We’re entering a new era in Robert Pattinson's career. With recent roles in Good Time and The Lighthouse, as well as anticipation for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Matt Reeves’ The Batman, he’s revealed himself as much more than his iconic Twilight vampire. But, the actor is less of a stranger to franchises than we give him credit for. Remember, he was famously Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, too!
Robert Pattinson now looks back fondly on the early experience and credits Harry Potter as a pretty significant chapter in his career. He reminisced about the movie’s world press tour with these words:
I remember going to Tokyo for the first time and sitting in my room, looking out over the city and being like ‘How has this happened?' It was really special and I really like that movie … I wouldn’t be acting if it wasn’t for that.
It turns out you can thank the late Hogwarts student and Hufflepuff, Cedric Diggory, for the current golden age of Robert Pattinson almost 15 years later! The actor must have been around 18 at the time when he scored his most popular role yet and was invited to promote it all around the world with the young cast. The role only lasted one Harry Potter film, but once he got a taste of how his career could look, he stuck with it.
Robert Pattinson also told the Hollywood Foreign Press Association about the unique setting in which Harry Potter actors such as Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson grew up with:
It was a really nice environment on Harry Potter. Even compared to movies I’ve done since, it was very protected, the way the kids were treated. I’ve watched movies where you see a kid who’s got their tutor and it doesn’t exactly seem like they’re really going to school. I mean, it’s just kind of [like] they are fulfilling a legal requirement. But in Harry Potter, it was like they were at school and they were kind of doing work at the same time.
Since the Harry Potter cast started on the franchise as kids and were working on it for a decade, Robert Pattinson remembers it being very much a school setting. And because he was only there for one film, he didn’t quite get to have the same experience as the core cast. He admits that he doesn’t really keep in touch with his Goblet of Fire cast mates.
However, the actor certainly found this comradery with his Twilight co-stars – it was comparable to a college experience. Since the teen vampire series ended, the Robert Pattinson has graduated to taking on more serious roles in independent films and art house cinema. His most recent was in Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse alongside Willem Dafoe. This year, the actor is being submitted for Oscar nominations in the Best Supporting Actor Role for the A24 film.
After years out of the mainstream spotlight, he’ll star in the two of the most anticipated movies coming to the big screen: first, Christopher Nolan’s mysterious follow-up to Dunkirk, Tenet, and then he’s currently training to play Batman in 2021. His work on the Harry Potter franchise is certainly a good experience to have on his resume going into these massive blockbusters!
