Robert Pattinson Got ‘Almost Turned Off’ From Acting Amid COVID and Strikes: ‘Every Actor for Two Years’ Was Saying ‘Nothing’s Cool’ About New Scripts

Robert Pattinson admitted in an interview with Vanity Fair that he nearly convinced himself that cinema was dying and it was time to maybe stop acting as Hollywood struggled in the wake of the COVID pandemic and two major labor strikes. But then came a few movies like Oscar contender “The Brutalist,” directed by his friend Brady Corbet, that made him excited about the movies again. Corbet directed Pattinson in the filmmaker’s debut feature “The Childhood of a Leader.”

“It’s strange because the last few years for the film industry, starting with COVID and then the strikes, everyone was constantly saying cinema is dying. And quite convincingly,” Pattinson said. “I was literally almost turned off. It actually started to get a little worrying.”

“Then looking in the last few months, there’s this flurry of very ambitious movies,” he continued. “I feel like the stuff that’s going to get nominated for Oscars this year is going to be really interesting, and it seems like there’s suddenly a new batch of directors who the audience is excited about as well.”

Pattinson is hoping that “Mickey 17,” his science-fiction black comedy from “Parasite” director Bong Joon Ho, comes out in “a period of enthusiasm for cinema.” Warner Bros. currently has the movie set for a March 7 theatrical release in the U.S. after a world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.

“You can even see in terms of scripts, I mean, every actor for two years was saying, ‘What is happening? Nothing’s cool,’” Pattinson told Vanity Fair. “Not saying that everything that came out wasn’t cool, but actually it was very studio. I don’t know what was going on really, what happened in the Saturn return or whatever it is, but now there’s really cool parts everywhere.”

While Pattinson will be back in studio mode for “The Batman Part II,” which is expected to start shooting this year for an Oct. 2027 release date, he’s also got a handful of indie projects in the works as well. He’s co-starring opposite Jennifer Lawrence in “Die, My Love,” the new movie from Lynne Ramsay. He also wrapped production last year on A24’s “The Drama,” co-starring Zendaya and directed by “Dream Scenario” helmer Kristoffer Borgli.