I’m in a hotel where the interview will take place. Robert is late, although understandably so. He’s been doing interviews all day, so I try to be patient. Suddenly, the door opens and Robert walks in apologizing with a very thick British accents that makes you melt. He’s tall and thin, he has a very pale skin. He’s wearing jeans and a T-shirt under another shirt. He’s hair is messy and it looks as though he had fallen asleep. He plays with a bottle of coke. When he finally sits down we start out interview…
What made you want to be in this movie? Had you read the books?No, I hadn’t read them, so I didn’t know how to play my character. When I was reading the script I remember telling my agent “I can’t do this. It’s physically impossible to do this”.
Why did you think that?Because it’s not just acting. The character has these amazing physical qualities that are impossible to have: he has a great body, he’s gorgeous. So I thought they were going to say to me “No, thank you, next”. Honestly I went to the audition without preparing. I didn’t know the lines or anything and Kristen was there. I didn’t know she was going to be Bella. She was very strong as Bella in the audition, so that gave me a clue as to how to play the character.
In the beginning the fans of the book were not very thrilled about you playing Edward. What kind of pressure did it make you feel?If you try to do things just to please the fans you’re going to deliver a bad performance. So I made the decision of playing Edward a certain way, and I said “that’s it, I don’t care what people say”. And I tried really hard to not make the character cheesy. But I think that since I’m a guy and it’s a girls book I felt I needed to find something else. So I had to dive in, deeper than most of the people who read the book.
Was it fun playing a vampire?I don’t think I’m playing a vampire. I don’t think I even look like one, do I? (laughs) I would’ve loved it if Edward had been the typical vampire we’re all familiar with, because the vampires in Twilight are too weird. They’re very pale, they have strange eyes, but they’re so normal and they can live in the real world without rasing any suspicions. On the other hand, I was very fun. I had to do action sequences and I had to climb trees (laughs).
You mention real vampires, are you a fan of vampire movies?Well, in this film I’m not scary. I’m not like Nosferatu. I want to be that kind of vampire, that would be cool. But as you know, this film is not about vampire clichés, so I played him like he had a disease, like you’re not the same person after someone bites you because you wake up three days later wanting to kill people. You’re a thousand times stronger and faster, and you’re going to live forever and if you think about it, that must be horrible!
What was the hardest part of playing Edward?Edward has a certain aura that makes people be scared of him instinctively and they don’t know why. I really love that, but I think that’s hard to show on screen so I would imagine him as a lion who was in the jungle surrounded by animals, they know he’s not hunting but they keep their distance. And that was something I really wanted to add to the movie, in fact there’s a scene in which all the birds literally fly away as soon as I walk by, and this gives you the idea. But I think that was the hardest thing to show (he pauses). Well that, and being the most beautiful man in the world! (laughs). But there’s nothing I could do about that.
In the movie Edward is suppossed to be 17 years old. If they make the next movies, what are they going to do to keep the character looking young?With botox! (laughs) No, actually I am a bit worried about that. I don’t know, I guess we’ll have to shoot them pretty quickly.
I know you play the piano, and in the book Edward plays a song in the piano for Bella. Are you playing the piano in the movie?Yes, I’m playing a song written by Carter Burwell.
Are they adding any songs by you on the soundtrack?There’s one or two songs by me in the movie, although I don’t know what they’re doing there! (laughs). It’s one of the most bizarre moments in the film, because I’m in a scene with Kristen and there’s me singing in the background, I can hear myself playing the guitar and my voice singing, but my face is just there talking.
After playing Cedric Diggory in the Goblet of Fire, were you worried of repeating yourself with another book series?Yes, but it’s a very different role and story.
I know you read a manuscript that Stephenie Meyer wrote from Edward’s point of view in order to prepare yourself for the role…Yes, I read it when we were in the middle of filming, and since the book of Twilight was written from Bella’s point of view and she never really knows what Edward is because he lies and he hides stuff all the time, I had all the freedom to play him as I wanted to. And even though in the book you read only positive things about Edward, when you see the real situation he’s completely negative. Imagine waking up one day saying “I didn’t ask to become a vampire. And now I want to kill a bunch of people and I feel terrible. I don’t want to die but I don’t want to live like this either. I found the only person in the world that makes me feel like I want to keep on living, but I want to kill her too”, that has to be horrible.
