Award season is upon us! The Oscar hopefuls are just beginning to roll in, just in time for Hollywood’s most coveted award shows to shape up. Early on, Renée Zellweger’s Judy performance, Quentin Tarantino’s love-letter to L.A. with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Martin Scorsese’s Irishman are making waves. But did you know Robert Pattinson is too? Turns out The Batman actor is being submitted by A24 in the Best Actor category for The Lighthouse.
Since Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse premiered at Cannes back in May, it’s been largely praised for its dark humor and the performances by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. The movie won the International Federation of Film Critics Prize at the French film festival and has since gained a 94% Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score after over 100 reviews. Now, indie studio A24 has decided to campaign Pattinson for Best Actor and Dafoe for Supporting Actor in the upcoming Oscar race.
The pair of actors are the sole actors in the movie, and play two lighthouse keepers who live on a remote island off the coast of Maine in the 1890s. Filmed in black and white on 35mm in the harsh conditions of Nova Scotia – The Lighthouse has Pattinson and Dafoe often humorously playing off each other as they begin to question one another’s sanity. The Witch filmmakers blend horror, comedy and psychological thrillers.
Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe fought through miserable conditions of the cold and rainy weather throughout making The Lighthouse and the actors had wildly different acting styles they preferred. Although Pattinson has explained it helped to create tension for the characters in the movie. Coming from a theater background, Dafoe likes doing rehearsals and Pattinson… not so much.
Now Willem Dafoe is no stranger to Oscar buzz. He was nominated in for his performances for two years in a row for At Eternity’s Gate and The Florida Project and he was additionally considered for Best Supporting categories for Shadow of the Vampire in 2001 and Platoon in 1987. However, Robert Pattinson has yet to be recognized by the Academy.
Back in 2017, Robert Pattinson received huge buzz for his role in the Safdie Brothers’ Good Time. He went on to be nominated for his performance in the Independent Spirit Awards and such but did not receive an Oscar nomination. Could this be his year? When you look at the other performances in line for Best Actor, it’s stiff competition to float to the top of.
Adam Sandler could be nominated for his leading role in the Safdie Brothers’ Good Time follow-up, Uncut Gems. Robert De Niro for Irishman, Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Adam Driver for either Marriage Story or The Report – maybe even Joaquin Phoenix for Joker. While some put Robert Downey Jr in the ring, the Avengers: Endgame actor rejected the campaign be made.
Who knows? Robert Pattinson could make his way on the shortlist! The Lighthouse comes to theaters on October 18.
