Robert Pattinson's New Movie Is As Far From 'Twilight' As It Gets

It's been almost a decade since Robert Pattinson became an official super star thanks to Twilight, the movie that turned casual fans into die-hards for the British actor. In the years since, Pattinson has distanced himself from the teen franchise through roles in smaller films, but not until now has he truly reinvented himself onscreen. Robert Pattinson in Good Time is the actor like you've never seen him before. And I'm not just talking about the bleached-blonde hair and oversized jackets.

In Good Time, Pattinson plays Connie Nikas, a young New Yorker-turned-bank robber, who rushes through the city's underbelly trying to get $10,000 for bail money after his brother, Nick, is arrested. No sparkly vampires here — Good Time depicts a dark, seedy reality, one the actor hasn't really explored. If you've been following Pattinson's career since his breakout role in Twilight, then you know he's been busy acting in plenty of indie films, some with dystopian themes (The Rover), others with twisted takes on reality (Cosmopolis, Maps to the Stars), and a handful of period films (Queen of the Desert, Life, The Lost City of Z). Now, it's time Pattinson adds another genre to his resumé: the gritty crime thriller.

The movie marks a huge departure for the actor, who was used to Hollywood telling him he could only act in very specific genres. "When I first started acting, everyone's like, 'Oh, you went to private school? You're an English person? That means you're gonna do period dramas and that's it,'" Pattinson said in an interview with Rolling Stone. Perhaps Good Time will help him avoid the type-casting curse that follows many young blockbuster stars. Already, the film has earned him more acclaim than any of his past performances. The film premiered to a six-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival — no easy feat, and critics have been praising his performance. Variety called it "a career high" and a recent Rolling Stone review proclaimed it "the performance of his career."

Good Time is on track to completely change Pattinson's career, and it has already changed how he sees himself as an actor. "I think I'm more confident now; this was a challenging role and I learned a lot about my abilities as an actor," he told Variety at the film's New York premiere. It sounds like Good Time won't be the last we see of this new, daring Pattinson. Fans should probably start getting ready to view him like they've never seen him before, again and again.