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 Twi�light 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, Pat�tin�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 clas�sic 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 even�tu�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 con�strict�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.

nationalpost Via thinkingofrob