Thursday, March 31, 2011
Stephenie Meyer talks about working with Rob, Breaking Dawn, Midnight Sun & more!
Super fans, super discussions
•On whether she'll ever write more books about Edward and Bella: "The story's already been told, and I doubt I'll ever write another series based on the same characters."
•On the possibility she'd ever finish Midnight Sun, a Twilight novel told from Edward's viewpoint that she nixed when parts of it were leaked online in 2008: "I'm hoping to do it someday because I know that's what people want. No matter what book I put out from here to eternity they'll want Midnight Sun, but I'm just not writing about vampires right now."
About Breaking Dawn
•The much-anticipated wedding of Edward and Bella has not been filmed yet, but Stewart is being fitted for the as-yet-unrevealed bridal gown. "It's such an interesting mix," says Meyer. "It has a vintage feel, but at the same time, there's an edge to it. It's really beautiful. And then on Kristen — oh, she looks amazing in clothes —and in that dress she's so lithe and unbelievable."
Some mysteries remain
One question she won't answer: whether the werewolf/shape shifter Jacob and Renesmee, the human/vampire hybrid child of Edward and Bella, could ever have children. (Jacob is a teenager, but baby Renesmee is aging at an accelerated rate.) "That is a question I'm reserving the right not to answer, because there is a chance I'll go back to their story."
Fans, says Meyer, can expect a surprising performance when Stewart transforms from human to vampire. "She's created a new character. I was really impressed. I've only really seen her as (the human) Bella, so to have her step up and change it in the right way — she didn't have to talk to me. She knew. She knows the character so well now. She has really good instincts, and she looks amazing."
Meyer says the first Breaking Dawn movie may end "when Bella opens her eyes as a vampire. That's the way it's been shot. They can still do it any other way, but I think that's the general idea. You kind of have to get there in the first film. That way you have all the time in the world to explore being a vampire and those exhilarating first moments."
It hasn't hit her yet
On the filming of the birth of Bella and Edward's baby, Renesmee, which in the novel is frightening and horrific, she says, "I've only seen a rough cut and there are pieces missing, but I don't feel like it's graphic. You're not seeing it, but you know what's happened. It's emotional. It doesn't feel horror-ish. There's blood, probably the most blood we've ever seen in the series. But everything's in flux; we'll see in the final cut."
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Scans & Translation of Rob's Interview with Elle Girl (Russia)!
Click for bigger
According to IAmYuliaBelka
Sounds like a compilation of other interviews. Same talk about WFE and animals, his dog, Twilight fame, etc. Some new quotes:
Elle Girl
We actually did an impossible mission – did an interview with our precious Robert Pattinson and didn’t ask him questions about vampires even once. We managed actually talk with him and not ask about blood, afterlife and Kristen Stewart. We’re in shock,
Elle Girl: Hi, Rob! Let’s talk about love.
Robert: Oh, again. (smiling) Ok, you can. What’s interesting about that?
EG: Your character in WFE fell in love from the first sight. Do you believe in love like that?
R: Of course
EG: Did it happen to you?
R: Million times. I actually think that most people fell in love at the moment when they saw their love for the first time.
EG: And how can you tell that you fall in love?
R: I can’t answer that. Really. I don’t know. You have very hard questions.
EG: Robert!
R: How can you describe love? If you love someone then you think that this person is the best in the world, don’t you? But if she doesn’t think that way about herself?? I think, the whole point to make her believe that she’s perfect, the most beautiful.
EG: In the movie your and Reese’s characters has a secret love. About you and your private life?
R: Oh, if it was me, I would do everything to make private life just for 2 people.You know, when I was 12, I asked a girl for a date for the 1st time. The next everybody was like: ‘Are you going out with her?’ And I was like: ‘Oh God’. I never talked to this girl ever.
EG: Is it easier for you now?
R: What private life with all these paparazzi around? They don’t care, they make money. You know, I hate being photographed. Even before all of this [fame] I hated it, even when my mom took pictures of me.
EG: And this man became an actor...
R: On a movie set I have nothing against the cameras. But other places...
EG: And what you’re gonna do to stop that?
R: I’m ready to shoot! *laughs*
EG: Are you tired of fans?
R: No, it’s all good, fans, love, of course, if it’s about me. But I feel like it’s all about character, not real Rob.
EG: But you’re so handsome, It’s pretty much enough to somebody to fall in love…
R: It’s kind of weird. Before Twilight I wasn’t offered the roles of guys like that.
EG: Was it hard to play more ‘human’ part in WFE?
R: No, actually.On the set I was really happy with what’s around me. For example, it was cool that you can sweat and play the role like that. On Twilight it was impossible, if your forehead sweated even a little bit, immediately 5 make-up artists there to fix it. It’s kind of a relief that it wasn’t like that on WFE.
EG: What about wild animals? Was it hard to work with them?
R: No, it was cool! If you’re working with elephant, for instance, and there’s some kind of chest cause the elephant threw it there, you have to react naturally. No one expects the episode to be perfect because animals can’t work with a script, It means that actors also can relax and improvise. And that’s very cool.
EG: Do you have pets at home?
R: Yeah? I have a dog now and very happy about it.
EG: How did you call it?
R: I haven’t decided yet, it’s from the shelter.He’s like, like, he looks like hyena
EG: Your character in WFE fell in love from the first sight. Do you believe in love like that?
R: Of course
EG: Did it happen to you?
R: Million times. I actually think that most people fell in love at the moment when they saw their love for the first time.
EG: And how can you tell that you fall in love?
R: I can’t answer that. Really. I don’t know. You have very hard questions.
EG: Robert!
R: How can you describe love? If you love someone then you think that this person is the best in the world, don’t you? But if she doesn’t think that way about herself?? I think, the whole point to make her believe that she’s perfect, the most beautiful.
EG: In the movie your and Reese’s characters has a secret love. About you and your private life?
R: Oh, if it was me, I would do everything to make private life just for 2 people.You know, when I was 12, I asked a girl for a date for the 1st time. The next everybody was like: ‘Are you going out with her?’ And I was like: ‘Oh God’. I never talked to this girl ever.
EG: Is it easier for you now?
R: What private life with all these paparazzi around? They don’t care, they make money. You know, I hate being photographed. Even before all of this [fame] I hated it, even when my mom took pictures of me.
EG: And this man became an actor...
R: On a movie set I have nothing against the cameras. But other places...
EG: And what you’re gonna do to stop that?
R: I’m ready to shoot! *laughs*
EG: Are you tired of fans?
R: No, it’s all good, fans, love, of course, if it’s about me. But I feel like it’s all about character, not real Rob.
EG: But you’re so handsome, It’s pretty much enough to somebody to fall in love…
R: It’s kind of weird. Before Twilight I wasn’t offered the roles of guys like that.
EG: Was it hard to play more ‘human’ part in WFE?
R: No, actually.On the set I was really happy with what’s around me. For example, it was cool that you can sweat and play the role like that. On Twilight it was impossible, if your forehead sweated even a little bit, immediately 5 make-up artists there to fix it. It’s kind of a relief that it wasn’t like that on WFE.
EG: What about wild animals? Was it hard to work with them?
R: No, it was cool! If you’re working with elephant, for instance, and there’s some kind of chest cause the elephant threw it there, you have to react naturally. No one expects the episode to be perfect because animals can’t work with a script, It means that actors also can relax and improvise. And that’s very cool.
EG: Do you have pets at home?
