You can read the article in French at @PremiereFr/ Translation by Sonia of RPLife
Robert Pattinson, who is bound to suprise a lot of people in three weeks when Cosmopolis will be presented at Cannes, doesn't seem to want to stop there yet. The 'adult' turn the star star is taking will go further with Mission: Blacklist, the new movie by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, director of the impressive Johnny mad Dog in 2008. The movie is a thriller inspired by Eric Maddox's book, the military interrogator who was the brain of the operation that lead to the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003. Erik Jendresen, screenwriter for Band of Brothers is in charge of the adaptation, with a shooting that should be starting in the fall.
'We're going to do some scout locations in Iraq soon.'
"As Jean-Stéphane is used to work with non professional actors, I thought I had no chance of getting the role," Robert Pattinson told us recently. "But we met a few times and we clicked. He found a fascinating way to treat that subject. It's weird because it's a movie about war but it's essentially focusing on the interrogations. The language and the barriers he could create played an important role. But it's essentially teh story of a true sldier, Eric Maddox, with who we're leaving for Iraq soon for some scouting.'
"Jean-Stéphane is truly surprising" says Pattinson. "He has talent when it comes to meeting people. Like, for example, out of nowhere, he got to spend some time with the Iraqi Minister of Culture. he also got to meet this guys who was a former chief of the Hussein clan and he was really closed to him. I asked him: 'How do you get to meet a man like that?' He said he met him in a bar in Paris!"
After Johnny Mad Dog, immersed in the every day life of extremely violent kids - turned solders - in Liberia, Sauvaire seems to have found a new subject cut out for his explosive film making technics. "Johnny Mad Dog was an extremely strong piece, that possessed a truly documentary value, while still being cinematic," says Pattinson with enthusiasm. "I cannot wait to work with him on Mission: Blacklist. It's going to be a f***ing good movie."
