Ever since his teen heartthrob days, Robert Pattinson has rarely been able to escape the prying eyes of fans and photographers. So it came as quite a shock to him that he was not once recognized while filming his latest picture “Good Time” on the streets of New York.
“We were shooting so much outside that I literally could not afford for anybody to find out we were shooting a movie the whole time and no one ever did,” the 31-year-old actor related at the film’s New York premiere Tuesday. “After three months of being in New York, literally not a single person even said ‘hi.’”
His role as Connie Nikas, a gritty Queens-born miscreant whose protective impulses toward a mentally challenged brother (Ben Safdie), propels the 100-minute narrative like a runaway F train.
In spite of the character’s shaggy haircut and goatee, Pattinson attributed his ability to go incognito to the attitude he projected while in character, which continued even when cameras weren’t rolling: “If you put a very aggressive energy into the world, people don’t really come up to you.”
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“I didn’t know that most of the time he was in character until being in Cannes [for the film festival earlier this year] and he was having a conversation,” noted co-star Taliah Webster, a native New Yorker. “I thought he was just so quiet and didn’t know what to do and was always frantic.”
Working with local actors — many of whom had little experience in front of the camera — helped the Brit fall into the challenging role. “I was just kind of thinking there were so many first-time actors who are from Queens and sort of playing versions of themselves that I thought it would be weird and uncomfortable for them if I’m faking it and they’re not, so I wanted to blur the line a little bit.”
Tuesday’s guest list was a hodgepodge of various creative types including rapper A$AP Ferg, Chloë Sevigny, Emma Roberts, TK Wonder, Peter Sarsgaard and Demi Moore, who donned a vintage Adele Simpson dress with a bohemian print.
Entering the after party at Flash Factory in Chelsea, actress Marisa Tomei declined an autograph to a fan who presented her with a white piece of paper and a pen. “Not on a blank page,” declared the Oscar winner.
Inside the nightclub, Pattinson — in Dior — held court as bass-heavy rap tracks like Rae Sremmurd’s “Swang” pulsed. Catering to a range of palates, refreshments included lobster rolls and White Castle hamburgers and, naturally, cheese pizza — a true slice of New York culture.
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