museum of the Moving Art

David Cronenberg was at The Museum of the Moving Art this week for a a Q&A about Cosmopolis. Lots of great Rob mentions.



Thanks to Let Me Sign

More New Pictures of Rob Out in NYC on August 16th

Cronenberg talks about casting Rob and discusses his career

Of course everybody wants to ask you about your star, who unfortunately has decided not to join us today. I guess he has his reasons. How and why did you wind up casting Robert Pattinson?
Well, it begins in a very pragmatic way. You get a list of 10 people from various producers and agents, and you start with the basics. How old is this character, and how old is the actor? This character is young, his age is given as 28. So that’s where you start. Does he feel like the right guy? Eric talks about working out a lot and is very physical, so you’re not going to cast someone who’s overweight. It’s simple stuff like that to begin with. And then you get to the pragmatics: How big is your budget and what kind of star power do you need to get the movie financed?

And here’s something people don’t think about, which is the passport of the actor. This is a Canada-France co-production, so you’re really restricted in the number of Americans you can use. There’s only one American in this movie, even though it’s set in New York, and that’s Paul. So the fact that Rob is British helps, because he can fit into the co-production thing. So that’s the long way round, and ultimately you get to: Does the guy have the chops and charisma to hold the movie together? Because this character is in every scene of the movie, without exception, and that’s very unusual, even for a star.

So I looked at everything I could find that Rob had done, including “Little Ashes,” where he plays the young Salvador Dali, and I thought, yeah, he could really do this. And I think he’s actually extraordinary. It’s ultimately intuition on my part, and casting is a huge part of directing that’s very invisible. Making-of documentaries don’t usually cover the casting process, but for a director it’s a hugely important part of your art. Juggling all those other balls that I was just talking about, and still coming up with the right guy.

I realize I’d be better off asking him that question, but do you think Rob is eager to change his image after “Twilight,” and push into doing different kinds of characters? After this role, and playing a sadistic sociopath in “Bel Ami,” it certainly looks that way.
Well, I know from doing interviews with him in Europe that he’s not really thinking in terms of his career. He gets offered a lot of stuff, and it’s usually very conventional, boring stuff. He’s always been interested in doing unusual stuff. He’ll tell you that when they started with “Twilight,” he thought it was kind of an indie film. Which it sort of was, you know! It had Catherine Hardwicke as the original director, and it was an unusual, off-kilter vampire story. Nobody knew that it would be the kind of mainstream success that it became.

In a way, “Cosmopolis” is a lot closer to his heart than “Twilight,” you know. When he read it, he told me that he was also struck by the dialogue. He thought it was incredibly fresh and new and surprising and engaging, and he immediately wanted to do it. He was afraid, because I think he still hasn’t come to terms with the fact that he’s actually an actor! He didn’t grow up thinking he wanted to be an actor. As with many actors, and not just young, inexperienced ones, he wasn’t sure he was good enough! He wasn’t sure he was the right guy, and he didn’t want to be the guy who would bring down this terrific project. So my job, at that point, was to convince him that he was indeed the right guy. That took me about 10 days, I suppose.

Are you telling me that you have actually watched the “Twilight” movies? That’s a bit hard to imagine.
Yeah — or no, I watched about one and a half of them. I’m interested in everything, frankly. I’m not a snob, you know. I really am curious about everything. If something’s hugely popular, it doesn’t automatically mean I’m going to look at it, but sometimes I’m curious as to why something is really popular, let’s say. In the case of “Twilight,” I was watching it for Rob, that was the thing. It’s not like – I mean, I hadn’t seen them before that.

Read Cronenberg's full interview at the source

Rob and Cronenberg discuss Cosmopolis, fans, fame and more with The Boston Globe

Q. You both have said that you filmed this movie in chronological order, and I know that with many movies, the last scenes are shot first. Was that a luxury — to film from start to finish?
Cronenberg: One of the trickiest things that I had to learn as a director was exactly that. I mean, suddenly you’re forced to shoot the last scene of the movie first. And it’s hard for the actors because they don’t know who they are yet and they’re doing their death scene. As an actor myself, I was in Clive Barker’s movie “Nightbreed,” and the first thing we shoot was my character getting killed. And I said a typical actor thing. I said, “How can I know how to die when I haven’t lived yet?” So it is kind of a luxury. I think Rob can talk about that.

