Robert Pattinson & Jennifer Lopez | Actors on Actors - Full Conversation

What you gonna do with the money? Go ahead, you ask. Don't cut that in, I'll use that as a tease. Hustlers. Hustlers! I very much liked it. Thank you. I thought it was really great. It was really fun. Is it true? I heard you saw it twice or once? I've seen it once. Okay, okay. Who told you that? Somebody told me you saw it twice and I was very flattered. I got the link to watch it and I was gonna watch it again yesterday, but I didn't get around to it yet. Okay, no, it's fine, it's fine. But I saw it in the theatres. Yeah, that's great. I saw it in the theatres and I really, really enjoyed it. And it was packed. Thank you. Which is always nice. Always great. What was I gonna ask? I think I should ask you about what you were just talking about. Why do you think if Hustlers was directed by a man it would be different? I think it would be so different if it was directed by a man. First of all, I think when men think of strippers, they think of it in a different way than women do. How? In that, you know, I think what Hustlers exposed was that men have a very secret life that they think women don't know about. And they have a way that they think and look at women that is very sexual all the time, that is very objectified. A lot of the time. And they think we don't know about that. And in this environment of these clubs where you can be free in that, where men are allowed to kind of let that go and not have to cover it up all day. You really get to see that we know the secret. And I think if that was in the hands of a man, it would have been more careful for the men and a little bit less careful for the women. And we wouldn't have got, being that these were female protagonists, that there were women at the center of the story, it had to be the opposite. It had to be the opposite. You had to understand what it is to be a woman and to feel the things that a woman feels when a man looks at her in a certain way or treats her in a certain way. And I think Lorene Scafaria, the director, was really great in that she didn't treat either one too preciously. She told it really how it was from the women and from the men. So it was a nonjudgmental lens. Whereas I think from a man, it would have been a little bit more like these women would have been judged a little bit by them just because I think men put women in categories. Sweeping statements, Jesus! By the way, when I speak like this, I don't mean every man. I don't mean every man. I mean in general. I think you're probably right too. Probably right. You know what? Now that I think about it, Jen, you nailed it. But yeah, I think it just would have been really different. It would have been a very different movie. Do you worry if you're going to play a part that could have negative connotations to the audience when you first read it? Did you worry that, I mean, it's not exactly the greatest of things that they're doing. No, they're awful. They do awful things. Were you worried about doing a part like that? As an actress, no. The actress in me just looks at it on the page and goes, oh, it's going to be so much to sink my teeth into. I've never done anything like this. She's a stripper. She's also really unapologetic. She's a little bit of a pimp. There's so much going on that I've never explored before. And then there's Jennifer, the mom, and Jennifer, the public person, and Jennifer, all these other things. And yeah, I think I go through all of those silos and think about it. But in the end, for me, the artist always wins out because that's what I love to do. And at the end of the day, that is what I'm doing. I don't see it as like this is a statement about my life or the things that I believe. I started out as an actress to play amazing roles and do different things and explore different ways of life and transform myself into different people. Like, I enjoy that. That's so much fun for me. And just in little subtleties and nuances, you know, that I didn't—even though I knew I was playing a stripper who was drugging people and taking advantage of people and stealing, I found that exciting, you know, to be very honest. Do you think it's impossible to judge any character's actions once you start trying to play them? Do you think it's impossible? I think you have to love them. I think, you know, as an actor, 101, the first thing is you love that character. You love that character. And you justify all the things they're doing and you find a way to make it the right thing to do in that moment or whatever the circumstances are. You know what I'm saying. You're an amazing actor. And so you understand that you have to—you have to embrace fully the life of that person. Do you think, though, that you're—by trying to understand a character who's not necessarily behaving in the greatest of ways, you're imbuing them with your own empathy? As you're embodying them, you're thinking like, oh, because I can empathize—I've figured out a way to empathize with this character's actions, then they must have empathy themselves. Or is that just you projecting your own empathy onto that character? I think there's