R: Yeah? I have a dog now and very happy about it.
EG: How did you call it?
R: I haven’t decided yet, it’s from the shelter.He’s like, like, he looks like hyena
EG: Did you start to train it?
R: Yes. It’s very clever and obedient.
EG: Feels like you like animals more than humans?
R: I don’t know. I’m just lucky with four-legged friends. On the set I become really close with Tai, the elephant. She definitely has some kind of aura, anyone who was around her felt really peaceful. It’s really cool, to be around such a huge animal, which is so gentle at the same time.
EG: Was the circus that exciting for you when you were a child?
R: Not really. When I was there, I saw really stupid number where the clown died. I thought it was for real until I was like 21. My mom opened my eyes. *laughs*
EG: How you can relax?
R: I can’t wait for the flights. I can sleep there quietly.
EG: And what about your dream day off? What it’s like?
R: I’d probably watch films. Or played a game on my IPhone *laughs*. I can play it 16 hours in a row.
EG: What about sport?
R: On BD I was training really hard because I have shirtless scenes. I had to eat healthy food, go to the gym all the time, ride a bike everywhere and I liked it. When I finished these scenes, I relaxed and I don’t go to the gym at all. I can’t force myself.
EG: Any guilty pleasures?
R: M&M’s pretzels. via
EG: Feels like you like animals more than humans?
R: I don’t know. I’m just lucky with four-legged friends. On the set I become really close with Tai, the elephant. She definitely has some kind of aura, anyone who was around her felt really peaceful. It’s really cool, to be around such a huge animal, which is so gentle at the same time.
EG: Was the circus that exciting for you when you were a child?
R: Not really. When I was there, I saw really stupid number where the clown died. I thought it was for real until I was like 21. My mom opened my eyes. *laughs*
EG: How you can relax?
R: I can’t wait for the flights. I can sleep there quietly.
EG: And what about your dream day off? What it’s like?
R: I’d probably watch films. Or played a game on my IPhone *laughs*. I can play it 16 hours in a row.
EG: What about sport?
R: On BD I was training really hard because I have shirtless scenes. I had to eat healthy food, go to the gym all the time, ride a bike everywhere and I liked it. When I finished these scenes, I relaxed and I don’t go to the gym at all. I can’t force myself.
EG: Any guilty pleasures?
R: M&M’s pretzels. via
Tai's trainer, Gary Johnson, talks about Water for Elephants, Tai, Rob & more!
Do you and Tai have to work hard in this movie?
Johnson: Especially in this movie we’ve worked a lot. It was very exciting as well though. I loved everyone who worked on this movie. People were realy respectful and always friendly. The director Francis Lawrence was a real gentleman and did a great job in my opinion. He drove to our ranch in California a dozen times to watch the training and to spend time with Tai. That’s how he knew how to shoot the scenes with her later on.
How much time did Reese Witherspoon with Tai? The relationship between Marlena and Rosie is very important for the story right?
Johnson: Reese Witherspoon visited the ranch often to train with Tai, because she has some really physical scenes with her. She had to climb onto Tai, just how it is known from circuses when the girl sits on top of the elephant. Tai lay on her side and when she got up Reese had to learn to stand on her trunk. They had to train a few different options to climb on top then. In one scene Tai stands on her back legs and Reese directly beneath her. In another scene Tai does a headstand and Reese dances beneath her at the same time. That’s really complicated and we had to train those scenes with a choreographer. The timing had to be right. In another scene Reese stands on top of the elephant. Another time Tai sits on a base and stands on her back legs and Reese then climbs onto her back. They had to train that scene a very long time. Tai does things like that regularly and it’s part of her routine. She practices daily and a lot.
How difficult was that for Reese?
Johnson: She was extraordinary and told us she did gymnastics as a child. She grew up with animals and has always felt comfortable with them. All three main actors, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz were very impressive. We’re very lucky that we were able to work with them. They’re just incredible.
What are the most exciting scenes with Tai and Reese the audience will get to see?
I think my favourite scene is the last one in which Reese stands on Tai. That’s a very dramatic moment. Although she does a few different routines, this might be the most spectacular one. At one point she lies on Tai’s back and Tai dances with her all through the arena. That scene is very impressive as well. In another very funny scene Christoph Waltz (August) and Reese dance on a podest and Tai gets so jealous, she tips Christoph on the shoulder. Then she steals his hat, throws it on the ground and tramples on it. It’s like she wanted to say, “Let Reese be. She’s mine.” Rosie also seems to feel that Christoph’s role is not really a likeable one.
How hard and intensive was the training on the movie set?
Johnson: There were two trainers on set every day, my assistant Joanne Smith and I. Tai had to practice a lot of different routines and that meant a lot of work. We had a month for the initial preparation and after that we practices for three months, daily, to rehearse all the routines. In a particularly difficult scene Tai had to draw a plug out of the ground. Normally you use a plug on the ground to chain an elephant. In the movie, Rosie pulls the plug out of the ground, sneaks to a barrel filled with lemonade, drinks, sneaks back to her initial place along with the plug, pushes it back into the earth and pretends nothing ever happened. We had to practice a lot for that scene. Tai also had to lie down in a circus waggon and pretend that she was hurt. For this scene we needed a lot of time as well.
What about the scene where she runs away from the circus, gets to a city and destroys a lot of things there?
Johnson: In that scene Christoph Waltz is very angry at Rosie, because she sneaks to the nearest villages and eats the vegetables from the market. Rob (Jacob) has to search for her and get her back. For that scene we needed about 300 extras and a few gamesmanship for Tai. There was just too much going on there, children on bikes and a lot of people. In all that chaos Tai had to act and we couldn’t just stand in front of the camera and tell her what to do. She had to eat the corn for example. but not the potatoes. That was a really special command but she did great. As an award she got an apple, a carrot and a little candy. Elephants love that, but Tais favourite sweets are “Jelly Beans”. Sometimes we even clap her on the shoulder and tell her that she did well. She understands that as well.
In the movie we fall in love with Rosie. How intelligent and emotional are elephants?
Johnson: I don’t think that Tai really knows that she’s acting. She does know though that something will happen, cause she’s done that before already. She understands what it means when the director shouts “action” or “cut”. We’ve trained her to stop anything she does as soon as the director shouts “cut”.
How did Robert Pattinson interact and work with Tai?
Johnson: Robert has a few close-ups with her and Tai thought him to be very likeable the first time she saw him. When Rosie is hurt he takes care of her. Robert never got loud with her and their relationship was adorable and easygoing. I think she liked him a lot.
How did you shot the key scenes in which August isn’t exactly nice to Rosie?
Johnson: That scene was manipulated with CGI effects in post production. The wounds which can be seen on Rosie are not real. They’ve been put on with make-up. When Christoph shot the scene in which he was supposed to hit her with a stick, the stick was just about 25 cm long. He did the movement but never touched her.
That means that during those extremely emotional scenes Tai was never in danger and always really happy?
Johnson: Of course Tai was always safe and we always took care of her. Nobody would ever allow an animal to get hurt. Nobody will ever hurt our elephants. But on screen that emotion is shown pretty well, simply because Chrstoph is a great actor. When he acts his voice gets higher which makes him sound dangerous. Tai’s eyes were very responsive to that. It can be seen in the movie. She looks at him as if she wanted to say, “Hey, what are you doing with me?”. That’s exactly what she has to do for the role as well.
Reese Witherspooon told us that she was very emotional on Tai’s last day on set because she was really close to her. Was that a very emotional moment for everyone?
