Robert Pattinson Officially Explains His "Roll the Dice" Approach to Every Take in 'Primetime'

• Collider's Steve Weintraub speaks with Robert Pattinson and Skyler Gisondo for Primetime.
• Pattinson discusses his work as a producer, spending years and hundreds of hours developing the movie with Lance Oppenheim and the team.
• Pattinson and Gisondo also discuss scene work, performance styles, and Pattinson teases a new take on The Batman with Matt Reeves' sequel.

Even his co-stars will tell you Robert Pattinson’s feverish performance in A24’s Primetime was something to behold. We’ve seen his range of capabilities on screen, from The Lighthouse to The Batman to Mickey 17. Pattinson has also received a producer credit after spending years working on this film, and “hundreds and hundreds of hours” discussing it with filmmaker Lance Oppenheim on his debut narrative film, in addition to delivering a leading performance that critics are already raving about.

Primetime chronicles the rise of NBC’s To Catch a Predator to the coveted primetime television slot, with a frenetic Chris Hansen (Pattinson) leading a charge against online pedophiles. The movie parallels the hunt for these criminals with Hansen and his producer, Andie Bender’s (Merritt Wever), dogged pursuit of notoriety. The movie also stars Skyler Gisondo as Dan Plumb, Alex Winter as Bill Conradt, and Anna Faris as Mary Hansen.

While talking with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Pattinson and Gisondo discuss the years-long development of the film, from their earliest conversations with Oppenheim and the ideas that would ultimately shape their version of this story. Gisondo also shares the moment in the movie he believes Dan’s arc begins to spiral, and Pattinson shares his thoughts on Matt Reeves’ highly anticipated sequel to The Batman.

Robert Pattinson Spent "Hundreds and Hundreds of Hours" Developing 'Primetime'

Pattinson served as producer, spending years working on the film with Lance Oppenheim.

Image via A24

COLLIDER: Robert, I do feel like you've won the actor's lottery in terms of getting to pick the projects that you want to work on, which is incredible. But I'm so curious, when you first talked to Lance [Oppenheim] about a project like this, he's never made a narrative feature, so what are the types of questions that you're asking him before you agree to sign on for this role?

ROBERT PATTINSON: I mean, we brought Lance on to it, and so it's kind of like I sort of had an idea. I mean, I knew he'd be the right director for it, and I wasn't initially acting in it. And then I think it's his enthusiasm for constant communication about it. Like me, Ajon [Singh], Lance, and Brighton [McCloskey], who I was producing it with, we had one night at my house where we were just discussing how to develop the script, and you just sometimes have that kind of symbiotic relationship, and it felt very electric. We just sat there for like 10 hours discussing what the best version of this story would be, and it was just so exciting talking to him about it.

I don't think there are any individual questions. I'm really bad about asking directors how they see a movie. You're really just judging their face more than anything. [Laughs] I’m like, “I guess I like the idea of doing it with you.” But with Lance, it was tons of conversation. I haven't worked with any director who's willing to just be talking and talking and talking. I mean, I must have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours talking to Lance about this movie now over years — and without getting sick of him, as well, which is kind of astonishing.

Skyler, Dan's arc seems to track a kind of moral erosion. Was there a specific scene that felt like his point of no return?

SKYLER GISONDO: That's a great question. Maybe the moment that he tries to become Chris, in some way, for me. And oddly, maybe it seems obvious now, but it wasn't evident to me that Dan's trying to even do the voice in that take right away.

Then, getting to set that day, like maybe half an hour before, just thinking through it, walking through it, it occurred to me that I wanted to do [that]. Rob was on set, thankfully, for another scene, and I remember being like, “Could you read all of these lines in your voice?” And you were so stoked about it, and you were really helpful. And I think that's, yeah, probably Dan's, in a way, darkest moment maybe.

Robert Pattinson Prefers to "Roll the Dice" In Every Take

"Sometimes you just fall on your ass."

Robert, one of the things that I've heard about you, the way you work, is that you give something different in every take. I've spoken to Joaquin Phoenix and Woody Harrelson and a number of other actors who seem to do the same thing. I've watched Woody work, and every take is completely different. When you are playing a scene, how conscious are you about making every take different, and how much are you trying to be as natural as you can, and when the camera starts rolling, just figuring it out?

PATTINSON: I think it gets a little scary for me when you know what you're trying to achieve and you're going, like, “Oh, I need to hit this line in a certain way and hit this line.” I think that's a lot scarier to me. But if you can kind of, I don't know, rustle yourself up before a take where you can be freshly reactive to everything, it seems like a safer bet to me. I always think it's the same as, like, surfing when you're just hoping you'll get a good wave, and then hopefully something good happens. But sometimes you just fall on your ass.

But it's different, I think, with different directors. It's the most fun way of working, I think, is like that, but definitely, with different directors, some people are way more precise, and you kind of have to mold into that, and that's kind of fun too. I mean, I feel like it takes more energy to do that. I don't know if you feel the same way, but with something like this, when a director's going, “Yeah, I'm just going to let you just roll the dice and see which way it goes…” Also, we had so many different cameras going and stuff, something's going to get captured somewhere.

Matt Reeves' 'The Batman' Sequel Is Taking a "Real Left Turn"

Pattinson discusses returning for Part 2 and Reeves' vision.

Image via Matt Reeves

I truly love Matt Reeves’ take on The Batman. I think that movie is a fucking masterpiece. I know you guys are filming the sequel, and something that Sebastian Stan and a few others told me about is the unique way he's filming the sequel, but I didn't really get more than that. I'm curious, what is the interesting or unique way he's actually filming the sequel?

PATTINSON: Wait, what has Sebastian said? I don't even know.

I spoke to him at TIFF, and he was telling me about the unique way that Matt is making it.

PATTINSON: When you see it, the script is incredibly dense, and it's like he's just one of those directors who it's really obvious that he has the entire thing in his head already, and so it's unusual to be working with someone when you keep forgetting with little elements. There's so much in it that it's almost impossible to encompass the whole thing. But when you keep finding out, you’re like, “Oh, no, you know exactly what you want to do with this.” There's just something so cool about it.

It’s so ambitious. I mean, I sort of said the other day on something that the first one was a different take on a Batman movie, and this one is another… It's a real left turn from the first one, but somehow it keeps elements of the kind of feel of it. But it just feels really ambitious, and I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Primetime is now playing in theaters.

Cast

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  Chris Hansen

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  Andie Bender

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  Dan Plumb

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  Phoebe Bridgers

  Del