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WAMG At THE ROVER Press Day With Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, and David Michôd

By Melissa Howland | June 25, 2014

THE ROVER, David Michôd‘s highly anticipated follow-up to ANIMAL KINGDOM, is set in a world 10 years following the collapse of society. Recently, WAMG sat down with David Michôd, Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson in a small press conference to talk about the film. Check it out below!

In David Michôd’s new film THE ROVER the rule of the law has disintegrated and life is cheap. The film follows hardened loner Eric (Pearce) as he travels the desolate towns and roads of the outback. When a gang of thieves steals his car they leave behind a wounded Rey (Pattinson) in their wake. Forcing Rey to help track the gang, Eric will go to any lengths to take back the one thing that still matters to him. Michod also wrote the film based on a story he conceived with Joel Edgerton.

This looked very hot. Tell me about being on location and how did you deal with the heat.

Guy Pearce : It was great being out on location. It was great. The heat, obviously, is one of the big things we were experiencing in the story anyways. So it was grueling and it was hot, but it was mixed with those incredible locations. So it was all part of the experience. It’s kind of amazing being out there.

And for Robert?

Robert Pattinson : I genuinely couldn’t have answered it better. [Laughs]

Guy Pearce : I will be answering all questions on behalf of Robert.

For the director, I was just curious, you had some of the songs in Thai or was it Mandarin. Why choose Asian music?

David Michôd : It was Cambodian. I wanted the world of the movie, set as it is a few decades in the future after a particularly catastrophic economic collapse, to feel like Australia had a major geo-political type shift. Where Australia had been reduced to a kind of resource-less, third-world country. I wanted the world of The Rover to feel like Australia was experiencing a new gold rush. People were coming from all corners of the world to work in and around mines. Given where Australia is on the map, we are kind of right there on the middle of Southeast Asia, almost, that there would have been a lot of people from that part of the world who would’ve come out.

So much of this film is in this precise balance of mood and atmosphere. How do you keep track of this while you’re shooting? Is it something you, as actors, pay attention to or is this something that comes about in the editing room?

David Michôd : I feel like I have a reasonable grip on what I want to achieve while I’m shooting. I have a feeling there are certain places where I will want things to linger – where I will want to milk transitions or just generally leave space for what I know my beautiful collaborators in the world of post production will bring to the process. I don’t know what the experience is like for you guys.

Guy Pearce : A couple of things. One, I’ve worked with David before. But that aside, I’d seen David’s work as well, as I know Rob had. Obviously, I’ve seen Animal Kingdom, but I’ve seen David’s shorts as well. Not to suggest he has a tone that he sets and it’s gonna be the same on every movie, but in looking at the script and seeing those films, talking with David before we start. It really feels we get a sense of it. One of the things I really respond to is the tone of a movie –whether it’s a comedy or whatever it happens to be. Not that I do many comedies. I think it’s one of those things you really feel through your skin. In a sense that enables you to understand the rhythm that you’re kinda gonna work in and the rhythm of the character, etc. It’s the kind of stuff you are aware of to a certain degree even if you don’t necessarily talk about it everyday.

Rob, how do you see this relationship you have with Guy’s character in the movie? How does it relate to your own life experience?

Robert Pattinson : I think loyalty is probably the most important trait in a friendship. I was really lucky to have pretty great friends growing up. I think I’ve had all my friends for at least ten years. It’s definitely very important. I’m not really sure how to answer the question. It’s a definitely relates in The Rover. Rey’s loyalty is so easily swayed. By the time he gets back to his real brother at the end of the movie, I kept thinking how to play it when he first sees him again. It’s almost like he’s forgotten who he is – what that relationship was. That’s why he’s so conflicted at the end.

Rob, your character is referred to as a ‘halfwit’ in the film, but he does get around, surviving pretty well. How did you prepare for your role?

Robert Pattinson : I’m not entirely sure he can really get around by himself particularly well. As soon as he’s on his own for one second – that one moment he’s sitting under that tree – he has absolutely no idea what to do. It’s just a fluke that he sees the car there. I think if his brother’s car didn’t end up being there, he’d just sit under that tree and die [laughs].

You did save him though…

Robert Pattinson : Yeah.

David Michôd : I think he can only respond out of instinct.

Robert Pattinson : In a lot of ways, he’s basically been kidnapped by this guy. It’s not like he’s done anything for him. He could easily get another car. How did I prepare for it? I dunno. I just kind of – the script. A lot of what I wanted to do in this movie was, when I first read the script, it was quite instinctive.

