So often you here actors singing the praises of directors. They talk about the vision that a particular director had and how it inspired them or about how a director let them improv and find the character their own way. And then sometimes the director pisses you off to the point where you just want to slug him. That's what apparently happened on the set of The Lighthouse where Robert Pattinson was being directed by The Witch director Robert Eggers. Pattinson says that one scene, that he had to film multiple times, required him to be repeatedly sprayed with water and it just became too much to handle. According to Pattinson...
That's the closest I've come to punching a director. However much I love Robert [Eggers], there was a point where I did five takes walking across the beach, and after a while I was like, 'What the fuck is going on? I feel like you're just spraying a fire hose in my face.' And he was like, 'I am spraying a fire hose in your face.' It was like some kind of torture. It definitely creates an interesting energy. [Laughs]
The Lighthouse is a new horror project from Robert Eggers that stars Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe and Dafoe himself interviewed Pattinson for Interview Magazine. The accomplished actor was familiar with the scene that required Pattinson to be sprayed in the face repeatedly, He called the Twilight star a "warrior" and said it was the sort of thing that never leaves you. It sounds like Pattinson really was tortured for this one.
While the exact context of the scene is unclear, one would assume Robert Pattinson's character finds himself out in some sort of storm that results in him getting water in his face at high speed. It certainly doesn't sound pleasant and after a while, that can certainly get to you. Having to stand out in the rain for an extended period to get a shot is one thing. Getting water in your face from a fire hose is something else. It apparently took five takes to get everything right in the scene. After the first couple, you can imagine Robert Pattinson would be wondering if this movie was really worth it.
If you thought that Hollywood stars were completely out of touch, it might be comforting to know that sometimes they just want to punch their boss in the face too.
Hopefully, the difficulty and frustration that came with doing five takes of getting freezing water sprayed in his face was worth it and it will all make The Lighthouse a better film. Robert Eggers' The Witch was a well-received indie horror movie and it sounds like The Lighthouse is cut from much of the same cloth. Most interestingly, the film has been shot in black and white, which will only add to the atmosphere of the dark fantasy film.
Currently The Lighthouse doesn't have a release date but is expected to arrive in 2019.
