Although his part in New Moon may be smaller than fans were hoping for, there's no doubt Robert Pattinson is in the driving seat of the Twilight phenomenon, and standing on the edge of global superstardom.
A year on from our last date , we sat down with the actor on the eve of the release of the Twilight sequel New Moon , to discuss fame, mothers and all things Twilight.
How was it reuniting with Kristen Stewart for New Moon?
"There’s a natural chemistry going on with Kristen. Even doing this sequel, it’s so easy…
I was really worried that I wouldn’t know how to do it again, but it’s so easy to play off her.
She always says that she pretty much got me the part – though I don’t really believe her!"
What sort of arc does Edward go through this time?
"He’s always talking in the first one. “I need to make the right decision. I need to do stuff for you, for you, for you.” And he makes a decisive move, which is to leave her, and he completely believes it’s for her own good.
But in his heart, he obviously realises it’s completely wrong. And it takes him the whole movie to realise the profundity of his mistake. So that’s what his arc his.
The world forces him to realise he needs to be with Bella, and there’s no way around it"
So New Moon takes a similar serious approach to teen love as Twilight?
"I think no one really knew what we were working with when Twilight happened.
And because of the in-roads we made in saying it’s not going to be a typical teen film or a sappy love story, it does allow us in the second one to have a certain degree of seriousness. Even more so."
Next: Chris Weitz, Harry Potter [page-break]
Chris Weitz is your new director on New Moon. How has that been?
"I really love Chris. Not only is he a good director, he’s a great guy. God, I sound like such an arse-kisser! But he actually is.
He didn’t really try and change anything. He saw what me and Kristen were doing and worked within the realms of that."
Do you feel trapped in a Twilight box?
"Not really. I guess I have no choice right now – because I’m contracted to do them. But they’re all going to be done quite quick.
I’ll have done three of the four by October of this year, then I’ll only have one more to do."
The obvious comparison is Harry Potter… Do you think this is easier to make though?
"I guess it is. The Harry Potter I worked on was an 11 month shoot. I couldn’t be doing that.
I don’t know how those guys stayed sane – they’ve been doing it for 10 years. I would go completely crazy"
Next: The Pitfalls/Positives of fame [page-break]
Have you talked to Daniel Radcliffe about this sudden fame?
"I haven’t talked to him in a while. I guess you try and stay Zen about it. You have to just learn to accept it.
I guess the whole thing is, you don’t want to wake up one day and realise you’ve turned into someone who you weren’t before and it wasn’t your choice.
That’s the only scary thing. It’s always really up to you. Most of the time, you can control it to a degree."
What are the positives?
"Some of my friends who I grew up with are musicians and they’re involved with the Twilight soundtrack. It’s amazing what’s happened to them.
They’re doing tours of
The Twilight fans are like… I don’t even think ‘devoted’ is the right word. They’re fanatical."
It must be hard to deal with…
"It is, kind of. But you just learn to deal with it. There’s no point in being negative. If you keep going, “I hate this, I hate this”, you can’t stop it.
I was always trying to hide at the beginning of the year, but I have nothing to hide anyway!"
Next: Gossip, Mother's wrath [page-break]
Do you get stopped everywhere now?
"Yeah. In weird little places… I went up to
I looked up for one second and they said, “Hey, can I get a photo of you?” How can you have immediate recognition in Guisborough? That was very strange!"
What about all this stuff on the internet, all the gossip about you…
"I don’t really care. Everybody in my life knows what’s real and what isn’t. Apart from my mother, who seems to believe every negative thing that’s written about me!
She’s like, “I can’t believe you did this!” I’m like, “I didn’t!” And she’s like, “Yes, you did, I know you did!""
What did your mum tick you off about?
"It was about swearing! I said, “I wasn’t even in the city” and she was, “I bet you did say that!”
She’ll literally believe a gossip magazine over her own son."
And don't forget, you can get more Pattinson goodness in our massive New Moon feature, in the latest issue of Total Film. It's on-sale Thursday and looks a lot like this... Swoon!
Click here for a preview of our latest issue!
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