The National Post Speaks About Robert Pattinson and Remember Me

The con sen sus is that Robert Pat tin son has mas tered the James Dean art of brood ing as the sullen poster boy for the lat est generation.

Pattinson’s heart throb sta tus has been defined by his por trayal of the con flicted vampire-in-recovery, Edward Cullen, in the pop u lar Twi­light film series based on the Stephe nie Meyer novels.

First, there was Twi light in 2008, New Moon last year and Eclipse set for release, to a great deal of antic i pa tion, on June 30. Break ing Dawn, the finale, is expected to be released as two movies over the next few years.

In other words, the Eng lish actor is com mit ted to the Edward sulk for at least another few films. But that doesn’t mean Pattinson’s become self-entitled or sat is fied with his accomplishments.

His lat est effort to expand on his brood ing hori zons arrives with his role in Remem ber Me, which opens March 12.

In the roman tic drama, set in life-altering new mil len nium times, Pat­tin son plays Tyler, a rebel lious young New Yorker who clashes with his over bear ing father (Pierce Bros nan) in the after math of his brother’s sud den death.

Only when Tyler meets up with the charm ing Ally (Emi lie de Ravin) does he find some peace of mind and a rea son to believe, though this may be threat ened by Ally’s pro tec tive Man hat tan cop dad (Chris Cooper).

To say that Pat tin son as Tyler rede fines James Dean’s Rebel With out a Cause angst is not an exag ger a tion, although the actor expresses some reser va tions about the assessment.

“I think it’s a fairly typ i cal state to be in,” notes Pat tin son of the clas­sic rebel lious pos tur ing of his char ac ter. “And yes, I think there’s that ele ment, but I was also inter ested in the arro gant things about Tyler.”

The good news for Pat tin son is that he could pro tect the del i cate tone and tex ture as a pro ducer on the film. Yet, he’s hes i tant to take credit.

“I’m kind of embar rassed about the pro duc ing thing, because I wasn’t really act ing like a proper pro ducer,” he con fesses. “I only came on after film ing to help make sure the prod uct was the prod uct we all wanted to make at the end.”

Indeed, Remem ber Me is pre cious to him, so he wanted to ensure the project wasn’t mod i fied or dimin ished in the post-production phase.

“The way Tyler reacted to spe cific things seemed very relat able to me,” Pat tin son admits. “I hadn’t seen a char ac ter like it in a hun dred scripts, so when it came avail able between film ing New Moon and Eclipse, I went for it, because it seemed like a per fect fit.”

He has lots of choices avail able to him, thanks to Twi light. Before his debut as a vam pire, the London-born Pat tin son was intro duced to the mod el ling world by his mother, Clarie, who worked for an agency in the city. He was suc cess ful as a teen and found time to get involved in a neigh bour hood the atre group while per form ing pop music as well.

Sub se quently, a TV and movie agent liked what he saw and signed Pat tin son. As good for tune and tim ing would have it, Pat tin son even­tu ally won a high-profile cameo in Harry Pot ter and the Gob let of Fire, por tray ing the doomed Cedric Dig gory. Shortly after the release of that Pot ter pic ture, he was dubbed the next Jude Law

But that’s not why Twi light direc tor Cather ine Hard wicke selected Pat tin son to play Edward oppo site Kris ten Stewart’s Bella.

“Their chem istry was instant,” recalled Hard wicke just before the release of the first film. In fact, Stew art and Pat tin son con nected so con vinc ingly, they have been linked romantically.

What Hard wicke didn’t men tion is that a deter mined Pat tin son had to endure mul ti ple Edward audi tions to beat out more than 5,000 other actors from around the globe. He has that kind of drive.

Still, Pat tin son says he never antic i pated the over whelm ing — and con­strict ing — atten tion that arrived with his Twi light role. Indeed, he’s still baf fled by the inten sity, just as he was when film ing began in New York last year for Remem ber Me.

“The first two weeks were kind of crazy, because I was all around NYU and Wash ing ton Square Park where there would be tons of peo ple around any way,” he says, refer ring to the hun dreds of Twi-hards who showed up dur ing shoot ing there. “I just tried to block things out.”

Mind you, that’s all the Twi light series and Remem ber Me have in com mon — and Pat tin son is thank ful for that. He insists that he doesn’t take roles “that are polar oppo sites of Edward Cullen,” but he does appre ci ate the change of pace.

Cur rently, he’s enjoy ing his against-type per for mance in Bel Ami, an R-rated drama with a racy sex sequence due in the atres next year.
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Carrie