Johnson: She cried and was very sad. They had a really strong relationship and Rob had to fight with tears as well. Of couse you can’t compare animals and human beings but I think that Tai and other elephants can develop a very strong relationship to humans as well – especially ours since they’re constantly learning and working with humans. We take them to shoot movies, take them to the beach or the forest and they have a lot of fun. Our relationships are based on mutual trust. Working with Tai was very touching and emotional for Reese, Rob and Christoph. Watching Reese and Tai work one could see that they had a special bond.
How much fun did Tai have while working?
Johnson: I think she had a lot of fun while working on “Water for Elephants”. Elephants are built for walking, moving a lot and they’re very intelligent. They need phsyical and mental challenges.
The movie is going to be suspenseful and emotional. Do you think that people will learn a lot about elephants and how extraordinary they are?
Johnson: I think that the movie will raise awareness, just because the story is really exciting and because the younger generation will love to see Rob and Reese together. I think the audience will see how intelligent elephants are. We really hope we can raise awareness about the animals that are kept captive and also the ones in the wilderness.
Johnson: Especially in this movie we’ve worked a lot. It was very exciting as well though. I loved everyone who worked on this movie. People were realy respectful and always friendly. The director Francis Lawrence was a real gentleman and did a great job in my opinion. He drove to our ranch in California a dozen times to watch the training and to spend time with Tai. That’s how he knew how to shoot the scenes with her later on.
How much time did Reese Witherspoon with Tai? The relationship between Marlena and Rosie is very important for the story right?
Johnson: Reese Witherspoon visited the ranch often to train with Tai, because she has some really physical scenes with her. She had to climb onto Tai, just how it is known from circuses when the girl sits on top of the elephant. Tai lay on her side and when she got up Reese had to learn to stand on her trunk. They had to train a few different options to climb on top then. In one scene Tai stands on her back legs and Reese directly beneath her. In another scene Tai does a headstand and Reese dances beneath her at the same time. That’s really complicated and we had to train those scenes with a choreographer. The timing had to be right. In another scene Reese stands on top of the elephant. Another time Tai sits on a base and stands on her back legs and Reese then climbs onto her back. They had to train that scene a very long time. Tai does things like that regularly and it’s part of her routine. She practices daily and a lot.
How difficult was that for Reese?
Johnson: She was extraordinary and told us she did gymnastics as a child. She grew up with animals and has always felt comfortable with them. All three main actors, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz were very impressive. We’re very lucky that we were able to work with them. They’re just incredible.
What are the most exciting scenes with Tai and Reese the audience will get to see?
I think my favourite scene is the last one in which Reese stands on Tai. That’s a very dramatic moment. Although she does a few different routines, this might be the most spectacular one. At one point she lies on Tai’s back and Tai dances with her all through the arena. That scene is very impressive as well. In another very funny scene Christoph Waltz (August) and Reese dance on a podest and Tai gets so jealous, she tips Christoph on the shoulder. Then she steals his hat, throws it on the ground and tramples on it. It’s like she wanted to say, “Let Reese be. She’s mine.” Rosie also seems to feel that Christoph’s role is not really a likeable one.
How hard and intensive was the training on the movie set?
Johnson: There were two trainers on set every day, my assistant Joanne Smith and I. Tai had to practice a lot of different routines and that meant a lot of work. We had a month for the initial preparation and after that we practices for three months, daily, to rehearse all the routines. In a particularly difficult scene Tai had to draw a plug out of the ground. Normally you use a plug on the ground to chain an elephant. In the movie, Rosie pulls the plug out of the ground, sneaks to a barrel filled with lemonade, drinks, sneaks back to her initial place along with the plug, pushes it back into the earth and pretends nothing ever happened. We had to practice a lot for that scene. Tai also had to lie down in a circus waggon and pretend that she was hurt. For this scene we needed a lot of time as well.
What about the scene where she runs away from the circus, gets to a city and destroys a lot of things there?
Johnson: In that scene Christoph Waltz is very angry at Rosie, because she sneaks to the nearest villages and eats the vegetables from the market. Rob (Jacob) has to search for her and get her back. For that scene we needed about 300 extras and a few gamesmanship for Tai. There was just too much going on there, children on bikes and a lot of people. In all that chaos Tai had to act and we couldn’t just stand in front of the camera and tell her what to do. She had to eat the corn for example. but not the potatoes. That was a really special command but she did great. As an award she got an apple, a carrot and a little candy. Elephants love that, but Tais favourite sweets are “Jelly Beans”. Sometimes we even clap her on the shoulder and tell her that she did well. She understands that as well.
In the movie we fall in love with Rosie. How intelligent and emotional are elephants?
Johnson: I don’t think that Tai really knows that she’s acting. She does know though that something will happen, cause she’s done that before already. She understands what it means when the director shouts “action” or “cut”. We’ve trained her to stop anything she does as soon as the director shouts “cut”.
How did Robert Pattinson interact and work with Tai?
Johnson: Robert has a few close-ups with her and Tai thought him to be very likeable the first time she saw him. When Rosie is hurt he takes care of her. Robert never got loud with her and their relationship was adorable and easygoing. I think she liked him a lot.
How did you shot the key scenes in which August isn’t exactly nice to Rosie?
Johnson: That scene was manipulated with CGI effects in post production. The wounds which can be seen on Rosie are not real. They’ve been put on with make-up. When Christoph shot the scene in which he was supposed to hit her with a stick, the stick was just about 25 cm long. He did the movement but never touched her.
That means that during those extremely emotional scenes Tai was never in danger and always really happy?
Johnson: Of course Tai was always safe and we always took care of her. Nobody would ever allow an animal to get hurt. Nobody will ever hurt our elephants. But on screen that emotion is shown pretty well, simply because Chrstoph is a great actor. When he acts his voice gets higher which makes him sound dangerous. Tai’s eyes were very responsive to that. It can be seen in the movie. She looks at him as if she wanted to say, “Hey, what are you doing with me?”. That’s exactly what she has to do for the role as well.
Reese Witherspooon told us that she was very emotional on Tai’s last day on set because she was really close to her. Was that a very emotional moment for everyone?
Johnson: She cried and was very sad. They had a really strong relationship and Rob had to fight with tears as well. Of couse you can’t compare animals and human beings but I think that Tai and other elephants can develop a very strong relationship to humans as well – especially ours since they’re constantly learning and working with humans. We take them to shoot movies, take them to the beach or the forest and they have a lot of fun. Our relationships are based on mutual trust. Working with Tai was very touching and emotional for Reese, Rob and Christoph. Watching Reese and Tai work one could see that they had a special bond.
How much fun did Tai have while working?
Johnson: I think she had a lot of fun while working on “Water for Elephants”. Elephants are built for walking, moving a lot and they’re very intelligent. They need phsyical and mental challenges.
The movie is going to be suspenseful and emotional. Do you think that people will learn a lot about elephants and how extraordinary they are?
Johnson: I think that the movie will raise awareness, just because the story is really exciting and because the younger generation will love to see Rob and Reese together. I think the audience will see how intelligent elephants are. We really hope we can raise awareness about the animals that are kept captive and also the ones in the wilderness.
Thnks to Robsteners for the translation! You can read the complete translated interview at Robsteners!
*NEW* Rob talks with Total Film about Bel Ami!
Robert Pattinson admits that Bel Ami is still in editing because studio honchos are worried about alienating audiences used to his goody-two-shoes persona in the Twilight franchise.
