10 Actors Who Refused To Play Themselves On Screen
2. Robert Pattinson - Tenet
Robert Pattinson has proven himself a terrifically dynamic actor in recent years, but what you may not have noticed is his aversion to using one particular aspect of himself in his performances.
The London-born Pattinson generally shies away from using his regular English accent in movies, stating that he feels like a "fraud" whenever he uses his own accent for a role, even referring to it as "playing [himself]."
And so for his recent turn as Neil in Christopher Nolan's Tenet, Pattinson ditched not only his typical accent but also his usual mannerisms, basing them all instead on late intellectual Christopher Hitchens.
You needn't hear much of Hitchens' own voice to see where Pattinson is coming from, and the actor apparently imparted so much of the man's vocals and physicality into the role that he actually forgot about it by the end of shooting:
"I was so obsessed with watching Christopher Hitchens debates. You know Christopher Hitchens? A lot of my character stuff, I was trying to do a Chris Hitchens impersonation, and I completely forgot that I was doing that until I saw my notes. I’m so curious. I mean, I literally haven’t seen a frame of this movie."