The actor’s obvious preference for artistry over guaranteed commercial bankability post-Twilight explains his pairing with Denis, but the two are still an endearingly odd couple. Last week, they sat at the offices of A24 (the indie studio distributing High Life) and chatted about the creative genesis of the film, how they began collaborating, and the kinds of qualities they admire in movie stars and directors. I was there to occasionally interject or steer them back on topic, but most of the conversation was between them, illustrating their peculiar creative bond (which might explain why they’re already planning to work together again). This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

David Sims: How did you two meet? What’s the Robert and Claire story?

Robert Pattinson: We met in L.A. five or six years ago. I had seen a bunch of her movies, and I’d been trying to meet her for years. With High Life, I was stunned to hear that she was doing an English-language thing. I knew [her casting director] Des Hamilton and forced him to get me a meeting.

Claire Denis: It’s very funny to think that. If I do casting for a film, I’m longing for someone; I want someone to say yes. But when someone is asking “Can we meet?,” it’s frightening because suddenly I don’t know what to say. I think maybe he will be disappointed. Maybe I’m not going to be the person he wants me to be. Maybe what he sees in my film, it’s wrong.

Pattinson: I’ve noticed that with a few other directors. There was another writer-director in England whom I was trying to meet. And I was really aware of her trying to avoid it. I guess because as an actor you’re so used to people telling you no all the time, you assume [she doesn’t want to see you], but I found out she’s just really shy and nervous about meeting you. And it’s like, Why? When you come from an actor’s standpoint, you have no power most of the time. Whenever you meet someone, you’re just like, “Please,” cap in hand, begging.

Denis: I think this power of [directors] choosing someone and the actor or the actress begging—I’ve always felt this [notion] is fake. I am also begging when I’m thinking of a film. I’m not like a god. My fear is so big that I’ll betray someone or that I’ll ask someone to be in a film and then betray the desire of that person. I have no power.

Pattinson: I never understand when people have a really hard time [working] with a director. If you know you wanna work with someone, you kind of have to accept that that is how they work.

Sims: You mean that if they have a worthwhile body of work, however they’re behaving must be how they accomplish it.