RPattz plays the titular Bel Ami in an adaptation of Maupassant's classic novel about a 19th century womanising, social-climbing journalist who sleeps his way round Paris.
Filming in the UK and Budapest opposite leading ladies Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci and Kristen Scott Thomas wrapped in spring 2010 and was originally slated for a Christmas release. It currently has no confirmed opening date.
"We were really true to the book and because the guy is basically a shit who wins everything at the end it’s really difficult to market it – especially with me in it," Pattinson tells TF exclusively.
"Everyone’s worried that everyone’s going to be thinking, ‘Oh I want him to be nice, he’s got to be nice to all the ladies’."
Bel Ami, though, is an unrepentant cad. "I know," laughs the Water For Elephants star, "But that was fun!"
RPattz plays the titular Bel Ami in an adaptation of Maupassant's classic novel about a 19th century womanising, social-climbing journalist who sleeps his way round Paris.
Filming in the UK and Budapest opposite leading ladies Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci and Kristen Scott Thomas wrapped in spring 2010 and was originally slated for a Christmas release. It currently has no confirmed opening date.
"We were really true to the book and because the guy is basically a shit who wins everything at the end it’s really difficult to market it – especially with me in it," Pattinson tells TF exclusively.
"Everyone’s worried that everyone’s going to be thinking, ‘Oh I want him to be nice, he’s got to be nice to all the ladies’."
Bel Ami, though, is an unrepentant cad. "I know," laughs the Water For Elephants star, "But that was fun!"
For more on Robert Pattinson and Water For Elephants check out the latest issue of Total Film, out 14 April.
Rob's Full Interview with Italian Vanity Fair Translated!
Scans ( thnks toTwilightItalianMomS)
Click for fullsize
Translation thanks to CSI_Robsten
Is it true that the first thing you do when you are given a script is read the first and the last line?
“If the screenwriter is good, the beginning and the its work and there’s a 75% chance it’s a good story. Otherwise, the best thing to do is forget it. Today the problem is that scripts with the worst-written first pages are those that are made into movies and make more money.”
-Are you saying that Twilight is bad-written?
“Things don’t always work this way. But it’s true that when I first read it, it didn’t appeal to me. I couldn’t understand what was so special and why everybody was so into it.”
- Water For Elephants is a romantic movie.
“Yeah, but what appealed to me was the historical period, the Great Depression and the circus. It’s so intriguing. Chlidren don’t dream of running away with a film crew, but with the circus. It still happens today, I guess. At least they did in the 30’s, when there was no tv and no cinema down the street. Besides I liked that it was also about animals and and human-animal relationship (he stops and bursts out laughing). I know, it sounds weird this way.”
-Anyway, the fact remains that it’s mostly about the love story between Jacob and Marlena.
“In the beginning, you may think “oh there comes the guy, he’s going to meet the girl and it’ll be love at first sight. Then they’re going to run away together”. But it’s not like this. It’s a more complex story. Jacob falls in love with Marlena, but doesn’t try to bring her with him. She first kisses him and then rejects him, but indeed he accepts her choice. She will always be an extraordinary woman to him, no matter what. Jacob just wants to give and doesn’t ask for anything in return. That’s the best kind of relationship.”
-Could you ever have a relationship with a married woman?
“Life is not black and white. There are married couples that never see each other. Is that marriage? But there’s a thing I’ve never got, that is why do people cheat?”
-You can’t understand a behavior which is typical of the majority of people nowadays.
“I can understand the impulse, but not how you can keep two relationship going at the same time for long. This usually happens to people with children, but I can’t really get why a non-commitment guy would choose to date four girls at the same time either. It must be hell, especially for men”.
-Why especially for men?
“I think it’s more complicated for men, because somehow they have to “provide for” their women. I’m not talking about money support, but about enthusiasm: they have to cultivate the relationship. Doing it with more women at the same time would be very hard, a real work.”
- Are you saying that because you’ve already tried?
“I’m not the casual-affair kind of guy. If I choose to be with someone it’s because I really want it. When I have a relationship, I’m 100% into it. If I felt like seeing more women at once then I wouldn’t go around saying “this is my girlfriend”.
- So you do not believe in cheating. And what about the until-death-us-do-part love, like the one in movies?
“My mother was 17 and my father was 25 when they met, they’re still together and look very happy. I’ve grown up believing that you can stay with the same person throughout your life.
- Speaking about parents, in Vanity Fair you played Reese Witherspoon’s son. But then your part was cut from the movie during the editing.
“It was my first movie. She was already famous, and I remember she was very nice to me: she always asked me if I wanted to read the lines together, if I had doubts or questions”.
- In less than 10 years you’ve turned from being mother and son into lovers. What do you think about it?
“Well, looking back on it, I think that let me play her son didn’t make any sense. I mean, she wasn’t even 28, she was too young to have a kid. That’s why they decided to cut it, apart from other problems. Another reason was that our scene together was way too depressing. The problem was that nobody told me anything. I found it out when I went to see it. At the end, someone was supposed to ask Reese “Are you going to meet Rawdy?”, that was the name of my character. She was supposed to say yes and there I would have come. But she said “no”.
- Bel Ami, starrring Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas, is coming out this year as well. You play the part of a seducer and make sex with lots of women. Then we have Breaking Dawn in November, where you and Bella finally have sex. You mentioned many times your unease shooting these kinds of scenes. Are you getting used to it?
“It wasn’t that difficult in Bel Ami, since we were dressed most of the time. Twilight worried me a lot instead: there are high expectations and everybody is talking about it. So I went to the gym every day for a month. It was the first time I was in shape in all my life.
- Was a month enough time?
“Yes, but anyway I could’t have done it for longer. Oh, you forgot Cosmopolis. That’s plenty of sex scenes. In one of them a girl shoots me with an electic gun, it’s crazy!”
- So going back to my question, are you getting used to it?
“I don’t know. But I know I will have to go back to the gym.
-You are not a physical fitness buff, aren’t you?
“I go from one extreme to the other: before starting work I practice for four hours per day, every day. Then I stop. It’s the same story with alcohol: all or nothing. In Louisiana it’s very difficult to resist temptation; but I found out that if I drink 5 beers a day, doing sport is useless. Try as you might, your body won’t change. I think I should really stop drinking, too.
via
Is it true that the first thing you do when you are given a script is read the first and the last line?
“If the screenwriter is good, the beginning and the its work and there’s a 75% chance it’s a good story. Otherwise, the best thing to do is forget it. Today the problem is that scripts with the worst-written first pages are those that are made into movies and make more money.”
-Are you saying that Twilight is bad-written?
“Things don’t always work this way. But it’s true that when I first read it, it didn’t appeal to me. I couldn’t understand what was so special and why everybody was so into it.”
- Water For Elephants is a romantic movie.
“Yeah, but what appealed to me was the historical period, the Great Depression and the circus. It’s so intriguing. Chlidren don’t dream of running away with a film crew, but with the circus. It still happens today, I guess. At least they did in the 30’s, when there was no tv and no cinema down the street. Besides I liked that it was also about animals and and human-animal relationship (he stops and bursts out laughing). I know, it sounds weird this way.”
-Anyway, the fact remains that it’s mostly about the love story between Jacob and Marlena.
