Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska attended the 68th International Berlin Film Festival on Friday for the premiere of their film Damsel.

ROBERT PATTINSON & MIA WASIKOWSKA AT DAMSEL PREMIERE

The Twilight star promoted the film, by directors David and Nathan Zellner, in Berlin. He plays Samuel Alabaster who sets off on an adventure with the love of his life Penelope, played by Wasikowska. While Pattinson says he enjoyed his time on the big budget films, he believes indie cinema is having a “second wave.”

“I’ve not had a bad experience on any film I’ve done, maybe one. The only reason I’m a little cautious about big franchise films is that you can’t make them R-rated,” the actor told Deadline. “If you have a big budget, there’s more people on you to do it a [specific] way or you’re fired. If you keep a budget contained, if people think they can get their money back, you can experiment more… People were scared when the streaming services came out, but, to me, it seems there’s a second wave. There’s a bunch of new studios, mid-budget filmmaking is coming back and it’s great.”

Damsel, which is making its debut at the Berlin Film Festival, is a rare breed of comedy and western. “There aren’t that many western comedies. In terms of the comedies, it’s tough to find one that has an interesting character, you’re usually playing for laughs,” he added. “There’s such a stable of comedy actors and I’m not seen as a comedy actor so it will always go to a bunch of people before me. I found it so strange and felt like abstract version of a comedy and it appealed to me in the same way as a drama. It was really fun to play, it has an odd tone, so it was fun to try and figure out how to fit into it.”

As for Wasikowska’s role, Penelope is not the typical western damsel-in-distress. “We were led to believe one thing about this character and that gets flipped on its head,” she shared.

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The Zellners described their motivation in behind this film was their love for westerns combined with their disappointment that the female characters were often “pretty boring or a prize to be obtained by the hero.”

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