He may be the most famous Robert Pattinson fan in the world. The English singer/actor was catapulted into fame after being cast as the lead in the blockbuster movie The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. In December 2012, the 27-year-old landed a dream role when he was cast as the lead in Cosmo Richter’s adaptation of Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling novel, Dune.
Though he’s spent most of his life living in Los Angeles, California, the former schoolboy has made the most of his celebrity, jetting around the world for movie sets and attending premiere events wearing custom-made shirts with his own image on them. In this article, we’ll explore the highs and lows of life as the most famous Robert Pattinson fan – from his remarkable rise to fame to his latest starring role.)
From Twilight to Dune
For those unaware, Dune is set in the 29th century, where human survivors of a species-wide cataclysm are forced to live in domed cities, growing and breeding to repopulate the Earth. It’s a classic Blade Runner-like story, but with more religion, politics, and philosophy.
The novel was first published in 1981 and, according to Booklist, has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. The movie adaptation was released in 2005 and, five years later, won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The year 2011 saw the release of a sequel, Dune: Chapter Two, with a third film confirmed for 2018. If you’ve never heard of the book or seen the movie, then let’s just say you’re in for a treat.
It’s been a crazy ride for the 27-year-old actor since first breaking out of his shell in 2010’s The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Following the box-office hit, he went on to star in The Rover, which was nominated for Best Drama at the 87th Academy Awards, alongside Christian Bale and Mark Ruffalo. He also garnered a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on December 12, 2011, for his performance in the horror movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Most recently, he lent his voice to the English-language version of the smash hit PlayStation®4 game Titanfall 2, released in November 2017.
Robert Pattinson’s Hollywood Ending
When it comes to Hollywood gossip, most people think of movie stars and their glamorous lifestyles. While that’s certainly true, the media world also celebrates successful actors, directors, and producers who excel in their field. Among the many famous faces who rose to fame playing characters inspired by themselves, there’s one in particular worth noting: Robert Pattinson.
Pattinson began his acting career in 2005, playing the lead in the British miniseries, Ordinary Days. A year later, he landed the role of Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga, based on Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling novels. Though his first big break was playing a vampire, Pattinson has since shifted his attention to more conventional Hollywood fare. He starred in the 2010 romantic comedy, Water for Elephants, and then went on to appear in the 2012 romantic comedy, Twilight’s New Dawn.
Since 2011, Pattinson has mostly remained in Atlanta, Georgia, where he filmed Dune. He moved to California in 2013 to film The Rover, and has since lived there, splitting his time between filming and appearing at movie premieres. Most recently, he wrapped his leading role in Cosmo Richter’s adaptation of Twilight and is now starring in J.C. Chandor’s new movie, Glass, alongside Kirsten Dunst and Pedro Pascal.
The Rise Of Twitter Followers
As we mentioned earlier, since 2010, Pattinson has attracted a huge following on Twitter. It began with just over 5 million followers and, as of today, stands at 15 million. While this is certainly a massive number, it’s not uncommon for celebrities to rack up thousands of followers in just a few days after launching their Twitter accounts. The key to attracting this kind of audience is simple – engage with your followers, retweet relevant content, and provide them with valuable information.
Take the case of actor/comedian Jimmy Kimmel. The 59-year-old, who currently has 19.2 million followers, built a following of comedy fans on Twitter with his weekly “New Rules” videos. In one of these videos, which has over 1.7 million views, Kimmel announces the advent of a “new Twitter rule”. After explaining that he follows “people who are interesting,” the comedian goes on to list off all the people he follows, including singer Rihanna, director Spike Jonze, and writer/director Quentin Tarantulinu. At the end of the video, Kimmel asks his audience, “If you’re interested, who’s interesting?”
Kimmel, who began his career in stand-up comedy in the 1970s and later hosted an ABC talk show, proves that creating content for social media doesn’t require you to have a famous face. Though he occasionally makes guest appearances on other people’s podcasts and in YouTube videos, Kimmel mostly keeps to himself when it comes to creating his own content. Rather than looking at the traditional path to success, he focuses on being funny, making people laugh, and sharing this content with his audience.
Expanding Horizons
Since 2010, our favorite Englishman has explored his country, the United Kingdom, in a variety of ways. On TV, he’s starred in Believe, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, and had a guest role in the comedy series, Black Books. He also voiced a character in the upcoming The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. On the big screen, he’s appeared in The King’s Speech, opposite Helena Bonham Carter and Guy Pearce, and The Rover, opposite Bale and Ruffalo. In July 2017, he made his Broadway debut in Douglas Hough’s play, The Crippled King.
For his part, Pattinson made his solo concert debut in 2014 when he opened for the Rolling Stones in London. He also co-headlined the band’s fifty-one stop North American tour in 2016, sharing the billing with another famous British rock band, The Who. In 2018, he’ll play an arena-filling solo show in Tokyo and then take the band on the road again, this time in Australia and New Zealand. If you’ve never heard of them, let’s just say you’re in for a treat.
From Vamps to Werewolves
Speaking of treats, let’s turn our attention to the topic of vampires. Though he only plays a vampire in the latest Twilight film, Robert Pattinson has been fascinated by them for as long as he can remember. He even named one of his dogs, Freckles, after the iconic redhead Elizabeth Taylor’s cheeky French bulldog. During an interview with GQ magazine back in 2015, the English actor said of the vampire character:
So this was really cool because we got to look at real vampires and not these fake fangs that people wear in movies. It was really fascinating.
It’s been a while since we covered the topic of vamps, so let’s see where Robert Pattinson stands on this one. He’s most recently spoken about his love for vampires, confirming in an interview with Vanity Fair that he was indeed inspired by them to create the character of Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga:
I wanted to try something different. I wanted to do something that most people weren’t doing at the time. And vampires, for me, were the best around. So I decided to give them a go.
Vampires have been around for centuries and have always been a bit of a mystery to those who aren’t familiar with them. While most people believe them to be creatures of the night, there are actually very few rules when it comes to vampires. They can be both human and animalistic, and they don’t need to eat human flesh to survive. Fascinating creatures.