Karma Films added the High Life press kit to their website. The kit includes an interview with Claire Denis that contains spoilers.  I’ve posted excerpts relating to Rob only below.  If you want to read the entire interview, click on the link below:

How did High Life come about?

… I went to England and the States to meet with actors. The actor I dreamed of for the lead role of Monte was Philip Seymour Hoffman, because of his age, his weariness – but he died mid-route. I was overcome with sadness. The Scottish casting director then told me: “There’s another actor you absolutely must meet: Robert Pattinson.” At first, I thought Robert was too young and, I must say, I found his beauty intimidating.

Robert Pattinson showed up at more or less every meeting, discreet and charming, mysterious. As I’d observe him from the corner of my eye, I started feeling more and more unsettled. Of course, I’d known of him. … I had also seen him in the two films he shot with David Cronenberg, Cosmopolis in 2012 and Maps to the Stars in 2014, so I knew he could play different types. One night at the hotel it dawned on me that I was stupid to persist in searching for a double of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Robert as Monte suddenly seemed self-evident. With my co-writer Jean-Pol Fargeau, we wrote a first draft of the film and had it translated for Robert. 

After that, things became much easier. Robert would come to Paris, we’d have dinner, talk… It was all very merry. Sometimes he said he didn’t understand the script that well, that he wasn’t sure what I wanted. I felt he was afraid about his character’s chastity. But Robert was always present. More than “present”: he was an active partner, always available. His “yes” to do the film was a “yes” to the 1,000th degree. And he kept proving it during the shoot, in Cologne, Germany. Some people might expect a star like him to demand a private jet to spend weekends in London. Not at all! He stayed in Cologne for the entire shoot. He’d have dinner with the crew, not because he was bored but because he wanted to be 100% involved. At the European Space Agency in Cologne, he did astronaut training like all the other actors. He even ran on a machine that created weightlessness for a short while. What a wonderful person to work with!

And the baby?

The baby is very important! Her name is Scarlett. She is English. She’s the daughter of Robert Pattinson’s best friend, Sam. They grew up and went to school together. Shooting was about to start and we couldn’t find the right baby. One day Robert said: “Why are you auditioning babies right and left when I know one who would be perfect?” We all became weak-kneed when we saw Miss Scarlett, so chubby, so charming. It’s not that hard to make a movie with a baby. We respected her nap times, feeding times and crying fits. We went along with her rhythms and shot, more or less silently, almost invisibly, thanks to the finesse and grace of the cinematographer, Yorick Le Saux. And it is wild to see Willow learning to
walk in the corridor of the spaceship, because those truly were Scarlett’s first steps, taken in front of a camera. At the end of the day she was happily cooing and walking. It’s one of my favorite scenes. That is where we see on Robert Pattinson’s face that his beauty doesn’t get in the way of his goodness. Or rather, that his goodness is beautiful to see. Robert had never changed diapers or spoon-fed a baby before, but he sure got a taste of all that with Miss Scarlett!

KarmaFilms via @sallyvg