Here are some new photos of Robert Pattinson and director David Cronenberg at the Paris premiere of Cosmopolis. Sparkles looks… subdued. Tired. He probably is tired from Cannes, and lots of press interviews and now he’s looking at a few weeks more of promotional work on the film. Maybe he’s tired because Cosmopolis hasn’t been getting the best reviews? Most critics dislike the film – you can read The Hollywood Reporter’s review here. Sparkles isn’t getting all or even most of the blame, although I’m sure the criticism does sting.
As for the potential box office… the film is too… complicated for Robert’s fan base, and I suspect they’ll avoid the film like the plague. Which is sad for him, because I kind of hoped that Sparkles would be the one with the bigger and better career after Twilight. But it’s looking more and more like Kristen will have a better career. Of course, that’s just how it looks to me now. Given the right role, I think Sparkles could (no joke) SHINE (or sparkle, what have you).
Anyway, Sparkles has a new interview with Shortlist Magazine – you can read the full thing here. Some highlights:
Playing Edward Cullen: “I mean, playing the same part for a while… You just run out of ideas. You feel kind of useless, you don’t know what to do any more. I’m not trying to get away from it. You’re screwing yourself, you’re saying you think your work is sh*t if you try to get away from it. And I never thought it was. I kind of got to the end of my inspiration. You get to the point where you’re like, ‘I don’t want to do a film for a teen audience any more.’”
Cosmopolis: “I think the script was so bizarre, we thought it was quite funny it was even getting made. Literally. It’s totally ridiculous. Ninety per cent of it is in a limo and it’s about getting a haircut and being worried about your asymmetrical prostate. It feels like an absolute ‘F*ck you’ to any kind of hope of commercialism.” Twi-hards, then, are in for a massive shock. “I’m curious who, if anyone, sees it,” says Pattinson. “It’s such a weird movie.” He laughs. “I guess, because I’m in it.”
Playing James Bond? “Yeah, definitely,” he says. “But more like 20 years. There’d be nothing worse than, like, ‘Let’s get a fresh-faced Bond!’ That would be the worst idea in the world. After Daniel Craig, you have to have some baggage. It would be ridiculous to reinvent it as some young posh kid. Or, if it was, I’d have to be tortured in the first few scenes. I’d have to do the first film with one arm or something.”
His turning point: “I think 26 is the turning point,” he says. “I’ve got to make up for 10 years of living like a degenerate. I’ve suddenly become conscious of being unhealthy. You’ve spent every bit of free time since [the age of ] 15 in a pub. And suddenly you’re like, ‘Oh God, I don’t want to be this grey ghost sitting there with a pot belly. I’ve got to get it together.’”
His new mantra: “Don’t be a p-ssy,” he states. “Basically, that’s the best thing you can ever think. I’ve had so many occasions in my life where I’ve acted like a p-ssy and regretted it. Have you seen that Tyson documentary? That bit where he says he’d defeated the guy before he’s walked into the ring, it’s the same thing. With acting, I was always so scared. But you get to the point where you realise it doesn’t matter.”
LOL, I kind of love that his new life mantra is “Don’t be a p-ssy.” Because I get the feeling he is, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. He’s a sweet guy. He’s not violent or nasty and he’s not a ceaseless self-promoter. He doesn’t need to be.
By the way, the MTV Movie Awards are this Sunday. GROAN. Ugh. As you can imagine, Kristen Stewart and Sparkles are up for a bunch of awards, including Best Kiss. And guess what? Sparkles is going to be a no-show! He’s not going to make an appearance! OOOH NOOOO. What will the Twihards do?!?!
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
i get the feeling that mantra is coming directly from his girlfriend.
I actually think he looks really gorgeous in these pics and I’m not even a fan, he looks a little tanned and relaxed -also closer shaved than usual
He’s also gained a little bit of weight and it looks really good on him, especially in his face. I do wish he’d dump Kristen and get away from her negative energy. He has such potential.
Sparkles is giving it some Blue Steel in those photos.
SOME critics didn’t like it – not MOST. It got an average of about 7.53 out of 10 from critics in Cannes. But then it’s Cronenberg. His movies are not to everyone’s taste so I bet they expected it. As for the Box Office, I doubt many would go see it apart from the Cronenberg and Pattinson fans. And I bet they expect that too. At least most critics praised his performance even if they didn’t like the film.
