Thursday, March 11, 2010
'Remember Me' Director Allen Coulter talks about the Twilight Mania, Paparazzi and Rob
Twilight is part of this movie even if you didn't intend it, in the way it brings attention to the movie and just the fact that Summit is releasing it. How has that worked for you?
When we cast him Twilight wasn't out, and I didn't know who he was. That was an advantage, because I cast him just because I liked him. We hope people will go to this movie who might not have pursued it otherwise. If he wasn't this phenom, you wouldn't automatically assume that tens of thousands of teenage girls would show up the first day. We hope that is the case. But this is a movie I made for adults.
When did you realize you had the biggest star in the world in your movie?
Certainly the first day, when we had the thousands of girls standing outside from dawn until dusk. We realized what we were in for. It was not easy, believe me.
We understand there was one day where you snapped at the paparazzi?
We found ourselves in a situation with the movie that we never expected to be in. No one had an idea that basically we had unleashed Elvis. It was tough from the very beginning. All of us were a little gobsmacked by this. We just struggled the best we could. That was just a day that I felt the sense of entitlement the paparazzi had, that they had the right to demand certain kinds of shots. We were just trying to make the day, the sun was falling, the last shot that we did, that was it. They were angry they couldn't get a shot of him. They felt it was their right, that we should accommodate them. I lost it, and they deserved it. They deserve worse. That was the one time I couldn't hold back.
What inspired you to cast Rob to begin with?
We needed someone who could embody a certain kind of angst that one feels at 21, and the complications and complex relationships that grow from the confusions of being 21. And Rob seemed in our initial meeting to understand that and grasp that, but have enough distance on it to be able to act that.
Read the full interview at the source
Win Tickets To The ‘Remember Me’ Premiere in London!
R-Pattz will be there, and you could be too…
Calling all Twi-Hards, Robert Pattinson is coming to London, and YOU could be there to see him!
To celebrate the release of Robert Pattinson’s new movie Remember Me, which is released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on April 2, we have FIVE PAIRS of tickets to give away TO THE PREMIERE!
The premiere takes place at London’s Odeon Leicester Square on Wednesday, March 17, R-Pattz will be there — and so could you and a friend.
Just click on the link at the top of this page to enter our comp, then keep everything crossed…
source via source
A lot of new 'Remember Me' Reviews - Spoilers
From The Huffington Post
As a joke, I once had a roll of stickers printed up, which I employed to express a certain bewilderment with the world. They were bright orange and they contained a single question:
“Whose stupid idea was this?”
You can see the myriad applications. Were it possible to apply them to movies, I’d have run out a long time ago – though certainly one could easily be resurrected for Remember Me, a movie for which those stickers were made.
Read full review HERE
From The Desert Sun
I’ve never been a fan of Robert Pattinson. That assessment is based on the actor’s most famous role to date, the vampire Edward in the “Twilight” films. I thought he delivered wooden performances in both movies.
But after watching him in the new film “Remember Me,” I’m intrigued. He carried the movie from its shaky start to its heart-wrenching conclusion.
Unlike his “Twilight” co-star, Taylor Lautner, Pattinson is making brave career choices. While Lautner will soon be busy working on standard thrillers like “Abduction” or sure-fire blockbusters like “Stretch Armstrong,” Pattinson will bury himself in art-house films like “Bel Ami” and “Water for Elephants.”
Taking a cue from Johnny Depp, Pattinson peppers his resumé with iconic roles such as Edward and memorable characters like the one he played in “Remember Me.” He stars as Tyler, a rebel with a cause who has serious daddy issues.
Full review HERE
From TND.com
“Remember Me” could have been called “The Many Moods of Robert Pattinson’s Hair.”
Scruffy, coiffed, combed, exploding like an M-80 in a haystack, flattened by sleep, wet from having a pot of spaghetti water dumped on him … this young actor’s follicles are the star of the show.
Pattinson (of the “Twilight” saga, naturally) plays Tyler Hawkins, estranged from his rich, powerful and remote lawyer father (Pierce Brosnan) and living in abject squalor in a Soho apartment. He’s angry and sullen and rudely smokes in inappropriate situations. He audits classes at New York University but apparently has no ambition or goals.
We’re led to believe that Tyler’s malaise is a result of the suicide of his older brother, but perhaps he’s just a jerk. It looks as if the actor absorbed all the angst-riddled mannerisms of the late James Dean but overlooked the humanity.
Full review HERE
More reviews:
Buzznett
The Hot Hits
Joblo.com
Rob's Roundtable Interview With ComingSoon.net - Spoilers
Robert Pattinson's instantaneous and often overwhelming star power is fantastic for the moment. But what happens when "The Twilight Saga" comes to a close and his herds of adoring fans find another up and comer to fawn over? If Pattinson has anything to do with it, he'll have moved on from simply being a Hollywood heartthrob and have established himself as a reputable actor. Not only does Remember Me provide him with the opportunity to be remembered long after his claim to fame has come and gone, but it allows him to deliver a similarly important concept to moviegoers: the value of moving on but never forgetting.
Pattinson stars as Tyler, an NYU student struggling with a vast amount of demons he's not quite sure really exist. It's fortunate that Pattinson can't relate to his character in two respects: he didn't have a troubled youth and that disconnect made the role much more intriguing to tackle. During a roundtable interview he explained, "All the people who I've met who are troubled teenagers, you meet their family and their family is like, 'I don't know what to do. He's just – I have no idea what his problem is.'" Tyler definitely has problems to work out, but a recent family tragedy further exacerbates the situation causing him to get unnecessarily heated and even violent.
