FILM INTERVIEW: ROBERT PATTINSON

America's Favorite Vampiric Heartthrob on 'Breaking Dawn' and Moving Beyond the Twilight

By: Izumi Hasegawa

November 14, 2011

Heartthrob Robert Pattinson is back with his friends Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner for yet another installment of The Twilight Saga. So much happens in the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, that they had to break it up into two movies. Even though they have finished shooting the entire series, Pattinson doesn't feel finished with it yet, as he still has numerous press junkets to attend for both films. He sat down with Buzzine to talk about how playing the vampire Edward has changed his life, the surreal birth scene he was a part of, and how he feels his acting career hinders his music career...

Izumi Hasegawa: You've been playing Edward for four years. Talk about the journey he's taken through the series, and for yourself personally.

Robert Pattinson: I think in the broadest terms about Edward's journey. Right from the beginning, I just ignored the fact that he was a vampire, and basically ignored the fact that that he was 108, except as metaphorical purposes. You're just left with a kind of troubled teenager who has a really simple story of him getting content with himself. He gets content by finding a woman and having a child, which is, I guess, how a lot of troubled guys balance themselves out. At least that's the hope, anyway.

IH: Bill (Condon) mentioned that you said Edward was self-loathing and it was never presented in the plot of the first three films.

RP: Yeah, I always thought that would be the key ingredient to Edward's character. He's a 108-year-old guy who's never achieved anything he's wanted to achieve. He's been stuck in adolescence. When you're an adolescent, nothing is given to you. You think everything is unfair, blah blah blah, and he's been living with that for 100 years. You eventually get to the point of desperation. It's very difficult to portray that and to portray a love story at the same time, unless you want to make a very different movie. I was trying to push for that angle at the same time. It's funny, but Bill was the first person to say, "I want to put this at the forefront," because Breaking Dawn is probably the happiest Edward's been in the whole series. So perhaps it was the wrong moment to use that, but we did a couple of flashback scenes that kind of reflect his anger, I guess, when he first turned into a vampire.

IH: And your own personal journey?

RP: It's presented a whole variety of obstacles, in terms of trying to grow and figure out who you want to be. It's like having a very complicated maze to go through. You're also being propelled by some kind of jet and trying to figure out how to go through a maze at the same time. I still feel like it hasn't really slowed down. I'm still trying to figure out where I'm at. But it's been fun. It's totally bizarre to me. I said for years I didn't even know if I was going to continue acting before this happened, and now I have much more of a drive and passion for it than I ever did before.

IH: What's on your iPod right now?

RP: I always sound so pretentious. I hope I'm going to remember some people. There's this band called Pato, like this '70s band which I really like, and a pianist called Ahmad Jamal. I can't remember anyone else, sorry. That's so stupid. And Katy Perry! [Joking]

IH: Kristen (Stewart) made a joke in the woods, and the scene where you finally turn her...

RP: She made a great joke in the woods? Oh yeah, she's done that the whole series. The birth scene. I read the script before I read the book. It's the first time I'd done that, so I read that scene being kind of astonished. I knew it was crazy -- the story -- but I couldn't believe it was actually written down and we were going to do it. It was terrifying going into it. It was one of the most incredible scenes to do in this movie. There's got to be an R-rated or NC-17-rated version of a few scenes in this movie. It was just incredible to do that. Because of the violence, it gave you a lot of freedom in the scene. Having every character so desperate, it became something very, very different, especially for Edward, who's always held back, who's a pacifist, and he's very objective and logical about everything -- to do this thing where you're suddenly playing Edward stuck between an emaciated dummy's legs, chewing through a placenta, getting cream cheese all over your face and strawberry jam, and then pulling out a three-week-old baby afterwards with a wig on. It's like something out of a Bunuel movie.

IH: Can you talk about your last moments of playing Edward? 

RP: The very last moments, I was in St. Thomas in the Caribbean, on the beach. It was kind of incredible. It was the only time I experienced anything like that in the Twilight movie. The last scene with everyone was kind of horrible because it was freezing cold. It was after two weeks of night-shoots. I think everyone just scattered after the scene. "Yeah, that's the end of Twilight." It was 5:00 in the morning, it was freezing cold, pouring rain. At least it was kind of symbolic of how all the movies were shot -- just freezing cold and pouring rain all the time. It doesn't feel like the end of it yet. Also because the press tours have become so huge and you're always being asked about it all the time. This feels like part of the process of making the movies. Until the last one is released, I don't feel like I've finalized anything.

