Big Screen
86 AMERICANWAY
NOVEMBER 15 2008
In thepast twoyears, you’ve takenmajor roles in thefilm
adaptations of two blockbuster literary series: theHarry
Potter series and the
Twilight
series.What’s the strategy
there?Doyouhangout in libraries?
Iwish I could tell you.
Imean, I do like books, but I think it’s just luck.
Are you a lucky guy?
I think I am kind of a lucky guy. I
remember that when I was younger, I used towrite inmy
diary, “Iwantmy luck tobe spread. Never giveme anything
too lucky all at once. I’ll take a little luck now and then, but
spread it for 70 years.” [
Laughs
] Now that all of this is hap-
pening, I’m sure the rest ofmy lifewill be ruined.
Twilight
is a really hot property. Are you getting a lot of
public affection these days?
I do have a lot of 12-year-old
fans. It’s funny because I’ve actually done more films that
aren’t for kids, but no one’s ever seen them. [
Laughs
] So I
have a very young fan base.
Tell us about your character, Edward.
The vampire I play
doesn’t really enjoy anything. He’s kind ofmanic-depressive.
He doesn’t like being a guy. He doesn’t like being a vampire.
He can’t really handle anything.
Edward is different from standard cinematic vampires.
Where did you find inspiration for the character?
You’re
right — there’s very little about
Twilight
that’s really
vampire-ish. It’s about vampires, I guess, but they’renot the
samevampiresyou’reused to seeing inothermovies. I found
myself looking to real iconic figures and characters, those
timeless, attractive figures, for inspiration: James Dean;
Jack Nicholson; that old French film,
Breathless
. Edward’s
anoutsider,mysterious, abadboy—all the thingsgirlsfind
attractive. Iwanted tofind thequalities thatmade thoseac-
tors and thoseperformances soappealing, so charismatic. I
can’t say Imodeled theperformanceonanythingor anyone,
but Iwas looking for charisma and chemistry and trying to
figure outwhat’sworkedbefore in themovies.
You’re an accomplished musician. There have been ru-
mors that the film version of “Bella’s Lullaby,” a critical
love song to the story, is a song youwrote.
I improvised
a piece on the day we were shooting. It obviously wasn’t
very good, because they didn’t endupusing it. [
Laughs
]We
ended up shooting the scene again with a song that the
composer, Carter Burwell, wrote.
I do actually have a couple of my songs in the movie,
which I completely don’t understand. It’s very bizarre. The
director, CatherineHardwicke, was listeningone day to one
of my CDs, I guess, andwhen she showedme an early cut
of the film, I realized she had used, withoutmy knowledge,
oneofmy songs in themovie. Not in theendcreditsas some
sort of jokebut inakeymoment in themovie. It allmatched
perfectly— themusic, the lyrics, the scene. I had no idea.
More luck, I guess.
Vampire stories are always, fundamentally, about char-
acters that cannot have what they most want. Is there
anything youwant that you can’t get?
Nothing. I’m lucky,
you know. [
Laughs
] Really, I don’t mind being unsatisfied.
That, in and of itself, is kind of satisfying. But the truth is, I
usually getwhat Iwant.
Robert Pattinson
doesn’t playyour
averagevampire
in thismonth’s
highlyanticipat-
edfilm
Twilight
.
ByJ. Rentilly
Though hiswizard-
in-training character,
CedricDiggory, suf-
fered a tragic fate in
HarryPotter and the
Order of thePhoenix
,
the truth is, 22-year-
old actor Robert
Pattinson leads a
pretty charmed life.
As if having scored
a role in the hugely
popular Potter series
wasn’t fortunate
enough, thismonth,
Pattinsonwill play
angst-ridden vampire
EdwardCullen in
Twilight
, which is
based on a hit fiction
series of the same
name by young-adult
novelist Stephenie
Meyer. Pattinson
modestly attributes
his success to dumb
luck. Butwe think his
dashinggood looks,
talent, and charm—
the latter ofwhich he
showed loads ofwhen
we spokewith him
recently— have a
little something to do
with it too.
BLOOD
LUST