a part of it where you're just projecting your own empathy onto it because in real life, it's not something you would do. In real life, it's not a place that you would go to, right? You know the difference, but you know as an actor that you have to—you have to empathize with them. You have to understand them. You have to know the reasons why they're doing what they're doing and truly believe in the choice that they're making and make it real for yourself. So what you do, you take some of what maybe experiences that you have that are similar, I find really works for me. And I'm like, well, this is a little bit like when I did this or I did that. And it's so far away, but at least the essence of the emotion is there and the essence of the reasoning is there that you can understand it a little bit better. But yeah, I think it's more that you project onto it as opposed to like, really, oh yeah, I get why they did this. Yeah, I would have done this too. Actually, when I saw Ramona for the first time on screen, because I had such a good time playing her, I was so much fun to play somebody who was such a ******* badass and who really didn't care about anything but the money, you know, and about what she wanted and didn't care what their circumstances were or anything like that. And that kind of descended for her as the movie went on. When I first saw the movie, the first screening, they were like, oh, come see the screen. I'm like excited. I'm like, oh, first cut. Let's see what it's like. I was sick to my stomach. I was like, oh, my God. She is so what? And what are they doing? Oh, my God, this is awful. Am I part of this? And then I had to remove myself from it because I go when I watch a movie like Goodfellas or, you know, Boogie Nights or something where you delve into one of these underground worlds, these kind of see kind of underground, dangerous, but sexy, enticing world where you get caught up in doing bad things and it's a slippery slope. You really feel that that that pull, you know, that pull that they have always looks way sexier in movies. Yeah. And like a seedy kind of. Yeah. It's always like it always smells weird. It's just like this wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Well, when you read it in the script, you're like, oh, this is going to be amazing. And then you're there doing it, like you said, and you're walking around with like in your new movie, a gas mask on your face every day. And you're like, well, I can't say that's supposed to be secret. From here, you can do the carousel, put your head back, come down. You can do Peter Pan. You look just so the lighthouse. Incredible performance, incredible, no, incredible performance and a transformation for you, for you when you read the script. What was it about it that made you think, yeah, this is the next time because it's risky. It's a risky film, black and white, you know, Hitchcockian. Also very, you know, two characters, mostly the whole entire thing is super indie type feel. So it's not like the most commercial of films, obviously. But what made you think like this? This feels like a good idea. I mean, probably the same thing that appealed to you about Hustlers. Like you're thinking, I could be a stripper and stuff, like drugging people. I'm like, get to like have sex with a mermaid and like constantly naked, like weird. I have a cool mustache. No, I mean, it was like it was kind of really. It was really, really, really original and something kind of I didn't I read it. I love finding something where I have absolutely no idea how to do it. And there's all there's no I mean, there's there's nothing in it that I don't know how to do stuff to. I don't really approach parts if there's something relatable, mainly because I just. I don't really know if I was just going off to parts which seemed somehow relatable in my to my real life. So it would just be consistently playing just chronically insecure losers. It's not exactly the best career in the world. I think that would really it wouldn't last if it was not very much of a career. But it was something that you felt like you could really sink your teeth into. I think that's what people don't understand about actors and their choices, is that that's what it's about. It's about finding something you haven't done that you feel when you watch on film will be exciting to see or do. Yeah. And it's also something it's kind of you can explore an area of your personality, but it might not even necessarily. I think every part is some and somewhere in your mind. But like it's like with something like I was I was trying to find for years to do a like a ballet movie. And my agent was like, why? Do you know how to ballet? Do you know how to dance, do ballet? And I'm like, no. And I'm like, well, surely there has to be some kind of connection. But I know I really want to do it. But why? Why Bobby? Tell us why. I think that's just I don't know. Maybe this is something fascinating to you about the world or being a male ballet dancer. There's a ballerina inside me. You do have a female gaze. Once they come out. There's a ballerina in there. But yeah. Needs to dance. But I think