Robert Pattinson “is one of the best actors alive today”

Jan Dabrowski of Film Org (Poland) wrote an article about Robert Pattinson being “one of the best actors alive today” and provides his evidence from his 5 favourite performances – Little Ashes, The King, Good Time, The Lighthouse and The Devil All the Time. Here’s an excerpt of what Jan had to say:

Robert Pattinson is one of the best actors alive today.  If someone snorted at that point, one of two things has happened. Either his consciousness stopped 10 years ago or he avoids Pattinson’s films. For the last 12 years (i.e. from the premiere of the first Twilight), the actor managed to show in all possible ways that he finds himself in very demanding roles, that he can move crowds with facial expressions and voice, that he is a master of accents and characteristic characters. The Youth Vampire Saga is just a few films from his body of work, which currently consists of 39 productions, and Pattinson is currently 34 years old. An impressive result.

It is simply ignorant to consider him “the wooden actor in those vampire movies”. Now Pattinson does not have to prove anything to anyone, and before 40 he made appearances in films that include David Cronenberg, Robert Eggers and Christopher Nolan. From this he is the new Batman which not only sounds promising, it will probably open up an even wider path to prestigious productions and cooperation with the most appreciated artists. Regardless of how Pattinson’s career unfolds in the future, there is now plenty to choose from. Below are my personal top 5 best performances:

[Little] Ashes

… Pattinson starts out as a shy introvert to become a living lion and a hysterical, and with every acting charge he makes an impression. And he was only 22 at the time. Anyone who mocks him for Twilight should applaud him just as earnestly for Ashes.

[The] King

… The Dauphin mocks the English king at every opportunity, and Pattinson adds another nasty villain with an excellent accent to his achievements. 

Good Time

The only glimpse of good that can be found in it is the bond with the brother he cares about. This feeling, combined with aggression and dissatisfaction with everything else, makes this creation one of the most interesting in Pattinson’s career, which could finally go crazy in a very expressive starring role.

[The] Lighthouse

… It is difficult to recognize him, because his face changed with his speech and behavior, new grimaces and facial expressions appeared. Even during the acting charges and the most touching scenes, Pattinson keeps his character within the convention. This is one of the biggest bricks he has contributed to building his image as a versatile, hard and effective actor who is not afraid of difficult roles or non-obvious, complicated characters.

The Devil All the Time

… And in every single scene, Pattinson is seductively angry. An arrogant pastor with a southern accent is a short but show-off role, and watching this slimy guy make the viewer feel dirty just to watch. This impression is similar to that of Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler: a slippery, nasty type that will lead everyone to a poor end. With the role of Teagardin, Pattinson took another big step in his career towards the well-deserved Oscar.

(Translated with Google). Click on link above to read whole article.

The Wrap Includes “Tenet” in 10 Films that could dominate “Below the Line” Nominations | Oscars 2021

The Wrap has listed 10 films they consider will feature in the “below the line” nominations in next year’s Oscars. I’m gathering below the line means sound, editing etc rather than mainstream awards for Best Movie, Best Actor etc etc. Here is why they think Tenet will be successful:

It’s not always necessary to pile up nominations in below-the-line and technical categories to do well at the Oscars, but it sure does help. Apart from “Green Book,” whose five nominations only included one BTL nod (for film editing), most big Oscar winners in recent years have also scored with the voters who make up most of the Academy membership: sound editors and mixers, visual effects artists, cinematographers, editors, designers, composers and the like.

Even after the two sound categories were merged into one earlier this year, below-the-line artistry is responsible for nine of the 23 Oscar categories, with directing, writing and acting responsible for seven.

…

“Tenet”
(Warner Bros.)
If voters had been able to see “Tenet” in a theater, the way God and director Christopher Nolan intended, it’d be a slam dunk in many categories. On a smaller home screen, the sheer power of the visuals might occasionally be overshadowed by a nagging feeling that what’s going on is kind of incomprehensible. (I say this as someone who drove out of L.A. County to see the film in a socially-distanced theater, where I could be dazzled and forget about nitpicking.)

But Nolan’s track record is formidable and this is one of the only real Movie Movies in the running, so it’s hard to imagine below-the-line voters not recognizing the scale and virtuosity of what they’re seeing on screen — even if that scale is toned down a bit because of COVID.