“In the beginning, you may think “oh there comes the guy, he’s going to meet the girl and it’ll be love at first sight. Then they’re going to run away together”. But it’s not like this. It’s a more complex story. Jacob falls in love with Marlena, but doesn’t try to bring her with him. She first kisses him and then rejects him, but indeed he accepts her choice. She will always be an extraordinary woman to him, no matter what. Jacob just wants to give and doesn’t ask for anything in return. That’s the best kind of relationship.”
-Could you ever have a relationship with a married woman?
“Life is not black and white. There are married couples that never see each other. Is that marriage? But there’s a thing I’ve never got, that is why do people cheat?”
-You can’t understand a behavior which is typical of the majority of people nowadays.
“I can understand the impulse, but not how you can keep two relationship going at the same time for long. This usually happens to people with children, but I can’t really get why a non-commitment guy would choose to date four girls at the same time either. It must be hell, especially for men”.
-Why especially for men?
“I think it’s more complicated for men, because somehow they have to “provide for” their women. I’m not talking about money support, but about enthusiasm: they have to cultivate the relationship. Doing it with more women at the same time would be very hard, a real work.”
- Are you saying that because you’ve already tried?
“I’m not the casual-affair kind of guy. If I choose to be with someone it’s because I really want it. When I have a relationship, I’m 100% into it. If I felt like seeing more women at once then I wouldn’t go around saying “this is my girlfriend”.
- So you do not believe in cheating. And what about the until-death-us-do-part love, like the one in movies?
“My mother was 17 and my father was 25 when they met, they’re still together and look very happy. I’ve grown up believing that you can stay with the same person throughout your life.
- Speaking about parents, in Vanity Fair you played Reese Witherspoon’s son. But then your part was cut from the movie during the editing.
“It was my first movie. She was already famous, and I remember she was very nice to me: she always asked me if I wanted to read the lines together, if I had doubts or questions”.
- In less than 10 years you’ve turned from being mother and son into lovers. What do you think about it?
“Well, looking back on it, I think that let me play her son didn’t make any sense. I mean, she wasn’t even 28, she was too young to have a kid. That’s why they decided to cut it, apart from other problems. Another reason was that our scene together was way too depressing. The problem was that nobody told me anything. I found it out when I went to see it. At the end, someone was supposed to ask Reese “Are you going to meet Rawdy?”, that was the name of my character. She was supposed to say yes and there I would have come. But she said “no”.
- Bel Ami, starrring Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas, is coming out this year as well. You play the part of a seducer and make sex with lots of women. Then we have Breaking Dawn in November, where you and Bella finally have sex. You mentioned many times your unease shooting these kinds of scenes. Are you getting used to it?
“It wasn’t that difficult in Bel Ami, since we were dressed most of the time. Twilight worried me a lot instead: there are high expectations and everybody is talking about it. So I went to the gym every day for a month. It was the first time I was in shape in all my life.
- Was a month enough time?
“Yes, but anyway I could’t have done it for longer. Oh, you forgot Cosmopolis. That’s plenty of sex scenes. In one of them a girl shoots me with an electic gun, it’s crazy!”
- So going back to my question, are you getting used to it?
“I don’t know. But I know I will have to go back to the gym.
-You are not a physical fitness buff, aren’t you?
“I go from one extreme to the other: before starting work I practice for four hours per day, every day. Then I stop. It’s the same story with alcohol: all or nothing. In Louisiana it’s very difficult to resist temptation; but I found out that if I drink 5 beers a day, doing sport is useless. Try as you might, your body won’t change. I think I should really stop drinking, too.
via
*Updated with the TRANSLATION OF THE INTRO*
You don’t have to be intelligent to understand that, generally speaking, there’s worse than becoming a poster guy who has to hide from hordes of screaming fans into five-star hotels all around the world. And Robert Pattinson sounds very intelligent. He’s young (he’s turning 25 in May), has a lot of money, success, a job which loads of people envy him and could have all the women he wants. Yet, it stands out a mile he’s not happy about it. And I guess the reason is that he is intelligent enough to understand not to be so special.
He’s very down to earth, while everyone around him goes crazy. That makes him a good guy, but terribly alone. We wouldn’t be surprised if one day he decided to pack and leave. I met him some weeks ago for the promotion of his new movie Water For Elephants.
He’s just bought a dog. He really wanted it. “I don’t know how I’ll handle it, but if you have to travel around the world, it’s good to have a mate. I took him from the animal shelter: I laugh if I think that he went from a shelter to a suit of the Four Season Hotel.” It’s not what happened to him. Well, almost.
Rob was born in London; his mother worked for a modeling agency, and his father Richard, imported vintage cars from the U.S; when he was a child he thought he would deal with International relations. But then he got the part of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the goblet of fire. It happened by chance as well as for the the role of Edward Cullen that has changed his life.
Music was his passion, but he had to put it aside for now. “I play sometimes, but you have to be concentrated to do it seriously, and I do not have so much time right now.” I point out that many actors do both, he bursts out laughing “yeah, but look at the results. It’s embarassing”.
So, apart from changing the subject when speaking about his relationship with Kristen Stewart (not even Oprah managed to make him talking), Robert says he spends his time working (mostly) and among beers, gym, cigarettes and junk food. But he really needs to sleep, he adds. “I worked last night. I’ve just come back from Lousiana”. Luckily at that age, sleep deprivation doesn’t make wrinkles on your face, but makes it look sexier somehow.
In Louisiana he’s shooting the first and the second part of Breaking Dawn at once. The first one is coming out on November 18th, 2011. Meanwhile in LA, Rob’s trying to build a career outside of Twilight. In Water For Elephants he plays Jacob, a veterinary school student struck by his parents’ death. With no money and no home, he starts wandering until he sees a train of a circus and jumps on it. There he meets two creatures: the elephant Rosie, and the star of the show Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), who is also the despotic ringmaster’s wife (Christopher Waltz).
He’s very down to earth, while everyone around him goes crazy. That makes him a good guy, but terribly alone. We wouldn’t be surprised if one day he decided to pack and leave. I met him some weeks ago for the promotion of his new movie Water For Elephants.
He’s just bought a dog. He really wanted it. “I don’t know how I’ll handle it, but if you have to travel around the world, it’s good to have a mate. I took him from the animal shelter: I laugh if I think that he went from a shelter to a suit of the Four Season Hotel.” It’s not what happened to him. Well, almost.
Rob was born in London; his mother worked for a modeling agency, and his father Richard, imported vintage cars from the U.S; when he was a child he thought he would deal with International relations. But then he got the part of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the goblet of fire. It happened by chance as well as for the the role of Edward Cullen that has changed his life.
Music was his passion, but he had to put it aside for now. “I play sometimes, but you have to be concentrated to do it seriously, and I do not have so much time right now.” I point out that many actors do both, he bursts out laughing “yeah, but look at the results. It’s embarassing”.
So, apart from changing the subject when speaking about his relationship with Kristen Stewart (not even Oprah managed to make him talking), Robert says he spends his time working (mostly) and among beers, gym, cigarettes and junk food. But he really needs to sleep, he adds. “I worked last night. I’ve just come back from Lousiana”. Luckily at that age, sleep deprivation doesn’t make wrinkles on your face, but makes it look sexier somehow.
In Louisiana he’s shooting the first and the second part of Breaking Dawn at once. The first one is coming out on November 18th, 2011. Meanwhile in LA, Rob’s trying to build a career outside of Twilight. In Water For Elephants he plays Jacob, a veterinary school student struck by his parents’ death. With no money and no home, he starts wandering until he sees a train of a circus and jumps on it. There he meets two creatures: the elephant Rosie, and the star of the show Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), who is also the despotic ringmaster’s wife (Christopher Waltz).
