Planning his next move

As the sun sets on the vampire series, Robert Pattinson tells Patricia Danaher how Twilight has given him friendship, love, and thousands of frenzied fans

THE high-pitched screams from outside the Four Seasons in LA say it all: Robert Pattinson is in the building. The 25-year-old is remarkably calm and cheerful today, philosophical, even in the face of the hysteria which his every public step draws. He is every bit as square-jawed and handsome in person, confident and friendly and he laughs a lot, self-deprecatingly.

With Breaking Dawn, the first part of the final instalment of the Twilight franchise about to hit cinemas (part two will be released next November), Pattinson has already begun to carve out the next stage in his career, with a lead in the David Cronenberg movie Cosmopolis among his next projects.

Before we talk about the decidedly more adult themes of the fourth Twilight film, I ask him to reflect on the price of fame and what comes to mind when he hears the blockbuster vampire series mentioned.

“It’s sort of frustrating when you can’t do things easily. You can’t have experiences without planning and to also experience a little bit of fear when you’re by yourself,” he admits. “I very rarely do things by myself anymore and I used to do everything by myself, so that’s the one thing that I think about. But it’s probably not going to be forever and I also think if I threw it all away now, I’d really, really regret doing that, so I try to work within the confines of it.

“Occasionally, you’re just walking down the street and someone goes ‘Twilight’ and the thing that comes to my mind is murder! It’s so emblematic and it’s what made me want to be an actor and to take acting seriously. So many things come to mind with that word, but I guess maybe in 10 years’ time, I’ll be able to really reflect on what it means. For now, Twilight is just my job, all the time, 24 hours a day.”

Before being cast as Edward the vampire in Twilight, Pattinson had been part of another big franchise, Harry Potter, where he had played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Like the cast in Harry Potter, he is grateful for the bond that has formed between him and fellow Twilight actors such as Kristen Stewart, his girlfriend for the past two years, and his good friend Taylor Lautner.

“An experience like this is earth-shattering to an individual in a lot of ways, when your life changes in a matter of months to something so totally different. But it’s nice when you’re going through it with two other people who’ve all done the same journey. Everyone supports each other and it’s easier to keep your sanity and your ego in check, because I think each of us would judge the other harshly if suddenly they changed.

“We bonded in that respect and we’re all still friends which is kind of incredible, after doing five movies together. Kristen cooked a lot for people and I ate a lot of her food. I just really appreciate her and Taylor’s niceness.”

Rumours of his off-screen romance with Stewart swirled since the beginning and were only confirmed relatively recently. This movie goes beyond the more chaste themes typical of this genre into marriage and babies for Bella and Edward and there were several sex scenes which the couple had to do on-screen. Pattinson is a gentleman when talking about his co-star.

“I don’t think you can really have friendship without passion. Every single one of my friends is passionate about something — you’re just not interesting if you don’t have some passion in your life. Of course, if there’s a lot of passion in a friendship, you should probably sleep with that person!

“During the sex scenes, I was very protective of Kristen. There were very few people on the set, but at the end of the day, Kristen’s so much more comfortable with her body than I am. I think I kept implying that we must keep the sheet up in between takes and that was really more for me than for her. That was probably the scariest part of it, having to be judged for your physicality, because I’ve been trying to avoid that the whole series. I worked out for a while, but I stopped as soon as I didn’t have to take my shirt off.!

“Among the things I love about Kristen is her dogged determination to be herself. That’s really impressive. She fights for it a lot, to be an individual and to make herself understood by people. I think that’s really impressive. She takes her words very, very seriously and I guess that’s kind of the opposite of me.”

Given how he has been forced to grow up in the parallel world of Twilight and with the cameras also focused on his every off-screen move to boot, I wonder whether the theme of fatherhood or parenting crossed his mind during or since the making of this movie?

“We were shooting with a two-week-old baby and it’s terrifying.! You don’t quite realise how small they are and there was definitely a fear of breaking it.” he laughs. “I’d kind of like to be a young dad, because I don’t have that many friends and I didn’t have a little brother either.! That’s kind of an immature way of looking at it — maybe I’ll have to wait until I’m 50 to have a baby so nobody can say I’m plagiarising Breaking Dawn.

“A lot of people who have children go on a sympathy trip, going on about all they’ve sacrificed. But they didn’t have to sacrifice everything. There’s plenty of people who have careers and kids. I definitely want to maintain a lot of things and I want my kids to see me working. I found it interesting growing up to see my parents work. I wanted to see what their work was like, so I definitely wouldn’t ever just sacrifice everything.”

Music has always been a great passion of Pattinson’s and before movie stardom came and knocked down his front door, he played in a few bands around his native Barnes in London. He still plays the piano, but mostly at home and he’s also recently learned to play the cello and guitar.

“I play all the time at home — guitar, piano and a ton of different things with strings. That’s my one vice — buying random instruments, half of which I never use again!”

The world is conceivably Pattinson’s oyster for the next few decades, either on or off screen. After nearly a decade as a teen icon, he is eager to add other strings to his bow and to learn more about other elements of the film business.

“I’d like to do some writing. I’d like to have a fuller understanding of different jobs within the industry and not just act. At the moment because of Twilight, I have a kind of vague influence in the industry and hopefully I can kind of channel that into getting things made that I want to get made.

“Since I’ve been in this industry, I’ve seen people with even a modicum of success go completely out of their minds and just being surrounded by hangers-on. The majority of the people I’ve worked with since the beginning on this series have stayed so sane. It’s like the people on Harry Potter. I find it amazing.

“The strength of having a good family and good friends around you and actually trying to remember what your priorities are, really makes a difference to your life.”

We shake hands, he stands up and leaves the room and within minutes the screams from the fans outside alert me to the fact that Robert Pattinson, has now, left the building.

Picture: Off-screen couple Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in the latest movie in the Twilight franchise. Picture: Andrew Cooper, SMPSP