From an actor's perspective, there's a line that separates "going Method" from "This is just a job, and there are limitations to what I will do in a role." For Robert Pattinson, the one-time Twilight sensation now crushing it on the indie film circuit, that line was drawn when the director of his new film asked him to masturbate a dog. Like, for real. As Pattinson explains:
There was initially this scene---I don't think I should say this---but like, my character Connie has this affinity with dogs. And he thinks he is a dog in a previous life, and he thinks he has control over animals. There's this one scene that we shot, it's basically... there's a drug dealer who busts into the room, and I was sleeping with the dog and basically giving the dog a handjob.
Robert Pattinson is out promoting the new film Good Time, directed by Benny and Josh Safdie, and contrary to popular belief, the title doesn't refer to the dog's life on the receiving end of a sex act. Instead, it's a crime thriller about a bank robber who is on the lam. Don't feel too bad for Pattinson, however, as he goes on to tell Jimmy Kimmel that they found an artificial solution to the dog-penis trick:
I asked the trainer, because the director was like, 'Just do it for real, man! Don't be a pussy!' And the dog's owner was like, 'Well, he's a breeder. I mean, you can. You just gotta massage the inside of his thighs.' I was like, 'Just massage the inside of his thighs?' I didn't agree to do the real one, so we made a fake red rocket.
From everything we are hearing about Good Time, the movie is a stylish and eye-catching thriller that makes excellent use of Robert Pattinson. We hadn't heard anything about this dog scene, but based on the amount of attention it's currently getting, thanks to the Jimmy Kimmel interview, I'd imagine more people will seek Good Time out, out of morbid curiosity. Here's Pattinson on Kimmel. The dog chat starts around the 2:20 mark:
Good Time stars Robert Pattinson, Jennifer Lason Leigh, Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), and co-director Ben Safdie. It's in limited release at the moment, but will be expanding to more markets in the coming weeks. Pattinson's supposedly fantastic in it. And that's not based on the opinions of any canine critics, I swear. Shortly after this story broke, PETA dropped a statement, which suggests they are looking into whether or nor a law was broken by the creative team on Good Time. Read their statement on the next page.
A statement from PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange was sent to CinemaBlend in response to Robert Pattinson's announcement that he had refused to perform a sex act on a dog on the set of Good Time. It reads:
PETA depends on actors and crew members to come forward when they see mistreatment, whether it involves a dog who is being forced into churning water on the set of A Dog's Purpose or an A-list actor who is being asked to molest his canine co-star. Robert Pattinson is our kind of guy (and everyone's who has a heart) for refusing to masturbate a dog---which is like child molestation---and for talking about it so that the public can see that once again animal trainers' top priority is money and animals' interests and well-being are often ignored. PETA is currently investigating whether the law was broken in this instance.
PETA --- whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to abuse in any way" --- is investigating the legality of this incident, according to he email. Stay tuned for developments on this story.
