ROBERT PATTINSON AGAINST THE CLOCK AND THE TOPICS

The Londoner, who knew he was going to be the new Batman on the first day of filming “Tenet”, tells us (something) about his character and the challenges narratives of Nolan’s films.

We just saw him locked up next to Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse (R. Eggers, 2019), a tour de force in which it shows, in case it was still necessary, that you have known how to use the trampoline from The Twilight Saga to become one of the most interesting and judicious actors
when choosing roles from recent years. To a list in the one highlighted by cult authors – from David Cronenberg to the Safdie brothers, passing by Claire Denis, James Gray or Ciro Guerra–, Robert Pattinson (London, England, 1986) now adds Christopher Nolan, uniting commerciality with
a contrasted personal look. The actor tells (something) to Fotogramas on Tenet with an eye to its future close as new Masked Crusader in The Batman.

What can you tell us about your character? Who? What does he want? What are you facing to get it?

I’m still not quite sure what I can say about my character without revealing too much. Let’s say he is complex, as is the world through which he moves, and that complicates his wishes, or perhaps he sees them as secondary. There is no ideology that convinces him and refuses to reduce the world to what is right and what is wrong. Maybe not. You have time to think whether what you are doing is right, or whether what you want is wrong. But you know something is about to happen and you have to prevent it from happening. Of having some imperative moral would be an idiosyncratic code, built from their own experience … which is not that many people know what it is. He dedicates his life to saving something. Maybe it’s the world, maybe he’s his best friend. Maybe both of us they are strangely linked. Maybe if I say a lot sometimes maybe I avoid talking more than I should.

When did you first read the entire script? Talked with the rest of the cast on the plot?

I think I read the script on my second meeting with Christopher Nolan. Not that I was locked in a room to read it but let’s say the door had a lock just in case. I felt like I had been invited to participate in a special event, even hermetic. John David and I talk a lot about the plot. We still do. It is one of the things I like most of all this project: the script lends itself to endless discussion.

How would you describe Nolan’s film style and way of direct your actors? How are your shootings?

Christopher Nolan is always open to ideas and questions, even if those questions lead to even more questions. But always being very clear about what he wants and when you get what you are looking for. He is very good at walking on the thin line between collaboration and management. And about his filming, you have to have a huge vision to get forward movies like yours. He surrounds himself with a highly qualified team of regular collaborators who know him and who know how to give him what he wants. The scale of the sets, the control about the look and costumes of the characters, the spectacular action scenes or the number of international scenes where we shoot are from another level. And then how he rolls it! I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

Nolan’s films are always a narrative challenge, but, when if followed successfully, the viewer feels emotionally rewarded. Do you think your ability to narrate is the best effect special? Do you think that, as spectators, we have become accustomed to too simple stories?

I don’t know if the stories too much simple are a prize for the viewer but I do know that the great stories are always an incredible milestone. It is clear that the first are the most common, but I also think that enthusiasm that all the movies generate Christopher Nolan shows that there is an audience, and there’s a big audience, what do you want this guy to tell you of stories, which, as you say, assume a challenge but at the same time offer a greater reward.

Tenet’s first day coincided with confirmation that he was going to star The Batman. As was share the news with Christopher Nolan? Did you give him any advice?

It was like an extrasensory experience. And more than receiving some concrete advice, best of all was hearing first hand some of the stories that Christopher Nolan told me about the production of the three films of The Dark Knight or talk to him about the Batman canon.

What is your favorite Nolan film?

It is difficult to choose one. I have not yet seen Tenet, but I am sure it is already one of my top candidates. As in many of his films, the characters of Tenet have to move in a world just after realizing that the rules have changed. New possibilities open up, but also new threats. And the viewer it accounts for everything at the same time as them. It is exciting for all. I’m still learning new things about how the world of cinema works, so I keep turning everything around in my head. I think you need to see the movie before can I say something more about it, because then I don’t think I would have to get a Master in Physics to explain it better.