Showing posts with label David Cronenberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Cronenberg. Show all posts
Saturday, 12 January 2013
David Cronenberg Talks About Cosmopolis and Mentions Maps to the Stars
The Blu-ray release of Cosmopolis is coming out in the heart of Oscar-campaign season. I get the sense it doesn't bug you too much that this film isn't being discussed more as a contender.
Yes. Every year I try to be as disconnected as possible. This year it's been very easy because we haven't been nominated for any awards. It's not sour grapes, it's not compensation; it's a relief. It's very easy to get caught up in it if you are nominated. The people who are releasing the movie get excited, they want you to do more, and you understand it because the awards can maybe get more people to see the film. This, on its face, is a good thing. However, it is all bullshit, it is all annoying and it is all very problematical. But it gives people stuff to write about, gives structure, we understand. But I won't be watching any of the awards shows.
End of the year lists, though — Cosmopolis did end up placing second in Cahiers du Cinema's top ten of the year.
Yes and on Sight and Sound's list, as well.
Yes. Every year I try to be as disconnected as possible. This year it's been very easy because we haven't been nominated for any awards. It's not sour grapes, it's not compensation; it's a relief. It's very easy to get caught up in it if you are nominated. The people who are releasing the movie get excited, they want you to do more, and you understand it because the awards can maybe get more people to see the film. This, on its face, is a good thing. However, it is all bullshit, it is all annoying and it is all very problematical. But it gives people stuff to write about, gives structure, we understand. But I won't be watching any of the awards shows.
End of the year lists, though — Cosmopolis did end up placing second in Cahiers du Cinema's top ten of the year.
Yes and on Sight and Sound's list, as well.
Sunday, 30 December 2012
David Cronenberg Talks About Rob with ET
Twilight vamp Robert Pattinson plays a bloodsucker of an altogether different kind – the Wall Street kind – in his new movie Cosmopolis, on Blu-ray and DVD New Year's Day, and the film's director David Cronenberg tells ETonline that he was actually quite impressed with what Rob brought to the table, and that after the baggage of casting -- once you get to that point when you're on set and cameras are rolling -- "Twilight is irrelevant."
"He surprised me every day with good stuff," says Cronenberg. "I don't do rehearsals, and I try not to shape the actor's performance at first. I want to see what his intuition is going to deliver. And then if there's a problem then I start to shape it, nudge it, manipulate it a little bit. I did very little of that with Rob."
Based on the novel by Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis follows one day in the wild life of multi-billionaire asset manager Eric Packer, who travels aimlessly through the streets of New York City in his limousine while conducting investment trading from the back seat. As the day progresses, it devolves into an odyssey with a cast of characters that start to tear his world apart.
"He absolutely would say to you right now, 'I had no idea what I was doing at any time,' and he would mean it," says the veteran director of Rob's performance. "I think he really didn't realize how good he was. … He was surprising himself, but he was surprising me by his accuracy. It was just dead on. I mean, by the end of it we were doing one take. Honestly the whole last scene, the whole last shot in the movie with him and Paul [Giamatti] -- one take. And it's a long take as well. And it's very emotional, and very subtle. One take for both of them, it was so good. … In fact, we finished the shoot five days early, and a lot of that was due to Rob."
Tuesday, 25 December 2012
David Cronenberg Talks About Rob with First Post
A lot has been said about your unconventional choice of Robert Pattinson for the lead role.
The thing I liked about Rob Pattinson as an actor is that he’s a serious actor. And you could lose sight of that, because he’s had this big popular success with the Twilight movies, but he is not afraid to play a character who is difficult to like, you know, because some actors are afraid to do that, because they feel it is too personal, that they themselves will not be liked by their audience, and so on. But a real actor is not afraid to play an unsympathetic character, and Rob is a real actor.
Also, I think to be an actor, you need intelligence, first of all. For example, Rob immediately realised that the script was quite funny, and most people don’t get that. Then you want sensitivity to the subtleties of the movie, in terms of what is going on in the movie, the dialogue and so on. And Rob, personally, is very knowledgeable about cinema.
(chuckles) I don’t think his Twilight fans realise this about him, but he’s really an aficionado about art cinema. I mean, on the set I’d find him talking to Juliette Binoche about obscure French cinema, (chuckles) so you know, he brings a real depth of understanding of the history and art of cinema and all of those things mean that you have a lot of power and a lot of responsiveness from your actor as a director. It’s like driving the Ferrari instead of driving, you know, a Volkwagen Beetle. And you get that with Rob. I must also add, he’s very down to earth and very easy to work with. He’s not diva at all, you know. He’s really a sweetheart.