Scans of Rob's Full Interview with Empire Magazine! Talks about Cosmopolis, David Cronenberg, Twilight & more!
Do you remember yesterday's preview of Rob's interview with Empire Magazine? If you don't, then click here
Here you can see the scans of the Full Interview!
Click to view fullsize
ROBsessedBlog
Monday July 19, 2010. Empire is in LA, on the backlot of 20th Century Fox. Behind the studio's towering HQ - Better known as die hard's Nakatomi Plaza - in blazing sunshine. Today, we are lucky enough to witness one of the biggest street scenes filmed here since acres of the company's real estate were sold off in 1961 to foot the runaway costs of it's epic Cleopatra.
The cobbled streets are teeming with extras, all dressed in 1930s city mode - frills and brollies for the women, boots and braces for the boys - and there's a palpable air of excitement. Which is understandable, because, for once in Hollywood, the circus really is coming to town.
At the end of a salvo of jugglers, clowns and acrobats lumblers an elephant, balancing Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon, one of the town's most bankable actresses, on it's head. Dressed in a striking ringmaster's outfit, Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterd's unforgettable villain, theatrically parades her. And just out of our sightline, in a full chino combo, Robert Pattinson, Twilight icon and global superstar, is bringing up the rear. This, Empire thinks, this is the magic of the movies!
Thursday February 17, 2011. Empire is in Fox's Little Theatre, a short walk from the street corner where this lavish, no-expense-spared scene was shot. Originally, we were only supposed to see a few scenes from the film in question - Water For Elephants, a glossy adaptation of Sara Gruen's bestseller - but now we're seeing the whole movie! The film unfolds and Empire breathlessly awaits the scene. OUR SCENE! And waits... and waits... and waits. Then suddenly, after a good 80 minutes at least, it whizzes by. In the middle of a montage. For all of, what, ten seconds.
Friday February 18, 2011. Empire sits in the Four Seasons hotel with Pattinson. He, too, only recently noticed this, while doing some additional voice recording for the movie.
"I was like 'Oh,'" he says, his shoulders falling for comic effect. He sighs, in a small voice, "I really liked that scene..."
By rights, Pattinson shouldn't even be here. He, more then anyone, knows the dangers of the editing process, having been snipped completely from his very first movie (more on that later). But instead, thanks to a guilty conscience, a tax bill and a book he'd never heard of, the Barnes-born actor is, at just 24, one of the biggest deals on the planet. The way he tells it, he just muddled his way through. He even says he came to star in Water For Elephants, his biggest gamble yet, by chance.
Although he plays a character named Jacob, this period epic couldn't be further removed from the Twilight films that made him a most unlikely pin-up. As the undead Edward Cullen, Pattinson set teen pulses racing, but here, as a young veterinarian tossed out of medical school after the death of his parents, he plays a much more orthodox Hollywood heartthrob. Joining the Benzini Brothers' circus, led by the mercurial August Rosenbluth (Waltz), Jacob begins to see the harsh realities of life on the road in Depression-era America - all the while getting closer to the ringmaster's beautiful wife, horse rider and acrobat Marlena (Witherspoon), who's dominated by August with a whip hand.
For any other actor, such a role would be part of a distinct gameplan, a decision to ratchet things up a notch, embrace the limelight, go Hollywood. Pattinson, though, claims this was not the case. "It's actually a cheaper film that ant of the Twilight movies," he says softly, "so it wasn't that massive a budget, it just looks like it was. But it seems so big, it does seem like a step, or something. It's weird, though. When I first read the script - because I didn't have that many lines - I just thought, 'Oh, okay, I get it: I'm in the eyes of the audience. It's going to be a big spectacle movie that isn't solely resting on my shoulders...'" He laughs. "So I was very relaxed about it, going in."
So he didn't realise he'd be carrying the whole movie?!
"I only realised about halfway through," he grins. "I was working every single day. Reese was hardly ever in, and Christoph only came in sporadically *. I was like, 'how did this happen?!'"
*Attention, Hollywood! Tongue-in-cheek British humour alert number one! In fairness to Waltz and witherspoon, Pattinson is talking subjectively about their respective shooting schedules within a main shoot that lasted from May 20 to August 4, 2010.
How indeed? At a time when most stars his age have become insufferable, Pattinson is friendly, likable and genuinely humble. The reddish hair is noticeably Edward's - he has flown straight from the set of Breaking Dawn in Baton Rouge - but the clothes are nondescript, perhaps for security reasons rather than fashion (Of the fan hysteria that follows him, he says this, somewhat cryptically: "I know what situations will provoke it now, so I just avoid doing those things.")
But this is an actor who isn't about to let his ego run riot just yet. The last time Pattinson worked with Witherspoon, on Mira Nair's 2004 adaptation of Thackeray's Vanity Fair, he told everyone who'd listen about his Hollywood break - and then ended up on the cutting-room floor. Even though he was playing the star's son.
"I had no idea," he laughs. "I went to a screening and it was very embarrassing, because my best friend played the son of the other main couple, and his scene was still in. His was almost adjacent to mine. So I was looking at his scene, thinking 'Hmm, pretty good,' waiting for mine." But it wasn't there. In it's place, there was "a big, happy wedding". In India. "Which wasn't in the book." he notes, deadpan (he has a lovely, dry sense of humour).
Did they ever say why?
"I think because it was the last scene, and they thought it was too depressing," he shrugs. "But it was quite funny, really. I ended up getting Harry Potter because the casting director felt so guilty that she forgot to tell me. I think I was the first person seen for it. Nowadays, I'm working all the time. But before that... I mean, in my career before Twilight, whatever job I got, that was the job I did. I never turned down a thing. They weren't even lead parts. Anything. Just random little things. And I liked doing it, on that level. I survived off the money for Harry Potter for, like, three years. I spent three years getting drunk **. And just when I was about to go broke, I got Twilight."
**Tongue-in-cheek British humour alert number two! This is A Joke.
Pattinson admits that, had it not been for the indie drama Little Ashes, in which he played surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, we might even have lost him to music. "All my friends were doing music and just starting to get contracts," he recalls. "We were all playing in the same little group of people. So I was going to start doing that, and then I got offered Little ashes, out of the blue. At first, I thought it was just gonna be two months' vacation in Spain, but it ended up being really, really hard. It was the first job I'd really researched, and I'd only just started to find some satisfaction in acting."
And after that? "Well, then I got Twilight," he grins. "I finished Little Ashes and went to LA because I really, really needed money! I had this big tax bill, and I was completely broke. But it had given me a different perspective. I talked to people in auditions differently, whereas before I just went in going, 'Yeah, I don't really know what I'm doing,' and I didn't really care."
Pattinson looks back on those days with amusement rather than embarrassment. "I really enjoyed everything," he says. "When you're starting out, you don't really know how to..." He changes tack, turning a negative into a positive. "I mean, you've gotta learn how to do things. Every job i did, especially before Twilight, I'd be all out in it - and having no idea which kind of direction to go in! I really wanted to see where my line was. I didn't know what I was doing at all."
