For our latest Variety cover story, Robert Pattinson talks about making “The Lighthouse,” the black-and-white drama which screens at the Toronto Film Festival this weekend.
“It’s so rare when you can basically have a script that gives you leeway,” says Pattinson, who plays opposite Willem Dafoe as keepers of a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere. “There was basically no parameters on how far you can go with something. That happens so rarely. It’s kind of, literally, you can amp stuff up so high. You have total freedom.”
“The Lighthouse” premiered last May in Cannes, as Pattinson was gearing up for the final leg of his audition for “The Batman” with director Matt Reeves. After “The Lighthouse” received a rapturous standing ovation (and Oscars buzz) in Cannes, Pattison flew back Los Angeles to try on the Batsuit for Warner Bros. executives.
“It’s maybe the craziest thing I’ve ever done in terms of movie stuff,” Pattinson says. “I put it on. I remember saying to Matt, ‘It does feel quite transformative!’ He was like, ‘I would hope it does!!! You’re literally in the Batsuit.’” Pattinson describes that moment. “You do feel very powerful immediately,” he says. “And it’s pretty astonishing, something that is incredibly difficult to get into, so the ritual of getting into it is pretty humiliating. You’ve got five people trying to shove you into something. Once you’ve got it on, it’s like, ‘Yeah I feel strong, I feel tough, even though I had to have someone squeezing my butt cheeks into the legs.’”
“The Lighthouse” opens in theaters on Oct. 18 from A24. For more from our cover story, click here.