Robert Pattinson Australia

PRINT INTERVIEW: Claire Denis talks Robert Pattinson & #HighLife with Vulture| #TIFF18

Vulture sat down with Claire Denis during the Toronto International Film Festival and this is what she had to say about Rob and #HighLife:

I understand Robert Pattinson’s role was originally envisioned for Philip Seymour Hoffman?
Of course, I never met Philip Seymour Hoffman. I was dreaming when I wrote the script. I thought that this is a man who has grown tired of life. He is a convict, and he doesn’t care if he stays on death row for another year or another day. He wants nothing. That’s why he has no interests that are sexual, and doesn’t want to give away his fluids. He’s a sort of monk, but not really a monk, just someone who’s ready to die. Then when the baby came, he felt he had a responsibility to stay alive. When Philip died in a — not quite a similar way, but in a self-destructive way. It came as a shock, a gigantic sadness. I watched more of his films, and came to love him. The casting director suggested Robert, who I first thought was too young. But he wanted to meet with me, and he said he would accept another part. I said, “No, he is too iconic. I am afraid of who he is.” I think he’s great, I had seen his movies with David Cronenberg. I knew what kind of actor he was, but he still worried me. In the end, when I met him, something changed. He was not trying to convince me. He sat on the couch, and said, “You can take me if you want. I have nothing to offer.” I was so touched. I forgot he was a beautiful young man, like a knight in the chivalry who can still be condemned to juvie for killing a kid. I saw in him virginity.

Robert has a lot of fans, many of them young and female, who are now taking more of an interest in your work because of this film. For someone who’s unfamiliar with your movies, how would you recommend they approach them?I don’t even want to think of that! If I was afraid of Robert, that was the reason. If he convinced me, it’s because there was such naked youth in him. Pretty, professional, but so open. When we were shooting, staying in the hotel, going to the studio, there were no girls. No screaming. Just Robert.

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The first scene, where Robert drops his wrench and it vanishes in the blackness of space, I felt such terror. Are you frightened of space?Yeah. That’s why that shot was so important, you see the tool falling forever. Silence, and then it’s gone. It’s the unknown, an endless nothingness, and that’s very frightening for me.

To read the rest of the interview, click on the link above.  Be wary though, it does contain spoilers.