Rob, I think that I’ve seen most of your films, but I don’t recall one where you’ve actually used a gun. I’m wondering how familiar were you with firearms, and did you have to learn it? Was it awkward for you? The same question for you, Guy.

Robert Pattinson : Um, I’ve done a couple of gun things. I’m quite anti-gun, especially to idiots like me. I didn’t really do any… I was actually supposed to do another film, playing a soldier where I did some stuff with guns before, but yeah… I’m not particularly familiar. I don’t think I did any particular training either. I think Ray’s supposed to be pretty rubbish, but he ends up being incredibly accurate [laughs] the one time he uses it!

Did they give you a gun coach?

Robert Pattinson : Yeah, there was an amorer, Scott…

How did it feel? Did you get a sense of ‘Oh, I get it now!’?

Robert Pattinson : I didn’t like it at all. I don’t like the feeling of it. I mean, obviously you get a little thrill… a little power trip of it. I especially felt silly holding a gun. Especially while shooting targets. You just have this, sort of, bang-making machine. [Laughs] After a while it just looses it’s luster.

Guy Pearce : For me, I’ve done tons of movies with guns. I’ve shot a lot of people [laughs] and I think I’ve been shot a few times. I, too, have a real issue with guns. I find they should just be banished off the face of the Earth. They’re awful things. I feel really comfortable with them now, as a prop, because I’ve done so many things with guns. And they’re fascinating! As Rob said, there’s incredible thrill, and power that you feel as soon as you have one in your hands because of the understanding of what you are capable of doing with this thing is, sort of, off the charts. It’s ridiculous, and it’s enticing, and it’s awful all at the same time. It just astounds me that so many people own guns in the world.

Does that information help to move your character forward?

Guy Pearce : Um, it’s different because my character is going through a different journey then what I’m going through with my gun experiences on film sets. Obviously, the underlying thing for me about guns on film sets is that I’m not actually going to kill anyone. I’m never actually going to. It’s not for real. That piece of information about the power that you feel as soon as you, sort of, have it in your hand… that might be something that informs, sort of, every character to a degree. Strangely, with this character, in this movie – he’s cut off emotionally from a lot of things. I mean, I kill eight people in the film. There is a certain level of difficulty and regret that he feels when he does it, but at the same time there’s an ability to just, kind of, kill another one. If he has to. It’s kind of a horrendous line that he treads, I think.

So, are you a big Keri Hilson fan? Where did that moment come from?

Robert Pattinson : David is. [Laughs]

David Michôd : I’m a big Keri Hilson fan.

Robert Pattinson : I didn’t realize how massive a song it was. I though David just found it. Yeah. I kind of like that song.

Guy Pearce : Not as much as you love her. [Laughs]

David Michôd : I wanted there to be a moment in the movie that – at that particular juncture in the film – for there to be a moment that reminds the audience that Rob’s character was just a kid who in different circumstances would probably just be listening to music, and thinking about girls, and playing with his hair in the mirror.

Robert Pattinson : That’s what I thought, for a performance… having that moment in another movie, be like ‘Ah. Really thinking deeply about my next move!’ [Laughs] It sort of looks like that from a distance. Just…

Guy Pearce : … singing along! [Laughs] About to kill someone… just singing a song. [Laughs]

The scene felt sad, too. It has a sense… a sad feeling to it because of where you are in the film, and knowing where you’re going next.

David Michôd : That’s exactly right. That’s what I meant at that point, at that particular juncture of the movie – for that to be a reminder that Rob was just a kid, for that moment, to sit, and stew, and then for him to get out of that car and step over to Guy at the campfire and say something really, kind of, sad and tragic.

Robert Pattinson : I also think that he was kind of excited about telling him his decision…

Guy Pearce : It’s interesting that his decision -whether that decision was made during that song – the stating of that decision comes out of having just sung that song [laughs] or having just been a kid, as you say.

David Michôd : So, it’s a little bit funny.

For Rob, this film certainly fits within the group of artistically adventurous films you’ve made outside of the TWILIGHT franchise. I’m curious, is thistle realm that you hope to work in going forward? Do you want to keep switching it up? What do you hope the fans who follow you from TWILIGHT into films like this are getting out of this?

Robert Pattinson : I mean, I don’t really have any particular preconceived plan. Even each of the TWILIGHT movies – I kind of approached them all as individual movies. I never really saw it as ‘Oh, going back to work on…’ I don’t know. You can’t really predict what an audience is going to like, or want, or even if they’re going to follow you to anything. I think if you try to make challenging stuff, and you put your heart into it – hopefully at least one other person is going to like it. [Laughs]

David Michôd : I will.

