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Robert Pattinson: metamorphosis of a good kid
Unrecognisable in Good Time, the new full-length feature by the Safdie brothers, Robert Pattinson has traded in his top of the class guise for roles that suit him better. A prisoner of his appearance, we’d almost forgotten what a good actor he really is. From his role as an ultra-popular translucid vampire to an established place in Cronenberg’s casts, the British actor has most definitely succeeded his metamorphosis.
By Alexis Thibault.
From teen movies to auteur cinema
Actor, comedian, muse, the former London suburbanite has been the object of fantasies since his role as an intoxicating vampire in the Twilight saga and as a valorous wizard in the 4th instalment of the Harry Potter franchise. The road has been long but Pattinson has finally managed to extrapolate himself from the teen movie genre to land neatly in the world of auteur cinema. His beauty became ironic as he watched anarchy destroy New York behind the tinted windows of a limousine in Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, a bold adaptation of Don DeLillo’s novel. Next came Maps to the Stars by the same director, The Lost City of Z by James Gray, Remember me, Water for Elephants and Life by Anton Corbijn, a dramatic biopic in which he plays the photographer Dennis Stock
Undoubtedly badly directed in the early days, Rob was deprived of the right to a stratospheric career. The frenzy that surrounded the good-looking boy could have been a brake, a curse as terrible as that which affected child stars of the 90s. And yet despite everything, the actor has succeeded in renewing himself and above all completely changing course, getting noticed by indie directors who, intelligently, were able to see something else in him beyond the sex symbol.
Good Time
In Ben and Joshua Safdie’s latest full length, Good Time, a robbery goes wrong and Connie (Robert Pattinson) manages to escape but his brother doesn’t. Does he get the bail money or just escape? The directors give us a fast-paced neo-thriller through the streets of Queens in New York, the true protagonist of the plot. Good Time reveals an obsession for marginal heroes, a complex reflection on Robert Pattinson’s character, in short, it’s a tailor-made role. The film makers called upon the services of Ronald Bronstein, scriptwriter of Mad Love in New York, and then the three of them plunged into the city’s tabloids, scrutinising juvenile delinquency and acts of criminality that backfire. On the big screen, a dirty haired and grungy clad Robert Pattinson has all odds on him winning an Oscar for the immoral Good Time.
Good Time by Ben and Joshua Safdie, in theatres from September 13th.