De Ravin's character doesn't only share a particularly strong connection with Tyler, she has one with her father, police detective Sgt. Neil Craig (Chris Cooper), too. Just as Tyler doesn't know where to direct his anger, neither does Neil. Ever since his wife was murdered right in front of young Ally's eyes, he's carried on as a very protective father, often overly so. Tyler feels the brunt of Neil's desperation to keep his little girl safe when the two get into a scuffle.
Pattinson recalled, "Chris is deceptively incredibly strong." He added, "I remember I'd seen a lot of stuff with Chris Cooper and I stupidly said, 'Isn't he always small?' Because I don't know, I've always had this image of him being quite small and then he turned up on the day and he could literally throw me around the room."
Luckily for Pattinson, Cooper was aware of the intensity of the scene and how to handle it. "Everybody was aware of how close the camera was and how much force to be used on working with Robert." But Cooper points out that this is no ordinary fight scene. He explained, "given the circumstances [Tyler is] confronting me about what and why he developed this relationship with my daughter and it was just simply a ferocious father's reaction to what the father interpreted as mean and mean spirited."
De Ravin wholeheartedly agreed, "[Neil], as [Ally] is, is scared because they're all each other's had for the last ten years, so that then sort of manifests."
And that's not the only scene infused with intensity. Pattinson found a moment between his character and his father particularly difficult to film due to an issue that nearly everyone can relate to. "It was supposed to be one of those arguments where you feel like, this is the time I'm really going to let my dad or whatever have it, and then the only thing that comes out is this hysterical yabbering." When you're overwhelmed with fervor for a particular matter, there's no controlling the words that can flood out. Tyler's vehemence often skews his better judgment, particularly when it comes his father's negligence of his young sister.
That particular matter generates one of Remember Me's most remarkable elements, Tyler's relationship with his little sister Caroline (Ruby Jerins). On top of struggling with the same familial misfortune as Tyler, she struggles with a faulty connection to her father and is a victim of bullying at school. Tyler takes it upon himself to come to Caroline's rescue whenever necessary. De Ravin was nearly speechless when discussing her youngest co-star, "If there's anything else going on on the screen when I watch the film, it doesn't matter. She's amazing. She's so – and in observing her when I worked with her but also when I saw her working with Robert. They had amazing chemistry too. They were just perfect together."
Pattinson has two older sisters of his own, but appreciated the opportunity to adopt a younger one. "Ruby in the film, is kind of like the ideal little sister. Even in reality she's like the coolest 11-year-old I've met in a long time." He particularly likes the scene "where [Tyler] goes into the school to confront Caroline's bullies." It may not be the most appropriate course of action, but it has a sense of justification. Pattinson added, "It's just a fantasy thing for me, being the older brother, you always want to do stuff like that. It sounds like the most unprofound idea, but it did feel really good doing it."
Even with the profound nature of the characters' circumstances, nothing can compare to the film's conclusion. Beginning in the year 1991 and then jumping to the year 2001, there's no denying that 9/11 will eventually make some sort of impact. There's no doubt that once that momentous scene arrives, audience members will have conflicting opinions concerning its inclusion and Cooper was well aware of the potential controversy. "I was a little concerned about the use of that as, for lack of better words, a device in the film." After viewing the film he was confident that rather than using the event as a means to evoke emotion, director Allen Coulter respectfully recognized the victims. "When I saw 'Remember Me' I said, 'Okay, that's possibly one of those individuals.' I thought it was fair and valid." De Ravin said, "It's a huge part of the year the movie's set in, so the film wouldn't be doing justice to that year without involving that."
Then there's the added concern that Remember Me could be too profound for the demographic Pattinson's involvement will inevitably attract. Screenwriter Will Fetters points out that they were obligated to create a PG film from what he considered to be an "R script." However, the film did earn its PG rating and Fetters is confident that it is an "adult-themed story that can be experienced by young people."
That's a good thing considering throngs of 'Twihards' will likely invade theaters come March 12th just as they invaded the film's New York set. Pattinson's star power is undeniable and everyone involved in the making of Remember Me felt it through the massive presence of Pattinson's fans. De Ravin admitted, "It was distracting at times." She noted that the set was very accessible. "It's not like you can close down Central Park." She continued, "If Rob and I are just trying to get the logistics together of our rehearsal and figure something out you've got everyone watching you and just knowing that, even if you're not looking at them watching you, just knowing that [made it] trying to focus."
Cooper joked, "You're just glad it's not happening to you." He recalled, "I'm taking the train back and forth because I'm not needed everyday and here I am opening up my bags to put my clothes in the drawer, I turn on the TV and it's a news flash that, 'Robert Pattinson's been hit by a taxi cab,' and I'm thinking, 'Well do we have a film?'"
Even with the taxi incident, Pattinson was accepting of the situation. "It's always going to be difficult when you're just trying to play a normal guy and then you go around the corner and everyone's taking pictures." He assured us, "It got better throughout the shoot. As soon as you get used to it, it just becomes like any other job. It's just part of the furniture."
So what's next for the series that earned Pattinson such a massive amount of adoring fans? Other than The Twilight Saga: Eclipse hitting theaters on June 30th, nothing quite yet. Pattinson explained, "I'm only doing two more films – oops - one, maybe two more films [laughs], before we do any version of 'Breaking Dawn.'" That one Pattinson is doing with "Declan Donnellan who's an English theater director. I'm in his film called 'Bel Ami.'" The oops-worthy film? Perhaps he's referring to Francis Lawrence's Water for Elephants in which he'll star alongside Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz. Regardless, Pattinson lamented, "There's only so much you can do. It would be annoying to have films coming out like every three months, so you can't do too many, but at the same time you do things to try and make sure you don't get pigeonholed in any particular area."
