Times Live Interview with Robert Pattinson
Times Live has published an interview with Robert Pattinson, taken while he was on the set of Eclipse in Vancouver. The interview was taken over the phone and Rob talks about his usual feelings regarding the phenomenon that is The Twilight Saga. You can read the article below and find out if Rob feels entrapped by his vampire role and if he gets embarrassed by having millions of fans all around the world.
Far easier for him to stay in his hotel room, cocooned in five-star luxury, with a cellphone that has run out of charge, safe at least from the girls chanting his name outside.
Robert Pattinson, 23, from Barnes in southwest London, ought still to be one of Hollywood’s beautiful dreamers, moving up the ranks of movie acting, enjoying his American adventure, his guitar, his good looks. Instead he lives in danger of being trampled in a stampede of teen love. He plays the vampire Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga, the biggest books-to-screen phenomenon since Harry Potter – in which, by the way, Pattinson was Cedric Diggory, heroic golden boy and victim of Voldemort. Boy, his life has changed since Hogwarts. In Canada, he is shooting Eclipse, the third of Stephenie Meyer’s quartet of novels. The second, New Moon, was released this month in a publicity extravaganza that involved shutting down New York’s Times Square. The last time the actor was there, the square was also closed to traffic, for an event only marginally more fascinating to the world: the election victory of Barack Obama. We talk on the phone. Even now, a year afterTwilight’s release, Pattinson sounds utterly stunned by the hysteria swirling around him.
“It’s been a little frightening,” he laughs, a sort of embarrassed chuckle, the sound of someone negotiating the best bit of luck they have ever had, not wanting to sound blasé or overexcited. “In England, no one had heard of the series when I went for the audition, so it has been a total, utter surprise. The change to my everyday life is so extreme. Before this, I was used to working 10 days a year. Originally, I did a three-picture deal, but I wasn’t even really thinking about that . I had no idea I’d still be working on it now.”
Does the poor boy, who still calls London home, feel he has to hide? “I tend to stay in the hotel because where I’m staying is publicised all the time. There’s always a bunch of people outside. I can’t really be in Los Angeles now at all. It’s not that the fans are threatening, but the paparazzi follow me all night.” This hounding can evoke an absurd sympathy, considering the kid’s fortune and prospects. But then he brightens, telling me he was buying a guitar the other day and had to spell his name 12 times, and the guy still didn’t twig. “I loved that.”
When he read the first script, he had no idea how to play it. “I thought Bella, the heroine, would be a damsel in distress and I’d have to be the alpha-male hero type, so I thought I was never going to get it. But then they cast Kristen Stewart and she’s not really like that, so I realised there was a different way to play Edward, to show his vulnerability.” Could he get trapped and find it hard to move on to different sorts of roles?
“It worries me, because the whole Twilight thing keeps getting bigger and bigger, and now it’s so big, even my own ego can’t cope with it. A certain amount of success you can mentally deal with, but there’s a point where you think: ‘Jesus Christ, what is this? I’m not that great!’ I just wanted to make an American film, and I wanted it to be relatively good and to be good in it. I have never pushed to do anything . As soon as you start going to the gym every day and try to look like a movie star, you’re going down a worrisome track.” He laughs. “Being an English guy, you get a lot more breaks. You’re allowed to look a little worse. It’s that thing about English teeth.”
To say New Moon is eagerly awaited is like saying the Pope could use a miracle. Moreover, it promises to be twice as hormonally charged as Twilight, since it offers two poster boys for the price of one.
Is Pattinson embarrassed to have millions of girls in love with him? “The only time it’s embarrassing is when you do a photo shoot and people try to force you to look clean-cut,” he says. “When they use pictures where you’re smiling sweetly and having your hair brushed, because that’s not what you want to be known for. I don’t really know why the girls love the movie so much. The series has become a bit of a cult. People like being part of the club. They’re obsessed.”
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 28th, 2009 at 9:09 pm and is filed under Press. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I like Rob unshaven, messy hair, smoking a cigarette, and drinking a beer. Rob is appealing because he’s not polished or fake. He’s not lost in hollyweird (yet)…
I think Robert Pattinson looks best when he is himself. I love the books, loved Twilight the movie and New Moon puts that one to shame. However the real shame is that in America, we tend to think that we have a RIGHT to hound someone to the point of making them shut ins. He cannot go out to do anything. I agree that he is handsome and sexy in a different way, not the pretty boy Zac Efron, Leo DiCaprio way. Better. He has eyes that melt those of us who appreciate him and he knows how to use them. But that still does not give us the right to take his freedom and right of privacy away from him. Give him a break ladies. Let him do more work for us all to appreciate his talents without having to hide from us all the time.
Natalie, I agree with you 100% !!! He’s handsome and charming, but he’s still an human being and really deserves to have his private life. His shyness and still confidence has enchanted me since the first time I’ve seen him in Twilight movie, and that’s what I really would like to keep seing, then it’s a great idea let him keep doing more good work for us to appreciate it.
I agree with you both, Natalie and Isabel.
I just wanted to say, it’s Rob’s honesty, that blew me away. I’m so happy, that there seems to be someone in Hollywood again, who is hardheaded and charming.
I’m really looking forward to his next movie “Remember me”. I like the trailer ans his acting seems to be quit good.
I wish him the very best. Be yourself Rob!
Consider this … would you prefer to be wandering down the street and happen to walk past a yummy Rob Pattinson (or any other famous person for that matter) and be comforted in the knowledge that they know you aren’t going to throw yourself at them – just appreciate them for the person they are and keep walking, safe in the knowledge that you might just be lucky enough to pass by them again some day?…OR, hound them constantly until they say ENOUGH! and decide that they won’t do what we love them doing anymore… Back up ppl, and leave, Rob (and everyone else) to live their private lives without yelling, stalking and shoving cameras in their faces 24/7. Most people like to leave their work at work…do you think he might too? It is all about respect.
That’s the point, Kathryn! I saw an interview where he says that he just want to do his work and go back home, just like all of us… ;)
Yeah I know. I just re-read what I wrote previously… I was on my soap box a bit there for a sec :-) It frustrates me when you see those ‘fan’ and pap videos or see interviews where he (plus the others too) comment on being harrassed so much that they find it simply easier to withdraw – really they (the fans) should all be mortified by their behaviour. We are all human beings and should all be treated equally and with respect. (maybe that’s just me being idealistic ;-) ) I feel for Rob as he shouldn’t be experiencing the removal of his basic human right to feel safe going about his normal daily activities just because others think they have some weird claim of ownership.
Anyhoo, I should get back to work :-)
Well, I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but different people, different thoughts. It’ll be difficult we find lots of fans thinkinkg just like us…
Being from outside, I feel we can give a piece of advice to Rob… “Just be yourself and enjoy your moment !!!”