We’re from THE ROVER fan blog, and from ROBsessed. We loved the movie David. I just wanted to say that. We thought it was fantastic.

David Michôd : Thanks!

Our first question is for Guy, and for Rob. The movie has a lot of silent moments, but they are pretty impactful with the tone, and the emotion of the movie. I wanted to know what you were thinking when you were playing those silent moments. There wasn’t a lot of dialogue when you [Rob] were being sutured up, or staring at Eric sleeping, and Guy, all of the scenes where your eyes do the expressing. I didn’t know if you had any backstory as actors to help you with those silent moments since they had such a heavy impact.

Guy Pearce : Well, I think if there’s any backstory – that’s not necessarily what you’re thinking about. That’s just stuff that you know, that works for your character, that gets you in a place of confidence to get you to go and play the character. It’s interesting as an actor, because you’re half thinking about what your character should be thinking about, and you’re half thinking about the technical stuff, I suppose – I do, anyway – about camera position, and which way is gong to evoke more of the emotion. If you’re head’s more down, or across… technical stuff. I like not to think about that stuff too much, but sometimes you can’t help it. Whether or not you’re thinking about that, or whether you’re just conscious of that on some level. It changes all the time, but I think, particularly with a movie like this – it’s so subtle, but heavily laden with deeply rooted emotional stuff – you’re just trying to be in that stuff. You’re just trying to sit in that emotional place, because that’s what’s going to translate the most honestly, I suppose.

Robert Pattinson : I remember the first moment looking at you when you’re asleep in the chair. I suddenly remembered – I kept trying to play being stuck between two channels all the time. I remembered, because I was supposed to be waking up and, sort of, looking at him, and I remember talking to you about it and going ‘No. He has to start in the middle of the room…’

Guy Pearce : … already awake…

Robert Pattinson : Yeah, and just kind of – you’re starting in the middle, and you never really – it doesn’t get past the middle. I think that is something in a lot of those moments – trying to not think about not thinking about anything at all. [Laughs]

David Michôd : … being stuck between two channels…

Was there any particle scene that was challenging for you?

David Michôd : Um, I mean… I find all scenes challenging on that level. Every one of the scenes were important to me. Maybe if there is a big stunt, or something that is complicated and expensive to execute, then yeah. I feel the pressure of…

Guy Pearce : … getting it right…

David Michôd : Yeah! I feel the pressure of getting it right, and fear the consequences of not. Beyond that, every scene is really important to me. I don’t go into any scene feeling like ‘This is the big one, and I have to nail it!’. I go into every scene with adrenaline coursing though me, fearful of getting it wrong, and also excited about what will happen when we start rolling the camera. When you set up a scene, it’s really interesting. I don’t know if this is the experience you guys have, but for me it’s the same every time… when you walk on a new set, you block through the scene, and the first block through is always terrible. Everything just feels so wooden and slow, and clumsy. Then, I know that I have about half-an-hour with my actors to get it into the shape it needs to be, and that it will be in for the rest of the slot. That process is exile rating, because it always happens. You always get it to the good place. There is always a moment after that first block through where I find myself going ‘Ah. Ok. What am I going to do now? How am I going to fix this?’, but it always happens. There’s something about it, something about that adrenaline – that electricity on set that make it come alive really quickly.

Rob, this is the second post-apocalyptic, futuristic movie you’ve made along with ‘Cosmopolis’ – why are you drawn to such projects? And what is your view of the future? Are you pessimistic or optimistic?

Robert Pattinson : I don’t really see either of them as post-apocalyptic. I mean, I see both of them as quite hopeful as well. I think ‘Cosmopolis’ was about a guy who didn’t know how to live and has one second of feeling what it’s like to be alive, which is kind of a good thing – it’s more than most people, I think. And ‘The Rover’ I think was always really hopeful. I think it’s really funny – I think the end is sad…and I always just talk about it in terms of my character’s story…[Laughs]

Guy Pearce : No, as you should…

Robert Pattinson : I can’t seem to see it in any kind of wider scope than that at all, but–

David Michôd : It’s sad, but there is hope in sadness, often…

Robert Pattinson : Yes, you’ve made an impact on Eric as well…

David Michôd : It’s a recognition of things that are important, and when that recognition happens too late, that in itself is innately sad, but it’s not hopeless.

Robert Pattinson : And I have a very optimistic view of the world, mainly because I like my life. [Laughs]

FOR MORE INFO
WEBSITE : http://therover-movie.com/