Their Film Ran in 14 Theaters. Then Robert Pattinson Called

How the major actor ended up in 'Good Time'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 8, 2017 1:42 PM CDT

Good Time is a film about one bad night gone worse. Robert Pattinson plays a small-time Queens crook named Connie Nikas whose botched robbery and escape attempt lands his mentally handicapped brother in jail. And that's just in the first few minutes. The film doesn't come up for a breather for the next 90. People have described Good Time as "Mean Streets on MDMA," which might even be too tame. The filmmakers behind it, Josh and Benny Safdie, are two who the general public would be forgiven for not knowing. They are 30-something brothers whose last film, the punishing heroin drama Heaven Knows What, played in only 14 theaters. So how did they get one of the biggest movie stars in the world to lead their next film? Pattinson called them.

The AP reports Pattinson saw a promotional still from Heaven Knows What and essentially decided he had to work with the brothers. "I guess it is kind of wild," says Josh Safdie. "To me it's like a guy saw a picture and he was inspired by it and he reached out." Pattinson says of the brothers, "They run at a different level of energy to most people. I was thinking how to describe the movie and it's like it's a car crash movie, but the car crash happens in the first five minutes and you're just skidding for the rest." Safdie explains that they visited the Manhattan Detention Center as part of their research thanks to a friendly warden who didn't know who they were. As soon as they entered the female wing, that changed. The AP has more. (More Robert Pattinson stories.)

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