Having Robert Pattinson by your side no doubt increased the amount of flashes going off on the red carpet the other night.You're the first person to bring that up! I kind of half expected it would be a thing. When I was doing press for "Animal Kingdom" every press person would ask me about "All Out of Love."
What went into selecting that song?
One of the things that was challenging for this movie was it was set in a period of the future, so it makes musical choices really kind of difficult. I'd imagine that maybe there's a sense that pop is still some kind of functioning genre, like the equivalent to classic rock. I wanted at that point in the movie to remind people that Rob's character is a lost kid, one who in different circumstances would have favored pop songs. I just wanted that moment in the film to be a strong reminder of the fact that he just wants to be a kid.
About his performance, he's a true revelation in "The Rover." What led you to cast him?
It was a meeting. I still haven't seen the "Twilight" films. I don't feel I need to. I had a meeting with him before I knew I was going to make "The Rover," and found him instantly beguiling.
Why did you meet with him if you weren't familiar with his work?
I'd seen nothing. It's that weird thing that happens after a movie you've made has gotten some attention — you go on a billion blind dates. And this was one of them. I didn't really know anything about him, but I really liked him. He was really smart, funny and open. He seemingly had great taste. He had a really interesting and eclectic knowledge of cinema. When it came time to cast for "The Rover," I just had this weird feeling that he was the one I wanted to see the most. Fortunately he really wanted to do the movie.
I mean I put him through the wringer. We worked for three of four hours during our camera test, but I felt I knew within the first few minutes that I found the guy for the character. The next few hours were just us exploring. He helped me find the character.
Robert Pattinson knows a thing or two about the price of fame, so it’s worth listening when he says he worries about the child stars he meets in Hollywood. “When you see these kids, there is only one way: you either get in therapy now or become a serial killer, or kill yourself. I mean, you can see it really early on—it’s terrifying.”
There is just such a kid at the center of Maps to the Stars, one of two Pattinson films debuting at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Evan Bird, whom you may recognize from The Killing, plays Benjie, a vicious and entitled 13-year-old TV star, and Pattinson plays a chauffeur looking for a break in show business. Directed by David Cronenberg, who previously collaborated with Pattinson on 2012’s Cosmopolis, the film is a savage satire of Hollywood that also stars Julianne Moore as a hysterical over-the-hill actress, John Cusack as a diabolical life coach, and Mia Wasikowska as a warped avenging angel of sorts.
Pattinson has a meatier role in David Michôd’s post-apocalyptic road movie, The Rover, portraying a not-very-bright hoodlum who falls under the spell of Guy Pearce. As the two make their way across the Australian Outback, Pattinson’s character grows more confident—and more deadly—by the minute.
VF.com spoke to Pattinson at Cannes, where his ex-costar and -girlfriend Kristen Stewart also has a film debuting, and quizzed him about how he prepped for the roles, what he finds most ridiculous about Hollywood, and how he handled sudden superstardom at the tender age of 21.
VF Hollywood: David Michôd has talked a lot about the back story for The Rover, which is set “10 years after the collapse.” How much did he tell you about your character?
Robert Pattinson: Well, not a lot. I kept questioning that aspect of it. “What is this economic collapse? I want to know the details about it.” Then I realized it didn’t really make any difference to my character.
Guy Pearce’s character refers to your character as a “half-wit.” Were you playing him as someone with a real disability, or just someone who hasn’t been that well educated?
I was thinking he’s almost like someone who’s been told there is something wrong with him and there actually isn’t—but he has been told there is so many times that he has just sort of accepted it.
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- Buy (UK)
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Twilight (2008)- Trailer - Buy(US)
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Little Ashes (2008) -Trailer - Buy(US) - Buy (UK) 
- Buy(UK)
The Haunted Airman (TV)(2006) - Trailer - Buy(US)
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) - Trailer - Buy(US) - Buy(UK)
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Vanity Fair (2004)(uncredited) - watch 
