It’s the coldest weekend of the year and Robert Pattinson is playing pool on a leopard-print billiards table—or pretending to, at least. On a Saturday afternoon in December, we meet in the dimly lit, icy lower level of The Flower Shop, a trendy, ’70s-style bar on Manhattan’s Lower East Side—usually bubbling with a gaggle of happy-hour patrons, but today, dedicated to Pattinson’s photo shoot with Dior Parfums as part of his ongoing ambassadorship with the brand. First he’s lounging in a vinyl booth, a bottle of Dior Homme Intense in front of him like it’s a glass of whiskey; later, he’s leaning against a railing, then bent down to angle a cue across the pool table with perfect form, sandy hair expertly mussed in a way that would inspire envy in many of this bar’s usual pool-playing bros.
This is a relatively peaceful moment in the larger span of Robert Pattinson’s schedule lately. He’s already shot two epics in the past year—The Odyssey and the third installment of Dune—and as he’s finishing up press for Die My Love, he’s simultaneously gearing up to film The Batman 2 and to release The Drama in early 2026.
“I hardly ever want to do anything, even though I seem to be doing quite a lot,” Pattinson says after his shoot wraps, when we’re in the makeshift greenroom at the bar. In spite of the many hours he’s spent in front of a camera today, being shuttled inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs, he’s jocular and spirited, quick to devolve into a fit of laughter or slip into a silly voice mid-sentence. He jokingly frets about the upcoming week, during which he has to get himself to a size 27-inch waist for a shoot that he can’t reveal details about: “All these guys are like, ‘He’s too skinny to play Batman,’” he says with a laugh. “And I’m just constantly going, ‘I need to be sample size!’”
Ahead of the wild, wonderful year that awaits him, Pattinson sat down with GQ to discuss everything from the joys of fatherhood to his Apple Music Replay to his own music, which we just might be hearing more of in 2026.
Robert Pattinson: Sort of amazing. I’ve never done a year like it in my entire life. It has been really fun, really quite amazing. Quite profoundly exhausting, but a really good year. I can’t believe it’s the end of the year. I basically have just been nonstop since last summer.
[Laughs] There’s not a 9/11 scene, but…just wait! Wait and see. That’s coming out. I did another movie called Prime Time, then I’m doing another one. And then basically the second I finish this, I start doing Batman 2.
Yeah. I’m going to be old very, very quickly without even realizing. I think that’s what I’m trying to do, I’m trying to pretend I’m not aging by just continuously working.
Yeah, exactly.
I don’t use Spotify.
Mm-hmm.
Tough to tell. I go through periods where I listen to very little music, and I’m in one of those periods right now. I think it’s just too much to do. I’m just reading constantly, and I’m not one of those people who can listen and read. I can’t do two things at the same time.
Scripts and books. I started a production company as well, which is weird; I feel like a real adult.
Literally in the last couple of days, I’ve started finding slightly more interesting people than I usually do. Who have I been listening to? [Takes phone out of pocket] Oh my God, this is so annoying. Oh, there is a thing on Apple Music!
I’m almost embarrassed. Wait, let me see. Oh, Dijon, he’s my number one.
Bob Marley was number two. Very strange. See, this is where…. My number six was Vladimir Ashkenazy.
I don’t know [Bursts out laughing].
Yeah, it’s piano. I like Nilüfer Yanya. Really cool. I really like her. The Gap Band, Bertrand Chamayou. That actually kind of surprised me. I’m like, really? War, I really like War. You know who I really love? I was extremely late to this: 100 Gecs.
Like…a few months ago.
Extremely. But I absolutely love 100 Gecs. I wish I’d been part of that when it was all taking place. I love their music.
It’s like 20, but with some kind of a personality disorder.
Yeah, no, I love that suit. It’s also incredibly comfortable, that suit. I love a crop jacket. And it’s very rare, because you don’t feel too formal in it and you feel like it’s more active. I really liked it. And the fisherman sandal thing was very…. I was a little trepidatious, but I’m glad we did it.
It’s that weird thing, because I still have this sort of desperate urge to be on trend, and sometimes you just think, You know what? Maybe the kids can do that. It’s weird, because I’ll go to a fitting, and I like really flamboyant dressing in a fitting, and then I’ll go on the street and I just spend my entire life trying to be the most inconspicuous person in the world, just the most boring. I dress so boringly, but the desire to be flamboyant gets stronger and stronger and stronger inside me.
If people only knew.
Pretty much, I mean, give or take. It has been pretty much one of my longest professional relationships ever. I think it’s coming up to 14 years.
It’s always very nice. I always love these people. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to talk about scent in a more sophisticated way. Maybe after 16 years, I might know what iris is. No, I shouldn’t say that. It’s always so nice. I always really enjoy doing it.
It’s weird, I thought I knew what the smell of iris was, but when it’s combined with vanilla in the parfum, it smells totally different. It’s fascinating. I think I have an exceptionally unsophisticated nose, but I do like the smell of it. [Laughs] You’re like, “Describe it,” and I’m like, “It’s nice. It’s really, really nice.”
I think the first time I ever did interviews for Dior Homme, during the interviews, I sprayed such a huge spray into my mouth.
I thought it was facing the other direction. And that was probably one of the more embarrassing ones I’ve ever done. But…I think people thought I was joking when I first was interviewed. I do like not spraying it directly on yourself, I like spraying it in a little cloud in front of you walking through it. And you never really get too overpowering a scent.
I think that something has changed. My body chemistry has changed. It’s very strange. But I 100% used to smell exactly like a crayon.
And it’s weird, you become less scented as you get older, I think. I don’t really notice my smell anymore. I used to have a very particular, pronounced smell.