Thank you. How is an average score of 7.5 out of 10 from the critics that saw it at Cannes, considered panned? The Hollywood Reporter didn’t like it, but that doesn’t mean no one did. I saw a lot of really shining reviews. There were quite a few critics that truly loved Cosmopolis.
I think his girlfriend prefers p-ssy.
Don’t you love it that women’s body parts are still equivalent with weakness?
Sexist a-hole.
TOTALLY! One of the first thoughts I had right after giving birth was, “I’m gonna punch the next person I hear use the word “pussy” to mean weak”.
You know, Ira, it’s weird the way the culture has jumped on the word retard and it is no longer acceptable to use this term (I don’t even know when or where this happened?), but somehow it’s okay to use the word p*ssy to describe something as weak. Like, I think it’s in part of the culture and I think it’s incredibly dumb when people jump all over a word like retard and yet p*ssy is a perfectly acceptable, across-the-board putdown. I’ve totally removed this word from my jargon altogether, in that context, cause it just had this hollow, useless, sexist feeling to it & it was incredibly dumb and inarticulate. KStew seems like a daughter of Sappho, as well.
why would he go to the awards when they completely shut out tw in order to catter to the hunger games? Im glad he’s not going, I wish Kristen didn’t have to go either
oh please,Twilight has gotten many awards from MTV and ALL of them have been crappy. MTV caters to the bigger fanbase and has never really given an award to a good movie. I’m sure they’ll still walk away with some lame popcorn trophy.
And his 2nd mantra is “I’m old.”
Anyway, something is off with Rob. His interviews are not as funny and engaging as they used to be. One of my theories is that Sparkles is good with getting focused when he faces hatred…And in Europe they pour love and admiration all over the “real” Rob — I mean in France they seem to talk all the time about how smart and charismatic he is, etc. I think it easier to ignore fame when it is addressed to a fake person, some fake RPatz – at least that’s what he kept repeating all these years. Nowadays, they seem to admire qualities of a real Rob, and that’s probably harder to disassociate with…
Interesting theory. But I also think part of the subtle change in his demeanor (which I didn’t really notice) is that he has gotten more experience and is getting older/more mature. He’s just not the nervous, wide-eyed, quirky, young kid anymore.
He’s trying so hard to be manly it makes him look like even MORE of a pussy. Stop it Sparkle Pattz.
This is SO true. Whenever a guy does not have a baritone or bass voice and he tries to artificially lower it, it comes across as desperate and sounds even more femme than when he just tries to stay in his range. Higher voices can sound even more masculine than these gravel-ly box o’ rocks voices that come off of an assembly line. I don’t know if he comes across as more of a wuss to me, but he definitely does come across as a lot more insecure and anxious than I ever would have expected.
He seems harmless, especially considering that he could get away with being a jerk and apparently isn’t one.
I WILL STOP — I am being way too much of a chatterbox…I don’t really know if he is all that nice. There was a picture of him leaving the ICM building (his agency) in Los Angeles after that elephant movie with Reese “Box Office Poison” Witherspoon tanked and a pap wanted his picture. He was having none of it and looked like the self-entitled brat that he has inevitably become. You could just see the expression on his face and just the sheer narcissistic reality of being this bonafide matinee idol whose work outside of Twilight is being passed over (and the resulting “tanty” as Hugh Grant would say). THE L-E-V-E-L of F-A-M-E that he and Kristen Stewart had two years ago was like something at the dawn of Hollywood: Pickford and Fairbanks, Garbo!, Valentino…it was like the dawn of Hollywood and the purest of limelights all over again. I watched all of this with a subtle excitement and was completely mesmerized and happy that that magic could still exist (is this too self revelatory?). There is no way in hell these two brats could not have been permanently and conclusively damaged from an experience like that. This is part of their DNA now. Kristen is butch and tough and can move on. Robert can play the awkward masochist who can look at this with humor. I don’t know. Maybe he has changed and has more humour about it all. I am stopping — NOW!
You don’t know if he’s nice, based on ONE encounter with a pap who was in his face? So he hates the paps, as do most actors who constantly get followed and harassed by them. I can’t blame him for that.
