Fair play to Robert Pattinson: he’s done a better job than many actors in his position might have at throwing off the long shadow cast by the “Twilight” franchise that launched him into stardom. Even before the series wrapped up in 2012, Pattinson’s made it his mission to work with some world-class auteurs in a bid to be taken seriously. He made two films with David Cronenberg, was very good in David Miçhod’s “The Rover,” and popped up at Berlin with Werner Herzog’s “Queen Of The Desert” and Anton Corbijn’s “Life.” But he seems like he might have some grander ambitions for the future.
Pattinson’s currently shooting “The Lost City Of Z” for James Gray, but took some time out ahead of the French release of “Life” to talk to Les Inrocks [translated by RPWW], and reveals that he’s trying his hand at screenwriting. And it’s closer to the “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” world than his more recent artsier fare.
READ MORE: Claire Denis To Make English Language Debut
Pattinson confirms that he’s been working on a project he’s planning to direct, telling the magazine (forgive the loose translation) “Becoming a director is the last step to complete my independence, you are you own chief, you are taking your fate into your own hangs, you can finally express whatever you want, without obstacles. I am far from it, but I am working on it. At this point, I spend all my free time writing.”
When asked what he’s writing, Pattinson gives a surprising answer. “Big sci-fi movies! Really popular scripts, with lots of special effects, aliens in all scenes, enormous budget. I am also working on a play right now, but for some inexplicable reason, though I’m not a big fan as a spectator, it’s the big popcorn movies that draw me in.” Pattinson says he also came close to returning to the blockbuster world as an actor, but was “scared” and eventually pulled out.
Now, it’s possible that something got lost in translation here, or that some dry British wit isn’t getting picked up, but for now, it’s intriguing to think that Pattinson’s ambitions for his own writing and directing debut lie beyond the more modest likes of Brady Corbet’s “Childhood Of A Leader,” in which Pattinson appears (read our review here).
The actor also discusses “The Lost City Of Z” (which “deals with an obsession leading to madness,” he says), the canceled production on Olivier Assayas’s “Idol’s Eye” (“I spent time in Chicago, meeting the real gangsters who did the robbery that inspired the script. All of that for nothing…”) and his upcoming collaboration with Claire Denis, also on a sci-fi project (“I cannot believe I got the role… she is a fucking genius”). Head over there to read the full piece, and keep your eyes peeled for more news on Pattinson’s potential sci-fi opus.