How did you develope your vampire abilities? I read you wrote a journal as Edward. Are you planning on publishing that?It wasn’t exactly a journal. I don’t know how it started (laughs) but I hadn’t realized how difficult it was going to be to play Edward until I started reading the script. He’s a very complex character. So I moved to Portland on my own two or three months before filming began and I didn’t do anything but read the script and books to find anything that helped me play him. So I started to write things. I mean, if you really prepare for a role, there’s going to be a moment in which he’s all you can think of. So I did things like little suicide notes. I was a little worrysome actually (bursts out laughing).
Here’s Kristen’s part of the interview:
It’s 2 o’clock in an exclusive hotel in Beverly Hills where we are interviewing Kristen Stewart. She rushes in. She’s been doing interviews all day. She says hello and it catches my attention that she’s wearing jeans, sneakers, a loose T-shirt and a plaid shirt tied around her waist and not a drop of make up. I didn’t expect her to be so casual since she’s the star of the movie. I notice she’s very nervous. She tells me that it doesn’t matter how many times she’s done inteviews, she doesn’t get used to being the center of attention. We start our interview…
Before signing up for this role, had you read the books? Did you know it was a fenomenon like this?I had no idea. I don’t know why I didn’t know anything about it. Once I became aware of it I started noticing the books everwhere, I heard people talking about it, and everything starts getting bigger and bigger.
Do you think that the fact that you didn’t know anything about Bella and Twilight helped you play the role better?Yes, I don’t think I would’ve been very keen about playing this role. I would’ve been very intimidated.
What do you like the most about Bella?I like that on one side she’s the victim, everybody chases her. Even the guy of her dreams wants to kill her. I love the kind of balance you can find in a very helpless girl, because at the same time she’s very sure about her relationship with Edward, she says “We can do this and it’s worth fighting for it”.
Did you meet Stephenie Meyer? How was yout relationship with her?She came to the set a few times.She was very involved from the beginning, she went through the script, she was aware of the casting choices, but afterwards she let everyone do their job.
Did you talk about your character with her?No, it would’ve been the longest conversation of my life! We did’t have much time for that. She asked me if I wanted to know anything about the character and I told her that ervything was in the book.
Do you like vampire stories?I love the themes they represent. They question mortality. I love than in Twilight almost everything is a life or death situation, and then there’s the whole ‘forbidden fruit’ thing. All of that is always present and I love it.
But have you ever been interested in vampires?I’ve always had a fascination with vampires. In fact, when I was a kid I dressed as Dracula for Halloween. I loved it ’cause I thought I looked so cool.
What does it feel like to be in love with a vampire?In my case, my character finds herself in a world that it’s not real. In the beginning everything is very logical to her, but I think the main thing is that she never questions the situation she’s in. It’s like she doesn’t have a choice. There’s a chemical reaction that happens between two souls that need to be connected, like saying “We don’t have a choice. We can’t live without each other”.
How did you and Robert manage to pull off that chemistry onscreen?We’re actors. It’s natural for us. We rehearsed a lot in the beginning, we had a lot of time to read about vampires and to read the books. So sometimes we argued about them saying “No, vampires can’t breathe, so I’m not going to be able to feel your breath (laughs). I don’t know, we got lucky. Hopefully that shows onscreen.
Bella is a very brave girl, so you see yourself as a brave girl?I think bravery comes from believing in something and I have my convictions.
What do you have in common with her, since she’s an average girl, not popular. Do you relate to her?Yes, in the sense that I was never one of those girls who goes to the cafeteria and completely rules the school. I completely relate to that part, like you believe you’re not supossed to be the popular girl, you’d rather be someone else, and she’s like that. She can’t understand why everyone is so interested in her. Like everyone has a sort of fixation about her.
And why do you think the world is attracted to a character like Bella?Bella has an amazing will power. Edward can read minds, but not hers. And in the next books she has a very strong mentality and she tries to protect others. But she’s not aware of that. So when Edward tells her he can’t read her mind she immediatly thinks there’s something wrong with her. And that’s funny about this girl, she doesn’t realize she’s immerse in this fantasy world.
What’s your favorite character in the book?I like Edward he’s a very interesting character. On the outside he seems very confident, handsome. He’s the ideal man everybody wants. But he’s all alone. All the girls want him because they think he’s perfect, but he’s not.
What made you want to be in this movie? Had you read the books?No, I hadn’t read them, so I didn’t know how to play my character. When I was reading the script I remember telling my agent “I can’t do this. It’s physically impossible to do this”.
Why did you think that?Because it’s not just acting. The character has these amazing physical qualities that are impossible to have: he has a great body, he’s gorgeous. So I thought they were going to say to me “No, thank you, next”. Honestly I went to the audition without preparing. I didn’t know the lines or anything and Kristen was there. I didn’t know she was going to be Bella. She was very strong as Bella in the audition, so that gave me a clue as to how to play the character.
