How Robert Pattinson went to extreme lengths for “The Lighthouse”

Robert Pattinson’s passion for acting is challenged in his upcoming film “The Lighthouse”. The black and white feature stars Oscar-nominee Willem Dafoe alongside him. Set in the 1890s, the film sees the two as a pair of lighthouse keepers whose sanity is tested by a long period of isolation.

Now, Pattinson is sharing what it was like to get into his character, Ephraim Winslow a lighthouse apprentice to Dafoe’s Thomas Wake. It seems that the process is more daunting than it appears — which involves licking mud an hour prior to filming a scene with director Robert Eggers.

Speaking to Esquire about his peculiar creative process of getting into the character of “a mad person” Pattinson says:

“It was crazy. I spent so much time making myself throw up. Pissing my pants. It’s the most revolting thing. I don’t know, maybe it’s really annoying.”

So what was it like playing someone who was going mad? “It means you can sort of be mad the whole time. Well, not the whole time, but for like an hour before the scene,” he explained. The actor says going crazy means “you can literally just be sitting on the floor growling and licking up puddles of mud.”

The British actor recalls shooting scenes where Ephraim is intoxicated with kerosene saying that he was “basically unconscious the whole time”.

“It’s like being an adrenaline junkie. And also, when you don’t know how to do something, why not just run headfirst into a wall? See what happens. I haven’t got any other ideas,” Pattinson adds about the experience.

Looking for a new brand of horror? See The Lighthouse when it hits cinemas on October 18.