In Venice, Robert Pattinson has less room for jokes while promoting a grim film

Robert Pattinson could not entirely keep his inner gremlin under control on Venice's Lido. Asked about alt-pop musician Phoebe Bridgers' acting debut in Primetime, he pulled a sour face and gave a thumbs-down. Then he added: “But she was easy to get.” Bridgers laughed beside him and the two exchanged blown kisses.

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But she was easy to get.

Pattinson, now 40 and a father, still enjoys unsettling press events with outrageous remarks. He told Willem Dafoe in 2018 that talking nonsense gives him a rush because a small gremlin inside him wants to say something shocking. Over the years, he has claimed that he never washes his hair or takes showers, that a clown died in front of him during his first circus visit, and that he once bored a Spanish stalker for two hours until she stopped following him. He has also said he spent two weeks eating only boiled potatoes with pink Himalayan salt as a detox.

There is less room for pure mischief while promoting Primetime. Pattinson has been closely involved with the dark film for four years as both producer and lead actor. The London-born performer now has the stature to get such a feature financed. He first broke through as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter, became a teenage idol as Edward Cullen in Twilight, and later built a respected career in art-house films, like his former partner and co-star Kristen Stewart.

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It gives me a high. That little gremlin in me thinks: say something shocking.

Primetime arrives amid Pattinson's crowded schedule, between Dune 3 and The Odyssey, with the black comedy The Drama also ahead and Batman 2 still in production. He suspects that some of journalist and entertainer Chris Hansen's qualities from Primetime have seeped into his portrayal of Antinous, the villainous leader of Penelope's suitors in The Odyssey. Hansen became famous for a television operation that lured alleged sexual predators through online chats and phone calls before confronting them on camera with the phrase “have a seat right over there” and turning them over to police. The article describes the show's setup as mythological and hallucinatory, set in an ordinary kitchen with a bowl of cookies.

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Have a seat right over there.