He didn't train as an actor, so how did he learn? Was it a question of listening to the director? He smiles. "I've only just started accepting what directors tell me to do! I used to think that, say, where I had to do a big emotional scene, because of everything I'd read about actors when I was younger, I'd have to do it for real. So I'd be hyping myself up for three days beforehand. Like, I did this Viking movie (released theatrically in the UK as Sword Of Xanten) when I was 17, and there was all this fighting stuff. I had to kill this guy who killed my brother." he laughs. "I sat there going crazy for the entire day. It actually got to the point where I had the sword in my hand, about to whip it out and kill the guy, and the director came over and said 'Listen, you can't do it. You've got the red mist...' I was like, "WHAAAAT?'
"It's funny, that," he muses. "You don't understand when you first start doing it, how to get to certain places. Because you don't want to feel like you're faking it. But then you find out later that the best people, most of the time, are faking it. And that's when they do their best work."
After Twilight, the rest is history. And even that, he says, was sort of a fluke: when he landed the part, he genuinely had no idea how life-changing it would be. "No-one believes me about this. You couldn't buy the books in England. And I only knew one person who'd read then, who was my mum's friend's daughter, who lived in New York. It just seemed like it was one of those 'young adult' class reader things. I had no idea what it was about. So I went over there and I didn't know what to make of it at all. But I'd seen Into The Wild, and I thought Kristen (Stewart) was really good in it. They said, 'Oh, that's the girl playing Bella.' And I was like 'Shit, she's actually good!' So I did a reading with her, and she was really impressive."
"I didn't really know how to play it," he continues, "because I thought it was kind of a teen thing - which it did end up being - but I thought at the time, with Catherine Hardwicke and Kristen, it was going to be an indie movie. It seemed really interesting; a teen vampire movie that was going to be like Thirteen (Hardwicke's debut movie) and really serious. I had no idea it was going to be this big thing that you'd get on Burger King hats."
Empire takes it that this has actually happened? "Yes," he grins. "I think you can even get an Edward burger! But it doesn't really make an enormous amount of difference. Everyone always thinks, 'Oh, well, you can do anything you want now.' but there's nothing out there. There's hardly anything. Also, you've got to fit into the part. I mean, it's not like I'm going to play the Queen!"
After the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2, Pattinson says there'll definitely be no more Edward Cullen. his next film, sensual period thriller Bel Ami, recently wrapped, and then he starts work on Cronenberg's new thriller, Cosmopolis. You'd think he might be blasé about that, but no. "I'm just astonished that I've been cast," he marvels. "I'd read the script before and thought, 'Wow, this is insane. But insane and difficult.' And then, out of nowhere, my agent said, "Do you want to do it?'"
Is this something of a dream come true, then? "I never thought about working with Cronenberg," he reflects, "but I've always loved his movies. It just never came into my head that there would be an opportunity. Y'know, there are so few auteur's left. The one thing that pisses me off about working in films is when you start a project and then, suddenly, two days before you start, there's a massive rewrite to make an R-rated movie into something that's PG-13, and it's a totally different story. As soon as that line's been crossed, you know you're not making a movie anymore. You're making a...a... fridge magnet. It's nothing.
"But with people like Cronenberg you know that, no matter what, there will be a movie at the end, and it will be solid and self-contained, and it's not made for any other reason than it being a movie. and however ridiculous it is, that's so hard to find! There's a few people like this. Like Jaques Audiard, who made A Prophet. He's never made a film that isn't entirely his own."
This informed, intelligent and incisive side of Robert Pattinson might come as a surprise to those expecting an airhead, boy-model bimbo. So Empire puts him on the spot somewhat and asks what he would say to people who have a precognition about him from Twilight, and wanted to know why they should go to see Water For Elephants.
"I don't know," he says, suddenly a little shyer. "Hopefully they'll think it's a good movie. I don't know what it says about me... But I have a feeling that a lot of people will like it. I don't think a lot of movies coming out are anything like it, and when I was working on the film it didn't feel like anything else that was being made. So hopefully it will... it will... satiate something in people."
And it's better that having a rapping career, which Empire believes very almost happened...?
He nods. "It's definitely better than that."
Water For Elephants is out on May 5 and will be reviewed in the next issue.
Monday July 19, 2010. Empire is in LA, on the backlot of 20th Century Fox. Behind the studio's towering HQ - Better known as die hard's Nakatomi Plaza - in blazing sunshine. Today, we are lucky enough to witness one of the biggest street scenes filmed here since acres of the company's real estate were sold off in 1961 to foot the runaway costs of it's epic Cleopatra.
The cobbled streets are teeming with extras, all dressed in 1930s city mode - frills and brollies for the women, boots and braces for the boys - and there's a palpable air of excitement. Which is understandable, because, for once in Hollywood, the circus really is coming to town.
At the end of a salvo of jugglers, clowns and acrobats lumblers an elephant, balancing Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon, one of the town's most bankable actresses, on it's head. Dressed in a striking ringmaster's outfit, Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterd's unforgettable villain, theatrically parades her. And just out of our sightline, in a full chino combo, Robert Pattinson, Twilight icon and global superstar, is bringing up the rear. This, Empire thinks, this is the magic of the movies!
Thursday February 17, 2011. Empire is in Fox's Little Theatre, a short walk from the street corner where this lavish, no-expense-spared scene was shot. Originally, we were only supposed to see a few scenes from the film in question - Water For Elephants, a glossy adaptation of Sara Gruen's bestseller - but now we're seeing the whole movie! The film unfolds and Empire breathlessly awaits the scene. OUR SCENE! And waits... and waits... and waits. Then suddenly, after a good 80 minutes at least, it whizzes by. In the middle of a montage. For all of, what, ten seconds.
Friday February 18, 2011. Empire sits in the Four Seasons hotel with Pattinson. He, too, only recently noticed this, while doing some additional voice recording for the movie.
"I was like 'Oh,'" he says, his shoulders falling for comic effect. He sighs, in a small voice, "I really liked that scene..."
By rights, Pattinson shouldn't even be here. He, more then anyone, knows the dangers of the editing process, having been snipped completely from his very first movie (more on that later). But instead, thanks to a guilty conscience, a tax bill and a book he'd never heard of, the Barnes-born actor is, at just 24, one of the biggest deals on the planet. The way he tells it, he just muddled his way through. He even says he came to star in Water For Elephants, his biggest gamble yet, by chance.
Although he plays a character named Jacob, this period epic couldn't be further removed from the Twilight films that made him a most unlikely pin-up. As the undead Edward Cullen, Pattinson set teen pulses racing, but here, as a young veterinarian tossed out of medical school after the death of his parents, he plays a much more orthodox Hollywood heartthrob. Joining the Benzini Brothers' circus, led by the mercurial August Rosenbluth (Waltz), Jacob begins to see the harsh realities of life on the road in Depression-era America - all the while getting closer to the ringmaster's beautiful wife, horse rider and acrobat Marlena (Witherspoon), who's dominated by August with a whip hand.
For any other actor, such a role would be part of a distinct gameplan, a decision to ratchet things up a notch, embrace the limelight, go Hollywood. Pattinson, though, claims this was not the case. "It's actually a cheaper film that ant of the Twilight movies," he says softly, "so it wasn't that massive a budget, it just looks like it was. But it seems so big, it does seem like a step, or something. It's weird, though. When I first read the script - because I didn't have that many lines - I just thought, 'Oh, okay, I get it: I'm in the eyes of the audience. It's going to be a big spectacle movie that isn't solely resting on my shoulders...'" He laughs. "So I was very relaxed about it, going in."
So he didn't realise he'd be carrying the whole movie?!
