Robert Pattinson Lights Up Lisbon For Cosmopolis Premiere: Cronenberg Asks Audience To Listen To Dialogue

The Cannes Film Festival may be over but the white limo is just getting started.

Hitting Lisbon today for a second Cosmopolis premiere, Robert Pattinson joined David Cronenberg and producer Paulo Branco at an early morning press conference before the big event.

Cronenberg joked with journalists that he hired the Brit actor because “he was very inexpensive and he was available.”

Then, he added “that’s always very important in a low budget movie. And also I heard that he [Pattinson] would obey orders from the director so this is also good.”

Currently riding a wave of predominantly fantastic reviews for his performance in Cosmopolis, Pattinson also raised a laugh when he alluded to one of the differences between promoting The Twilight Saga movies and his latest film.

“Normally I get asked things like ‘what’s your favorite food and stuff like that’and […] what would a perfect date be?’ ” the actor dead-panned, “[then] I do Cosmopolis and people ask me ‘what are your feelings about the economy?”

Pattinson also talked about initially being afraid to take on the role of Eric Packer – a 28 year-old billionaire asset titan – who embarks on a surreal, 24 hour journey through Manhattan pursued by various, dangerous characters.

“I was quite frightened of it in the beginning because I couldn’t really tell if it would work as a movie”, Pattinson says, “I liked reading it, but it’s so wordy and 90% of it’s in a limousine.”

Hilariously, considering he’s a self-confessed cinephile, Pattinson revealed that he looked up Cronenberg’s track record on Rotten Tomatoes (a film review aggregator site) and was more confident about signing on for the movie when he saw the director’s “98 % average.”

At this point in the conference Cronenberg came back with, “and I looked up interviews he had been doing, and it gives you a feeling for what […] he is as a person, how he handles himself, does he have a sense of humor? For me that’s very important.”

With a massive fanbase demonstrably behind Pattinson’s post-Twilight career and plaudits coming in left, right and center for Cosmopolis – it’s unlikely Pattinson will be on the receiving end of any other kind of rotten tomatoes anytime soon.

Robert Pattinson, David Cronenberg and Paulo Branco at the press conference in Lisbon today

Robert Pattinson at the Cosmopolis premiere in Lisbon

Robert Pattinson, David Cronenberg, Paulo Branco and author Don DeLillo inside the theater before the screening

Cosmopolis – A protest against the futureby teasertrailer

New clip from Cosmopolis released today: “Protest against the future”

Adapted from Don DeLillo’s titular novel, Cosmopolis stars Robert Pattinson, Juliet Binoche, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Gadon, Samathan Morton, Jay Baruchel, Mathieu Amalric, Emily Hampshire, Patricia Mackenzie and Kevin Durand. The film opens in Canada on June 8, in the UK on June 15, and later this summer in the U.S

New Trailer clip via Eonefilms