ROBERT PATTINSON chats about topless scenes, being trapped in hotel rooms, and open-mic nights.
Robert Pattinson stars in Twilight: New Moon
MMM: Do you feel any pressure from the Twi-Hards? Or do they just love you now?!
Pattinson: No, there has never been any pressure from anyone I don’t think, other than right at the very beginning before the first film came out. I think the Twi-Hards like being part of the club, and they mobilize against people who criticise the series. So, they like the films and are very supportive of anyone who has anything to do with them.
MMM: A recent interview you gave paints a picture of you living life trapped in a hotel room…
Pattinson: [Laughs] It’s funny because I never have a huge amount of foresight in these interviews, so I end up describing my day rather than the surrounding months. So, when we did that interview… I think I was trapped in a hotel room when we did the last film in Vancouver. But there are always ways and places you can disappear to – it just involves a bit more thought. You can’t just wander around willy-nilly.
MMM: Do you mind that?
Pattinson: Well, it’s still such a novelty for me. If I’m still stuck in hotel rooms in 10 years and I haven’t thought of any other way of dealing with it than hiding, then probably it would annoy me a little bit. But if you’re just working the whole time you don’t really think about it. You go from press tour to movie to press tour the whole time. I’ll guess I’ll see what it’s really like in the next two or three years.
MMM: You’ve been part of two big franchises now: Twilight and Harry Potter. How do they compare?
Pattinson: When I went into Harry Potter it was the fourth one, so everybody knew each other and people had moved to Leavesden. The crew has been working there for 10 years, so that was their full-time job – everybody knew each other, and people had married each other on the crew. Everything was so well oiled.
So, I guess starting on Twilight… I don’t know if it would be like the first Harry Potter, but it was interesting to see there were so many different warring energies. I think the studio knew they had a trilogy at the time and people thought that certain criteria had to be met to set up that kind of franchise. And Catherine Hardwicke [director of Twilight] had an indie background, so she wanted to do that. So, it was kind of a volatile set in a lot of ways.
But I think the success of the first one made everything very clear into the second. So it was weird dealing with a franchise that was at an embryonic level. Everyone says, ‘Oh, you must have known what you were getting into because the books had sold so many.’ But it was hard to find someone who had heard of Twilight before the movie came out. I remember looking for the book in London and it was difficult to find. So even though we did a multiple picture deal, I had no idea that there were going to do sequels.
Robert with on-screen love, Kristen Stewart
MMM: I’ve heard you’ve done some open-mic nights. Is music something you want to pursue in future, and are you concerned that being in Twilight will overshadow that?
Pattinson: Yeah, I do want to, mainly because I want to do gigs again. I guess the only way to do gigs is to do an album to kind of silence everyone first, and then you can play as many gigs as you want. But I am really afraid of it being overshadowed by this because I haven’t done any gigs or released anything for ages. But I think it also makes you set your standards higher because you need to overshadow this massive fame, so it’s tough – you’ve got to be winning Grammys and stuff before you do another open mic.
MMM: Is there anything you’ve had to give up since you became famous?
Pattinson: I never did much in the first place, so that has probably helped me out a little bit! When you’re working you’re just doing the same thing. It doesn’t matter what your status is outside the job. You’re just waking up at 5.30am and going home too tired to do anything other than go to bed, so it doesn’t make any difference really what’s happening outside the hotel.
I really miss driving. I never had a car in London. I got my car in LA last summer, so I only really had three months driving without having 10 cars following me, so I’m too scared to drive now! That’s a little annoying.
MMM: Would you like to be immortal like your character?
Pattinson: If I stayed at the exact same mental capacity as I am now, then I wouldn’t want to be immortal! I wouldn’t want to be considered young forever. I like the kind of innate wisdom that comes with being old. People just think you know more and tend to give you a bit more respect. I’d quite like to be able to choose how old I am whenever I wanted.
MMM: You and Taylor Lautner, who plays Jacob, both have a lot of topless scenes in the film. How do you deal with that?
Pattinson: You do get a lot of nipple shots in this movie! I was really terrified because I hadn’t worked out at all. And then I saw Taylor at the beginning of the year and I felt incredibly inadequate. I felt emasculated next to him with my pre-pubescent girl’s body and A-cups!
MMM: How’s your family reacted to your fame?
Pattinson: My family are kind of, not clueless, but I don’t think they fully realise what’s been going on in America because they live in London. I don’t think they really know what I’m doing, and they have trouble understanding that I’m supposed to be an actor – in the same way I do! [Laughs]
MMM: If you could go back and audition again, would you? And whose role would you like to play other than your own?
Pattinson: I’ve always wanted Taylor’s part, even when we’re doing scenes together! [Laughs]
By film journalist Jan Gilbert
