The English actor and the Canadian director, who called us shortly after Pattinson made a much-hyped appearance on “Good Morning America,” admitted that their “Cosmopolis” experience has been odd at times and, much like their film, uncomfortable with a bit of irony. There’s the strangeness of the movie itself. Then there are the “Twilight” fans who love Pattinson enough to expose themselves to an R-rated film about the economy that involves an eccentric millionaire getting a proctology exam in the back of a limo. Adding to the weirdness is Pattinson’s involvement in a very public cheating scandal; his longtime girlfriend Kristen Stewart recently apologized for being unfaithful with Rupert Sanders, the director of “Snow White and the Huntsman.” After Stewart went public, Pattinson disappeared for weeks, was rumored to be hiding out at Reese Witherspoon’s house, then resurfaced, to the delight of the paparazzi, to promote “Cosmopolis” on the red carpet and elsewhere.

It’s been a strange trip, but Cronenberg and Pattinson seem wonderfully comfortable — at least with each other — amid all the awkwardness.

Q. You both have said that you filmed this movie in chronological order, and I know that with many movies, the last scenes are shot first. Was that a luxury — to film from start to finish?

Cronenberg: One of the trickiest things that I had to learn as a director was exactly that. I mean, suddenly you’re forced to shoot the last scene of the movie first. And it’s hard for the actors because they don’t know who they are yet and they’re doing their death scene. As an actor myself, I was in Clive Barker’s movie “Nightbreed,” and the first thing we shoot was my character getting killed. And I said a typical actor thing. I said, “How can I know how to die when I haven’t lived yet?” So it is kind of a luxury. I think Rob can talk about that.

Pattinson: I agree. (Laughs) I don’t think I can add to that.

Q. You have both been very candid in interviews about the fact that you didn’t necessarily know how this novel would translate to film and what it meant to you. Do you have a different interpretation of the text now that you’re finished with the film?

Pattinson: Well, I like it. I don’t think that confusion is necessarily a bad thing. We’ve done hundreds of interviews now and I still find myself coming up with new things to say.

Cronenberg: Those statements that we made, which were very candid, can be misinterpreted as meaning we were inept, incompetent. But not at all. You know, I don’t do storyboards, for example. I don’t really know what I’m going to do at every set up and every shot. It’s all very spontaneous and of-the-moment, even what lens to use. That’s what we’re talking about. We don’t have it all mapped out. We’re trusting the script and trusting the dialogue that is all 100 percent Don DeLillo’s and taken from the novel directly. We know that if we respond directly to that . . . the movie will have its coherence.

Q. You just rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. What was that like? And what do you think the people there would think of this movie if they saw it?

Cronenberg: All through the halls of the stock exchange they have these monitors built into the walls, and they were all showing clips of “Cosmopolis.” All of the people there who were marshaling us were incredibly excited about the movie and really wanted to see it. And they were incredibly friendly and sweet, and I was suddenly thinking, “This is the wonderful, friendly face of capitalism. I don’t know why I’ve been fighting it for so long. I think I’m going to buy some stock.” [Pattinson laughs.] And the stock exchange is about marketing. To link the starting of the day with some product that’s being marketed was a no-brainer. And the fact that it might be rather ironic that we were opening the stock exchange; I don’t think it occurred to them.

Q. Mr. Pattinson, what did you think of the visit?