[Tai] was the best actor I ever worked with in my life. I cried when the elephant was wrapped. I never cried when anyone else was wrapped.

Kristen [Stewart] is very focused on being an actress. I mean, that’s what she is – she’s an actress. Whereas I – I just don’t really know.

Christoph [Waltz] is stunning, an insanely nice guy. He is not only a ridiculously good actor, he is also really funny, helpful, and a good colleague. I like his work ethic. I mean, the guy has won an Oscar—and despite that he is receptive, open-minded, and not the least bit snooty. And Reese Witherspoon is the same. It may be the nicest cast that I have worked with yet—a really great experience.

It was recently. It happened while I was filming ‘Water for Elephants’ in which my partner is Reese Witherspoon. We had a scene with elephants but there were so many paparazzi around that it was scaring the ani­mals and it was impossible to film. Out of the blue, fans that were waiting for autographs had enough and circled around the paparazzi. Teens made big guys run away. It was unreal! I was pleased.

It’s funny because I’m playing a dad in some scenes in ‘Breaking Dawn’ and I’m portraying one in a movie I’m doing now as well. I’m terrified about doing it. I don’t know what I’m going to do when it comes to those scenes. I’ve been complaining so much about having the makeup on and contact lenses. Kristen [Stewart] is like, ‘You’re so pathetic. You have to just get over it. Why can’t you just get used to it?’ [Now, since Kristen has to wear contact lens, too], I can finally be like, ‘You will know what it’s like. You’re going to be in constant aggravation the whole time.’ Which is great.

Every single time we had to do a threatening thing to each other—for one thing, you [Taylor Lautner] always have your shirt off, and so in the tent scene I literally grabbed your breast. And it’s very difficult to remain in the moment. Also, in that tent scene, I can’t really get over the fact that the world ‘thought’ sounds like ‘fart.’

For some reason I felt a lot more comfortable with the action stuff this time. Normally I just felt so silly, like even in New Moon I remember starting the fight with Taylor [Lautner] at the end, I just felt like such a moron. I think it’s the clothes, like you’re always wearing such skinny jeans and like a little blazer and a kind of woolen sweater and trying to act like you’re tough, and you just know it’s not going to happen. Now I have little thermal tops and things, and now I’m wearing charcoal!

There is a bunch of fighting. In the most simplistic of ways, trying to be intimidating to Taylor [Lautner] is just physically humiliating. In one scene, I tried to grab him and his shoulder was too big! That was embarrassing.

I have no rea­son to influ­ence peo­ple. I just want to have it all for myself. I just want some­one to pat me on the back. It’s crazy. I mean, it’s the same thing as what’s Taylor’s [Lautner] say­ing. It seems just com­pletely ridicu­lous. I don’t know why. I mean, three years ago, I wouldn’t be able to influ­ence my dog to walk. I was above [Barack] Obama. I was like, I have to agree with that. I totally agree. But it’s com­pletely insane.

In a lot of ways, it’s different because when you’re working with young people it’s like you’re going on the journey together. Everything is fresh to you. Whereas if you’re working with experienced people, they’re much clearer about what they want to do or bring to the job right from the beginning which is really good in some ways. But, at the same time, they’re very willing. Chris [Cooper] and I were rewriting the scene when we fought each other during the lunch break just before. I never worked with anyone who is really tied down to what they want to do and that’s that. It’s really good either way.

In Eclipse, Taylor and I have lots of scenes together where we have to be jealous and petty with each other. So it helps that I actually do feel inadequate when I see his body, especially because he’s younger than me. He fulfills every criteria of what teenage girls want, physically, in a guy. I felt like a had to prove myself against him.

It becomes a joke. There was some magazine the other day about me and Kristen[Stewart] and when you look at it and realize it’s on the front of a magazine… You realize that people are actually reading that even though how ridiculous it is. It’s really bizarre.”

First I read the book and I thought there was no way that I could play and create all those perfect descriptions of Edward. Nobody in the world could have brought to life someone so awesome. Then I read the script and auditioned with Kristen [Stewart], and she acted in a very unexpected way. She gave strength to Bella so that made Edward’s character a little bit more weak, and I took it from there. He, being some kind of demon, is completely taken with her. She dominates him.

I just went in and I had a connection with Kristen [Stewart]. I think it was because I so expected it to be different to how it turned out and expected the girl who played Bella [Swan] to be so different to Kristen, that I was so genuinely shocked when she did her performance. I just thought it was going to be a real damsel in distress actress. And I couldn’t pretend to be the Prince Charming to some dippy girl! Not that that is how the book is. But I thought that was how the film would turn out. And of course Kristen is tough, smart and a good actress, and so it completely changed my opinion and so I ended up playing him as a kind of a wreck. That was how that happened.