Strongest categories: Editing, visual effects, cinematography, sound, production design

Robert Pattinson Deserves Oscar Recognition

Jon Mendelsohn has written an interesting opinion piece for CBR.com on why he believes Rob deserves Oscar recognition. I do agree with him that Rob’s performance in The Rover is underrated and I believe is clearly one of his formative roles. Below is an excerpt, but you should check out Jon’s entire article by clicking on the link:

A-list actor Robert Pattinson is probably best known for his portrayal of teenage vampire Edward Cullen in the young adult film franchise Twilight, and while that performance did not earn him respect as a serious actor, Pattinson has proven to the world that he is a brilliant performer and a force to be reckoned with.

A majority of his roles post-Twilight are heavy-hitting indies, such as The Rover, Good Time and The Lighthouse. Even Pattinson’s portrayal in the new Batman movie seems gritty and dark. This year, Pattinson has given what is most likely his best performance in Netflix’s The Devil All The Time, and it’s time for the actor to get a supporting actor nomination at this year’s Oscars.

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Two years after a career-defining 2012, Pattinson did not continue on his path of being an icon for teens, but instead opted to pursue more serious roles. Pattinson delivered what may be his first true powerhouse performance in the Australian dystopian western, The Rover. Pattinson played the childlike Reynolds who serves as a sidekick and nuisance to Guy Pearce’s Eric. Pattinson dove into this meaty role headfirst, without hesitation, and really let himself go, fully embodying this simple yet mysterious person. Pattinson gave the character so much depth and heart, making the end of the film much more heartbreaking than it could have been if a different actor was given the role.

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2020 is the year that Robert Pattinson acted in his first Hollywood blockbuster since the final Twilight film, which was Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. Although a departure from the actor’s usual work as of late, Nolan is still an auteur and Tenet is nowhere near the genre that made Pattinson famous. The actor is slated to play Batman in Matt Reeves’ new interpretation of the caped crusader, which one would think would be a mainstream role, but Pattinson’s Batman seems to deviate from the norm in the best way.

After all of Pattinson’s incredible performances, he has really outdone himself in Netflix’s The Devil All the Time. In the dark thriller, Pattinson plays a predatory preacher who manipulates everybody around him. Pattinson changed his voice and posture drastically, making this probably the biggest transformation the actor has gone through for a role. Pattinson has never received any attention from the Academy, but now, especially since Netflix films will be getting full attention at the 2021 Oscars due to the current pandemic, the talented actor may finally get recognized by one of Hollywood’s most prestigious award ceremonies.

The Casting Frontier Discusses Robert Pattinson in The Devil All the Time

From Casting Frontier:

Robert Pattinson’s portrayal of the duplicitous southern preacher Preston Teagardin in Antonio Campos’ The Devil All the Time is clearly a watershed moment for the young actor..it could be credibly argued that the wicked Reverend Preston of The Devil All the Time is next-level stuff. So convincing is Pattinson’s performance as a born and bred southern-fried evangelist, it’s hard to believe he is actually a genuine posh English chap. The accent he conjures for the violent gothic thriller is something out of a very rich, intriguing, mysterious, and beguiling place—and it was all forged by Pattinson himself!

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As any actor knows, acting isn’t merely learning the lines and reciting them with an appropriation of verisimilitude and feeling. It’s about discovering the soul lurking within the character at hand and exploring the possibilities. Exploring the idiosyncrasies of that unique and particular creation. Then performing it all with creativity, passion, and imagination.

Normally, it takes a lot of preparation, time, and hard work alongside a vocal coach for actors to master their character’s accents. Granted, some performers must really struggle at the methodical task. Others seem to pick up the many subtleties of speech with relative ease. But in this case, Pattinson tried a new approach—a playful approach.

It serves as a reminder to think outside the carton, take a few risks, dare to look foolish. Perhaps something extraordinary will be the result—just look at Robert Pattinson in The Devil All The Time.

