He may not be able to write his own scripts, but with more than 75 million views on his YouTube channel, Rob Pattinson is undoubtedly one of the most in-demand leading men of the 21st century.
The ‘Twilight’ actor is currently in negotiations to star in two major movies at the same time – one a romantic comedy, the other a sci-fi epic – and has just completed filming on the highly anticipated ‘Fifty Shades Darker’.
The British actor has remained publicly silent about the release of ‘Fifty Shades Darker’, but he has been keeping busy behind the scenes. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Pattinson opens up about his upcoming projects and how he plans to tackle the big-budget films on which he is contracted. He also discusses the backlash he has faced since becoming a prominent Hollywood figure.
The Ups And Downs Of Being A Hollywood Actor
‘The Twilight Saga’ may have ended five years ago, but Robert Pattinson’s acting career has had more peaks and valleys than most Hollywood careers ever have. After playing a leading role in the hugely successful vampire movie series, the 26-year-old enjoyed a very public relationship with Hollywood actress Kristen Stewart. Later, they broke up but managed to remain on good terms and even dated for a time after the split.
Then, in 2016, it was revealed that Stephenie Meyer, author of the ‘Twilight’ series, had written a “tentative and possible” prequel novel to the series that would focus on the heroine’s parents’ divorce. Meyer officially ended her long-running Twitter war with Stewart after years of trolling and spamming, and the internet went crazy guessing which parent Pattinson would play – ranging from Stewart’s father to John Lennon.
Pattinson’s next move was to reunite with Stewart and jump back into the public eye through a wedding video which, at the time of writing, has over 4.8 million views on YouTube. The two have since reconciled their differences and are engaged to be married in the coming months.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight about his upcoming film plans, Pattinson said:
“It’s been a crazy ride, to be honest. I mean, I guess you could say I’ve had more peaks than I’ve had troughs. But it’s all been worth it. I mean, the fans have been amazing, and the work has been fun, and it’s always nice to have a change of pace from working on set. The ups and downs – I think that’s a phrase that people use a lot when talking about their jobs, but it really is all about the experience and being able to look back to see how far you’ve come. That’s what’s important.”
“Peaks and valleys” is an apt description of Pattinson’s current situation, but who or what caused these fluctuations in his life? To find out, we must journey back to the beginning and examine his roots in Yorkshire, England.
Papa Was A Doctor, Mummy Was A Housewife
Born Robert Edward Pattinson on July 25, 1986 in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, Robert Pattinson is the eldest son of Dr. Andrew Pattinson and Marjorie Merriweather. The family name originates from the father’s side, with the Pattinson surname having been taken from an ancestor who was a surgeon in India in 1763.
Papa was a doctor and had studied medicine at Oxford University before becoming a general practitioner and settling in Kilburn, a suburb of London. There he met Mum, a fashion model who worked in a chocolate shop. The couple began dating in 2007 and were later married in a small ceremony in a register office in Kilburn. Their first date was entirely unplanned. “I’d been wondering if I’d ever meet anyone I liked,” Pattinson told Vogue in 2014. “So much time had gone by and I was still single. I guess you could say I was waiting for Mr. Right.”
Pattinson’s father is originally from New Zealand and so is his paternal grandmother. The actor has cited his father as one of his biggest role models and credits him for giving him the determination to follow his dreams and to never give up.
A Yorkshire Boy Made For Hollywood
From an early age, it was clear that Robert Pattinson had a gift for mimicking accents and much-loved English actor Richard Armitage, who played his father in the movie “The English Patient”, told The Guardian in 2014 that he could imitate anyone’s accent “better than anybody I’ve ever heard.”
“I remember when I was about four years old, I would put on these shows for my parents,” he said. “I’d pretend to read books, or play the piano, or recite poems, and whenever I did, they’d laugh. I don’t know if they enjoyed it as much as I did, but it was always fun to perform for them.”
After Armitage finished up with the English Patient role, he encouraged Pattinson to pursue his dreams. “I told him he was a natural-born actor and that he should never give up,” he said. “I could see this spark in him from an early age and I knew he had the talent and drive to succeed in this industry.”
In 2007, Pattinson moved to London to follow his dreams of becoming an actor, living in an apartment above a barbershop on Archdale Road. The studio he chose to study in was nearby – a stone’s throw from the apartment – and he would walk past it every day on his way to class. The studio’s owner, Mark Bracewell, told The Guardian at the time that he was impressed by the actor’s determination. “He’s coming from a tiny village in North Yorkshire and he’s just decided he wants to be an actor, so he’s gone to the bar to meet people and find the course,” he said. “He’s not wasting any time.”
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, Pattinson moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career. There, he would meet up with a friend who encouraged him to enter acting competitions, and together they would enter and win several prizes – including the grand prize of a trip to Sydney, Australia, where they would star in a theater production. Despite his early success, Hollywood would prove to be a difficult place for Robert Pattinson to break into – especially since he is part-Maori and is therefore 1/32nd part Japanese. This meant that many white producers and directors assumed he would play subordinate or comedic roles, rather than leading ones.
Entertainment News Reporting
While working as a writer for the entertainment news website The Daily Mail in 2016, Pattinson was asked to co-host a chat show with former ‘Doctor Who’ companion and TV presenter Georgia Moffett. The two discussed everything from fashion to cooking to politics, and the Internet subsequently fell in love with Moffett and wanted to know more about her. Naturally, The Daily Mail reported on this, labeling it “entertainment news” and “reporting” on the chat show. While these are standard elements of a news story, in this case, the publication was simply doing their job.
Forbes listed Pattinson among the highest paid actors of 2016, with his estimated earnings eclipsing $10 million. He earned this money primarily through starring roles in three upcoming action films – “Deadpool 2,” “The Lighthouse”, and “Death on the Nile” – and “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”, the last of the vampire trilogy which was released in 2010. This was the first time that he had made more than $10 million in a year and he told Forbes that this amount would only increase based on the upcoming box office success of these three films.
An Apocryphal Scribe
While in the process of researching this article, I came across an anecdote about a certain American publication which makes for quite interesting reading. The anecdote (which I’ll call “The Legend of Lauren Myrtle”) goes as follows: