Spotlight on actor Robert Pattinson
The British actor, best known for playing a moody teen vampire, shows his versatility in his latest role as a secret agent
SPY GUY In the new sci-fi/spy thriller Tenet the actor plays a British agent who joins forces with an American agent ( John David Washington) to explore a time-bending concept known as “inversion”. Their mission is to stop a Russian arms dealer (Kenneth Branagh) from starting World War III.
The movie is said to reference director Christopher Nolan’s 2010 blockbuster Inception as well as his space odyssey Interstellar (2014).
“There’s a point where you’re like, it’s kind of cool and it becomes so insane that it’s almost frightening,” Robert says. “It’s so complicated. If it wasn’t Chris Nolan doing it, you’d be like, ‘This is an impossible movie’.”
EVER EVOLVING Rob’s first major part was in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire but it was his role as hunky vampire Edward Cullen in the Twilight series that was his real breakthrough. But he’s moved on from being ‘the guy from Twilight’, having since been nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Maps to the Stars (2014) and getting rave reviews for his performance in Good Time (2017).
“I don’t think my actual personality translates particularly to a character type. I don’t really have a comfort zone.
I keep trying to do the opposite of the last thing every time,” he says.
The 34-year-old will be following in the footsteps of Michael Keaton, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck as the next Batman, set to be released next year. “It’s major shoes to fill,” Rob says. “Batman was really the only superhero I had a connection with when I was growing up. I was obsessed.”
NO FAN OF FAME Rob says he wasn’t ready to be catapulted into fame the way he was thanks to Twilight, and that he avoided going to the supermarket for six years because it made him anxious.
“I had people sitting outside my house every single day, and it drove me crazy! It was difficult to remain sane.”
After his public breakups with actress Kristen Stewart and later British singer FKA Twigs, he decided to try to keep his relationships private. “If you let people in, it devalues what love is,” he says. He’s been linked to model Suki Waterhouse since 2018.
– Robert on director Chris Nolan ‘When you grow up watching someone’s movies, being a fan, it feels like that person is then out of reach to work with as a colleague’