A look into Robert Pattinson’s twisted sonic world | The McGill Tribune

Michelle Siegel from The McGill Tribune has written an article about Rob and his “staggering array of accents”. It’s not the first time I’ve seen Rob compared to Nicholas Cage either. Below is an excerpt:

Any actor can do an accent—not necessarily well, and nothing to make note of either. But for Pattinson, his staggering array of accents have added to the mystique of his public persona.

There are roles where his accent is clearly well-researched: His role as a Queens native and frenetic bank robber Connie in 2017’s Good Time grounds his character with realistic gravitas. And then, there are roles where Pattinson’s accents seem to stand in stark contrast to the rest of the film, almost slapping the audience in the face with their surprising grandeur. 

In 2019’s The King, Pattinson plays the Dauphin of France. While the movie is not necessarily memorable, Pattinson is easily the film’s biggest standout, in part due to his outrageous affect. On the surface, his accent might just be an extravagant—albeit incorrect—French caricature that Pattinson allegedly based on several Dior employees with whom he had previously worked. Pattinson’s ridiculous accent, complemented by his equally ridiculous long and wavy wig, elevates the Dauphin to unprecedented levels of comedy in an otherwise grim, slow, and brooding movie.

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Further, in 2020’s The Devil All the Time, Pattinson created a heinous and incorrect American Southern accent on his own, as he refused to work with the on-set dialect coach. As with his French accent in The King, Pattison’s absurdity should again feel out of place alongside more grounded vocal work, but it somehow improves the film by adding unintentional bouts of levity.   

It’s difficult to pin down what about these accents cement Pattinson so distinctly. Maybe Pattinson just exudes a leading man charisma. Maybe it’s his self-aware humour. Maybe it’s the way that his physical appearance remains distinct no matter how unrecognizable his character’s voice is. Perhaps the cultural resurgence of Twilight has brought renewed attention to Pattinson’s early accent work. Perhaps Pattinson is this generation’s Nicolas Cage, immortalized by internet culture regardless of the caliber of work in which he is found. 

“Robert Pattinson is a Sex God”

Carrie Wittmer from The Ringer decided to spend “four months, 30 movie stars, 128 sex scenes…researching which actors have had the most sexually ambitious careers”. It turns out Rob sits in at no. 2 and rightly so Carrie considers Rob a “sex God” – it’s not only you Carrie. Here are some of her findings:

I’ve spent the past four months watching sex scenes to determine which seeming sex symbols actually, you know, have sex in movies.

After curating a list of 30 men that best represents Hollywood in 2020, I figured out which films each actor has a sex scene in and watched those films, timing the scenes. 

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Sex scene frequency (or infrequency) is inversely proportional to movie star status. The more commercially driven movies an actor is in, the fewer sex scenes the actor will have. Robert Pattinson—who moved toward working with weird, auteuristic directors post-Twilight before signing on to be Batman in 2020—and the Oscar-fare-only Leonardo DiCaprio will have the most sex scenes. 

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Furthermore, actors who more frequently star in lower-budget productions and/or “serious” R-rated films—the kind the Academy pays attention to—probably appear in sex scenes more often. Without a major studio in control of a production and an actor’s image, riskier scenes are more likely. Pattinson, who was the star of a (very horny) major motion picture franchise and for the past decade has led weird indie films, falls under this category. He is also the first person I thought of when I thought about actors who have a lot of on-screen sex. A respected Oscar-winning actor like DiCaprio, who mostly stars in R-rated dramas by respected directors like Martin Scorsese, also represents the latter.

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Robert Pattinson’s only bad sex scene is with Julianne Moore in a car in 2014’s Maps to the Stars. The movie is bad, but most importantly, their hearts just weren’t in it.

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Robert Pattinson seemingly kisses Uma Thurman’s butt in Bel Ami (2012). This film was the hardest to find, because it is not available to rent on any platform in the United States. But I knew this movie was essential, because according to my research, it is the one in which Pattinson has the most sex. After weeks of searching, I convinced myself this movie had been erased from existence, and asked a friend to message a Robert Pattinson Tumblr account asking for Bel Ami sex GIFs (am I Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris?). The Robert Pattinson Tumblr account did not respond, because they probably thought my friend was a federal agent trying to catch stan accounts violating copyright laws. Eventually, though, I found a very legal streaming link that kept giving me pop-ups to a site called C*** Wars.

Click on the link to read the full analysis