‘The Lighthouse’ Left Robert Pattinson Wanting to Go Clubbing (Exclusive Video)
Toronto 2019: Playing a wound-up lighthouse keeper left Pattinson feeling on edge
Jeremy Fuster | October 14, 2019 @ 9:05 PM
Last Updated: October 15, 2019 @ 6:07 AM
Working on Robert Eggers’ slow-boiling horror film “The Lighthouse” left Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson in two very different states of mind. The actors told TheWrap at the Toronto Film Festival that while Dafoe was able to easily slip in and out of the role, Pattinson soon found himself as pent-up as his character.
“I was charged up at the end of every day, to be honest,” Pattinson told TheWrap’s Beatrice Verhoeven. “By the end of the day you’re keeping yourself…so wound up the whole time that by the end I wanted to go out clubbing. But there’s nowhere to go!”
“The Lighthouse” has been acclaimed since its Cannes premiere four months ago. It is the follow-up to Eggers’ satanic period piece “The Witch,” following a pair of lighthouse keepers whose grip on sanity slowly dwindles as they grapple with the isolation that comes with being in a tiny tower surrounded by stormy weather. Filmed in black and white and in 4:3 ratio, Eggers’ direction and Dafoe and Pattinson’s performance drag the audience into the claustrophobic reality these two face.
While Pattinson was overwhelmed by filming such a tense tale, Dafoe said he found filming the movie to be rather stress-free. He thinks the difference between the actors’ experience reflects the difference between Dafoe’s Thomas Wake, who bellows and hisses his rage freely, and Pattinson’s Ephraim Winslow, who keeps his emotions bottled up.
“He’s holding a lot of secrets in all day and I’m sort of splattin’ him,” Dafoe said. “I’m pretty chill. I transferred it all to him!”
Check out more thoughts from Dafoe, Pattinson and Eggers in the clip above, and see “The Lighthouse” in select theaters on October 18.
5 Best Picture Oscar Winners That Launched at the Toronto Film Festival (Photos)
While Cannes, Berlin, and Venice are all more exotic and glamorous film festivals, the Toronto International Film Festival has become the kingmaker when it comes to the Academy Awards. Since 2008, all but one of the films that have won the festival's People's Choice Award have gone on to become nominated for Best Picture, and multiple films that premiered there have gone on to win the biggest Oscar prize. Here are five of those films from the past decade.
"Slumdog Millionaire" (2008) -- While the Toronto-to-Oscar pipeline dates back to 1999 with "American Beauty," it reached another level with Danny Boyle's crowd-pleaser about a young Indian man whose childhood helps him conquer "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire." While "Slumdog" premiered at Telluride, it was at Toronto where the buzz hit full swing, winning the People's Choice Award before grossing $377 million worldwide and taking home eight Oscars.
Fox Searchlight
"The King's Speech" (2010) -- Toronto is a major reason why the biopic that has become Tom Hooper's signature role to date beat out more critically acclaimed and popular films like "Inception," "Toy Story 3," and "The Social Network." Hitting every point in the proverbial "Oscar Bait" checklist, "The King's Speech" delighted the industry-heavy crowd in Toronto, creating a buzz among Hollywood's Academy voting bloc so strong that TheWrap's Steve Pond called it as a lock to win Best Picture six months out.
TWC/Lantern Capital
"12 Years A Slave" (2013) -- While a Toronto film can gain buzz for delighting a certain audience's sensibilities, it can do the same by leaving them downright speechless. The careers of Lupita Nyong'o and Chiwetel Ejiofor can be divided into before and after TIFF 2013, as their powerful performances drove home Steve McQueen's message about just how brutal American slavery truly was. Hollywood deemed "12 Years" an important film that must be seen, ensuring its Oscar victory.
Fox Searchlight
"Spotlight" (2015) -- Going into TIFF 2015, the big talk was about seeing newly minted Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne play a trans woman in "The Danish Girl" or Charlie Kaufman going stop-motion with "Anomalisa." But out of nowhere came a quiet but riveting retelling of the Boston Globe's 2002 Catholic Church sexual abuse investigation that won over the festivalgoers. "Spotlight" proved to be bigger than the sum of its parts, becoming the first Best Picture winner in over 60 years to only win one other Oscar (Best Adapted Screenplay).
Global Road
"Green Book" (2018) -- And then there's this year's Best Picture winner, which like "The King's Speech" saw its momentum start with winning the TIFF People's Choice Award. The victory of "Green Book" has been called by some critics the worst Best Picture winner since "Crash," but the Toronto buzz was so strong that nothing could stop it, whether it be other contenders like "Roma" or an interview with the family of Dr. Don Shirley who called the film a "symphony of lies."
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Toronto has become the kingmaker festival for future Best Picture contenders and winners
While Cannes, Berlin, and Venice are all more exotic and glamorous film festivals, the Toronto International Film Festival has become the kingmaker when it comes to the Academy Awards. Since 2008, all but one of the films that have won the festival's People's Choice Award have gone on to become nominated for Best Picture, and multiple films that premiered there have gone on to win the biggest Oscar prize. Here are five of those films from the past decade.
Fox Searchlight
