Robert Pattinson nearly lost hope in the future of the film and his career as an actor after the COVID-19 pandemic and the joint actors and writers strikes.
The Mickey 17 star opened up about the “worrying” state of the entertainment industry in a profile for Vanity Fair where he admitted to having doubts about the originality of filmmaking over the past two years.
“The last few years for the film industry, starting with COVID and then the strikes, everyone was constantly saying cinema is dying. And quite convincingly,” Pattinson said. “I was literally almost turned off. It actually started to get a little worrying.”
Pattinson explained that films felt “very studio” and left “every actor for two years saying, ‘What is happening? Nothing’s cool.’” However, he acknowledged that over “the last few months” there’s been a “flurry of very ambitious movies” that have sparked a renewed interest in the industry.
“I feel like the stuff that’s going to get nominated for Oscars this year is going to be really interesting,” he added. “And it seems like there’s suddenly a new batch of directors who the audience is excited about as well.”
As for which recent releases Pattinson is keen on, he cited Armand, The Brutalist and Anora as a few of his favorites.
“I saw this Norwegian movie Armand, which I thought was amazing. My friend Brady Corbet’s movie The Brutalist. Anora. You can even see in terms of script,” he said, adding that he is hopeful that his forthcoming sci-fi film Mickey 17 “will come out in a period of enthusiasm for cinema.”
“I don’t know what was going on really, what happened in the Saturn return or whatever it is, but now there’s really cool parts everywhere,” he added.
The Batman actor previously told the New York Times Style Magazine he “could genuinely be retiring by the end of” Matt Reeves’ DC Comics trilogy and didn’t “in a million years did I think I’d still be doing this when I got my first job” after first getting recognition for his role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005, two decades ago.