He should discuss typecasting with Cooper. He's the quintessential testy cop. Having played the role numerous times, Cooper hopefully exclaimed, "I've been trying to put the word out. I would love to play a comedy. I'd love to." He recollected, "The only person that ever took slightly a chance with me was Spike Jonze in 'Adaptation.'" Unfortunately he had to add, "But then nobody else has taken a chance like Spike. I've gone back to, 'Oh okay, play the tough guy, play the military, FBI characters.' That's just how it works out." Even though he considers his characters all-too-similar, he's still very thankful for every opportunity that comes his way. Of John Wells' The Company Men he said, "They're coming to me to work with Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Costner and Ben [Affleck]. It's a great compliment and it was a great little ensemble of actors and all of them were dealing with this loss of and the insecurity of losing their jobs and I think it's a timey story and, once again, it's valid filmmaking for me." That film has yet to secure a distributor in the US, but Cooper has enough on his plate to keep him busy for the time being. He's in "'The Town,' [which] Ben Affleck directed. I play his father in that. It's just one scene but it's a really good, really good script. 'The Tempest,' Julie Taymor and I just finished working with John Sayles for the fifth time on a film called 'Baryo' about the American occupation of the Philippines."
As for de Ravin, it's no surprise that she'll be busy in Hawaii for a little while longer. After season four of "Lost" she was put on "a holding deal for season five." That secured her character, Claire Littleton, up until now, but with a show like "Lost" you never know what'll happen and which cast member will be the next to fall victim to some force on the island. De Ravin assured us, "Yeah, we're still going. I've been working a lot and we've got what? Like three episodes left to shoot." So it seems as though we can look forward to enjoying Claire's presence up until the very end. As for de Ravin's plans for after the show concludes she said, "I'm looking at projects to work on right now. I'm taking meetings, but I'd like to go home for a couple of weeks."
Pattinson, Cooper and de Ravin are certainly unforgettable in the acting realm, but will Remember Me have a lasting impact? You can see for yourself when it arrives in theaters on March 12.
ComingSoon.Net
Rob and Noel Clarke
TWILIGHT FANS: EXCLUSIVE
ME AND YOUR HERO BACKSTAGE AT THE BAFTAS. he is a very nice young man.
from Noel's tumblr credit to Charlie-grey.com
via kstewstwins
From Thinking Of Rob Lais Tavarez a teacher in Brazil sent the follow ing informa tion and pictures. Here’s what she had to say: R
You want to hate him. But then you get to know him, and he gets to know himself, and you wonder if Vampire Boy might just turn into the man who teaches a generation of jaded sex symbols how to be movie stars we love.
By separating his surprisingly modest personality from his gratuitously oversexed persona, Pattinson has obliquely demanded that he be taken seriously.
A funny, unexpected thing happened to me on a recent Saturday in New York: I literally ran into Robert Pattinson, and he left me... starstruck. He had to earn it, though, as I tend to cow neither to celebrities nor the young male heartthrob kind. I'd met the actor at an event for his new film Remember Me, which comes out Friday, but an accidental encounter with him and his entourage in a hotel corridor — where the stench of sycophancy lingered like stale piss — got things off on the wrong foot. About twenty minutes later, Pattinson and a not-quite-as-rank entourage greeted me and a handful of other journalists. I didn't expect much. His vagina allergies aside, the world's most conspicuous vampire since Dracula is notoriously shy, and Remember Me wasn't especially good. What was left to discuss?
A lot, as it turned out, most of which hinged on the basic separation of persona from character, of public from private, of myth from man. Not that Pattinson himself, as one of the world's most in-demand men, would dare reduce his life to such binary terms. Instead, he went on and on about his limitations. "If I could do supporting roles in things, then I'd love to do that," he told me. "But it's difficult to get supporting roles because it would be really weird most of the time. 'Well, there's the guy from Twilight playing the parking warden,' or something." He smiled and laughed beneath that notorious shock of hair, not quite swearing off ambition as much as suggesting the cost of self-importance was simply too steep to pay — even for a twenty-three-year-old who made $18 million last year. He was down to earth about being stratospherically famous, and it was... refreshing.
Now I don't know what exactly I expected from Pattinson, but it definitely wasn't this kind of canny profile management. In a day and age when other young sex symbols seem to grapple with the burden of perspective, Pattinson transcended his brooding pulchritude with modesty and charm. "What can you do?" he seemed to ask. It's a shame he couldn't infuse Remember Me with some of that lilt, but ultimately, the movie needs it much less than the general culture around Pattinson. And by general culture I mean feeding frenzy from middle school gym class to the upper reaches of Hollywood studios and, yes, to the lives of ordinary grown men who like going to the movies.
Indeed, Pattinson might do well to host some sort of seminar for his colleagues: Persona Control in the New Age of the Sex Symbol. From his co-stars in the Twilight franchise to the megastarlets and overexposed princes around whom increasingly more of Hollywood orbits, you can sense the resentment of what fame has wrought. I often find them bristling and pouting their ways through surreal everyday scenarios like the one above, consumed with anger and fear that they can have anything they want except what they really want: to be taken seriously. But as an outsider, it never occurred to me to take someone like Robert Pattinson seriously at all — until he relinquished the compulsion to convince me. That was the star move, and don't be surprised to see it adopted by an entire generation of would-be stars once they realize that, if they want to survive this racket, they have no other choice.
