More of Rob’s Interview with Premiere Magazine May 10th, 2012 Robert Pattinson is a changed man. Many have noticed it, some have commented on it, and just about everyone has speculated about it. Now, it seems, Pattinson is ready to talk about the reasons why – and it’s a helluva read.A new Cannes special interview with French magazine Premiere, reveals an actor not all dazed and confused, but one recently emerged on the other side of a steep learning curve. Considering the rollercoaster ride of the last 4-plus years, it would be surprising if Pattinson hadn’t changed.As Pattinson moves closer to his final bow in the Twilight Saga (filming may have finished but the promo is still to come), the end is in sight not only for Edward Cullen, but also for one era of Pattinson’s acting career.In light of recently announced roles in The Rover and Mission: Blacklist, it’s clear this 26 year-old Brit is making careful and considered choices. New frontiers beckon – literally – and Pattinson is approaching them with a new attitude.Even before reading the interview, one gets a sense of this ‘attitude upgrade’ from the photo shoot. Shot in 13 hours, a few days before director Bill Condon’s recall of some of the cast to Vancouver, the idea to echo past Cronenberg films was a collaborative one between Premiere and Pattinson.The result? About as far as one can get from ‘R-Pattz-in-yet-another-beautiful-spread’. And that, of course, was precisely the point. Scanners, Videodrome, Dead Ringers, eXistenZ, Crash (and perhaps more), are all hommaged in the shoot. Some may be put off by the images, others intrigued. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter.Following a path of his own choosing means Pattinson is just not interested in being treated like a walking, talking mannequin anymore. Years of being criticized as an actor, largely because of his role as Edward Cullen – a role which, if one actually read the books, it’s clear Pattinson played exactly as Stephenie Meyer wrote it – have undoubtedly left their mark on Pattinson’s psyche.But, to his credit, Pattinson seems determined to make sure it’s not an indelible one. Ahead of Cosmopolis’s May 25 premiere at Cannes, Pattinson opened up about how he felt about accepting the role of Eric Packer, his relationship with director David Cronenberg, and what he took from the whole experience.At first seen by many as incomprehensible casting, Pattinson’s ability to interpret Eric Packer, the billionaire, financial wunderkind, who, in 24 hours, descends into the badlands of an imploding Manhattan – in many ways – may have made perfect sense to Pattinson once he went further ‘inside’ Packer’s persona.Just as Packer faces the collapse of his empire and “credible threats” from adversaries, the essence of the various crises he confronts could be seen as mirrors of those experienced by Pattinson in the tidal wake of his enormous post-Twilight fame. That probably sounds ridiculous to those who think money or being thought of as a ‘big deal’ is the endgame of everything.Yet the reality of fame’s paradoxically empowering and also de-powering effect is nevertheless a truism. Something Pamela Stephenson – comedienne turned clinical psychologist – addressed in ‘The Fame Report’, a television program that recently aired in the UK. Stephenson described fame as “essentially a trauma, one that causes injury to the psyche both when it arrives, and when it leaves.” Strong words, but perhaps ones Pattinson would agree with.“Celebrity,” says Pattinson, “is one of the [few] things that [you] can access without having any qualifications. And when you dare to say something negative about fame in the media, you can be sure you’re going to get a lot of crap. People don’t want to hear about that at all. It’s not jealousy, it’s just that they don’t want you to shatter their dreams.” The actor adds, “The paradox is that they want to maintain it and shatter it at the same time by accumulating as many things as possible about your private life.”It’s a insightful point. Take a gander through the pile-up of pap shots, fabricated stories, or ‘creatively embellished’ ones based on out-of-context quotes or conveniently anonymous ‘sources’ that currently litter too many gossip sites to count, and one gets an idea of what Pattinson’s life is like.Asked about the critical backlash that came his way after the huge success of the first Twilight movie and subsequent installments, Pattinson says, “When you suddenly become known, you have no control over what people think of you anyway. You need to learn how to fight the storm, especially when you understand that you’re just a pawn within an enormous machine.”That machine has its benefits though. Few would deny – and certainly not Pattinson – that the Twilight Saga put him on Hollywood’s map, and in so doing brought him to the attention of a legendary auteur like David Cronenberg. While Pattinson’s admiration for the veteran director’s body of work is obvious, it also sounds like as if it was life-changing for the actor to be ‘believed in’ by someone of Cronenberg’s stature.