In the beginning the fans of the book were not very thrilled about you playing Edward. What kind of pressure did it make you feel?If you try to do things just to please the fans you’re going to deliver a bad performance. So I made the decision of playing Edward a certain way, and I said “that’s it, I don’t care what people say”. And I tried really hard to not make the character cheesy. But I think that since I’m a guy and it’s a girls book I felt I needed to find something else. So I had to dive in, deeper than most of the people who read the book.
Was it fun playing a vampire?I don’t think I’m playing a vampire. I don’t think I even look like one, do I? (laughs) I would’ve loved it if Edward had been the typical vampire we’re all familiar with, because the vampires in Twilight are too weird. They’re very pale, they have strange eyes, but they’re so normal and they can live in the real world without rasing any suspicions. On the other hand, I was very fun. I had to do action sequences and I had to climb trees (laughs).
You mention real vampires, are you a fan of vampire movies?Well, in this film I’m not scary. I’m not like Nosferatu. I want to be that kind of vampire, that would be cool. But as you know, this film is not about vampire clichés, so I played him like he had a disease, like you’re not the same person after someone bites you because you wake up three days later wanting to kill people. You’re a thousand times stronger and faster, and you’re going to live forever and if you think about it, that must be horrible!
What was the hardest part of playing Edward?Edward has a certain aura that makes people be scared of him instinctively and they don’t know why. I really love that, but I think that’s hard to show on screen so I would imagine him as a lion who was in the jungle surrounded by animals, they know he’s not hunting but they keep their distance. And that was something I really wanted to add to the movie, in fact there’s a scene in which all the birds literally fly away as soon as I walk by, and this gives you the idea. But I think that was the hardest thing to show (he pauses). Well that, and being the most beautiful man in the world! (laughs). But there’s nothing I could do about that.
In the movie Edward is suppossed to be 17 years old. If they make the next movies, what are they going to do to keep the character looking young?With botox! (laughs) No, actually I am a bit worried about that. I don’t know, I guess we’ll have to shoot them pretty quickly.
I know you play the piano, and in the book Edward plays a song in the piano for Bella. Are you playing the piano in the movie?Yes, I’m playing a song written by Carter Burwell.
Are they adding any songs by you on the soundtrack?There’s one or two songs by me in the movie, although I don’t know what they’re doing there! (laughs). It’s one of the most bizarre moments in the film, because I’m in a scene with Kristen and there’s me singing in the background, I can hear myself playing the guitar and my voice singing, but my face is just there talking.
After playing Cedric Diggory in the Goblet of Fire, were you worried of repeating yourself with another book series?Yes, but it’s a very different role and story.
I know you read a manuscript that Stephenie Meyer wrote from Edward’s point of view in order to prepare yourself for the role…Yes, I read it when we were in the middle of filming, and since the book of Twilight was written from Bella’s point of view and she never really knows what Edward is because he lies and he hides stuff all the time, I had all the freedom to play him as I wanted to. And even though in the book you read only positive things about Edward, when you see the real situation he’s completely negative. Imagine waking up one day saying “I didn’t ask to become a vampire. And now I want to kill a bunch of people and I feel terrible. I don’t want to die but I don’t want to live like this either. I found the only person in the world that makes me feel like I want to keep on living, but I want to kill her too”, that has to be horrible.
How did you develope your vampire abilities? I read you wrote a journal as Edward. Are you planning on publishing that?It wasn’t exactly a journal. I don’t know how it started (laughs) but I hadn’t realized how difficult it was going to be to play Edward until I started reading the script. He’s a very complex character. So I moved to Portland on my own two or three months before filming began and I didn’t do anything but read the script and books to find anything that helped me play him. So I started to write things. I mean, if you really prepare for a role, there’s going to be a moment in which he’s all you can think of. So I did things like little suicide notes. I was a little worrysome actually (bursts out laughing).
Here’s Kristen’s part of the interview:
It’s 2 o’clock in an exclusive hotel in Beverly Hills where we are interviewing Kristen Stewart. She rushes in. She’s been doing interviews all day. She says hello and it catches my attention that she’s wearing jeans, sneakers, a loose T-shirt and a plaid shirt tied around her waist and not a drop of make up. I didn’t expect her to be so casual since she’s the star of the movie. I notice she’s very nervous. She tells me that it doesn’t matter how many times she’s done inteviews, she doesn’t get used to being the center of attention. We start our interview…
Before signing up for this role, had you read the books? Did you know it was a fenomenon like this?I had no idea. I don’t know why I didn’t know anything about it. Once I became aware of it I started noticing the books everwhere, I heard people talking about it, and everything starts getting bigger and bigger.
