LA Times Countdown to Twilight w/ Rob Part Deux

"Twilight" Countdown Robert Pattinson answers your questions

Do you read the fan mail?

Yeah. I do that quite a lot actually, because I get batches sent from London. I go through tons and tons of it at a time. I get sent some good stuff. I’ve gotten some really good books. I had this amazing thing made by a fan website, this really amazing bound book with all of these notes inside it. I mean, it must have taken ages to make. I remember thinking, "Why?" (laughs). But, no, it was amazing. Someone sent me a book I’m reading right now, a book of Charles Baudelaire poems. I thought, "Wow, I was going to buy that." That was nice.

Do you have a team that helps you wade through or do you go through it all yourself?

I go through it myself, but I think I might get them censored, because I’m always expecting to get the one thing that says, "I know where you live and I’m going to kill you!" I’m always expecting that to come, but it never seems to arrive. I never get any negative mail, so someone must be censoring them.

What is the scariest thing a fan has done to get your attention?

I haven’t really had any scary moments! I’m just scared of crowds (laughs). I just think people require things of me whenever there’s a screaming crowd, and I always think I won’t be able to provide what they want, so that’s why I look scared all the time (laughs). Mexico was quite scary -– but in a good way. I mean, it’s always kind of amusing because it’s all so new to me.

There was plenty of video of your trip on YouTube.

It’s just funny. Like, "What are you guys on?" It’s funny. We couldn’t get away in the car.

So what happens when you’re trapped? Catherine Hardwicke told me about fans getting up-close-and-personal with you in Italy during the book signing ...

When you’re in a situation that feels like it’s gotten out of control, I find that the more you stress out about it, the worse it would get. The whole thing is just funny. It’s like if you have a whole crowd of people running down the street at you, screaming, if you just stood there and didn’t make any attempt to move away, they’d probably get up to you and go "Ummmmmm." The whole excitement of it is the hunt, isn’t it? I don’t know.

Had you known how huge “Twilight” was going to become, would you still have taken the role?

Yeah, definitely. I think I would have done it differently though. When I went into “Harry Potter,” I knew what the deal was, so I had this level of acceptance in my brain. It’s nice to know the whole situation before you do a part. But I liked doing "Twilight." It’s been a very interesting and bizarre experience for me, the whole thing.

Talk about “Little Ashes.” What was appealing about playing a young Salvador Dali?

When I took it, I didn’t know much about Dali. It was a good script and it was shooting in various different areas of Spain, which was a bonus. I knew very little about him, but I knew from seeing videos of him when he’s older, that he’s obviously kind of an extrovert. I hadn’t played that kind of a character before, so that was appealing. I researched tons and I wound up finding a lot of stuff that I liked about him just as a man, not necessarily as an artist.

Are there any other kind of roles you hope come your way not that your profile’s been raised considerably?

I don’t have any ideas about it. When I like something, I’m always shocked that I like it. They’re always really different. But I don’t really have any specific hopes about it.

Is there any one you really want to work with on a project?

Not really. I’d like to work with Jack Nicholson because I was so obsessed with him when I was younger.

“Obsessed”?

I just wanted to be cool? (laughs). He’s the one actor that anything he does…if you see a movie with Jack Nicholson in it, you know it’s worth having. He’s got a good record.

What is the best and the worst thing about being a celebrity?

The best thing is you’re seen differently in the eyes of the industry. And that’s kind of necessary to get the jobs you want. A lot of the time, it’s helpful to be famous.

The worst thing is getting photographed. I just never liked getting photographed. It’s not exactly that bad a thing. You really have to have caused it to get photographed all the time, so it’s not that much of a hassle for me.

If you had three hours of free time right now, what would you do with them?

Go to sleep.

What is your favorite thing to do all by yourself?

Read.

What’s the best book you’ve read recently? You’re not allowed to say “Twilight.”

(Laughs) “New Moon.” (Laughs again). I recently read a book of E.M Forster’s short stories that was really good.

It’s been reported that you said you’d originally wanted to do political speech writing. Is that something you still want to do?

That’s what I wanted to do while I was in school, yeah. I just liked the whole idea of it. I wanted to be involved with politics. That’s what my whole plan was. I was going to go to university and then I just thought, ‘Ah, I can’t be bothered to do anything’ (laughs). ‘I don’t want to do any more homework!’

What makes you cry?

Sometimes music. I very rarely cry about stuff. Or coughing. Coughing makes me cry sometimes (laughs).

What do you like best about yourself?

I like not really caring what people think of me. I mean, I kinda do, but at the same I don’t at all (laughs). I can’t really tell which one is true.

Thanks to Lisa for finding part 2...you're awesome!

Source-LATimes.com