Robert Pattinson Says He Gets 'Nervous' for Every Film: 'I Don’t Really Know How to Act'
Robert Pattinson may be one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, but he’s not quite sure he deserves to be.
In a new profile with The Guardian, the 33-year-old actor opened up about his career on the big screen, revealing that he’s never felt like he knows what he’s doing in front of the camera.
“I only know how to play scenes, like, three ways,” he told the outlet, despite beginning his career 15 years ago in 2005 with his role as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
“I’m nervous on, like, every single movie,” he added.
In October, the Twilight star opened up to Esquire about some of the extreme techniques he used to get into character for his latest film, The Lighthouse — in which he stars opposite Oscar-nominee Willem DaFoe as Ephraim Winslow, a lighthouse apprentice.
Whether it was sitting on the floor growling, licking up puddles of mud from the ground or making himself throw up, Pattinson explained to The Guardian that there was a method to the madness.
“Because I don’t really know how to act, I kind of wanted to somehow make it real, and one of the ways I’ve always thought makes that a little bit easier is if you shake up your physical state just before action,” he said. “You end up walking into a scene having a different feeling.”
In The Lighthouse, Pattinson’s character slowly slips into delusion, and the actor believed that by preparing in these unusual ways before a scene he could put himself into a similar headspace.
“I like doing whatever I can to not know what’s going on. To be completely overwhelmed and disorientated,” Pattinson explained. “To feel like it’s actually happening.”
At times, he would be so engrossed in his preparation that he would forget that he had his mic on.
“I forgot I had a mic on the whole time, so the producers and the director, before every single take of the movie, would get [a loud retching sound],” he said. “It kind of puts everyone else off.”
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It seems these extreme measures helped the actor pull-off the character in spite of his belief that he can’t act, and has generated some Oscar buzz for Pattinson.
“I’m kind of amazed by how it’s been received,” he said of the reviews. “I love the movie. I think it’s so cool. But I never would have thought… It’s done better than almost anything I’ve done in, like, ages, and it’s the most random movie.”
The success of the film has him hopeful for similar roles in the future.
“Knowing there’s a hunger for stuff that’s very, very strange — that’s cool!” he told the outlet. “That’s the stuff I like making!”
Pattinson is now working on the upcoming Batman movie, set to release in June 2021, and recently wrapped up Christopher Nolan’s next movie Tenet, set for July 2020.
The Lighthouse is out now, available for streaming on Vudu and YouTube.