Yeah, a crayon-y one. Before that, it was quite a kind of vicious, vicious scent. And then something, I think, when it became crayon-y, it was like something died. I guess the seven-year cycle…. Maybe I was smelling of crayons when one self died, and when a new self was born, it was less scented.
I don’t smell anything now. It’s so weird. I have to get a lot to smell anything at all. Which I don’t understand. You can be going to the gym and stuff, I’m like, Okay, I don’t smell anymore.
[Laughs] Yeah, it’s like, you just can’t even smell. It’s just blank! I actually did lose my sense of smell for a bit and it took me months to realize that I’d lost it. I have it back now…I think.
Definitely not The Odyssey, because I think you get assassinated if you talk about it. But from what I experienced of it, it’s just unbelievable. It was an unbelievable experience. I think one thing I can say: I saw a sheep, and…. Actually, I can’t even say that. I saw a sheep! That’s the only thing I can reveal.
And Dune.... You’ll never experience these things in any other profession. I mean, literally, I was experiencing things which hardly anybody in history has or will ever experience and it’s just absolutely incredible.
Being out in the desert shooting Dune, it’s weird. I remember shooting a scene with Zendaya, the first scene we shot together out in the desert, I’m like, “Oh! We’re, like, in Dune!” And she’s like, “Yeah…we’re doing a Dune movie.” But it really was like, “It really feels like you’re in a Dune movie.” It was really, really fun. And The Drama, I think it’s going to be...I hope people really like it. I think it’s quite fun. I hope people find it funny.
It’s so nice. She’s great. I really, really like her. And yeah, she’s incredible in The Drama as well and in all of them. Well, I haven’t seen what she did in The Odyssey. I just saw her pictures and we saw each other in passing.
It’s just always different. I mean, with Chris [Nolan], he basically said, “I’m doing The Odyssey.” And I’m like, “Okay, cool. I want to do it.” And then Denis [Villeneuve] was like, “Do you want to do Dune?” And I went, “Yeah.” And then other things, I guess with all of these jobs, it’s luckily…. I hardly ever want to do anything, even though I seem to be doing quite a lot, but Die My Love came because I was talking to Jen [Lawrence], who I knew a little bit, but not that well, and we were talking about something else. And she’s like, “Oh, by the way, I’m doing this Lynne Ramsay movie. Do you want to be in that with me?” I’m like, “Yeah, what are you talking about?”
And then The Drama came and there was a difficulty [with the scheduling] and I almost couldn’t do it; I was going to have to pick between the two of them. And the scheduling worked out, and the day I finished Die My Love, I went straight to do The Drama. It started the next day and it’s insanely different from Die My Love. And then finished that, started another movie basically the day I finished that.
It’s really weird. I mean, this week I really did have a moment where I had to do an interview about The Drama and I was like, “I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
Yeah, it’s really strange. I had a baby and it does give you this crazy level of energy. You’re just suddenly like, I need to make a cave fortress! I don’t know what it is, I suddenly have an insane drive to do work that I never had before.
I don’t know how. I wasn’t the biggest fan of kids before. I didn’t mind them. I would tolerate them. [Laughs] But it’s the most fun thing. I think it’s absolutely wonderful. And you’re suddenly like...well, everyone does seem to think their kid is the coolest kid. I definitely think, I’m like, Yeah, my kid, you can actually hang with her. She’s great.
But how has it changed me? I go to bed a lot earlier. There’s just constant time management. It’s just that everything is time management, the whole time. I mean, it’s kind of obvious, but you don’t realize it until you do it. Even if you’re on the other side of the planet, you’re like, “Okay, I cannot spend more than 10 days away.” After 10 days of being away, it’s physical pain. It’s so interesting, your body chemistry changes without you even thinking about it.
Oh, she has seen so many of them already.
If I’m not getting any respect, I’ll be like, “Who’s this? Who’s that on the screen?” And she’s like…[blank stare]. And I’m like, “It begins with a D! Ends with a Y!”
She’s watching Mickey-17.
It’s so crazy, the cultural legs it had. I don’t understand, but it seems like there’s suddenly a resurgence. It’s funny. And it’s even people who are still angry about them and stuff, like they were in 2008. It’s so weird, but amazing. I just had no idea that would happen. It’s so cool though.
It’s not?
That’s weird.
Yeah, what the fuck, man!
I mean, I’m always kind of doing little bits and bobs. I recorded some stuff. It’s just so difficult to tell whether you’re being a total dork. And then the risk/reward is so high. It would be so embarrassing if you’re like, “Oh, I made some songs.” And they’re like, “Yeah, it’s shit.” It’s so awful.
There’s nothing more embarrassing. Because there’s nothing to hide behind, when you’re like, “I like singing my songs.”
I was kind of going all over the place. I’m always doing lots of stuff. During Batman, I made tons and tons of ambient electronic music. There’s a video that’s my favorite…. I was in a tent the whole time, basically, whenever I was on a break on Batman, and I’ve got my headphones over the bat ears and I’m making electronic music on MPC with my vape, done up like Batman.
With the cowl on! It was so difficult to get the cowl off, but I got the headphones over the cowl. There was a period where I thought I was going to release that. You have to decide who you want to be in this life, you can’t be everything.
Do you know what yours is?
Just get a little...what are those things called? The singing drum.
It’s a metal drum you play with your hands. It’s very accessible. You don’t even really need to learn.
I kind of feel like I can’t really make a resolution, because I know I’m working basically ’til November next year. So I can’t do anything else. It’s enough! It’s too much already. I’m not changing. I’m going to remain Gen Z and that’s that.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.