‘How To Be’ director talks of Robert Pattinson

In an exclusive interview with Examiner, How To Be director Oliver Iriving talks about Robert, giving insights on him. With an infectious smile poking through a mushroomed mop of chestnut hair, Rob, prior to his dashing Edward Cullen days, used his prowess as a method actor to become Art and charm audiences worldwide. Robert received an award for best actor in his role as Art at the Strasbourg Film Festival.

Describe Robert Pattinson's look in How to Be- was it difficult to play down his striking features? Was the choice of hairstyle and clothing planned before his casting or customized to fit him?
Yeah, it was funny, the Twilight team had a very different agenda – whilst they were looking for the most perfect styling and angles to make Rob look awesome, we put him in the most ill-fitting, awkward clothes, and almost sought out the most unflattering angles. All the costumes where customized to fit him – we also asked him to bring in clothes of his own which we could mix into his wardrobe – we wanted the clothes to feel like his own and look comfortable on him. He remarked afterwards in a Q&A that half the clothes he wore in the film were his already and half the clothes he kept to wear afterwards. His hairstyle was the result of me asking him not to cut his hair until the shoot to see what we came up with – and that was it – perfect!

Were you familiar with Rob, or had you heard of him before he was cast?
No – he told me he was in a Harry Potter movie but made it seem like a small part. After the first audition I was sure he could be good, so checked him out online and realized he had a huge fan base already. Another call back or two to doubly make sure we had our man, and we were set.