By separating his surprisingly modest personality from his gratuitously oversexed persona, Pattinson has obliquely demanded that he be taken seriously.
A funny, unexpected thing happened to me on a recent Saturday in New York: I literally ran into Robert Pattinson, and he left me... starstruck. He had to earn it, though, as I tend to cow neither to celebrities nor the young male heartthrob kind. I'd met the actor at an event for his new film Remember Me, which comes out Friday, but an accidental encounter with him and his entourage in a hotel corridor — where the stench of sycophancy lingered like stale piss — got things off on the wrong foot. About twenty minutes later, Pattinson and a not-quite-as-rank entourage greeted me and a handful of other journalists. I didn't expect much. His vagina allergies aside, the world's most conspicuous vampire since Dracula is notoriously shy, and Remember Me wasn't especially good. What was left to discuss?
A lot, as it turned out, most of which hinged on the basic separation of persona from character, of public from private, of myth from man. Not that Pattinson himself, as one of the world's most in-demand men, would dare reduce his life to such binary terms. Instead, he went on and on about his limitations. "If I could do supporting roles in things, then I'd love to do that," he told me. "But it's difficult to get supporting roles because it would be really weird most of the time. 'Well, there's the guy from Twilight playing the parking warden,' or something." He smiled and laughed beneath that notorious shock of hair, not quite swearing off ambition as much as suggesting the cost of self-importance was simply too steep to pay — even for a twenty-three-year-old who made $18 million last year. He was down to earth about being stratospherically famous, and it was... refreshing.
Now I don't know what exactly I expected from Pattinson, but it definitely wasn't this kind of canny profile management. In a day and age when other young sex symbols seem to grapple with the burden of perspective, Pattinson transcended his brooding pulchritude with modesty and charm. "What can you do?" he seemed to ask. It's a shame he couldn't infuse Remember Me with some of that lilt, but ultimately, the movie needs it much less than the general culture around Pattinson. And by general culture I mean feeding frenzy from middle school gym class to the upper reaches of Hollywood studios and, yes, to the lives of ordinary grown men who like going to the movies.
Indeed, Pattinson might do well to host some sort of seminar for his colleagues: Persona Control in the New Age of the Sex Symbol. From his co-stars in the Twilight franchise to the megastarlets and overexposed princes around whom increasingly more of Hollywood orbits, you can sense the resentment of what fame has wrought. I often find them bristling and pouting their ways through surreal everyday scenarios like the one above, consumed with anger and fear that they can have anything they want except what they really want: to be taken seriously. But as an outsider, it never occurred to me to take someone like Robert Pattinson seriously at all — until he relinquished the compulsion to convince me. That was the star move, and don't be surprised to see it adopted by an entire generation of would-be stars once they realize that, if they want to survive this racket, they have no other choice.
For starters, take Kristen Stewart, biting her lip in protest — as per usual — on her way to the podium on Oscar night. Pattinson's Twilight co-star was all gorgeous, coiled sulk — a hilarious counterweight to co-presenter (and her other Twilight co-star) Taylor Lautner, whose plasticine perma-grin defied Stewart's public existential crisis. Lautner may seem all looks and no brains, but at least he knows when to live in his abject superstardom. Not so with the nineteen-year-old Stewart, who despite growing up in Hollywood and having acted half her life still insists on playing the outsider. But what, exactly, are young women like her defending against? Ask anyone who's worked with Stewart and they'll tell you she's too stubborn, too ambitious, and too sensitive to sputter out-of-control — to throw away the talent that she's clearly displayed in smaller films like The Cake Eaters and Adventureland. In fairness, I can't imagine the pressure of being tethered to her Twilight siren, Bella Swan, for years to come, either. Yet this contrived distance between the Stewart who'll soon appear as a young Joan Jett in The Runaways and the one who'll throw herself at Pattinson and/or Lautner this summer in Eclipse has stretched too thin to support the young woman in the middle. Discomfort in one's skin is one thing. Snarling entitlement is another.
Maybe Megan Fox, at twenty-three, can save herself from the same fate. Much has been made of her apparent motivation to corner the market on sex symbolism and voice of a generation, but I'm one of the few people who'll stick up for Jennifer's Body, which purposely enlisted her to demonstrate the steep costs of sexuality for sexuality's sake. That she played along with it (and pulled it off, I swear) was a testament to the "serious actress" Fox can be — the clever young woman who spotted and took the opportunity to redeem her own myth. The problem is that Fox spent the entire run up to Jennifer's Body explaining the joke to death, complete with the angry punch line, "I am a serious actress." Whereas once she couldn't outrun the Transformers franchise fast enough, now she appears to realize it can enable both contrast and freedom in her career. She may have missed this with Jennifer's Body, but she'll do better going forward. Or at least as well as the current face of Emporio Armani underwear and the pistol-packing prostitute in this summer's mega-comic-movie Jonah Hex can do without blaming everyone else for turning her into a cartoon. Professor Pattinson would tell her to just own it, and he'd be right.
Again, I don't pretend to know what it's like to negotiate this terrain at such an age, and I definitely wouldn't ascribe this complex to beautiful young women alone. After all, though they're a little older (and should thus know even better), you can't escape the likes of John Mayer and Ashton Kutcher swooning at their sounds of their own voices. Mayer is Mayer, knowingly edgy enough to infuriate but too much of a self-righteous pussy to commit — just another blame-the-media type, even if one of the media is Twitter and he's burying himself 144 characters at a time. Kutcher's not as bad (is anybody?), though I love that he thinks Twitter gives him some leverage against those who'd dare to compromise his public citizenry. "It's a beautiful environment," he said recently. "You can take the control back in your relationship with the media. You can dictate your own view." Yes, Ashton, because your encounters with Lady Gaga or your upcoming film Killers — a romantic comedy with that other persona-embattled young thing, Katherine Heigl — demand only the purest standard of dissemination.