I used to sometimes just run into Kristen’s [Stewart] bedroom naked, just to keep shocking her. No, I don’t know, it’s funny because all the romantic scenes were kind of - are you better at [answering] this than I am?

I wasn’t even doing a stunt. I was just trying to pick up Kristen [Stewart] and I almost tore my hamstring because I hadn’t been doing enough squats. It was very embarrassing.

I was quite intimidated by Ralph Fiennes. I didn’t really talk to him while I was going Harry Potter and the only thing I did with him was when he stepped on my head. Then I went to this play and he was there. And this girl said, ‘you’ve worked with Ralph Fiennes haven’t you, Robert?’ and I was like, ‘well, no…’ and Ralph said, ‘yes, I stepped on your head.’ And that was the extent of our conversation.

[Ralph Fiennes] was like, ‘I stamped on your head.’

[Dan Radcliffe's] really an incredible kid. So young, about 15 or 16, but already a pro. Everyday he needs to work about 5 to 6 hours and then go back to study again. It’s like that for about 11 months. For the last 2 months, he even had a more serious schedule and he’s good at that. Now you can see his excellent acting in the released movie, and he did a really great job.

We had this bonding week at the beginning and I did a lot of improvising with Rupert [Grint] and he’s really, like he’s incredibly funny, but just as a real person, because he’s funny in the film obviously, but he can do - he’s like really versatile doing acting, and Emma [Watson] as well, she can just, she just does it, she’s an actress, she always has been and she’s just incredibly intelligent young person.

I did [get star struck] a little bit by the three main young [Harry Potter] guys when I first met them, it was kinda strange. We did this rehearsal week and it was kinda weird meeting these three rather iconic kids, and just talking to them normally. I couldn’t really get it out of my head that like ‘you’re Harry Potter,’ but that was strange, but not really, everyone was very friendly. It’s a very relaxed set.

I was so concerned about looking cool. It’s weird seeing [the Potter kids]. They are the most famous kids, I kept calling them famous. They’re on their way to becoming icons. I used to try to be moody and stuff. I’m really good friends with a lot of people from the film. It was a long time, I was doing it for eleven months.

I’m really good friends with Stan [Ianevski] and Katie [Leung]. We were all in the same boat as we all started new and I started on the same day as Stan. Stan and I did a lot of on-screen stuff together so we bonded well. All the cast are really nice but they are always busy, always, always on set.

I think Dan [Radcliffe] could steal anybody’s girlfriend. If I was a girl I’d go with Dan.

I’m a big fan of Michael Gambon. They were all really, really nice people and they treat it as a job. They don’t really have big egos or anything about it. There was one guy - Warwick Davis - he’s in Willow, and Willow is like my favourite film. I had one scene sitting next to him at the dragon task, and I had no idea what to say to him at all! He was the only person I asked for an autograph the whole way through it!

I get on really well with Katie [Leung], she’s a really cool girl. I don’t have many talking scenes [with her]. Most of my scenes, like big scenes, are just with Dan [Radcliffe]. I dance with her, and there’s a lot of scenes like holding hands and stuff like that. But I get on really well with her. She’s a nice girl.

I think, just in real life, [Dan Radcliffe's] just so far superior to me in terms of desirability, so he didn’t really have much of a competition with me. So there wasn’t really much joking around. I’d probably cry if he did. If I was Katie [Leung], I would definitely go out with him because he’s rich and famous, and I’m not really.

We had to do this scene looking like heroes diving into the lake. they had a stand-in doing perfect dives on the first take. Then Stan [Ianevski], Clemence [Poesy], And I tried, but none of us could dive in right, and we all looked really stupid.

[Ralph Fiennes] could only shoot on certain days, so me and Dan [Radcliffe] tried to get bits of it done without him. And then when he came, because of the way the last bits were shot with Voldemort, a lot of it had to be rearranged. And so it was strange, because the first time I shot it I’d had about a month off through January and so I sort of psyched myself up to do this scene. And then when I re-shot it it was, I think we were filming the Yule Ball at the same time, so it’s kind of, you’re in this happy mode, and then you go in and you’ve got to be like… so I ended up sitting in a corner like eating mud and stuff… which didn’t really work.

I had to do some training at the beginning [of Harry Potter] because I was supposed to be like the sporty kid in school and Daniel [Radcliffe] was about twice the size of me. His chest and stuff. I don’t know how that happened.