Just days before Twilight pandemonium is unleashed at a theater near you, Robert Pattinson, who plays the dreamy vampire Edward in the film adaptation of the Stephenie Meyer bestseller, still manages to work the mellow Brit vibe. We caught up with the actor during a quiet moment on the whirlwind promo jaunt for the movie, which hits theaters Nov. 21, to chat about his music, those adoring (if bold) Twilighters, and being one of Perez's boys.
I've been hearing about the fans just going crazy at the promo events for Twilight. You're bearing the brunt of it, huh?
It's been fun. It's weird, I get to a city and I always get told there was a riot earlier on. By the time I get there, it's always quieted down a bit. But it is pretty nuts. I thought it might happen in one city, but it's happening everywhere, in every single city we go to, around the world. It's pretty crazy.
What's the weirdest thing that's happened so far?
Well, this was in New York, at the Apple store. This really, really young girl came up on stage, and she asked me to bite her, but like in such a passionate way — it wasn't really fun and games, "Hey, will you bite me, haha, joking!" She'd made up her mind, she got on the stage, and she wanted it. Like a real vampire bite.
So did you bite her?
Yeah, I did!
You did?
No, I didn't, really. Of course not. But it was really funny. It's just so strange how I go to these events and a lot of the people who are there are just completely convinced that I'm Edward. I'm really the character from the book, there is no Robert Pattinson. It's so funny. And they react in that way, not as if I'm just an actor.
Do you get stalked when you're just walking down the street on your own? Do people recognize you?
I don't even know. I mean, I haven't really done anything normal for ages now. God, it's been so long since I've even just walked down the street by myself. Actually, in New York, it didn't really happen. I went off on my own a bit. But it's really strange just being in airports and there are people there waiting for you to get off the plane with their cameras, and you're just exhausted. It's so weird. That's the biggest change I've noticed.
Have you seen the movie yet?
I haven't. I don't really watch my stuff at all, so I don't think I will end up seeing it. Well, maybe I will. I think I'll end up seeing it at the premiere, but I really don't like watching myself on screen.
Did you guys use a lot of CGI in the infamous sparkling Edward scene?
As usual, in Oregon, there were incredibly unpredictable, bizarre weather conditions. There was no sunlight that day, as usual, and of course, we needed this big ray of sunlight, so we used a huge light and I turned around into it. There was no make-up or anything on the day. We had tried to do it with make-up, but it just didn't work so we had to do it with special effects. It was done by George Lucas' company, Industrial Light & Magic, and apparently it looks pretty cool but I haven't seen it yet. But the people at the junket said it looks pretty amazing.
What's going on with New Moon?
I think the script's done already, they just need to greenlight it. But I think it all depends on how well Twilight does, whether it's shot or not.
I read somewhere that Catherine Hardwicke, the director, estimated it needs to earn $150 million.
Oh wow! I don't think it's that much! Is it? We've got our work cut out for us then. But I think there's a lot more CGI needed in the second one, so I think it is a significant amount of money. The second book was my favorite book, so I'm quite looking forward to working on it.
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