But just in case the lessons of Pattinson are lost on them all, there may yet be hope for youth. Watch and see what happens with Greta Gerwig, the indie darling whom Noah Baumbach recruited as the female lead in his upcoming Ben Stiller dramedy Greenberg. She already has acquired a sort of mini-legend from her concerted, clothes-allergic "Mumblecore" efforts like Hannah Takes the Stairs and Nights and Weekends. But Gerwig's presence opposite Stiller — and her charm in the promotional realm over the last month — may portend a new kind of model for the accessibility of the earthbound hottie. Which also brings to mind Alice Eve, whose She's Out of My League directly addresses that very accessibility with a schlub played by Jay Baruchel; Eve has done just fine expressing her concerns about objectification without all the baleful moans and mopes.
And of course, there's Pattinson himself — that new ambassador of extraterrestrial beauty — who seems to get how fleeting, how absurd, how extraordinary it all really is. Oh, and how to make it work. Shouldn't we all be so lucky?
Thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
lunapreity
lunapreityRob is the Subject of a Project Science Fair in Brazil
From Thinking Of Rob
Lais Tavarez a teacher in Brazil sent the follow ing informa tion and pictures.
Here’s what she had to say:
Robert Pattinson is the subject of project in Brazilian Science Fair.
The high school students at a public school (E.E. Prof. José da Costa) in São Paulo: Laysla Jayne dos San tos Sousa, Milka Alves de Santana and Ari ane Erika Santos de Holanda created a research project on the important work of actor Robert Pattinson to the success of Edward Cullen in Twilight and how he helped to encourage more people to join the reading. The girls are presenting the project in FEBRACE (Brazilian Fair of Science and Engineering) organized by the University of São Paulo (USP), one of the most famous universities in Brazil.
The project name is: TWILIGHT SAGA: POP PHENOMENON RECREATE CONTEMPORARY HERO COMPARING TO EDWARD CULLEN ROBERT PATTINSON.
For more information about the fair, the link of Febrace is http://febrace.org.br/ and see more photos of the first day of group participation, in the school’s blog: http://josedacosta2005.zip.net or link of UOL Education: http://educacao.uol.com.br/album/febrace_2010_album.jhtm#fotoNav =19.
Leigh Paatsch Review (Australia Herald Sun)
"Pretty boy pretty good"
Put-up-or-shut-up time for Robert Pattinson is not officially scheduled until the sun finally sets on the Twilight phenomenon.
So fair play to the British heart-throb for skipping well ahead of the program and testing himself in trying circumstances for Remember Me.
Obviously very eager to prove he is more than just a poster-friendly face, Pattinson is on a mission here to flash some legit acting credentials.
In spite of the odd awkward moment in Remember Me, even the most churlish observer will have to admit the guy has got what it takes to stick around a while in this business.
In terms of story and style, Remember Me is best described as a dirty, downbeat distant relative of Dear John. Both films share the same turn-of-the-last-decade timeframe, and exploit a delicately distressed romance to simultaneously warm the heart and empty the tear ducts.
Pattinson plays Tyler Hawkins, a poor little rich boy student-slumming it in a grotty New York apartment to get back at his heartless tycoon of a dad (Pierce Brosnan).
Early on, heavy hints are dropped that Tyler has other, non-parent-baiting reasons for being such a chain-smoking, binge-drinking, babe-slaying no-hoper.
All will adequately explained in the fullness of time, particularly once Tyler softens up his hard-man act to start a relationship with cute classmate Ally (Emilie de Ravin).
In the interest of added complications, it also turns out that Tyler recently had a run-in with Ally’s father, a tough New York cop (Chris Cooper). Naturally, Tyler keeps this sensitive matter a secret until the worst possible moment.
So far, so relatively predictable then. Or so you would think. To be honest, Remember Me gets quite good quite quickly once it completes the business of sketching out its familiar storyline.
A good deal of time is spent getting to the bottom of Tyler and Ally’s respective family problems, and the payoff earned is genuinely compelling. And sincerely moving, too. The pairing of Pattinson with de Ravin is the key here. In their many scenes together, the stars effectively channel that unique "you and me against the world" vibe that young lovers everywhere know so well.
It is only when Pattinson breaks free of his leading lady’s intense gravitational pull that he sometimes misjudges his performance and tries some of James Dean’s old moves.
A scene where Tyler bursts into the school of his younger sister and roughs up one of her bullying classmates is an absolute howler. Then again, perhaps the script can be blamed. Not even Sean Penn at the height of his powers would have found a way to emerge with his dignity intact.
All in all, Remember Me is a faintly memorable romantic drama that proves there are bigger, better and not so pale-and-precious things to come from Robert Pattinson.
Rating: 3 Stars out of five.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/film-review-remember-me/story-e6frf8r6-1225839259838
Roger Ebert Reviews 'Remember Me
That's it! The BIG name... He gave 3 STARS! A few spoilers
"Remember Me" tells a sweet enough love story, and tries to invest it with profound meaning by linking it to a coincidence. It doesn't work that way. People meet, maybe they fall in love, maybe they don't, maybe they're happy, maybe they're sad. That's life. If, let us say, a refrigerator falls out of a window and squishes one of them, that's life, too, but it's not a story many people want to see. We stand there looking at the blood seeping out from under the Kelvinator and ask with Peggy Lee, is that all there is?
