Blast from the Past - GOF Interview

This interview is from virginmedia.com. It is from before the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). He talks about being offered a trilogy. What do you think it might have been?

Robert Pattinson is soon to hit it big when he appears in the new Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire movie. We caught up for a chat about his new role, "epic-ness" and a band called Bad Girls...


VM: So, with the release of the new film coming up your life must be pretty mad at the moment?
Robert Pattinson: Since I started acting it's kind of been a bit mad. I never really did anything before and two years ago I started acting and I've kind of been in work ever since. Then Harry Potter came along and it's been a huge step and a massive event in my life.

VM: Has it been that different from the other roles you've had?
Robert Pattinson: Yeah, things like special effects, which are probably one of the strangest things to go into if you have never done acting before. I did a lot of special effects in my last films so it kind of helped, but on a smaller scale. The scale of Harry Potter is huge, people have been working on it for four or five years. There are 2000 people working on the set - not many films can afford that kind of "epic-ness". I did a tiny amount of work on Vanity Fair which doesn't quite match the standard of Harry Potter... oops... don't put that, sorry, what was the question?!

VM: Did you feel accepted onto the set of an already established cast?
Robert Pattinson: I didn't know how I would be interpreted so I went into Harry Potter determined to seem like a real actor and kind of didn't speak to anyone for a while. I didn't notice the transition to being accepted, but they are all really nice people. It seems like it should have been daunting but it wasn't. We did a bonding week where we made fools of ourselves doing lots of improvising. I paired up with Rupert a lot.

VM: Do you guys socialise off set?
Robert Pattinson: Yeah, I'm really good friends with Stan and Katie. 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.

VM: It must have been jaw-dropping to work with such established adult actors.
Robert Pattinson: Yes definitely, they make it look so easy. I mean you watch and think, "I could do that". They can do a lot of stuff in one take. Working with young people changes your attitude and they're a lot more lenient as they've been working with kids for five years. If you're an idiot they just accept it! That helped a lot.

VM: Have you always dreamed of getting on the silver screen or was it just a case of right time right place?
Robert Pattinson: I never did acting at school. I was quite shy throughout my life. My dad and I were at a restaurant and noticed this group of pretty girls nearby and for some reason decided to ask where they had just been. They mentioned the local acting school and since then he had nagged me about attending. At one point he said he would pay me which is pretty strange - I don't know what his intentions were, but I went. My dad said to me the other day: "I really am an artistic person". I was shocked as I never saw him as a creative. I think me and my sisters are living out that side of him as my sister is another creative person, she's a songwriter.

VM: So what ultimately landed you the role?
Robert Pattinson: I just finished filming for the other role in South Africa, Cape Town. I was there for three months in an apartment at just 17! It was ridiculous, so I came back really confident. The casting agent on Vanity Fair was the same as the one on Harry Potter and I was the first person to be seen for any part on the film, which could have helped. I am now determined to do really weird parts but I think I overdo it in auditions so nobody really trusts me!

VM: Did you find your role in Harry Potter physically demanding?
Robert Pattinson: Bits of it. It's a very physical part, the stuff in the maze which was done in the beginning was all on huge action sets. The hedges were huge and hydraulically operated. I got hit by stuff, getting pulled around by ropes, and Dan and I were running around punching each other so it was kind of vicious! There was a lot of underwater stuff which I quite liked, it got therapeutic after a while. I had never scuba dived before and the tank they taught us in was a little bath tub. The real thing was massive, like 60 feet deep and they expect you to just get in and act.

VM: What are your next steps after Harry Potter?
Robert Pattinson: I wanted to try theatre after Harry Potter and I wanted to do something weird. I was offered an American thing where I had to sign up to three movie contracts and I dunno... I don't really know what I should be doing yet, so I prefer to do nothing really! There was one script that I really, really liked. I got down to the last two and they picked the other guy which was a bit annoying.

VM: We hear you're a bit of a musician. How seriously do you take the music side of things?
Robert Pattinson: Well, I'm not really that good. I am in a band at the moment called Bad Girls. The band belongs to my first girlfriend's current boyfriend and he was having an open mic night. He invited me to sing, but it was just a bit of fun - that was about six months ago. I don't know where that's going to go.

VM: Are you looking for a recording contract?
Robert Pattinson: I don't think people should look for a contract. My sister works so hard to make money and I think it ruins you, I think it's a lot easier to make money in the acting world, not that it's easier but there aren't so many pressures on you. You don't have to be so humble, where in the music industry you have to really bow down to a lot of people to get noticed.

VM: As Harry Potter is after Cedric's girlfriend, did this cause any conflict in any way, shape, or form in real life?
Robert Pattinson: Er no, I think Dan could steal anyone from me. If I was a girl I would pick Dan!

SOURCE

Thanks to tracygee for finding this gem :)