A24 A-to-Z: #10. "The Rover" (2014)

Scene from The Rover

In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for ears to come.

The Rover

Released: June 20, 2014

Release Number: 10
Directed By: David Michod

Written By: Joel Edgerton & David Michod (Story), David Michod (Screenplay)

Starring: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy

Plot: 10 years after a global economic collapse, a hardened loner pursues the men who stole his only possession, his car. Along the way, he captures one of the thieves' brother, and the duo form an uneasy bond during the dangerous journey.

While some studios take a lot of time to get going, A24 had covered a lot of bases in a year and a half. They had covered everything from celebrity angst (A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III) to teenage controversy (Spring Breakers, The Bling Ring) to art house masterpieces (Under the Skin). There was nothing that the studio wouldn't do with the right people. It's why their 10th movie, director David Michod's The Rover, is a bit of an odd fit. While it had all of the right elements, it failed to be the triumphant hit of its predecessors despite having one of Robert Pattinson's first post-Twilight movies. It was a film that in some ways was their most conventional in quite some time, and it's also one of their least recognized early films that is actually pretty good, but doesn't have that great hook that something like Obvious Child or Locke did.

In 2010, Michod made his directorial debut with Animal Kingdom. It was a film that was critically successful as well as earned Jackie Weaver an Oscar nomination (and later a TV series). Anything could be his next project after a successful turn like that. So, what did he choose? He chose a movie based on a story that he conceived with actor Joel Edgerton that focused on a near-future version of Australia that took place a decade after the western economy collapse. It was a very basic story, but it was one that also lead to the familiar criticism that any Australian-based dystopian movie earned. It was compared to Mad Max, which Michod would later claim that The Rover "is going to be way more chillingly authentic and menacing." Edgerton had initially written the part for his brother Eric, but it was soon agreed that he wasn't a fit for the character.

Instead it went to Pattinson, who auditioned for the part. Michod claimed that he was "not the sort of pretty boy I was expecting." Pattinson also later became the director's first choice for the outback story. The film also featured his second collaboration with Animal Kingdom actor Guy Pearce. The rest of the cast was made up of a variety of people from different walks of life, as Michod believed that everyone in the world of the movie was coming to this general area. As a result, Pattinson and Scoot McNairy are the only Americans with accent in the film. Among the various other talents were people who spoke Mandarin, Cambodian, and Australian. The film shot throughout Australia over the course of seven weeks. 

Many praised Pattinson's performance as the slightly handicapped brother of Pearce. Michod told the actor watch the 2011 documentary Bully to get an idea of how to react. Considering that this was only two years after the final Twilight film (Breaking Dawn - Part 2), Pattinson was still trying to break the taboo of him being a wooden actor. He notoriously claims to not like the movies for the way it's made people treat him. It may be part of why he took the role seriously and did his best to embody a character desiring love, but only discovering hate in the world. Still, Michod couldn't help but poke fun at his pretty boy image. In a pivotal scene, he sings a song from the car's radio. It was originally The Pussycat Doll's "Dontcha Wish Your Girl Was Hot Like Me?" but was later changed to Keri Hilson's "Pretty Girl Rock." Michod claims that it was a subtle jab at his Twilight days when he was a pretty boy.

The first images for the film appeared on March 13, 2013 with many others slowly rolling out. The sneak peek for the film came January 30, 2014 during the AACTA Awards. The first trailer premiered at Cannes where the film made its premiere. What followed was a run of praise for the film, including noteworthy praise for Pattinson. While he had proven himself previously in Cosmopolis, this was considered one of his early films to prove his potential. Many also praised Pearce's performance, but believed his to be more conventional to what had been seen from the actor. Beyond the praise came people who complained that the film was good, but its pacing moved at a glacial speed. Todd McCarthy claimed that ""Pattinson delivers a performance that, despite the character’s own limitations, becomes more interesting as the film moves along, suggesting that the young actor might indeed be capable of offbeat character work." Like all classic A24 films, part of its marketing came from a movie star playing a role unexpected and different from their persona. The film ended up with a 66% on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, proving to be one of the more middling films critically from the studio.

The Rover was also one of the first films to play into a repeated release strategy for A24. The film got a limited release akin to Spring Breakers and The Bling Ring on only five screens. It earned $69,302 during that time. Its wider release on 608 screens proved to be more disastrous as it earned $481,214. Among its strangest honors is that it beat The Railway Man for lowest opening weekend of a film on 600 or more screens during 2014. With that said, it did do decently in Australia with a worldwide gross of $8.5 million. However, it was a flop considering its $3.2 million budget. With that said, it did pretty well at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA), where it won two awards out of seven nominations. Later on, director Quentin Tarantino would praise the film, calling it "The best post-apocalyptic movie since the original Mad Max." He would also go on to praise Michod as a director in general, considering his work fearless.

With their 10th movie, A24 was entering the big leagues with a bit of a whimper. The Rover was a good film, but one that didn't have the staying power of most that came before. It lacked that charm that connected the film to a viable audience, despite appealing to Australian audiences and earning the stamp of approval from Tarantino. Still, it was the mark of change for Pattinson as an actor, who would return to work with A24 on Good Time. For now, it would set off one of the oddest periods that the studio ever had, as their work went from singular and defining to a bit baffling at times. Nothing was more the case than the Aubrey Plaza zombie comedy that followed The Rover called Life After Beth, which took the genre in more bizarre and human directions than it's used to.


Up Next: Life After Beth (2014)