Robert Pattinson goes undercover in NYC for ‘Good Time’
LOS ANGELES “Good Time” is a story about one bad night gone worse. Robert Pattinson plays a small time Queens crook named Connie Nikas whose botched robbery and escape attempt lands his mentally handicapped brother in jail. And that’s just in the first few minutes. The film doesn’t come up for a breather for the next 90.
People have described “Good Time” as “‘Mean Streets’ on MDMA” and “‘After Hours’ on crack and meth" which might even be too tame to fully capture its kinetic pace. The filmmakers behind it, Josh and Benny Safdie, are two who the general public would be forgiven for not knowing. They are 30-something brothers whose last film, the punishing heroin drama “Heaven Knows What,” played in only 14 theatres.
So how did they get one of the biggest movie stars in the world to lead their next film? Pattinson called them.
The Associated Press sat down with Pattinson and the Safdies (Benny also plays Connie’s brother Nick in the film) to talk about “Good Time” and how a movie star was able to stay hidden in plain sight in New York — even on the subway at rush hour.
Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity. ___
AP: It’s a crazy story how Robert became aware of you as filmmakers.
Josh Safdie: : It’s not that crazy, is it?
AP: He saw a promotional still from “Heaven Knows What” and decided he had to work with you?
Josh Safdie: I guess it is kind of wild. Honestly I forget the stature of his stardom. To me it’s like a guy saw a picture and he was inspired by it and he reached out. It’s totally normal. But I guess when you look at it from afar it’s kind of crazy.
Pattinson: I don’t know about the stature of my star, but I think the level of conviction was unusual for me at least. It was like I knew. And then we did the meeting and just agreed to do something. And then also for that to actually happen afterward is even more unusual. People say, “Oh let’s do something together” all the time.
Josh Safdie: I warned you, I said, “Be careful, we are the type of people who when we want to do something we’ll just do it. We’ll figure out a way to do it.”
Benny Safdie: The movie wouldn’t be here had he not reached out to us.
AP: Was this a different experience for you?
Pattinson: They run at a different level of energy to most people. It’s nice, though. I was thinking how to describe the movie and it’s like it’s a car crash movie, but the car crash happens in the first five minutes and you’re just skidding for the rest.
Josh Safdie: We wanted to make a thriller that actually thrilled you, like the stakes felt really real.