"I only realised about halfway through," he grins. "I was working every single day. Reese was hardly ever in, and Christoph only came in sporadically *. I was like, 'how did this happen?!'"
*Attention, Hollywood! Tongue-in-cheek British humour alert number one! In fairness to Waltz and witherspoon, Pattinson is talking subjectively about their respective shooting schedules within a main shoot that lasted from May 20 to August 4, 2010.
How indeed? At a time when most stars his age have become insufferable, Pattinson is friendly, likable and genuinely humble. The reddish hair is noticeably Edward's - he has flown straight from the set of Breaking Dawn in Baton Rouge - but the clothes are nondescript, perhaps for security reasons rather than fashion (Of the fan hysteria that follows him, he says this, somewhat cryptically: "I know what situations will provoke it now, so I just avoid doing those things.")
But this is an actor who isn't about to let his ego run riot just yet. The last time Pattinson worked with Witherspoon, on Mira Nair's 2004 adaptation of Thackeray's Vanity Fair, he told everyone who'd listen about his Hollywood break - and then ended up on the cutting-room floor. Even though he was playing the star's son.
"I had no idea," he laughs. "I went to a screening and it was very embarrassing, because my best friend played the son of the other main couple, and his scene was still in. His was almost adjacent to mine. So I was looking at his scene, thinking 'Hmm, pretty good,' waiting for mine." But it wasn't there. In it's place, there was "a big, happy wedding". In India. "Which wasn't in the book." he notes, deadpan (he has a lovely, dry sense of humour).
Did they ever say why?
"I think because it was the last scene, and they thought it was too depressing," he shrugs. "But it was quite funny, really. I ended up getting Harry Potter because the casting director felt so guilty that she forgot to tell me. I think I was the first person seen for it. Nowadays, I'm working all the time. But before that... I mean, in my career before Twilight, whatever job I got, that was the job I did. I never turned down a thing. They weren't even lead parts. Anything. Just random little things. And I liked doing it, on that level. I survived off the money for Harry Potter for, like, three years. I spent three years getting drunk **. And just when I was about to go broke, I got Twilight."
**Tongue-in-cheek British humour alert number two! This is A Joke.
Pattinson admits that, had it not been for the indie drama Little Ashes, in which he played surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, we might even have lost him to music. "All my friends were doing music and just starting to get contracts," he recalls. "We were all playing in the same little group of people. So I was going to start doing that, and then I got offered Little ashes, out of the blue. At first, I thought it was just gonna be two months' vacation in Spain, but it ended up being really, really hard. It was the first job I'd really researched, and I'd only just started to find some satisfaction in acting."
And after that? "Well, then I got Twilight," he grins. "I finished Little Ashes and went to LA because I really, really needed money! I had this big tax bill, and I was completely broke. But it had given me a different perspective. I talked to people in auditions differently, whereas before I just went in going, 'Yeah, I don't really know what I'm doing,' and I didn't really care."
Pattinson looks back on those days with amusement rather than embarrassment. "I really enjoyed everything," he says. "When you're starting out, you don't really know how to..." He changes tack, turning a negative into a positive. "I mean, you've gotta learn how to do things. Every job i did, especially before Twilight, I'd be all out in it - and having no idea which kind of direction to go in! I really wanted to see where my line was. I didn't know what I was doing at all."
He didn't train as an actor, so how did he learn? Was it a question of listening to the director? He smiles. "I've only just started accepting what directors tell me to do! I used to think that, say, where I had to do a big emotional scene, because of everything I'd read about actors when I was younger, I'd have to do it for real. So I'd be hyping myself up for three days beforehand. Like, I did this Viking movie (released theatrically in the UK as Sword Of Xanten) when I was 17, and there was all this fighting stuff. I had to kill this guy who killed my brother." he laughs. "I sat there going crazy for the entire day. It actually got to the point where I had the sword in my hand, about to whip it out and kill the guy, and the director came over and said 'Listen, you can't do it. You've got the red mist...' I was like, "WHAAAAT?'
"It's funny, that," he muses. "You don't understand when you first start doing it, how to get to certain places. Because you don't want to feel like you're faking it. But then you find out later that the best people, most of the time, are faking it. And that's when they do their best work."
After Twilight, the rest is history. And even that, he says, was sort of a fluke: when he landed the part, he genuinely had no idea how life-changing it would be. "No-one believes me about this. You couldn't buy the books in England. And I only knew one person who'd read then, who was my mum's friend's daughter, who lived in New York. It just seemed like it was one of those 'young adult' class reader things. I had no idea what it was about. So I went over there and I didn't know what to make of it at all. But I'd seen Into The Wild, and I thought Kristen (Stewart) was really good in it. They said, 'Oh, that's the girl playing Bella.' And I was like 'Shit, she's actually good!' So I did a reading with her, and she was really impressive."
"I didn't really know how to play it," he continues, "because I thought it was kind of a teen thing - which it did end up being - but I thought at the time, with Catherine Hardwicke and Kristen, it was going to be an indie movie. It seemed really interesting; a teen vampire movie that was going to be like Thirteen (Hardwicke's debut movie) and really serious. I had no idea it was going to be this big thing that you'd get on Burger King hats."
Empire takes it that this has actually happened? "Yes," he grins. "I think you can even get an Edward burger! But it doesn't really make an enormous amount of difference. Everyone always thinks, 'Oh, well, you can do anything you want now.' but there's nothing out there. There's hardly anything. Also, you've got to fit into the part. I mean, it's not like I'm going to play the Queen!"
After the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2, Pattinson says there'll definitely be no more Edward Cullen. his next film, sensual period thriller Bel Ami, recently wrapped, and then he starts work on Cronenberg's new thriller, Cosmopolis. You'd think he might be blasé about that, but no. "I'm just astonished that I've been cast," he marvels. "I'd read the script before and thought, 'Wow, this is insane. But insane and difficult.' And then, out of nowhere, my agent said, "Do you want to do it?'"
Is this something of a dream come true, then? "I never thought about working with Cronenberg," he reflects, "but I've always loved his movies. It just never came into my head that there would be an opportunity. Y'know, there are so few auteur's left. The one thing that pisses me off about working in films is when you start a project and then, suddenly, two days before you start, there's a massive rewrite to make an R-rated movie into something that's PG-13, and it's a totally different story. As soon as that line's been crossed, you know you're not making a movie anymore. You're making a...a... fridge magnet. It's nothing.
"But with people like Cronenberg you know that, no matter what, there will be a movie at the end, and it will be solid and self-contained, and it's not made for any other reason than it being a movie. and however ridiculous it is, that's so hard to find! There's a few people like this. Like Jaques Audiard, who made A Prophet. He's never made a film that isn't entirely his own."
This informed, intelligent and incisive side of Robert Pattinson might come as a surprise to those expecting an airhead, boy-model bimbo. So Empire puts him on the spot somewhat and asks what he would say to people who have a precognition about him from Twilight, and wanted to know why they should go to see Water For Elephants.
"I don't know," he says, suddenly a little shyer. "Hopefully they'll think it's a good movie. I don't know what it says about me... But I have a feeling that a lot of people will like it. I don't think a lot of movies coming out are anything like it, and when I was working on the film it didn't feel like anything else that was being made. So hopefully it will... it will... satiate something in people."
And it's better that having a rapping career, which Empire believes very almost happened...?
He nods. "It's definitely better than that."
Water For Elephants is out on May 5 and will be reviewed in the next issue.
Transcription thnks to The Irish Twilight Sisters | via
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