there was something there's something about doing that, finding that movie when I was like it was kind of not completely regardless of what the story was. But I really wanted to do it just so you can kind of. Even though you're being filmed and it's going to have this audience and eventually people are going to see it. There's something very, very protected about shooting the actual movie. And it's kind of like, yeah, like it's a safe place. Like I would never, for instance, actually get a job as a stripper. But I probably would play a stripper in a movie. Right. And even that was terrifying. So you can imagine what being a stripper is like. Right. Oh, my God. I'm sure people I'm sure people some people love it. I mean, it's a way of life for a lot of people. And also, like, I mean, it's kind of there must be some kind of beneficial aspects of it. Like, you know, you get people who's been like, oh, you're really hot all the time every day. It's like, I mean, it's kind of. Yeah, it probably gets old after a while. Sound like a goddamn parody given and nagging orders like a like a sprints to school. Mom went all the while. Can you tell us a little bit what it was like making the lighthouse and working with William Defoe and the director? We made it on this tiny little in this tiny little town called Cape Horseshoe in southern Nova Scotia. And there was just nothing as a tiny little fishing village. And Robert Eggers, the director, he built the 70 foot lighthouse. And I mean, you would never be able to tell all of this. Every single set in the movie is kind of built. And the interiors are built as well on location to such exacting period. Correct. Specifications that you could open up every little drawer. And somehow they'd found cutlery from the lighthouse department in like 1880. I mean, everywhere you looked, it was insane. And the costumes and everything. But yeah, we kind of amazing. Yeah, he's amazing at production design. And also we're shooting on lenses from the 20s on black and white negative as well. Like, I mean, everything about it was. No, I felt that you felt that even just when when you first watched the trailer, you're like, well, this is like such a different feel. Yeah. And also the kind of aspect ratio when you sit in the theater, it's kind of it's very, very strange. It's in that kind of square aspect ratio. So when I saw one of the screenings the other day and it's just it's bizarre to go in a theater. You're so used to everything being widescreen and you're suddenly watching everything in this little box. It just feels it's funny. It just feels so striking that you go and it's only you're just watching it in a smaller screen. And it suddenly feels like something very new and kind of alien. But, yeah, we sort of basically spent every day under a rain machine. And I mean, I know your your character kind of descends into insanity as it goes. But it feels like the way that he set it up, the director and the way he did it. And did you guys stayed there and in that town, obviously somewhere and kind of stayed in that mindset the whole time? I mean, I don't really I mean, it's kind of I think it's one of those parts where you could see in the script that it was a kind of no limit part, which I always really like. There's nothing you can't really go crazy enough. Yeah, there's nothing you can't do that maybe couldn't. Yeah, you can't. You can't really be used. Yeah. And so I think we do these completely wild scenes. And then, I mean, literally after a take, you'd be so I mean, it's exhausted. You kind of exhausted, but it's very cathartic. I mean, kind of. I don't know how you'd be able to bring the part home. It'd be impossible. Because some I feel like some younger actors, they like feel like they need to stay in it all the time. And as I've done movies for many years now, it's like I can't wait for the end of the day to kind of let it go and go home and wash. Like literally like get in the shower and wash it all off. So I always say about people who do method acting, you only ever see people doing the method when they're playing an asshole. That's funny. You're funny. You're a funny person. You never see. You never see someone just being lovely to everyone. I'm really deep in character. Oh, my God. That's so funny. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, I get it. I get it with kind of things like accent and stuff. Kind of a little bit. Yeah, but yeah, not really. I think it's kind of refreshing to hear. I think it's really stressful to be going around just totally. And also taking yourself that seriously, like acting is serious. I love that part of it. But it's true. It's like you don't have to be this kind of brooding actor off screen, which is like gives everybody kind of a bad name. It's just insecurity. I think it is. I mean, I think there's I mean, there's definitely some people who I mean, the level you have to be at to like. I mean, I work with this movie called Good Time a few years ago where one of the directors was playing my brother in it and he could stay in character for the entire day. And I have never but it's the only person I've ever seen who