Can celebrities really manifest their dream roles through style choices?
Pattinson told W Magazine that when he was in school, his drama teacher "actively" discouraged him from pursuing acting. "She just thought I wasn't cut out for the creative subjects," he said.
Pattinson grew up in Barnes, London, to a model-booking mother and a vintage car salesman father. He has two older sisters, who reportedly wished for a younger sister but got him instead!
His first role was in 2004's 'Vanity Fair,' which stars Reese Witherspoon (whom he'd later co-star with), but his part got cut from the final version of the film. He only found out, however, at the film's screening when he realized his scenes were missing.
In 2019, he told Backstage that he was too embarrassed to audition but he joined the Barnes Theatre Company at the suggestion of his parents. He largely worked backstage until he landed a spot in 'Guys and Doll' and was dancing, singing, and acting all at once. That "broke the seal" for him, and he started landing more stage roles soon after.
After 'Harry Potter,' however, things didn't take off for Pattinson. He was actually let go from the production of 'The Woman Before' in London's West End. He landed some TV movies, but he ended up sleeping on his agent's couch while he bombed auditions in the US.
During his five-year run as a vampire, Pattinson didn't have much time to do other projects. He did, however, have a very public relationship with his co-star Kristen Stewart, which started around 2009 and ended in 2013 following Stewart's cheating scandal with director Rupert Sanders.
The cut role worked in his favor, however, as the casting director felt so bad about the ordeal that she gave him the first shot at the role of Cedric Diggory in the beloved 'Harry Potter' franchise.
Pattinson started being quite honest about his opinion of the franchise and of his character Edward. In one interview he was asked if he took something from the set on his way out, as many actors do when they leave a film for nostalgic purposes, and he replied: "My dignity."
He also said the story didn't make sense on several occasions, questioning out loud why people loved his character so much. In one interview he admitted if he was a casual viewer of the films he "would just mindlessly hate it."
The last of the 'Twilight' films was released in 2012. When Jimmy Fallon asked him, "It's a little heartbreaking because [the fans] don't want it to be over. It's a little bittersweet, isn't it?" Pattinson replied, "Um...for them!"
After Kristen Stewart, Pattinson dated singer FKA Twigs for some time, making appearances together at the Met Gala and other red carpet events. They reportedly split in 2017 after two years together and possibly being engaged.
Pattinson described himself as a "triple Taurus" during a Wired interview because his zodiac sign, ascendant, and descendant are all Taurus.
He did a bit of modeling, but told Vanity Fair in 2009 that he was terrible because "I was really tall but still looked like a six-year-old." Pattinson also reportedly aspired to be a political speechwriter, and in 2014 he told Seth Meyers that he wanted to be a rapper when he was younger. That's some range!
He always shares strange anecdotes, and one of his more infamous interviews included a complete lie (he later admitted) about having seen a clown die at a circus. "I definitely do get a certain high from it," he said. "There's a little gremlin inside of me that thinks, 'Just say something shocking. You're only here for a few minutes, say something terrible.'"
Sources: (BuzzFeed) (Wired) (W Magazine) (Backstage) (Vanity Fair) (The Guardian) (GQ)
See also: The most explosive celebrity interviews of all time
At one point the actor, who can play the piano and the guitar, went after the dream of being a musician instead of an actor. He was in a band called Bad Girls and performed as a solo artist under the name Bobby Dupea, according to The Guardian.
Robert Pattinson rose to mainstream fame largely through his role as Edward Cullen in the ‘Twilight’ franchise, but what followed was a deftly executed career lobotomy that has totally transformed his image in the public eye and landed him fame among indie film and arthouse lovers just as much as it has bolstered his success in multi-million-dollar blockbusters.
Click through to take a look at his incredibly unpredictable journey from vampire to Batman, arthouse to blockbuster, and back.