You can't exactly say the movie cheats. It brings the refrigerator onscreen in the first scene. It ties the action to a key date in Kelvinator history, one everybody knows even if that's all they know about refrigerators. But come on. This isn't the plot for a love story, it's the plot for a Greek tragedy. It may be true, as King Lear tells us, that as flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods. But we don't want to think ourselves as flies, or see fly love stories. Bring on the eagles.
The fact is, "Remember Me" is a well-made movie. I cared about the characters. I felt for them. Liberate them from the plot's destiny, which is an anvil around their necks, and you might have something.
The film opens on a New York subway platform. A young girl witnesses the senseless murder of her mother. We meet her again as a young woman. She is Ally Craig (Emilie de Ravin, from "Lost"), the daughter of a police sergeant (Chris Cooper). She's in college. Having lost his wife, he is intensely protective of her.
We meet a feckless young man named Tyler Hawkins (Robert Pattinson). He slouches about trying to look like a dissipated Robert Pattinson. Drinks too much, smokes too much, has the official four-day stubble on his face, hair carefully messed up, bad attitude. He lives in a pigpen of an apartment with a roommate named Aidan (Tate Ellington), who might have been played by Oscar Levant back in the days when such roommates were obnoxious, OK, but bearable.
Tyler gets drunk one night, is thrown out of a club, gets in a fight, the cops are called, and when it's almost all over, he shoves one of the cops -- Sgt. Craig, of course. Young drunks: It is extremely unwise to shove the cop who is about to let you off with a warning. Tyler is thrown in the slammer. Not long after in school, the snaky Aidan tells Tyler that their pretty classmate Ally is the daughter of that very cop. He dares Tyler to ask her out and then dump her in revenge.
Aidan is a jerk, but logically Tyler is, too, because this set-up is morally reprehensible. However, to the surprise of no one in the audience, Tyler falls for Amy and neglects to break up with her. Their courtship is a sensitive, well-acted progression through stages of mutual trust and Tyler's gradual rediscovery of his own real feelings.
There's an intriguing subplot. Tyler's parents are divorced. His father is the immensely wealthy Charles Hawkins (Pierce Brosnan), whose office looks larger than small airplane terminals. Diane, his mother (Lena Olin), has remarried. Tyler's beloved kid sister Caroline (Ruby Jerins) lives with her. Only with Caroline can Tyler relax and drop the sullen facade, showing warmth and love. Until he meets Ally -- and then there are two safe harbors, and his rebirth begins.
Pierce Brosnan plays a key role in the process. He has only a few significant scenes in the movie, but plays them so well that he convincingly takes a three-step character development and makes it into an emotional evolution. Meanwhile, Ally and Tyler encounter fierce opposition to their relationship from her dad, who can't be blamed because as a cop, he saw Tyler at his drunken worst.
These people and their situation grow more involving as the movie moves along. Then there's a perfect storm of coincidences to supply the closing scenes. That's what I object to.
If we invest in a film's characters, what happens to them should be intrinsically important to us. We don't require emotional reinforcement to be brought in from outside. The movie tries to borrow profound meaning, but succeeds only in upstaging itself so overwhelmingly that its characters become irrelevant. I'm guessing the message is: Parents, when you have a rebel child who hates you, someday you will learn what a good person that child really was. It's the dream of every tormented adolescent. Many of them become parents themselves and get their turn at being resented. Such is life.
Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun-Times
Review - At The Movies (Australia)
SOME SPOILERS
In REMEMBER ME, ROBERT PATTINSON plays an angry young man, Tyler, who blames his very rich father Charles – PIERCE BROSNAN - for the suicide of his older brother. When he gets into a fight one night he’s roughed up quite severely by a policeman, Neil – CHRIS COOPER. As revenge, his friend Aiden – TATE ELLINGTON – suggests he seduce Neil’s daughter Ally – EMILIE DE RAVIN - who is in their World Politics class at college…
Tyler and Ally fall in love and something good seems to come out of the relationship for Tyler. Charles likes Ally, and so do the rest of his family, including his younger sister Caroline – RUBY JERINS.
There is something strange about REMEMBER ME. I found myself disbelieving just about every emotion, every motivation, nothing seemed to hang together so that the whole thing became a bit tedious. And I know ROBERT PATTINSON is every young women’s soulful heartthrob but he’s such a mopey actor. Mind you he isn’t irritating like TATE ELLINGTON who plays his mate.
But the women are good. Young EMILIE DE RAVIN is lovely as Ally and even younger RUBY JERINS is a revelation as Caroline, she’s fabulous. And even though I get the ending, I don’t really. This is the second feature of Allen Coulter who made Hollywoodland.
It’s based on a screenplay by newcomer Will Fetters. I think their aim was high, the reach a bit less.
Review by Margaret Pomeranz
Further comments
MARGARET: David?
DAVID: I think Allen Coulter has done a lot of television, hasn't he?
MARGARET: Yes.
DAVID: The Sopranos and things like that.
MARGARET: Yes, and Sex and City.
DAVID: I thought this was a really interesting film and you didn't mention that really both of the young people have tragedies in their past, because the girl's mother was killed, as we see in the very opening scene, in a quite stupid shooting on a subway station platform, and that's why she has this idea, as she says in the scene we saw, that you've got to - life may end anytime. You know, you've got to live for the day and so on.
MARGARET: But didn't you find that a little bit...
DAVID: No, I think, in the context of the character, I found it good. I think Emilie de Ravin is another young Australian actor who is hitting the big time in America.
