Eric Packer is about to embark upon the worst car ride of his life.
Thankfully, Robert Pattinson — the actor who plays Packer in
"Cosmopolis" — doesn't share his character's fate.
Pattinson fans
came out in full force to elect "Cosmopolis" the winner of the MTV
Movie Brawl 2012, a weeks-long tournament that pitted several of 2012's
biggest releases against one another to determine which film is the
must-see cinematic event of the year. After tense battles against titans
like "Bel Ami," "The Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn: Part 2," "The Dark
Knight Rises" and "The Hunger Games," it's Pattinson's upcoming indie
thriller that took home the grand prize.
It's a surprising result
for many onlookers, given that "Cosmopolis" has yet to release a
trailer and only has a tentative release date of 2012. But Rob's fans
rallied behind their man, opting to support his future in "Cosmopolis"
over his past in "Twilight" — a commanding decision from a massive
fanbase that demands attention, to say the least. In fact, the movement
was so strong that it even caught "Cosmopolis" director David
Cronenberg's eye even before the film won the brawl for it all. Shortly
after the victory was announced, Cronenberg got on the phone with MTV
News to talk about what "Cosmopolis" winning the MTV Movie Brawl means
for the film, Pattinson's performance, when fans can expect to see a
trailer and much more.
MTV: David, thanks for talking with us! Have you been filled in on what's happened with "Cosmopolis" over here?
David Cronenberg:
You know, I've been following it! I'm shocked! I'm shocked and amazed
and really tickled. It proves that movie fans are unpredictable and
really interesting and really passionate. It's fantastic. I would have
never, ever imagined that this would happen.
MTV: How did the tournament first get on your radar?
Cronenberg:
Somebody sent me something and said, "Hey, we seem to be doing OK in
this Movie Brawl thing that MTV's got going on." I didn't know about it.
At that point, we were struggling with "The Dark Knight," I think. I
thought, "Wow, that's pretty impressive!" Because "Cosmopolis," while I
think in terms of what it is as cinema is pretty hefty, but in terms of
budget and promotion, it's an underdog compared to something like "The
Dark Knight" franchise. I really didn't think we would have much of a
chance. That really got my attention.
MTV:
What's kind of incredible, too, is that right before that battle with
Batman, "Cosmopolis" was up against "Twilight." It was Rob versus Rob!
In what we saw, it seemed that fans were putting their votes towards
Rob's future instead of his past.
Cronenberg:
Well, and I think that's one of the things that I meant when I said it
was interesting. Because that's not the kind of thing you would predict.
But it was really terrific, and in that sense, they're right. As I've
said many times, if you're a "Twilight" fan, then you might not be
interested in "Cosmopolis" because Rob is not Mr. Cullen. But if you're a
Rob fan, then you've got to be interested in "Cosmopolis," because you
will see him as you have not seen him before, for sure.
MTV:
Clearly, there is a lot of interest in this movie, seeing that it came
out ahead over movies like "Dark Knight," "Twilight" and "Hunger Games."
There is a lot of attention on Rob, of course. Can you talk about your
experience working with Rob, and the kind of actor you found him to be
over the course of shooting "Cosmopolis"?
Cronenberg:
He's terrific. He deserves the affection that the fans have for him.
He's incredibly sweet, he's very funny, he's very bright and he's also
very knowledgeable about cinema. Not just movies but the history of
cinema. He knows a lot about it. He's just a sweetheart. And he's
totally professional. He's always right there. We had a lot of fun
shooting [the movie] because, as I say, he has a great sense of humor.
We just played a lot. I think that's a really great tone that's set for
everybody on the set. The lead actor has a really big influence on the
tone of the shoot. If you've got a guy who's very difficult and neurotic
or whatever, they can't help but affect everybody's day. But Rob is not
like that. He's just a ray of sunshine. In fact, he's in absolutely
every scene of the movie, so obviously his temperament would have a huge
influence on how the shoot went ... and it was a dream. It was a
beautiful shoot.
MTV: I think
one of the reasons why some are surprised with how this tournament
played out is that most of the films that were competing have trailers.
This one doesn't — at least not yet! When can fans expect to see a
trailer?
Cronenberg:
We feel probably that this won't be released until next fall. It's not
exactly a summer movie and it won't be ready for a while. The movie is
finished, but something that fans maybe don't know is how long it takes a
movie to get released. You want to do a couple of film festivals, the
studios in each country have to get their materials ready. The
photographs, the trailers, everything ... it takes a lot of time, you
know? The other thing is, we kind of want to keep things a little bit of
a secret until we unleash it on the world. We're pretty excited about
it and we don't really want to let too much out about what it is and how
it plays.
MTV: In terms of when this is coming out, you said perhaps fall of this year. So there's no firm release date just yet?
Cronenberg:
No, not at all. It's been sold to a lot of countries and distributors
around the world, but for example, it does not yet have U.S.
distribution. That's fine, because we didn't want to look for it until
we had the finished film. But frankly, the Movie Brawl results might
well help us get some good U.S. distribution! [He laughs.] I just
thought of that, but you know, it's possible! It's interesting to hear
that indication of interest before you even release a trailer — that's
pretty darn good. But you can't release a trailer until you have a
distributor, and a distributor has to really have all the material, so
it takes a while.
MTV: Well,
something close to 6 million votes were cast in this tournament, and
almost 4 million were cast in this final poll alone. The numbers do not
lie.
Cronenberg: That's fantastic. That's just great. That's just great.
MTV:
In the spirit of this tournament, what's the movie you're most excited
to see in 2012? What's the film you can't wait to get your eyes on?
Cronenberg:
You know, I'm so focused on what I've been doing that I actually don't
know what's around! It's strange. I haven't even caught up with last
year's films. I have a movie out now called "A Dangerous Method" with
Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen. I've been
touring the world promoting that, been to a ton of film festivals, but I
haven't had a chance to see any of the movies, because I'm constantly
having to do interviews and stuff for that. Now, that's calmed down now
that the movie has finally been released in the U.S., but the result is
that I'm way behind on everything.
MTV: So you've got to catch up on 2011 before moving onto 2012.
Cronenberg: That's right! Let me catch up first, and then I'll start thinking about 2012.
MTV: Finally, any last messages to the "Cosmopolis" fans who pushed this movie to the top?
Cronenberg: They won't be disappointed in Rob. He is fantastic.
posting Riesty ^ ^
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