Claire Denis talks with Mark Olsen of the L.A. Times about “High Life” and casting/working with Rob. A couple of excerpts are includes below. You can read the interview in its entirety on the L.A. Times site.
“Her latest, “High Life,†which has its world premiere on Sunday night as part of the Toronto International Film Festival, is arriving with a higher than usual level of expectations. Long in the works, the film is a lo-fi sci-fi story that finds Denis working for the first time in the English language. She also has as a star Robert Pattinson, who continues his post-“Twilight†run of working with truly singular filmmakers.”
Tell me about casting Robert Pattinson.
Of course everyone thought it should be a science fiction actor, like an action movie actor. And I thought exactly the opposite. And then I met Robert and I must say Robert really wanted to meet me, which was very nice, but I was also a little bit surprised because for me he was a young, iconic actor and I thought it’s exactly the opposite of what I had in mind — sort of 40 years-ish actor, exhausted. And maybe I hesitated a little bit, it took me a few months and then I realized his wanting to be in the film was interesting.
I was not flattered, on the other end I was a little bit afraid because as I said, he is an iconic actor and I wanted a sort of mysterious film, not an iconic film. But then I realized Robert was so ready to go anywhere with me. And then I realized he is a very mysterious young man.
Given that “High Life†is a science fiction film and stars Robert Pattinson, would you hope that this movie gets you a new audience, a bigger audience? For people who haven’t seen your other films, this might be a way for them to discover your work.
I don’t believe in this kind of thing. I think if I was a kind of director using Robert to get a bigger audience, I would puke on myself. It’s disgusting. I worked with Robert because Robert is great. That’s all. And just this sort of using him to get a greater audience is obscene to me. Really obscene.