Pattinson told Howard Stern that he didn't agree with the producers' idea of a cheerful Edward. He recalled that they gave him a copy of the book and highlighted every instance where Edward smiled. In response, Pattinson highlighted instances where Edward frowned and gave it back. His agent told him he had to comply or he'd lose his job.
The five-part 'Twilight' franchise changed everything. It started in 2008 and turned Pattinson into a teen heartthrob for the next few years, though he was already 21 when he was cast. He was largely chosen because of his chemistry with co-star Kristen Stewart, despite the fact that producers weren't sold on his look.
In 2015, Pattinson co-starred with Nicole Kidman in Werner Herzog's biographical drama 'Queen of the Desert,' based on the life of British explorer Gertrude Bell. In 2016, he co-starred alongside Charlie Hunnam, Tom Holland, and Sienna Miller in 'The Lost City of Z' (pictured), which tells the true story of British explorer Percy Fawcett.
In 2010, Pattinson starred in the romantic coming-of-age drama 'Remember Me,' which was not very well-received critically, though it did show that Pattinson was capable of more than Edward Cullen's serious restraint. He also starred alongside Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz in 'Water for Elephants' (2011) as a vet who joins a traveling circus and falls in love with the circus master's wife.
Pattinson starred in David Cronenberg's 'Cosmopolis' (2012) as a billionaire currency speculator who sets out on a path of self-destruction. He again worked with Cronenberg in 2014's 'Maps to the Stars' alongside Julianne Moore and John Cusack. Before working together, Pattinson was already a fan of the Canadian director.
He had starred in 2014's 'The Rover' with Guy Pearce, and Anton Corbijn's 2015 film 'Life,' but Pattinson's real indie fame came when he teamed up with the Safdie brothers to star in their dizzying epic 'Good Time' (2017), a gritty, character-driven thriller that obliterated Pattinson's reputation as a teen heartthrob and had a six-minute standing ovation at Cannes.
For 'Good Time' he had mastered the Queens accent from New York, and Pattinson has said himself that he enjoys taking on new accents. He put on a hilarious, over-the-top French accent for his role in the epic war film 'The King' (2019), which stars Timothée Chalamet.
Another film from the indie production company A24, Pattinson starred in Claire Deniss' space film 'High Life,' which he told GQ was "a lot about sexual fantasy and how your past intermingles, and this thing about kind of having your semen stolen from you in a spaceship and like forcibly impregnating people."
Many were surprised to hear that Pattinson would be the next Bruce Wayne in Matt Reeves' 'The Batman' (2022). Pattinson told Variety he was furious that the news was leaked before he was even cast, but added that the response "was less vitriolic than I was expecting."
Pattinson co-starred in Robert Eggers' 'The Lighthouse' with cult-famous actor Willem Dafoe. Critics praised Pattinson's performance in the hallucinatory black-and-white psychological thriller where he again mastered a new accent.
The actor has been linked to English model Suki Waterhouse since 2018, though he's been very open about how he is increasingly more private with each new relationship after learning his lesson with tabloids in the past.
Pattinson co-starred in Christopher Nolan's mind-bending sci-fi thriller 'Tenet' alongside John David Washington. The film follows a secret agent who is given a word as his weapon against the onset of World War III. It was one of Pattinson's biggest budget films, and certainly his most confusing!
Pattinson stars as a false preacher in this psychological thriller set in post-WWII rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, alongside actors Tom Holland, Sebastian Stan, and Bill Skarsgård. It featured yet another of Pattinson's bold accents.
Robert Pattinson: From teen heartthrob to Hollywood heavyweight
The arthouse and blockbuster favorite turns 37 on May 13
CELEBRITY Retrospective
Robert Pattinson rose to mainstream fame largely through his role as Edward Cullen in the ‘Twilight’ franchise, but what followed was a deftly executed career lobotomy that has totally transformed his image in the public eye and landed him fame among indie film and arthouse lovers just as much as it has bolstered his success in multi-million-dollar blockbusters.
Click through to take a look at his incredibly unpredictable journey from vampire to Batman, arthouse to blockbuster, and back.