His role as a non-violent vampire in the Twilight saga has made Robert Pattinson a pin-up for his generation, so what’s with the sudden aggression?
Robert Pattinson is not a violent man. In person, the 23-year-old actor is a bit like his character Edward Cullen in the blockbusting vampire saga Twilight: good-looking, obviously; non-aggressive. He is also likeable, self-assured and more than a little dreamy – perhaps even wistful. Admittedly, he’s not an immortal vampire like Cullen, and has no desire to sink his teeth into anyone, which can be hugely disappointing for some of his more zealous fans. “You’d be surprised by how young some of the girls are when they come up to you,” he tells me. “I’ve had a seven-year-old come up to me and say, ‘Bite me, please!’ It’s a little bit weird.”
In his latest film, the emotionally fraught family drama Remember Me, there is no biting but there is a smattering of violence. Pattinson plays an angry young man who endures a turbulent relationship with his businessman father (Pierce Brosnan) while building a relationship with a new girlfriend (Emilie de Ravin). His character, Tyler, is also prone to occasional brawling. In what seems a stark contrast to his aforementioned dreaminess, the young actor admits he felt a strong connection with this aspect of his character’s personality.
“There are certain things which are like fantasy scenes of mine,” says the Londoner. “Even the way the character fights was quite satisfying. In the script it said that he fights like a pit-bull, and I was just like, ‘Yeah, sweet. I want to fight like a pit-bull!’”
Over the last three years, I’ve sat down with Pattinson no fewer than six times and, even though he’s rocketed from complete unknown to international megastar during that period, he doesn’t seem to have changed very much. He’s still quite bashful, embarrassed at being the centre of attention and yet also refreshingly honest and disarming. The fighting talk, though, is new; maybe it’s symptomatic of his meteoric rise? Whereas once he simply disliked the paparazzi, now he despises them.
Posts
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
