Robert Pattinson hasn’t always had the best experience with counseling.
“I went to therapy once, and the therapist asked me if I was on drugs because they couldn’t understand what I was talking about,” the actor tells Zendaya in a conversation for Interview Magazine. “I was like, ‘I’m trying my best.”
The costars of the upcoming film The Drama spoke about other times that Pattinson has felt misunderstood, such as when he was a teen idol during his Twilight years. He, of course, played vampire Edward, rival to Taylor Lautner’s werewolf, Jacob, both vying for the love of Kristen Stewart’s human Bella.
“I really enjoyed making the movies, but then there was such a huge marketing push behind it as well. I didn’t want to get my personal identity caught up in that, so I tried to push forward my individuality a little, and that kind of stuck with me,” Pattinson said. “It was also interesting getting famous off of playing a part — people thought I was that character in the beginning.”
Summitt/Deana Newcomb
Still, Pattinson “wasn’t precious about that identity because it wasn’t my identity to begin with. It’s interesting to use the public perception of you as part of your character development, because you’re like, ‘I assume at least a few people in the audience are going to be expecting this,’ so you can make it more dramatic.”
Pattinson, who’s gone on to star in movies such as The Batman, Mickey 17, and Die My Love, had a mutual acquaintance with Zendaya, his costar in several upcoming films, in her partner Tom Holland.
The Challengers star noted that she and Pattinson eventually met through multiple common friends.
“You were always pretty quiet and chill, which is a little different from my experience of Rob,” she noted. “You didn’t say much, and I was like, ‘Ooh, mysterious!’ Then I talked to Tom and he was like, ‘No, he’s super fun and always laughing and joking,’ and I was like, ‘Really? I haven’t experienced that side of him, I guess.'”
Pattinson deemed that “depressing.”
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“I wish I could stay in the mysterious,” he said. “I’ve learned again and again that if you just don’t speak, people are like, ‘Wow. You’re really intimidating,’ but I just can’t f—ing maintain it.”
They determined that one of the times he was quiet was when he was supposed to attend a screening of an episode of her show Euphoria, but somehow missed the actual screening. He was embarrassed to join in the conversation about the HBO show.
“I was really quiet after. Everyone was discussing the episode, and I was still giving my opinion without having seen it,” he said.
In their movie, The Drama, they portray an engaged couple: bookstore clerk Emma Harwood (Zendaya) and British museum director Charlie Thompson (Pattinson). They are “a happily engaged couple” who’s “put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.”
The Drama arrives in theaters on April 3.