Robert Pattinson talks Claire Denis and The Stars at Noon with the Boston Globe

Rob recently spoke with The Boston Globe and this is what he had to say about The Stars at Noon:

Denis appeared last Monday at the Brattle Theatre for a preview screening of “High Life.” She told the packed house that she and Pattinson will reunite for her adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novel “The Stars at Noon.” Pattinson said production will begin sometime next year. “I think we’re shooting in South America somewhere which will be very different from ‘High Life,’ which was shot in a studio. It is literally the opposite world of ‘High Life.’ ”

and Claire Denis:

Pattinson was already a fan and eager to work with Denis. “I’ve loved every one of her movies, so it’s nice to throw yourself in with someone you totally trust,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “Doing something with Claire Denis was a no-brainer. It’s much more risky with small, commercial stuff that it could potentially end up as a nothing. With Claire, even if [the film] is an experiment and people don’t really get it, it’s still going to be really cool.”

He wasn’t sure how to play Monte, since the actor signed on when “High Life” was just a 23-page treatment that was less dialogue and more “detailed equations about how to get energy from a black hole,” he said. “I had zero clue how to approach it at all,” he said, unlike Binoche, who “had a complete idea of how she was going to play [her role] and knew exactly what the story was about. I still don’t know what it’s about after I’ve seen the movie.

“I realized over the last two years, you’re much better off not having a full or tight idea of who the character is. Claire’s style is so much about the way the body moves, sensuality, and textures and things.”
Pattinson says that what surprised him most was how “playful and funny” Denis was on set.

“She has a very perverse sense of humor, an unusual way of seeing things. I love introducing her to other people in the industry, because there is such a reverence for her yet she’s constantly going against the grain. . . . The first time I watched ‘High Life’ it was just me and Claire and we were just laughing and laughing. I found it audacious. Now it’s out, and people are interpreting it as highly cerebral. In Toronto, there was this silent audience. I thought, ‘Am I interpreting this strangely?’ I found it hilarious. That’s the thing about Claire; she is a bit of a provocateur.”