Robert Pattinson in the Italian Vanity Fair Magazine - Scans and Translation

Between the shooting of the Twilight movies, he dismissed the clothes and fangs of the vampire to play the part of a student who has to deal with the struggles of a 20 year old (“A kind of anger I know quite well”) and love. And, about girls, he has a way to recognize the good ones.

If humankind is divided between the 'I wish but I can't' party and the 'I could but I don't want to' party, I propose Robert Pattinson as worldwide candidate of the second party. 23 years old, vampire in spite of himself, unwilling sexy icon, the guy with a suitcase (he has 3 suitcases actually, like the years he has been spending living in hotels) looks at the world through a porthole and thinks 'Duh' (Babs: this is a quote from an Italian song, it doesn't make much sense in English...). Then he plays a guitar chord, drinks a beer, crunches a Twix and goes on.

He admits that he has never had the sacred fire of art, but he was a good looking guy and the acting school of the Barnes Theatre Company was a good place to meet girls. One thing leads to another and you find yourself on the set of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Then you happen to find out that they're auditioning for Twilight and you record a tape with a friend, but you think it's so bad that you don't send it in. But, since luck can be much more stubborn than you, you get a call and the leading role.



If Pattinson had read Twilight before agreeing to it – or if he had his sister read it – he would have realized that Edward Cullen (the intellectual and brooding hunk we all dream about) was going to suck his blood first. But he didn't read it and the rest is history, if not history of the cinema, his history: a daily chronicle of a prisoner of luxurious hotel suites, obligated to room service, incredulous witness of the hysteria of the fans.

To try to get Edward's fangs off his neck, between the shooting of two installments of Stephenie Meyer's saga, he shot Remember Me, a dramatic love story directed by Allen Coulter and shot in New York, in which he plays Tyler, a student from a rich and devastated family, who despises his cold father (Pierce Brosnan) and his money, that's why he lives in a filthy apartment with a foolish roommate. Until Ally (Emilie De Ravin) comes into his life to bring some order into his heart and kitchen, carrying her own baggage of pain. They fall in love, save each other, lose each other and who knows: the end of the movie leaves the audience speechless, so I can't tell it.

Since cinema is faster than real life, when I meet him in London he already looks like his next character Georges Duroy (“A man who hates everyone. I needed it after all this romantic stuff. It's boring always being good” he says) Maupassant's Belami: he has perfect mustache and beard, but, under that, his wrinkled t-shirt looks a bit strange. Not to mention his baseball cap.

A warning to all those who stay up at night wondering if Rob is (still? has ever been?) or isn't dating Bella-Kristen Stewart: yes, I wanted to ask him, no, I couldn't ask it. “No pictures, autographs, or personal questions, otherwise the interview is over” they threatened. We have to go with the official statement: “We're very good friends”. It's true that between them there is (there was?) chemistry, “Many complicated feelings” said Twilight's director Catherine Hardwicke. In their private lives they're a bit like their characters: they have an intense attraction that you can't make up. While shooting the movie, Kristen was dating her longtime boyfriend, actor Michael Angarano.

I wish I could but I can't, then. Maybe.

The biographic notes that come with your movies always describe you as a good and humble person, but is it really possible not to make it go to your head when you're constantly surrounded by screaming teens?

“It's possible, because the effect of it is quite terrifying. Success is something I literally fell into. Probably if I had worked hard to get it I'd see things in a different way, but since I did nothing I'm, how can I say? Surprised all the time”.

It doesn't seem like a nice feeling. Do you ever think: give me back my life!

“No, thinking that would be absurd. I regret some things: meeting people who don't know who I am, not wondering if people behave the way they do because I'm famous. While I was shooting Remember Me, it happened that there were 40 people around the corner who wanted to take a picture of me or ask for an autograph. This is all strange”.

Where and how do you find some peace?

“I have a couple of friends who stand by me. And my sister Lizzy too (quite successful singer). It all helps keeping things as normal as possible. Having goals gives me peace, I have to know what I'm doing or I stress out”.

Tyler, your character in Remember Me, is very different from Edward. What was it like being human again?

Tyler is not so normal. It's weird but I've never played a regular guy. Also because usually 'regular' characters are pretty boring. Tyler is simple, but not too much. I liked the idea of not being a vampire, but at the same time someone not ordinary”.

Was it difficult?

“Yes, from a point of view, but on the other hand no, because I was able to follow my instinct more. With Edward you can't improvise. Instead I put into Tyler some things about myself: I thought of myself at 21, completely at the mercy of emotions”.

Were you fighting against life, too?

“Yes, and I still am. I know that kind of anger that doesn't have a specific target”.

How do you overcome it?

“Breaking everything”.

When you date a woman for the first time, what do you tell her about yourself, to impress her?

“At first I don't talk about myself. I think you should always listen before speaking”.

Now that you're famous is it easier to seduce a woman?

“I think it's more difficult, for various reasons. First of all because I can't go anywhere without being spotted, then many of the women who approach me, just do it to show off. People don't understand, but I'm not interested in this kind of conquests. So in the end it all gets quite stressing: understand who's fake and who's not, being afraid of hurting someone who's really nice. It's so different from before, when nobody cared about me...”

How do you tell who's good and who's bad?

“The good ones call back the next day”.

Remember Me teaches us that love can save your life. Is it really true or is it just romantic comedy stuff?

“I think it's a really nice and important idea. I think that seriously ill people can get better, literally, because of the love around them. Love gives you aims. Tyler had none, but he meets Ally and his perspective changes. She's like a pair of glasses, through which you see things. Things get easier when she comes into his life”.

The movie also says that things can finish in a moment. Some people spend their lives worrying about that. Would you be ready to lose everything, and be happy of what you had?

“The whole movie revolves around happiness and the ability to see it. Having, in some moments of your life, the consciousness of your happiness, makes life worth living”.

Can you see these moments?

“I think so. They don't last long and I always ask myself: how long will it be before I'm sad or will be worrying about something else? But between one paranoia and the next, I'm peaceful”.

What do you do to make your hotel rooms feel more like home?

“My guitar makes me feel at home. And using Skype. Last year I basically spoke to nobody and only when I came back home, here in London, I realized that my social life was dead. Now I put it back together and I cultivate it from afar. Besides that, luckily there are also real people, people I work with. Emilie De Ravin, despite her frail appearance, is really tough. One night she drank 25 beers without feeling sick. It took me two weeks to recover and I hadn't drunk that much”.

Out of curiosity, what do the letters SB on your cap stand for?

“I guess Santa Barbara. But I bought it in Tokyo, I think...”.

Thank you to Babs for the scans and the translation.