can do it. And and it's so impressive. But like kind of. Yes, it's like a little bit crazy, it's crazy. I mean, I'm literally like and he was directing me as well as a different process to everybody has a different process. But yeah, I mean, I kind of I need that moment. I need to know when you're on stage and when you're off stage. I need to know that like between action and cut, it's like that's the thing. And that's the safe place. And also the place where you can just play, play, play, play, play, play so much. I think I need to know it ends. So I need to know that there's a cut coming. And then I feel safe if it just feels like you can't get out. You can't get out. Then that's when you go crazy. Right. Then you're really the lighthouse guy. Yeah, exactly. We don't want that. We want this guy and then we want the guy. You think you're so goddamn high and mighty, you're a goddamn lighthouse keeper. Well, you ain't a captain, no ship and you never was. You ain't no general. You ain't no copper. You ain't the president. You ain't my father. How so you produced this? I did. What made you when did you come on as a producer and what made you want to produce it? I first of all, I love producing. I've been producing for a while and we develop a lot of things. But this one actually was a part that my producing partner, Elaine Goldsmith Thomas, heard about. And she approached the other producer, Jessica Obam, who had optioned the actual article and gave it to Lorene to write Lorene Scafaria. And so when we came on, when she gave it to me and I read it, she was, I think there's a really good role here for you. And I was like, all right. And she was like, it's a stripper. I was like, like, again, I don't care. It doesn't matter. Just give it to me if it feels like it's something that's good. I want I want to read it. And so I read it and I was like, oh, yeah, I want to meet the director because I hadn't heard of her. And and I wanted to see what her take was, because I had a real sense of like I love movies where there's a world and then it's talking about the actual whole world. So it works on many different levels. Right. And so I wanted to make sure that, you know, that whole idea of the Wall Street guys and them. Stealing and doing exactly what these women were doing, but not getting away with it and these women not getting away with it was really interesting to me. And so we sat down and we talked about it. And once I signed on, I was like, you know, we'd love to produce this with you. And we were at one studio and then wound up having to take it to other studios. And so the producing process became actually a much, you know, more in-depth thing than just signing on, becoming a producer on something. And helping make the movie. Yes. And make all the choices that go along with. Casting and, you know, putting together the crew and all of the key people and things like that. But this was this was definitely something that became kind of an uphill trudge and battle to get made. Why do you think audiences like you doing this kind of part so much? I think they like to see me a little bit bad. You know, they're used to seeing me, you know, I've done Selena and Out of Sight and a lot of romantic comedies and they like that. You know what I love of yours, which I think is such an amazing movie, is The Cell. Oh, thank you. The Cell is such a dope movie. Yeah. I mean, Tarsem is a real visionary. Incredible. Yeah. He's an amazing director. And that movie still really holds up. So even the effects and everything. Yeah. That's still one of the scariest. When he when Vincent D'Onofrio is coming down, he first sees you and you turn around and press the little button. It's still chilling. Oh, my God. It's chilling. And to be caught in that world again, it's like creating these worlds where people, their imagination goes wild. And so cool. Yeah. I lost what we were talking about. Oh, the other movies. I think you said, why do people like me in this role? I think people want to see me tough and strong and bad. I think a little bit because they're used to seeing me a certain way. And when they saw this, they were like, oh, I think also like we've been developing a script for Griselda Blanco, who's kind of like a drug queenpin. And she, you know, a real character. And that got the same type of response that Hustlers did when people found out I was doing Hustler. So I think they just like they like a little bit of gangster in their Jennifer. I guess. But I enjoy I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it very much. And again, it was very different for me, very different for me. And to wrap up the other story, I was telling when I first saw it, I was really sick to my stomach. I was like, oh, my God, this is this is tough. You know, this was tough to watch. And then I had to separate myself and go, no, you're like watching Goodfellas right now. You're watching Boogie Nights. You're watching one of these movies. You're not condoning this lifestyle or these choices. You're playing a great story that actually happened in a world that's really interesting to people and that they don't know about. And so it was