MARGARET: Yes.
DAVID: I thought she was very good. I think Robert Pattinson is channelling the young James Dean or the young Marlon Brando perhaps a little bit too insistently.
MARGARET: Yes.
DAVID: He was one of the film's executive producers and he obviously wanted to get this part. But, look, I think it's an interesting film and the ending, which obviously we can't talk about, I thought was quite effective. So I'm going to give it three and a half.
MARGARET: No, I actually felt disconnected from this film for a lot of its running time, so I'm only going to give it two and a half.
http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2
And More 'Remember Me' Reviews... - Spoilers
From NZHerald
Twilight star Robert Pattinson proves he's more than just every teenage girl's favourite vampire with an intense performance in this smart and engaging romantic drama.
It's a touching love story full of sentiment, reminding us to make the most of every day and to treasure those we love - a theme hammered home by a startling, unexpected ending.
It's this twist for which Remember Me will mostly be talked about, regardless of whether you think it's a breathtaking addition or a cheap ploy. Before this blindside, however, there's an angst-filled young love affair to enjoy, largely thanks to the strong on-screen chemistry between Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin (Claire from Lost).
Read full review HERE
From Eye Weekly
For a film bent so surely on ascending its brooding star to the status of “actor,” Remember Me is surprisingly good. First-time screenwriter Will Fetters and TV director Allen Coulter have concocted a relatable family melodrama/teen-angst period piece (it’s set in New York City in 2001) that has a sense of humour about itself and packs a surprising twist.
Robert Pattinson demonstrates considerable depth as NYU student Tyler Hawkins, a nihilistic child of divorce trying to protect his younger sister from the terrors of her private school. After Tyler is hassled by a cop, his dweeby roommate encourages him to court the enforcer’s daughter, a classmate, as revenge. Star-crossed love ensues.
Read full review HERE
From Slant Magazine
Fetters tiptoes on little cat feet up to this pivotal moment in an attempt to impress the viewer with the painful sincerity of bad boy Robert Pattinson's volatile ex-NYU student-cum-bohemian and his equally free-spirited girlfriend (Emilie de Ravin). During the ending, Fetters slams on the brakes frantically and, for no defensible reason, tries to turn the story into an epic tragedy for a modern (i.e. tween) audience. Never mind that this ending is crass beyond belief. The film's star couple can't even convince us that they're really in love so what does it matter that the ending completely and totally shits the bed? (Look at the way they splash each other with water in his shower and wind up necking after they realize that they're both all wet—now that's what I call l'amour fou!) The climax is a glorious train wreck of an ending for a film that's as inauthentic as it is egregiously clichéd. R.Patz haters will get a big kick out of seeing the crestfallen faces of fangirls as they trudge out of the movie theater not knowing what hit them.
Read full review HERE
From Twilight Lexicon
Overall if you are looking for a film that showcases Rob Pattinson as a knock-off version of Edward Cullen this is not it. The film is so much more than just a vehicle for Rob. The family dynamics and lack of direction that Tyler has are all things that average people can relate to. This is a story about survival, about being the one that was left behind and how you choose to live your life after being touched by tragedy. There is a heart and soul to this film that isn’t in your typical drama and it is absolutely worth the watch.
One last note bring tissues!!
Read full review HERE
Manny The Movie Guy Interviews Rob
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm now a fan of Robert Pattinson. He was sweet and shy in person, and he had such honest vulnerability.
When I interviewed him for "Remember Me," we talked about:
*** His involvement with the film (apparently, they offered him "Remember Me" prior to the first "Twilight" -- after "Twilight" came out, he could have easily said no to "Remember Me," but the actor was true to his words, and he really loved the script!)
*** His character, Tyler
*** Working with Ruby Jerins
*** How he identifies with the character
Source
When I interviewed him for "Remember Me," we talked about:
*** His involvement with the film (apparently, they offered him "Remember Me" prior to the first "Twilight" -- after "Twilight" came out, he could have easily said no to "Remember Me," but the actor was true to his words, and he really loved the script!)
*** His character, Tyler
*** Working with Ruby Jerins
*** How he identifies with the character
Source
And Even MORE 'Remember Me' Reviews
From Flick Filosopher
I was resigned to dragging out some lazy, easy Twilight dissing in response to Remember Me, maybe something about it “sucking,” or perhaps I could have called it “vampirically pallid.” Because that’s certainly how it was looking, from the outside. I wouldn’t have enjoyed that, honestly, because while sometimes it’s fun to rag on bad actors and the bad movies they make, I had been steadfastly clinging to a notion that, despite most evidence till that moment to the contrary (and yes, I’ve seen nearly everything he’s done), Robert Pattinson holds some promise. And it was making me angry to see his nominal success with those terrible teen vampire movies seeming to lead him away from opportunities to prove this notion to me. Leading him to, it seemed, a crassly opportunistic attempt to further cash in on Pattison’s status as go-to dreamboat for attracting the squealing-hormonal-adolescent audience.
Read full review HERE
From IFC
As for swoony Rob, who also takes executive producer credit, he's far more palatable here than as the sullen Cullen. Perhaps he's that rare male actor, like the once-dreamy Robert Redford, who takes his cues from his female costar. When acting against dead-eyed Kristin Stewart, he reads as catatonic, but with sassier de Ravin he ramps it up, even allowing the occasional facial expression to tug at his finely chiseled features. That said, he's so pretty that his beauty distracts even him -- like Brad Pitt or Brosnan himself, the verdict's won't be in about whether he can actually act until the bloom comes off that rose.
