(Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Make all the sparkly vampire jokes you want, but Robert Pattinson has accomplished quite a bit to prove he’s more than just a YA heartthrob. He’s worked with David Cronenberg, Anton Corbijn, and David Michôd, among others, racking up an eclectic variety of roles in the process. Recently, he’s appeared in critically acclaimed titles like The Childhood of a Leader and The Lost City of Z.
This week, Pattinson adds another impressive feature to his resume in Good Time, a Certified Fresh drama from Ben and Josh Safdie about a New York City criminal who spends an increasingly dangerous night attempting to free his younger brother from jail. Pattinson spoke to RT about his Five Favorite Films, initially focusing on characters on the run until we opened it up a bit more, but we also reflected back on the last time we interviewed him, just prior to the release of the first Twilight movie back in 2008.
There’s this movie called Le Souffle. It was called Deep Breath. It’s a f—ing amazing movie. It’s about a teenage boy who is kind of expelled from school, and he has to live with his uncle, I think, in the French countryside. I remember watching it when I was maybe 18 or 19, and I just loved the performances in it so much, and I think it’s kind of like a kid who’s on the run from himself in a way. I think it’s kind of quite related to Good Time as well. It’s just incredibly, beautifully shot. Yeah, that’s one of them.
Did you ever see Arizona Dream? Johnny Depp and Vincent Gallo? I love that movie. Johnny Depp’s character is technically on some kind of run. It’s just very funny, and I love Vincent Gallo in it so much. It was also another early influence. I love Gallo’s performance when he’s talking about how all the greatest actors have New York accents, and he’s demonstrating to Johnny Depp’s character how to order drinks as a true New Yorker. It’s funny.
Julia, the Tilda Swinton movie. Also, I think [the director’s] name is Erick Zonca. I think that’s one of the great performances, and it’s kind of criminally underseen. Is underseen even a word?
What was the other one? The Beat That My Heart Skipped, the Jacques Audiard movie. I remember watching that at 20 or 21 or something. Actually, no, I must’ve been younger because I watched that the first time I came to New York, and Romain Duris in that — watching his performance was kind of… Like, “That is a performance which I would love to get anywhere close to.”
Did you ever see this movie Headhunters? It’s an insane chase movie that goes very, very, very dark. I just love one of the central driving forces behind the main character is just that he thinks he’s too short. [laughs] I love it when a story, when you really break down someone’s essence, and that is their fatal flaw. It’s just so simple.
RT: Just for the fun of it, I want to tell you what you picked last time. In 2008, you picked One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Exorcist, the Godard film Prénom Carmen, Corky Romano, and then you picked Ivans XTC, the Danny Huston film.
Robert Pattinson: I mean, to be honest, that’s probably still pretty close to what my five favorite films would be. I was just watching Corky Romano again. [laughs]
RT: And actually, when you talked about Godard last time, you also mentioned Arizona Dream, and you specifically talked about ordering drinks the way Vincent Gallo does as well. It’s clearly something that stuck with you.
Pattinson: [laughs] That’s how little I’ve developed in 10 years. I’m exactly the same.
Good Time opens in limited release this Friday, August 11.
