A New York State of Mind with Robert Pattinson and Emille de Raven in “Remember Me”In “Remember Me,” New Yorkers Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin meet and fall in love at the turn of the century, dealing with both their tragic pasts and the unknowable future. The film’s full of granular detail, so I had to ask British-born Pattinson if he felt any apprehension about playing a New Yorker; as he explains, director Allen Coulter’s born-and-bred New York state of mind helped a lot. “Allen, our director is … kind of an obsessive New Yorker; I don’t how to describe it,” Pattinson said. “All the little New York touches, he was so adamant; shooting at NYU, it had to be NYU and have every little thing. Even the purple flags outside NYU were so important to him to get it in there … and I knew nothing about them. And it’s such a big deal to him. I sort of saw the whole thing about being a student in New York and living in New York as a fantasy. It’s kind of the dream, living in a little cool apartment in the Lower East Side.”
Director Coulter, of course, defended his meticulous vision: “We wanted to be as true to New York as possible; those little details are, to me, critical in creating an authentic New York. I don’t think there’s such a thing as too New York.”
I had to prod Coulter a little bit, nonetheless; he’s made a movie about New York in 2001 and rounded up a British actor, Pattinson, Ireland-born Pierce Brosnan, and Australian Emilie de Ravin. I asked him if he felt any apprehension at that, or if he just put his faith in his actors. “The latter — putting our faith in the actors. In a lot of these situations, sure, if I can cast a New York actor, I will,” Coulter said. “But ultimately it was about the best actors for the role, people you can believe in the role. And we were confident that they could all play New Yorkers, or Americans. They did it. Pierce really devoted himself to playing a guy who’s long since left the streets of Brooklyn, but you believe him as one of these guys. Emilie and Rob, they were head-to-toe American accent; they’re really kind of impeccable with that accent. It was like, ‘No, these are the best people for the part.’”
And, for Pattinson, “Remember Me” also gave him the chance to work opposite terrific actors: Chris Cooper plays de Ravin’s dour dad; Brosnan plays Pattinson’s withdrawn, willful father. I asked Pattinson which was more bruising: being physically beaten by Cooper or emotionally beaten by Brosnan? “Literally?” Pattinson laughs, more than a little ruefully: “Chris Cooper. It really hurt.” I asked Cooper about the visceral, tough fight scenes he shares with Pattinson, and Copper’s matter-of-fact manner has an undertone of respect for his co-star, even if he seems oblivious to Pattinson’s bruises: “It’s viscerally satisfying if the scene works … and when I know these scenes are coming, I’m very conscious of safety. And have been involved in other work where an actor can get carried away, and people do get hurt. So we talked it through very seriously, rehearsed it, paced it, and it worked out well. If it has an emotional impact, all the better. But, fortunately, it was a safe shoot, and nobody got hurt.”
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