Little Ashes Director Dishes On Pattinson's Love Scenes

The L.A. Times Dishrag spoke exclusively with Paul Morrison about Rob Pattinson and his role in Little Ashes:

DR: Those gay sex scenes and the nude scenes, were those difficult for young actors Rob and Javier Beltran?

PM: I think they were difficult, but I think all sex scenes are difficult, and for all actors of all ages. I think Rob probably found it harder than Javier, to draw the line between performance and, ah, but that was also in the nature of the part, that Dali's sexuality was so complicated, complex and mysterious, I think even to himself, and his fear of sexuality, and if you're playing that role, that kind of rubs off on you, so I think sex and pain were so closely entwined with Dali that to play those scenes is also hard, and the triangle sex scene is an unbelievably difficult scene. One of those scenes in everybody's life when you're doing something and you know it's really really wrong, it really, it goes against the grain, but you're doing it, so playing that scene is hard, it's always hard.

DR: It's wonderful to see a young actor like this, who despite the fame and the adulation is choosing a path and taking some extremely challenging and provocative roles. Do you think he will continue on that path?

PM: He is serious about acting and I am sure that, yeah, he will want to do roles that challenge him. I can't tell you how hard he worked on the role of Dali. I was encouraging him to just play the script, but he was for himself hunting down every day bits of film or tape or interviews or a biography of Dali. He worked really hard at it, both intellectually and emotionally. I think that's in his blood now, I think. I don't think he'll be satisfied with playing less than interesting roles.

Dish Rag: Playing Salvador Dali is a daunting role for a young actor.

PM: Yeah, I don't think Rob realized what he was getting into when he agreed to do it, but he really worked hard at it, he really grappled with it, and I think he's done something very extraordinary. It's so difficult to do, because you have to tread light all the time between playing Dali as a young lovable young man, which he was, and suggesting the kind of pastiche of himself that he became in later life, that he presented to the public in later life, and that's a very tall order, and I think Rob pulled it off.