PARADE Magazine Interview

This picture is pure win.

Q: How does it feel to create fan frenzy wherever you go, even before the movie is in theaters?
A: I still haven't really got my head around it. I've been to so many cities now where they introduce me at a big gathering and all the girls scream and stuff. And then you walk down the street and no one knows who you are because they haven't seen the movie. It's like the most bizarre dichotomy of existences. It's like I'm living two completely different lives. I've been in this Twilight warp for ages, where I haven't done anything really this year other than do the movie and then promote it. I'm totally expecting that people will still say, 'Hey, Edward,' or whatever for a long time. I don't know what that's going to be like if they do that. But it's fine. I don't really go out that much anyway.

Q: Have you had some weird fan encounters?

A: I was in the airport the other day going through security and the lady checking my bag was like, 'I've got my midnight showing tickets.' She was like definitely an older woman and she's like, 'Me and all my friends are going.'

Q: So you weren't expecting this?

A: I thought I was working for Catherine Hardwicke, a respected independent movie director, making a vampire film with Kristen Stewart, an actress who was on a roll doing kind of classy, indie films. I didn't see it as a typical teen movie. And I certainly didn't think it was so huge at all.

Q: You're definitely not a typical vampire - no fangs and you can even walk around in daylight.

A: You have to put the stereotypical vampire conventions out of your head. You get bitten by a guy. Three days later, you wake up and have an unquenchable thirst for human blood, when before that you were just a normal 17- year-old. You realize, after a little while, that you never sleep, are going to live forever, and have super strength and super speed. I just tried to imagine how I would behave, as a human, from that point onwards. I really didn't think about it like playing a vampire.

Q: When the vampires play baseball together, you were pretty awesome.

A: Actually, I'm terrible at baseball. Catherine desperately wanted me to look like a pro baseball player, for some reason. I was like, 'Why? He's not a pro baseball player. He's a vampire.' I just didn't understand it. And so I kept fighting everyone the whole time. I was like, 'He can be crap. He doesn't even need to be able to play. He doesn't even need a bat.' But I admit Catherine edited those scenes to make me look pretty good.

Q: Did you get a kick out of watching your performance?

A: I don't really watch my own stuff. If I watch my own stuff, I want to be sick every single time. I don't know. It's a strange thing.

Q: You have some songs on the soundtrack, don't you?

A: It was just a random occurrence. I was writing some songs and performing them last year. I had them on my computer and somebody burned a CD and gave them to Catherine. Later, she showed me these scenes with two of my songs in the background. They kind of bizarrely fit. I was fine with it. I didn't really think about it. There wasn't a lot hype then, but, now, it's become this big deal.

Q: So you're not planning to audition for American Idol?

A: No thank you. Having a career as a musician is just too hard. I think, as soon as you start doing music as a career, it kills the fun for you, unless you just want to perform to big crowds. I want to write songs because I like to and I'm not trying to make money out of it.

Go HERE to the source to see an video interview as well.