Source | Via | Via
Sunday, 2 December 2012
David Cronenberg Talks About Rob and Cosmopolis
Were you happy with how Cosmopolis was received?
No, I would've liked it to have made half a billion dollars at the box office! [laughs] The movie was received like an art film, which is to say it did OK in the big cities. Naturally you always want the biggest audience you can get, just as long as it doesn't cause you to compromise your moviemaking.
Why did you cast Robert Pattinson as limo-riding antihero Eric Packer?
Eric is in absolutely every scene, so you need an actor who is interesting and charismatic enough to look at for the entire movie. You want someone who can really come up with surprises and angles, and has a level of stardom that will support the movie. He also had to do a credible New York accent. All of that led me to Rob.
Scan | Via
No, I would've liked it to have made half a billion dollars at the box office! [laughs] The movie was received like an art film, which is to say it did OK in the big cities. Naturally you always want the biggest audience you can get, just as long as it doesn't cause you to compromise your moviemaking.
Why did you cast Robert Pattinson as limo-riding antihero Eric Packer?
Eric is in absolutely every scene, so you need an actor who is interesting and charismatic enough to look at for the entire movie. You want someone who can really come up with surprises and angles, and has a level of stardom that will support the movie. He also had to do a credible New York accent. All of that led me to Rob.
Scan | Via
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Thursday, 8 November 2012
'Maps to the Stars' Movie Update: Rachel Weisz Joins the Cast + Production Date Info.
Production Date Info.
From TheFilmStage via RPLife
Breathe another sigh of relief, for David Cronenberg is assembling his next film. As was reported just when Cosmopolis had a world premiere, Canada’s best-known cinematic artist is making another endeavor with that film’s star, Robert Pattinson, and his newest favorite collaborator, Viggo Mortensen, on a Hollywood satire called Maps to the Stars. Already good, right? Well, there’s even more too add.
French site Allocine report that Rachel Weisz is now the cast’s third member — who, however, it has not been said — while a production start is being eyed for next May. Described as “very acerbic and satirical” by Cronenberg himself, Maps to the Stars, from what we understand, is a Bruce Wagner-scripted film which revolves around actors and agents, with a specific focus on “two child actors ruined by Hollywood’s depravity.” This central content, no matter if what we’ve heard is even true, has made this a difficult-to-implement project — movement actually began in early 2006, for instance — but when you get (for lack of a better term) stars in line, it can fall together. Respected producer Saïd Ben Saïd doesn’t hurt, either.
They’re good stars, too. Cronenberg has already shown an ability to coax wonderful and unexpected performances from Maps‘ male stars, while, on the other side of the gender coin, I think Weisz has already secured her own image. It’s still a little while off until cameras begin rolling here, but the news should be coming in on and off for the next six months. Tune in, because I think this has a chance of being something special.
Saïd Ben Saïd will be producing.
Monday, 8 October 2012
Robert in "Numéro Hommes" French Magazine
Translation
Robert Pattinson
Cosmopolis, the last David Cronenberg film, changed everything for Pattinson. His young trader character has no scruples and no morality. He underwent a per rectal examination while chatting along with his employee in his stretch limo. The doctor concludes he has an asymmetric prostate. This was an amazing scene which transformed the Twilight Adonis into a serious actor. He now takes risks while still retaining his allure. His strange face is fascinating and nobody is ashamed to admit they think he’s great. He is the star of the decade!
Via
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Sunday, 23 September 2012
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 :)
More pics under the cut :) sexy rob!
More pics under the cut :) sexy rob!
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Thursday, 6 September 2012
More from Rob and David's Syndicated Interview for Cosmopolis US Promo
More new quotes from the interview posted here
Source | Via
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
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
David Cronenberg talks about Rob and Twilight
This Q&A happened during Cosmopolis promo in Europe - On May 30th in Paris, but it's the first time we have video from it.
Cronenberg talks about Rob and Twilight at 2:50
Cronenberg talks about Rob and Twilight at 2:50
Saturday, 1 September 2012
David Cronenberg and Paul Giamatti Talk 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.More from David's interview under the cut along with Paul's too :D
“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.”
Thursday, 30 August 2012
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
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Emily Hampshire, Sarah Gadon and Cronenberg talk about Rob being a "normal guy" and about working with him
Monday, 27 August 2012
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.
Source | Via
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