‘He stole the show’: does the Oscars ask Robert Pattinson, the star of the four biggest films of the year – and Batman? | | Robert Pattinson

Today, once-young idols can no longer resist those jobs, no matter how silly, that made them stars. In an age where even horror movies are inspired by actors competitive chicken wings or hug dogsany mention of a cheesy breakout session should be a playful hugThanks again to the fans, and good luck.

What A-listers angling for awards don’t do, however, is raise such bones. Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t defend his Oscar for The Revenant through his writing for the late 80s sitcom. Growing Pains. Likewise, Joaquin Phoenix rarely brings SpaceCamp, and Jacob Elordi remains silent. The Kissing Booth 3.

Not Robert Pattinson. The 40-year-old British actor is now being tipped to star in the Christopher Nolan franchise. The Odyssey. As well as being the most impressive film that has been rising in some years, the blockbuster of $ 250m is the most anticipated film of the year and, until now, the winner of the Oscar of 2027.

Pattinson’s performance as Antinous, the rival of Penelope (Anne Hathaway) in the absence of her husband, Odysseus (Matt Damon), was praised by critics who share the first impressions before the film’s premiere next Wednesday. “He stole the show for me,” wrote US critic Erik Davis, calling him “very seductive, manipulative and fun to watch”. Supportive communications for Oscar have abounded, with the consensus being that this is the latest game in a career known for curveball decisions and technical skill from a man who has long since broken with his roots.

And yet, on the red carpet at the world premiere of the film on Monday, Pattinson tried to compare Homer’s 3,000-year-old poem – and his most influential film – with Evening Saga, a series about young vampires that aired almost 20 years ago.

He said: “I only imagine. “(Antinous) is like Jacob in the evening The Odyssey it’s almost over – Penelope can’t make up her mind between the two boys. And I’m just trying to, like, help him make up his mind. It’s like, ‘Okay. He’s dead, deal with it.’”

In the four Twilight movies, Pattinson played Edward Cullen: pale, immortal and locked in a love triangle with emo schoolgirl Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and hunky werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Born in Barnes in 1986, Pattinson joined in 2007 – although he had no education and little experience – after the producers asked for a list of the most successful Harry Potter actors on the “starmeter” of IMDb.

When invited to test chemistry with 17-year-old Stewart at the home of director Catherine Hardwicke, the actor was fascinated by both women and committed himself to the point that he fell on the bed during the kiss, and Hardwicke felt the need to remind him of the California years of acceptance.

“He’s a true movie star, and it was obvious the minute he appeared on the first Day of the Evening,” said former film journalist Steven Gaydos. “Hardwicke pleased the whole world of cinema when he put Pattinson together with Stewart, since all their energy hid the stupidity of the franchise and vampires and focused on the love and warmth between the two new charismatic heroes.”

The pair lasted four years, during which the series grossed $3.36bn. Both players have had very inconsistent paths since then. “For a long time,” says Guy Lodge, Variety’s chief critic, “they were associated with the picture industry’s image of young people who changed dramatically.

Whether he’s getting a prostate exam in the back of a limo (Cosmopolis), being made up all the time (Mickey 17) or masturbating to a wooden mermaid before being killed by rabbits (The Lighthouse), Pattinson’s twisted choices have proven, says Gaydos, that he’s never settled or fulfilled a commercial “coa”. Instead, he has shown himself to be a “fearless and fearless activist.

Lodge is also self-selecting Dramacouples comedy from earlier this year, calling it “a perfect showcase for Pattinson’s light and heavy talents.

The actor’s easygoing relationship with his film co-star Zendaya echoed the ease and fun he shared last year with Jennifer Lawrence, his co-star in the grueling postpartum drama. Death My Beloved.

His secret life – following his relationship with Stewart, and another with FKA branches, now he has a daughter with long-term girlfriend Suki Waterhouse – adds to Pattinson’s selling point as an actor who, although he is not afraid to embrace the unconventional in his work, seems happy to remain untroubled at home.

Like many of today’s hottest male stars – Josh O’Connor, Brad Pitt, Seth Rogen – he is a ceramicist, and a fan of domestic discoveries, whose thoughts are an arancini dish called a piccoloni cushion (“a little pillow”), for which he was about to sign a deal with a frozen food manufacturer, and a 9ft-long sofa with chair-like furniture (“It weighs a ton” – and still hasn’t found a buyer).

Zendaya stars alongside Pattinson in The Odyssey, as well as Dune 3, which is set to be a huge opening this Christmas – and one of The Odyssey’s biggest competitors. Later this year, Pattinson will also headline Primetime, a mini-drama of the US TV show To Catch a Predator. Then, in early 2027, comes his own again wearing a black hat and tails as the superhero Batman in Matt Reeves’ DC adaptation.

“He’s back to commercial cinema,” says Lodge, “but now he’s much more relaxed and fun in his acting. In both (2020’s) Tenet and The Odyssey, he brings wit and humor to Nolan’s writing, and though there was little struggle with the dark eyes of The Batmangave the hero a rare spark of life and sexuality.”

And it is this magical wisdom, perhaps, that is the key to all of Pattinson’s interest and his success in The Odyssey, a movie that pays great respect to self-control and courage in the pleasures of the body. Dressing in his appropriate clothing for the film, Pattinson recently told GQ, “I was like, ‘I really want to have leopard print shorts — I want them to just come out of my skirt, a little bit of fur.’

This combination of criminality is easily seen in his performance, says the Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw, who calls it “saturnine, reptilian ugly and disgusting… Although Gaydos sees Pattinson as having the “cheeks and chops of the Hollywood golden era of leading men like Robert Taylor and Tyrone Power”, Bradshaw instead chooses Alan Rickman: the same joy of the devil combined with the good background of a good person behind.

Pattinson’s two films this year have already proved to be big hits and the next three are good. Yet regardless of their fate, his future as one of the most successful, charismatic and unpredictable performers of his generation seems assured. He would have been there long ago, says Gaydos. “If Alfred Hitchcock were directing movies today, one can only imagine the fun and excitement he would create with Pattinson on screen.”