“Shooting Cosmopolis with Cronenberg changed something in me. It gave me balls,” Pattinson says. Adding, “Before, I used to doubt [myself] all the time. When I was reading a script, I would annoy myself, wondering if I was worth the role or if I could do it. Now, I tell myself: “F*** it! If they’re ready to hire me, go for it.”An indication of how deeply grooved Pattinson’s insecurities were, comes when Premiere reveal that in their interview with Cronenberg the director said Pattinson had been scared he would “ruin” Cosmopolis. It’s a probably a bit much to totally assign the blame for that to four years of critics (and one theater director in particular) proclaiming Pattinson a bad actor, but clearly it had an effect.For his part, when asked about the seismic change in industry attitudes that followed the debut of the first Cosmopolis teaser, Pattinson is somewhat bemused when Premiere likened it to a “bomb on the internet”.“I’ve been doing movies for 8 years and I’ve been criticized [a lot], and all of a sudden this teaser is released and everyone is excited,” Pattinson says, before adding, “It’s ridiculous! It’s what makes you understand how the minds of some critics work.”Recalling an exchange with co-star Sarah Gadon (who plays Packer’s wife Elise Shifrin), Pattinson’s reaction perhaps reveals some of the anxiety he felt about others’ expectations.“On the first day of shooting,”Pattinson says, laughing at the memory, “I wasn’t [feeling that] confident. While we were waiting to shoot the first scene, Sarah Gadon asked me: ‘So, how did you prepare for the role?’ I lost it completely and I left the limousine, really angry while screaming: ‘Why are you judging me like that? Are you trying to test me or what?!’”Asked what it was like being directed by Cronenberg, a man known for his hands-off-yet-attentive style of working with actors, Pattinson says, “Most directors hold your hand … David shoots a scene and he’s like. ‘Okay, it’s done. Next!’” then adds, “He won’t give you a lot of directions but … he doesn’t miss a thing. If you lose your concentration for [just] a second, he notices it instantly. It’s almost destabilizing to work with someone like that.”But it’s also clear that Cronenberg’s own self-confidence and – more importantly – his confidence in Pattinson has brought about a personal transformation in the actor. The modesty is still there – evident when he says, “I’m in a phase where I’m trying to determine what I can do as an actor… but people like David don’t care about that stuff” – but so too, is a new buoyancy.The change in Pattinson’s sense of self is perhaps most apparent when he says,“I can’t wait to see how [audiences] react to it. It’s the first time I can watch something I made as ‘a movie’ maybe because Cosmopolis belongs entirely to David Cronenberg. It’s really his movie.”For an actor who famously had a panic attack when he watched himself in the first Twilight film, Pattinson’s enjoyment of, and eagerness to share his own art, is a significant new quality.Referring to the journey from commercial to credible – itself a perceptual stereotype typically foisted on any successful actor who doesn’t look like a box of spanners – Pattinson’s response to Premiere’s comparison to the pre-Tim Burton/David Fincher careers of Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt, was this:“The good news is [the] way the industry perceives actors is changing, even if Brad Pitt is to me, one of the most unfairly underestimated actors in the world. It’s not said enough but he [has] never delivered a bad performance.”Reading the interview, when Pattinson talks about his “Hollywood adventure” as he calls it, what comes across is a young man determined to view others’ judgements about who he is, what he does, who he’s with, and what he’s capable of – with a large dose of scepticism and – above all – humor.When Premiere reminded Pattinson of the near riot that ensued when he went to Cannes in 2009, the actor joked that this year no-one will care because,“he’s not in The Hunger Games!”Besides his new found confidence, there is one thing that clearly is important to Pattinson. “I’ve always wanted to make good movies,” he says. “But before, I was more the type to get drunk and say: If people don’t like me, they can go f*** themselves! It’s different [now] I want the people that I respect to respect me as well.”As the star turn in one of the most anticipated films showing at Cannes this year, it will be a very different young man stepping out on the Croisette this time. One more sure of who is, and who he isn’t. “I’m really different from who I was at the beginning of the Saga. I got older,” says the actor. And it seems, wiser. Robert Pattinson, version 2.012, has arrived.