Do you think that the fact that you didn’t know anything about Bella and Twilight helped you play the role better?Yes, I don’t think I would’ve been very keen about playing this role. I would’ve been very intimidated.
What do you like the most about Bella?I like that on one side she’s the victim, everybody chases her. Even the guy of her dreams wants to kill her. I love the kind of balance you can find in a very helpless girl, because at the same time she’s very sure about her relationship with Edward, she says “We can do this and it’s worth fighting for it”.
Did you meet Stephenie Meyer? How was yout relationship with her?She came to the set a few times.She was very involved from the beginning, she went through the script, she was aware of the casting choices, but afterwards she let everyone do their job.
Did you talk about your character with her?No, it would’ve been the longest conversation of my life! We did’t have much time for that. She asked me if I wanted to know anything about the character and I told her that ervything was in the book.
Do you like vampire stories?I love the themes they represent. They question mortality. I love than in Twilight almost everything is a life or death situation, and then there’s the whole ‘forbidden fruit’ thing. All of that is always present and I love it.
But have you ever been interested in vampires?I’ve always had a fascination with vampires. In fact, when I was a kid I dressed as Dracula for Halloween. I loved it ’cause I thought I looked so cool.
What does it feel like to be in love with a vampire?In my case, my character finds herself in a world that it’s not real. In the beginning everything is very logical to her, but I think the main thing is that she never questions the situation she’s in. It’s like she doesn’t have a choice. There’s a chemical reaction that happens between two souls that need to be connected, like saying “We don’t have a choice. We can’t live without each other”.
How did you and Robert manage to pull off that chemistry onscreen?We’re actors. It’s natural for us. We rehearsed a lot in the beginning, we had a lot of time to read about vampires and to read the books. So sometimes we argued about them saying “No, vampires can’t breathe, so I’m not going to be able to feel your breath (laughs). I don’t know, we got lucky. Hopefully that shows onscreen.
Bella is a very brave girl, so you see yourself as a brave girl?I think bravery comes from believing in something and I have my convictions.
What do you have in common with her, since she’s an average girl, not popular. Do you relate to her?Yes, in the sense that I was never one of those girls who goes to the cafeteria and completely rules the school. I completely relate to that part, like you believe you’re not supossed to be the popular girl, you’d rather be someone else, and she’s like that. She can’t understand why everyone is so interested in her. Like everyone has a sort of fixation about her.
And why do you think the world is attracted to a character like Bella?Bella has an amazing will power. Edward can read minds, but not hers. And in the next books she has a very strong mentality and she tries to protect others. But she’s not aware of that. So when Edward tells her he can’t read her mind she immediatly thinks there’s something wrong with her. And that’s funny about this girl, she doesn’t realize she’s immerse in this fantasy world.
What’s your favorite character in the book?I like Edward he’s a very interesting character. On the outside he seems very confident, handsome. He’s the ideal man everybody wants. But he’s all alone. All the girls want him because they think he’s perfect, but he’s not.
The 21-year-old British actor revealed that he hasn’t even read the whole book series yet! He shared, “I haven’t [read the whole series]. I’ve read all of the books except for Breaking Dawn. I didn’t want to know how it ended. I wanted to have the uncertainty of not knowing where it’s going to go, so I just read the first three. I want to read the last one, but I’m determined to wait.”
If you want to meet Robert in the flesh TONIGHT, he’ll be at the the Hot Topic store at Square One Mall in Saugus, Mass. There will be a Q&A and an autograph session at 6PM, but remember to purchase your $30 Twilight Tour T-shirt so you can get in!
There are people that cross our lives
in tiny fractions of time,
in the briefest of encounters,
and yet they leave and incredible mark
in our hearts and in our minds forever.
"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, that person sends out a tiny ripple of ove and hope, and crossing each other fro a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppresion and resistance."
Now these poems were written by some one else, but deseved to be shared and they kind of have something in commen with the series.
in tiny fractions of time,
in the briefest of encounters,
and yet they leave and incredible mark
in our hearts and in our minds forever.
"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, that person sends out a tiny ripple of ove and hope, and crossing each other fro a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppresion and resistance."
Now these poems were written by some one else, but deseved to be shared and they kind of have something in commen with the series.