Pattinson: I agree. (Laughs) I don’t think I can add to that.

Q. You have both been very candid in interviews about the fact that you didn’t necessarily know how this novel would translate to film and what it meant to you. Do you have a different interpretation of the text now that you’re finished with the film?
Pattinson: Well, I like it. I don’t think that confusion is necessarily a bad thing. We’ve done hundreds of interviews now and I still find myself coming up with new things to say.

Cronenberg: Those statements that we made, which were very candid, can be misinterpreted as meaning we were inept, incompetent. But not at all. You know, I don’t do storyboards, for example. I don’t really know what I’m going to do at every set up and every shot. It’s all very spontaneous and of-the-moment, even what lens to use. That’s what we’re talking about. We don’t have it all mapped out. We’re trusting the script and trusting the dialogue that is all 100 percent Don DeLillo’s and taken from the novel directly. We know that if we respond directly to that . . . the movie will have its coherence.

Q. You just rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. What was that like? And what do you think the people there would think of this movie if they saw it?
Cronenberg: All through the halls of the stock exchange they have these monitors built into the walls, and they were all showing clips of “Cosmopolis.” All of the people there who were marshaling us were incredibly excited about the movie and really wanted to see it. And they were incredibly friendly and sweet, and I was suddenly thinking, “This is the wonderful, friendly face of capitalism. I don’t know why I’ve been fighting it for so long. I think I’m going to buy some stock.” [Pattinson laughs.] And the stock exchange is about marketing. To link the starting of the day with some product that’s being marketed was a no-brainer. And the fact that it might be rather ironic that we were opening the stock exchange; I don’t think it occurred to them.

Q. Mr. Pattinson, what did you think of the visit?
Pattinson: I’m so clueless about anything to do with that world. I was kind of just terrified that I was somehow going to mess it up. And also to see people’s enthusiasm. It’s so alien. Even people’s attitudes there. It seems so alien to me. I mean, I’ve met traders before, but in their own environment — everyone’s extremely happy, which is not what I expected. It doesn’t seem stressful at all. They were all excited about seeing who was going to ring the bell this morning. They had the American gymnastics team closing it that day. It looks like a really fun place to work.

Q. You guys seem like you like each other a lot. You seem so close during this publicity tour. I was thinking, when I looked at pictures from the stock exchange visit, that you actually look like relatives.

[Cronenberg and Pattinson laugh.]

Cronenberg: We get along pretty well and we were kind of wearing the same suit. They were Gucci suits that were connected with the movie — the character wears them — and so, we were Tweedledum and Tweedledee at that point.

Q. Mr. Cronenberg, where do you most enjoy promoting your films? You don’t have to say America.
Cronenberg: I have a huge enthusiastic fan base in France. My first films were horror films and genre films, and in France they never had any prejudice against them, whereas in North America, in the old days when I started especially, there was prejudice against them. They weren’t taken seriously as good cinema. So I suppose I feel more comfortable, weirdly enough, in France releasing a film. The level of discourse there is very intelligent, very intellectual, sometimes humorously so, but I like playing that game there.

Q. Mr. Pattinson, how have you taken to the Cronenberg fan base? I imagine that it’s strange to see “Twilight” fans with people who love David Cronenberg movies.
Pattinson: Absolutely. We were in London and we did a Q&A and it was two very diverse groups of people who suddenly came into contact with each other for I think probably the first time. And, I don’t know . . . David’s horror film fans . . . and general “Twilight” female fans . . . are actually quite a good pairing. I think both of them didn’t see anything in each other first of all, but they’re quite a good, odd couple. When you see a bearded guy with long hair, who absolutely will weep [for Cronenberg] . . . and then a “Twilight” fan who will weep at that, they actually look like a couple.

Q. Mr. Pattinson, I have to ask, in reference to all of the talk show hosts who are asking you personal questions right now: I’m always fascinated by the ability of celebrities to just disappear during a controversy. How do you do that? Is there a tunneling system? Where do you go to hide when you’re so watched?
Pattinson: There is a netherworld where celebrities go. They’re the only ones that have access to it. A mysterious little network of boroughs. (Giggles.)

The Boston Globe