Exclusive: With "A Dangerous Method" headed into release next week, thoughts inevitably turn to director David Cronenberg's next film; unusually, the filmmaker shot two pictures virtually back to back, following his period drama with "Cosmopolis," an adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel. And the film hass come with an uncharacteristic level of attention in the mainstream press.
Originally announced as starring Colin Farrell in the central role of 28-year-old billionaire Eric Packer, the Irish actor dropped out in favor of the "Total Recall" remake, and in his place, Cronenberg cast one of the most famous men in the world, Robert Pattinson, who's gone supernova in the last few years thanks to his starring role in the "Twilight" films, the latest of which, "Breaking Dawn Pt. 1," hit theaters over the weekend. The announcement caused horror in some film snobs and Cronenbergites, and delight from Twi-hards, who've taken an unprecedented interest in the project as it gets closer. Now wrapped, it should arrive next year, and when we spoke to the director on his press tour for "A Dangerous Method" in Los Angeles last week, we asked if the actor's fame had given him any pause in casting Pattinson.
To the contrary. "I kind of enjoy that," he told us with a smile. "Frankly, in a weird way, its almost in parallel with Keira [Knightley]. In England she’s got a lot of baggage. It’s not hers, it’s the journalist and the critics, who can be very nasty. I think, for me, you can’t ignore the baggage, but when you’re making the movie, it doesn’t exist. It’s not there. All you’re dealing with is the reality of this person as an actor. And I love that.”
Indeed, the director is fully aware that Pattinson's presence is likely to bring him a new audience, and he's pleased about the prospect. "The excitement around 'Cosmopolis' because of Rob was terrific. It was fun. The idea that these kids, that they really continue to be excited. I’ve said this about Viggo [Mortensen]. If you’re a fan of Aragorn in 'Lord of the Rings' then you don’t have to see 'Eastern Promises,' but if you’re a fan of Viggo as an actor you must see 'Eastern Promises.' And its the same with Rob. If they’re really Rob fans as opposed to Edward…whatever the name of the character is. Rob fans will want to see 'Cosmopolis.' "
And it sounds like fans will be pleased, and the doubters silenced, as the director couldn't be happier with his choice. "He's fantastic in it. They'll see him do things they've never seen him do, believe me. They'll be blown away," he said. "Cosmopolis" doesn't yet have a release date or distributor, but we'd put good money on a debut at Cannes or Toronto next year, before a fall 2012 release.
On the opposite end of the Cronenberg scale, arguably his least accessible film, William Burroughs adaptation "Naked Lunch," was reported a few weeks ago to have a mooted 3D conversion in the works, although producer Jeremy Thomas said that he's approached the director, who was "against it." We double checked with Cronenberg, and he denied ever having heard anything about the plan. "I have never heard that," the filmmaker said. "Where did you hear that? That is news to me."
Coming to terms with the concept, he suggested he's not against it in principle, but found it unlikely that anyone would fund such a process for such a difficult film. "It’s so expensive to convert. 'Naked Lunch' was never the hit that 'The Last Emperor' was [Bertolucci's film is getting the 3D treatment], so I can’t really believe that anyone would [spend the money]. I just talked to Jeremy Thomas, the producer of both movies, like 20 minutes ago and I’ve never heard this before. I’d go for it, but it would probably cost ten times the budget of 'Naked Lunch.' ”
"A Dangerous Method" hits theaters on November 23rd. –
Interview by Jeff Otto
Amazing the amount of interest this movie gets and all in between while Cronenberg is trying to promote the actual film he will have in theaters a week from now, and it is all because of RP´s level of fame, sure his fame is because of Twilight but his other films had done great considering that they were not as marketed as Twilight is.
If we speak about the Twilight fanbase, I´m sorry they are not too smart, but the difference between Rob and any other of his costars is the there is a demographic within the Twilight fans that are older than the average teen, and they are actually fans of Rob as an actor and not just Rob as Edward, so that demographic will go see any of his other films as much as Twilight, that is the demographic that carried his other films so far, of course they are not hit like the saga, but how many movies out there with the context that Remember Me had or the one that Water for Elephant have, can make back three times their budget? Specially in a market where those kind of films, sometime don´t get released or they hardly can make any money back.
Remember me made 3 times its budget and Water for Elephants made $117 million on $38million budget, so at least his movies are profitable, and both made their budgets back in domestic box office. How about The Rum Diary? I thought Johnny Depp was a big star.
Water for Elephants 58 domestic and 58 international. Based on a New York Times bestselling book with Oscar winners Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz also as leads. Remember Me 19 domestic and 36 international based on a spec script. Both PG-13 and opening on more than 2000 screens. Cosmopolis will be R with a limited release run. Mr. Cronenberg is deluding himself.
Okay, all you "RPattz" fans… I see you. So, considering his other movies' weak box office receipts, that means they're, like, 16 of you???
*I kid, I kid*
excited for this one. we have back to back cronenberg movies. this movie sounds strange and twisted, so i'm sure cronenberg took it to a new level.
Exactly. As fans of Rob ofcourse we'll see, maybe the fans of Twilight or Stewart do not see, but rest assured Rob fans will see the movie Cosmopolis. We are very excited about Rob working on a film with a director like Cronenberg as well as Paul Giamanti, Binoche, Morton and actors others
this still sugest that Cronenberg knows what he is doing
Twifans, maybe not all of them , but Rob's fans, hell yes! As we did for Remember Me and Water for Elephants. So excited for this movie!
Robert Pattinson's movies such as Remember Me and Water For Elephants have done better than any of the other actors from Twilight. So that point is void. People will go see Robert's movies. He has the it factor. You don't see people going to see Kristen's movies. The Runaways, The Yellow Handkerchief, Welcome to the Riley's, Adventureland all flopped, and they all had lots of promotion.
It doesn't take much for Twi-hards to be blown away given the level of 'acting' in that mess. In all seriousness though, I think this dude (Pattinson) gets the shitty end of the stick. He's actually a good actor who has been dragged down with source material. With the end of Twilight hopefully he can start doing good things. Pattinson, Stewart, Kendrick, Fanning, and the awesome Michael Sheen will do well. The rest of the Twilight 'actors'? Not so much LOL
Really looking forward to this movie. I saw 'A Dangerous Method' at TIFF and I thought it was decent, with good performances from the cast but it just didn't feel like a Cronenberg film. The storyline to this is more his kind of thing.
I've never seen any Twilight films so can't comment on R-Patz in those, but I've quite enjoyed his performances in other stuff. The supporting cast here is also very impressive, Paul Giamatti is amongst the finest on the planet, so too is Binoche and Morton.
I hope this goes to TIFF next year as you state.
Robert Pattinson fans will. Twilight fans won't.
Does he think Twilight fans are actually going to watch this movie? 'Cause they sure don't come out for any other Pattinson motion pictures.