IH: Have you ever had a super nervous/super happy moment in real life like Edward did in the wedding? And genuinely happy?

RP: Yeah, a lot. I think it's whenever you're really genuinely happy, you're also terrified. You're kind of out of control. You're always a little bit nervous, and I think that's the perfect level of happiness -- when you're terrified at the same time. I think I felt that many, many times.

IH: When have you felt that recently?

RP: I can't even think. It's kind of lame, but I was walking around in Paris the other day. Actually, no, that's a terrible idea. That doesn't work at all. I can't remember a specific example, sorry!

IH: You've done all these huge franchise films. What do you like doing really? The independent film? The big film? Gunning for Harrison Ford's record of doing every franchise out there? Do you see yourself as action star? What's next for you?

RP: I don't know. I really approach things almost the exact same way. Smaller movies are great because you don't have to argue with so many people all the time, but really like arguing, so there's a balance either way. With independent movies, it's nice to see a director who's so pleased with it. It's so rare when someone is giving someone the money to do something and they let them do it. I just worked with David Cronenberg, and just to see him, he's left alone by everyone because, obviously, he's proven himself time and time again. It's really strange. I've never worked with someone with absolutely no pressure from anyone else apart from themselves and from the environment they've chosen to work in. It's kind of nice to know that the pressure is not caused by compromises or anything like that. They've taken responsibility on themselves, and it's really up to them to make it what they want, and people get a lot more pleasure out of it than having to sometimes give up a lot just because there's so much money involved, or you're working on a franchise when you have to think about the audience and you have to think about the previous movies. It's a different thing, in some ways.

IH: You've talked about wanting to get back into music at some point. Is that still a priority?

RP: Yeah. I record stuff a lot, but I don't know -- there's something about doing movies. I can handle the criticism because you can always blame it on someone else. There are hundreds of people to blame it on. But with music, as soon as you put something out there...because everyone judges it... If you're an actor and you've made some money and stuff, you're basically only putting an album out for people to judge it. I don't necessarily want people to judge it or care what they say, but also, I know if I put an album out, the day it comes out, I know I'm going to be on the Internet looking at stuff and I'll probably shoot myself. So I don't know if it's worth shooting myself over.

IH: Could you put it out under an alias?

RP: I like the idea of that, but it's also very embarrassing if you get caught.

IH: You guys were immortalized (hand and footprint ceremony) earlier today at the Chinese Theater. How do you feel about that? Can you remember your first experience in Hollywood?

RP: It's kind of incredible. I stayed at the Magic Castle the first few times I came to LA when I was 17. I used to walk down there all the time, and had no idea that Hollywood Boulevard looked the way it does. I was totally unemployable. It wasn't even in the realm of any kind of understanding, and it still isn't at all. I don't really feel like I've even done it. I feel like this wave has happened and I'm just on it. It's difficult -- I feel like I'm going to feel the personal connection 20 years from now. I feel like now it's just all part of the same thing. I was kind of embarrassed when I did it because I messed it up and stood on my own handprints. The one handprint is messed up. But it's incredible. It represents something amazing. I think it's totally ridiculous. I don't even know how to feel about it. It's just mind-blowing.

IH: You guys experienced an extravagant wedding. Would you want one of those in your own life?

RP: It does seem like a bit of a hassle. I was just doing an interview with Kristen. She got all annoyed with me for saying the groom's role in a wedding is basically just as a prop. Even playing the part, you realize it's a clear indication of whose day it is when you're standing at one end of the aisle and the entire congregation is looking at the girl. You're in the same suit as every other guy just waiting, and she's in a princess dress walking down. Any guy who tries to get involved in organizing a wedding or has an opinion of what the wedding should be, they're ridiculous. It's really whatever your wife decides to do.

IH: So that's a no?

RP: What, doing a fancy one? I really don't mind. I just don't want to have to wear a silly outfit. That's the only thing you have to think about. 

IH: Would you and Kristen work together after this franchise is over?

RP: I don't know.

Summit Entertainment's 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1' is released on November 18, 2011.