actually something once I let go of that, like that's not you up there. Separate yourself. I was able to enjoy the movie in the way everybody else did. How do you feel about when someone plays a part and then the audience or some people in the audience judge the actor for having even played the part in the first place? Yeah, that's what I mean. It's like you can't do that, right? Yeah, you can't. And I always say that when people go, oh, what about this movie? You're doing this. I was like, you know, I read this as an actress, like I'm an I'm an artist first. I'm an actress first. And when I look at these things, I look at them like, is there an interesting story to tell? What does it say about life? What does it say about people? What does it say about me? What does it say about her? What does it say about this character and what can we find in it that can be? I just think movies are made to make you think, to make you think and to make you dream and to make you feel and to entertain you, but also to make you think. And I think that's important. You know, I don't I don't think there's much more of it than that. That's that's why we love them. You know, whether you like, you know, scary movies or romantic comedies or indie movies about people going crazy or these girls. Seriously, you're about to say. Yeah, it is. But, you know, all of them have a place like and we can't not tell all the stories. I think it's just about telling the stories. We got to start thinking like these Wall Street guys. You see what they did to this country? They stole from everybody. Hardworking people lost everything. And not one of these douchebags went to jail. Not one. So we all got to know you. I got to know you when you did the Twilight series, you know, and you were the vampire. And and that was kind of a big studio film. And I've done some big studio films. What was it a conscious choice for you to kind of like seems like after that you haven't done that. But now you're about to play Batman. So was it a choice to kind of move away from that for a while? And also two more questions. I'm becoming an interviewer here. Two more questions. Why Batman? Like, were you ready to get back into like that big thing again? I mean, I like with Twilight, I never it was it wasn't really an established thing. To me, like the Catherine Harwick, who directed it, had done this movie called 13 and this other movie called Lords of Dogtown. They were like little movies, no cool kind of kind of hardcore movies. And Kristen was in stuff as well, like she'd been into the wild and some other thing. And it was kind of it was very, very indie indie. You thought it was gonna be like a Lost Boys type of thing. Exactly. I thought it was going to be pretty. But I mean, it's a weird story, Twilight. When it's not just like it kind of it's strange how people responded, I think, a lot to. I don't know. I guess the book they're very they are very romantic. But at the same time, it's not just like it's not like the notebook romantic. There's actually something in the notebook is very, very sweet and heartbreak and stuff. Yeah. It's about this guy like he's he's he finds the one girl who he wants to be with and also wants to eat her. I mean, it's literally like, well, not eat, drink, drink her blood, whatever. And and I mean, it's a pretty dramatic. It's a little bit Romeo and Juliet, too, like two worlds that can't be together, two families. But like, but it's but it's not other people telling them they can't be together. It's it's his own body, which is what made it interesting. Yeah. And it's like and I thought it was kind of I thought there are definitely bits of it, which were just like very kind of romantic. But it was kind of to me, I thought. I mean, I always thought even the stuff I was doing before, I thought it was a kind of pretty weird story. And even where I promote, I was very open about like how strange I thought it was when when I was doing it. And then afterwards, I didn't make a conscious decision really at all to do smaller things. I just basically kept doing what I wanted to do in the first place. Right. So you actually wanted to do some. OK, so this is a question when you are you're picking and you're starting out, you just want to do small, important films or stay away from studio films or that wasn't even in the thinking. It was just I want to do good films. I think that's what most people think. Yeah. I mean, I don't I don't understand or I know that one of my part, it's not part of my skill set to know what an audience wants at all. I don't have it. I mean, I'm not a big audience. I have no idea. And but I know what I want. And so the only thing I can really do is try and make a movie which I think I will go and see. And then the chances are there's going to be like at least one other person who will want to see it. And also, like, I always kind of think there's more people like you out there. And I was just thinking like, yeah, I sort of fell into acting. I mean, I just always kind of so I've still got the mentality that I think that every job might be your last one. And so I want if it's going to be my last job, I don't want it to be something which I think is cool. And I mean, it's kind of cool if like if if what takes you out is is banging a mermaid. I mean, that's pretty great. That's pretty great. And it's like it's kind of like, yeah, I shouldn't have done that. Yeah. And with Batman, I there was something I mean, it's a strange one for me. I mean, even my agents were like because I was very, very focused on it. I don't know why. I kind of just kept coming back into my head. And I was working quite a bit. I mean, it's like probably two years ago. And even my agent was like, really? Because I normally it's not really wanted to do Batman. So you sought out the part. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. Well, I'm not like sort it out. But I was saying I was interested. Like if they're going to do another Batman, I want to do it. Or you knew they were going to do another one. I knew they were doing another one. And then and then it just really appealed to me. And and there was this just something. I know there was definitely a part of this. I don't know what it is which happened inside me. But I was like kind of want to do. It's a different feeling when you do something, when you kind of know that there's an audience who has. Yeah. There's an anticipation from an audience that's already there. And it's a different kind of pressure. Like I like doing something which is kind of something which an audience doesn't know that it wants. And try and try to kind of get it out to them. And that's a whole different thing. But like it's something it gets. There's a there's your competitive part. It's competitive side as well. And you just know that there's, you know, everyone's kind of gonna. Oh, wait. Oh, you want to play? Yeah. And it's kind of fun. I mean, it's it's sort of you know, it's it's it's the challenge of it. It's kind of interesting to be Batman. And that's crazy. It's so fun. Yes. Whenever I see that little action figure or something, I still haven't really got my head around it yet. I think you'd be a great Batman, an awesome Batman. Seriously, because he's a dark character. Huh? You would be as well. I would be Batman, too. I could be Batman. Yeah. Why not? No, because I think he's actually has a lot of it's different as well. I mean, I have no interest whatsoever in playing someone who's heroic. The only time I want to play someone who an audience knows that they're supposed to like is when they really shouldn't like them. That's the only time. But there's a drive to Batman. Why he does what he does that I think as an actor would be fun to explore. Like, what is all this stuff and living with the old guy and very, very, very troubled person. There's a very few of a character who's regarded by everyone as a heroic character. Most of them come, they know that they need to save the day and they're saving the world. And they know they're good. And I always found it interesting with Batman that he's always struggling a little bit. Especially, well, in some iterations of the story anyway, that he doesn't know if he's that great or not. And that's kind of interesting. Kind of proving yourself all the time. So you're playing at the Super Bowl. I am. Are you excited? I am excited. I think there's not a musical artist in the world that doesn't dream of performing at the Super Bowl. And so to be able to do that this year is a dream come true. Have you already put the show together? I'm putting it together now. I'm putting it together now, me and Shakira together. I think we're both excited to have been given the opportunity to do that. And then to stand there as two Latin women in Miami and to kind of bring that flavor. I think that's why it kind of all worked out really perfectly. And to kind of bring our specific thing that we do and show the world. I think it's important in this day and age for two Latin women to be standing on that stage. When Latinos are being treated a certain way in this country or looked at in a certain way. To show that we have a really specific and beautiful culture and worth and value. And we bring something to this country that's necessary. And I think that's going to be an amazing moment. My main thing with the show is I want to have the show so dialed in and locked in. And be so happy what it is that I can just have fun. That's my goal. That night I want it to be a celebration of who we are. All of us because we're in this together. That's how I feel. I want to bring everybody together in that moment. Are you close to Shakira? Have you worked together before? We haven't worked together before. I've known her for years. And when we both found out we were doing it, we were super excited. And she's like, this has been my dream my whole life. I said, no, it's all of our dreams. And she was like, we're going to have a good time. And so we've talked a lot. We're collaborating. Trying to figure out what amazing things we can do. Because it's actually a great show because they put so much into it. You have a budget that you never get to have when you're on tour for yourself. So you can really dream big and have fun with it. So we're looking to have a good time that night.