Read full review HERE
From The Age
While it's too early to say whether Robert Pattinson has the acting talent to go beyond playing a hot vampire in the Twilight series, Remember Me suggests his prospects are slim.
Pattinson isn't the first teen idol to fancy himself as the second coming of James Dean, but his performance as rebellious rich kid Tyler Hawkins is a ponderous catalogue of Method mannerisms: he spends the whole movie pouting and letting his head roll forward as he fumbles for a cigarette.
Though Remember Me is basically a love story, like many recent American films it's also about grief. Tyler has been at odds with his family ever since his brother's suicide, while his new girlfriend Ally (Emilie de Ravin) has never recovered from the fateful day when her mother was gunned down in the subway.
The contrivances don't stop there: director Allen Coulter can do little to redeem the inane script by newcomer Will Fetters, which strives to be whimsical, edgy and profound.
This is the kind of drama where the hero quotes Gandhi and the kooky heroine orders dessert first because she believes in seizing the day.
Much of the dialogue is so awful it's hard to see why anyone thought the film a good idea - unless it was for the sake of the ending, which will either blow your mind or leave you paralysed with embarrassment.
Thanks to Spunk-Ransom for 'The Age' link.
Bid on Rob's Remember Me Costumes
EXCLUSIVE: Bid on Robert Pattinson’s ‘Remember Me’ Costumes!
Bauer-Griffin
Robert Pattinson fans will soon be able to take home a piece of the action from the Twilight heartthrob’s latest flick, Remember Me. Items such as Rob’s dreamy blue Prada suit, slip-in Birkenstocks, off-white LNA T-shirt and more of his costumes from the film will hit the live auction site icollector.com on March 13. Rob’s costumes will join other garments worn by his Remember Me co-stars including including Emilie de Ravin’s denim shorts and Pierce Brosnan’s gray suit — and that’s not all. Costumes from other hit movies like Oscar-winning The Blind Side, The Book of Eli, Leap Year and more are also up for grabs as part of Premiere Prop’s Movie Prop Extravaganza, with a portion of the proceeds going to the EIF (Entertainment Industry Foundation). Bidding happens live on March 13 starting at 11 AM PST, and you can find out more in the meantime about the featured items and the auction at eifoundation.org.
source:
Edmonton Sun: Rob Recalls Pestering While Filming 'Remember Me'
Minor Spoilers
New York -Robert Pattinson admits he was in denial when he signed up for the tragic-rebel/romanance film Remember Me.
Yes, Twilight had just come out. But the 23 -year-old actor – Known to legions of young women as the heartthrob vampire Edward Cullen – thought he could put that aside and prepare for his role as a troubled NYU student the old fashion way.
“Before I actullay went to New York, I thought it was going to be really easy, and I could just hang out there ans pick-up on a lot of New Yorkers’ mannerisms,” says the easy-going British actor with the independent hair.
“of course, it ended up being more of a circus than I thought.” And it would only get worse. By the time filming began on the indie rebel without a cause-esque drama,Twilight: New Moon had come out. And while his Aussie leading lady Emilie de Ravin ( Lost) was able to saunter about Queens honing her accent for Remember Me, Pattinson was a constrained by girls in “Team Edward” t-shirts and,more aggressively,by the poparazzi.
At the beginning, it was driving me insane,”Pattinson says. “Especially for a character who’s supposed to be lost and looking for something,and you can’t look up because suddenly shutters accelerate. I mean, halfway through I had an epiphany about it. It was just learning how to block things out.”
Director Allen Coulter finally lost himself one day. “There was the now infuamous day on the stoop this quiet and tender scence (between Pattinson and de Ravin),” Coulter says.”We were losing the light and the paparazzi were frustrated because they couldn’t get a good shot of him all day. we’d put up privacy signs,but there’s this sence the paparazzi have that they own the street. “there was enormous pressure on us, racing light and they decided to fire off there cameras as we were shooting. It was the only time I lost my temper. It was breif and they did stoop. But it was tough anthroughout because of that.”
Is Pattinson a pretty boy whose 15 minutes will run out? Or is there a seriuos actor in him waiting to brust out? He still thinks of himself as a character actor – one that for the time being at least is carrying a 300-pound gorilla on his back.
There’s no question how Tyler Hawkins,Pattinson’s character in Remember Me would have reacted to the frustration. Turn by greif over his brother’s suicide,resentment toward his unemotional executive dad (Peirrce Bronson) and clashing with the policeman father (Chris Cooper) of his girlfriend , he’d have lashed out at breakable or taken a punch at someone who didn’t deserve it. Is he getting into a rut playing brooding,wounded heroes? ” I don’t know…maybe I just am brooding and wounded,” he says snorting at his own words. ” NoI’m not,” he says with a laugh. “you just sort of take little steps’” he says. “I’m always quite aware of how people are going to view things. If I did something where I played Y’know , a 400 pound woman, people are probably going to judge it more harshly than other people who’ve been doing character parts for 20 years” Remember Me, he says was interesrting- but more importantly, it was convenient.
” I read it after the first Twilight film and always kind of liked it. The opportunity came up in between the second and third one which is a really small period of time. You can only do a certain type of movie, and this one was kind of perfect.” Pattinson’s energy, for the time being, is restrained. He recalls fondly his last pre-Twilight role, that of young Salvador Dali in the movie
Little Ashes.” I shot it before Twilight, but it was seen through that prism.”But doing the dali thing, I didn’t think anybody was going to see it, and that’s a very different place to be – when your making a movie that no one’s going to see. You’re not affraid to experiment.”
@LyndaPattinson at LetMeSign.com
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