I don’t think that an admiration in the midst of Twilight was very damaging for them – mostly it’s because it was the admiration by a certain type of crowd, which they quietly despised. There were plenty of subtle remarks to express that. I think the quick success would be much more damaging to Patz. See, he was prepared for 10 years of a very hard work just to get to Cannes…Instead, look what’s happening: Cronenberg calls on his own right at the end of Twilight; Pats gets the role without audition and without understanding what’s this role is about; nevertheless a year later, the movie is in Cannes, it’s a somewhat critical success, Cronenberg admires Patz, and journos are asking Patz intellectual question instead of the regular b/s. He is taken serious without the struggle that he was prepared for…In another words, anything Patz wants, Patz gets. I don’t think it’s a blessing. I think it’s a damn curse.
I think you’re missing the point of why he did this movie. He never expected it to do big box office. It’s a Cronenberg indie, based on a truly weird novel. He knew going in it wasn’t going to be big and didn’t care. He did it to work with Cronenberg and the terrific actors in the cast. He’s trying to stay away from blockbusters for the moment, and that’s smart. He’s working on his acting, learning, and trying to take roles that are far away from Edward Cullen. And by and large, the critics were quite positive about his performance, even the ones that didn’t like the movie.
I think its way too early to project who will have the better post Twilight careers for anyone in the cast. They need more time to pass to put it behind them. But I think trying to work on smaller films, trying out lots of different roles, and staying away from anything like Twilight is a smart way to go. I don’t envy them the task.
He looks fantastic in that suit. He seems more mature, a little subdued. He’s growing up and learning to play the game a little bit, although he seems able to distance himself from the madness pretty well.
Like someone said in one of the last Rob posts, he seems to be enjoying this ride and once it’s over he’ll be fine and move on. He could be done tomorrow and I don’t think he’d look back or dwell on what he’s leaving or fight to stay relevant and lose his s^&#, a la Amanda Bynes.
I agree that he is more mature and a little subdued. The part that I see differently about him is moving on and not looking back. Oh, he looks back all the time, analyzes it, regrets lost opportunities… Look — “I’ve had so many occasions in my life where I’ve acted like a p-ssy and regretted it.” “I’ve got to make up for 10 years of living like a degenerate.”…That’s a very important part of Sparkle, and that’s the part, which I like the most 😉
The European critics loved Cosmopolis and loved Rob’s performance. A lot of American critics really liked it too. Variety, EW, etc. It’s Cronenberg, so it’s polarizing…but the movie isn’t being unanimoulsy panned. A lot of critics at Cannes thought it should win the whole shebang. You either love it or you hate it.
Nice you are speaking for the entire continent. Comopolis never had a chance to win Palme D’Or.
Also here in Germany they called the filmed a failed attempt and the reviews are mixed at best. On the Road is even worse, 33% on rottentomatoes.
It must be SO odd for him to even contemplate talking about werewolves & vampires for (thankfully) the last time after doing Cosmopolis which will be the first movie of his I plan to actually pay to see in a cinema! I didn’t like him for ages – I thought the affable Englishman was a bit of a lame act for his female fanbase & I hate Twilight – but now I do think he seems smart, decent and genuine (as genuine as an actor can be). He could easily make a career as the male Aniston, reprising the same romantic role ad nauseum, but he seems to be going down another path entirely. Good for him. That said, I’m fascinated to see how it pans out after Twilight – after years having 1000s of screaming women camped out for days at your premieres, indie promos just aren’t on the same scale. Hopefully it will be a relief, as that it seems those damn films have been around forever – god knows what it must be like to have been in one.
Hey MJ, what’s an attitude towards him in the UK? Is he a National Treasure or Robert-Britain’sShame-Pattinson?
Hmmm… I work in mags & his pics are rarely bought on an exclusive basis (& he’s not in gossip mags that much) whereas US mags & websites will pay huge amounts for first rights on pics of him walking down the street. But I do think that his/the Twi fanbase is WAY more fanatical overseas. Certainly he’s not a national shame, but not a national treasure – yet! He’s def way more liked than disliked! 🙂
Hmm, well I work in mags & his pics are rarely bought on an exclusive basis, yet US mags & websites will pay huge amounts for first rights on pics of him walking down the street. He’s not a regular in gossip columns. But I do think his/the Twi fanbase is WAY more fanatical overseas & so he has a lower profile than you’d imagine as a home-grown star. Not a national shame, but def not a national treasure – yet! Certainly more liked than disliked! 🙂
Thank you MJ – love reading your insights!
Haha! So funny of Sparkles.
Well, I guess he knows Cosmopolis is a ridiculous movie and it is going to be a flop.
I’m kind interested in seeing this movie but I’ll wait for the trailer to make up my mind.