PEOPLE.COM: WHY ROB PATTINSON ALMOST GAVE UP ACTING
People.com has a great interview with the director of How To Be, Oliver Irving. Oliver talks about how Rob Pattinson almost quit acting.
For many Twilight fans, it’s hard to imagine life without Robert Pattinson after his brooding performance in the 2008 film.But Pattinson, 22, who stars in the independent film How To Be, almost decided to change his career focus, the film’s director tells PEOPLE.
“He was thinking about giving up acting and maybe doing music solely when this role [in How To Be] came along,” the film’s director, Oliver Irving, tells PEOPLE. “He wanted to play the roles he wasn’t getting.”
Irving says that for Pattinson, being cast as the lead of role of an awkward, quirky young musician who hires a self-help guru to come live with him “got him back into the swing of things again.” Irving adds that after the Harry Potter films, in which Pattinson played Cedric Diggory, “He was looking for something more challenging.”
Among the challenges for Pattinson in How To Be, which filmed prior to Twilight, were playing the guitar, harmonica, and, for the director, muting his good looks.
“I said, ‘You’re banned from cutting your hair between now and the shoot,’” says Irving. “We had to give him the most awkward haircut we possibly could, and we cut his trouser length a little bit too high. Things like that played down his apparent good looks.”
To read the rest of the article, click here.
(Thanks Erica and Em!)
I actually got to meet Oliver Irving at a film festival screening of How To Be that both Oliver and Rob attended. If you ever get a chance to meet Oliver, he is a very, very nice guy. This is a brilliant movie, and I’m sure glad it kept Rob in the acting business!
Do you plan to watch How To Be? What did you think of what Oliver Irving had to say?
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Charter cable doesn’t carry the Festival Direct stuff.
I can only hope for a DVD release in the US someday…
I can’t say that I don’t like to look at Rob, but I am thrilled he is playing such a different character to Edward. If he only played pretty boy romantics, *sigh*, he would become bored and disappear.
But I love that he is able to stretch and show how much he can do. Romantic, silly, scary, serious. That’s what actors do. Twilight has opened doors for him. I realize “How To Be” and “Little Ashes” were both pre-Twilight, but Rob’s new status is not only putting a major spotlight on these two films, but without a doubt providing all the opportunites he can manage. We know that he recently became attached to the film “Remember Me”, a romance, and that is being filmed between NM and Eclipse. Perhaps we will see it next year.
I just hope his new clout will provide us with one or more music CDs. That would be bliss. I am very anxious to see him in anything.
I just finished watching “How to Be.” I LOVED it. It took a few minutes to become accustomed to Rob-as-Art, but this is such a perfect role for him.
The pain you feel for Art, it almost makes you feel guilty for laughing at the funny parts. And there are several. Of course I wanted to rip him mother’s head off, but that is a separate issue.
This is a “low-key” film, but due to Rob being in it, it will receive lots of attention. Even in the synopsis by the on-demand channel, they tout Rob as the sensational British actor, (paraphrasing here), so they know what will garner the attention.
I can’t wait to own a copy.
PS: Not really a spoiler, but I loved when he stuck his head in the frozen food case in the grocery. Even my husband laughed.
Sorry: One more thing, almost at the end of the film, when he is talking to himself in the mirror! OMG!!! You will just wither inside with wanting to help him. To hug him. This scene alone could make this film a tear-jerker.
wel lti good that or bi se pexandind otsueo of tiwlight, he doesm eka gret edard though. but I can’ts ee to him ni rmember me when it comes out or the est of the twilgiht movies
I’m very happy that he didn’t quit.
I’m sure that eventually he will at least put a hold on his acting to do music and that’s great too.
I love his music very much. I would very much like to buy a cd of his.
I just hope that he finishes the Twilight Saga first.
The movies just wouldn’t be the same without him.
He is perfect as Edward and nobody would be able to pull it off like him.
I hope that he does whatever makes him happy, even if it means that we don’t get to see him in movies for a while.
Good Luck Rob in whatever you want to do.