The Guide #267: Robert Pattinson embraced his inner lowlife and became one of the best actors of his era — SkimNews
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- Robert Pattinson ends 2026 with four films, a run of roguish roles that cements his status as one of the best performers of his era, with a former Twilight heart-throb playing against type under auteurs who understand his magnetic/repellent duality.
- Primetime, directed by Lance Oppenheim and playing in UK and Irish cinemas now, casts Pattinson as To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen, whose slick nightly-news exterior masks a frayed, angry, fearful man; Hansen has called the film "a completely made-up work of fiction" and "an insult" to child-protection workers.
- The Odyssey casts Pattinson as Antinous, a crawling, craven antagonist whom Odysseus dispatches with "extreme prejudice," in a three-hour epic where some critics said his performance was "stealing the show."
- The Drama, six months after its release, turns Pattinson's initially gentle art historian Charlie into a brittle, deeply unlikeable figure by the wedding day; Zendaya plays the bride-to-be and now shares three films with him.
- Dune: Part Three, arriving in December, features Pattinson as Scytale, a shape-shifting manipulator set on usurping Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides.
- Batman comes calling again: Pattinson reprises the Dark Knight in the second of the latest Batman films next year, after a 2026 in which The Odyssey ranked among the year's highest-grossing films while The Drama and Primetime "massively punched above their indie-film weight."
- Oscar best actor prognostications have so far left Pattinson off the list, with this sort of lowlife role tending to be sidelined for worthier, outwardly heroic parts when awards season arrives.
Why it matters: Pattinson's four 2026 films put him at the centre of the year's most prominent rogues' gallery, with The Odyssey among the highest-grossing films of 2026 and three of the four outgrossing their indie-film weight. Yet his Oscar best actor prospects are being overlooked because these roles get sidelined for heroic parts — an awards gap with four films of box-office proof behind it.
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