The vam�pire strikes back
As you�re nei�ther Amish or a char�ac�ter from Lost (cor�rect me if I�m wrong), we won�t do you the dis�hon�our of intro�duc�ing you to Robert Pat�tin�son, 24 years old, the vam�pire that sparkles under the sun, the actor who was unknown two years ago but who con�quered the Hol�ly�wood fortress and dri�ves girls around the world crazy. You already know all that. You almost cer�tainly know that The Twi�light Saga: Eclipse (directed by David Slade, direc�tor of Hard Candy), comes out in the�atres July 7th, a mere seven months after New Moon. The vam�pire saga which is now worth more than a bil�lion dol�lars at the inter�na�tional box office isn�t ready to hang up it fangs as the fourth instal�ment, Break�ing Dawn, is already announced for Novem�ber 2011. Pat�tin�son is get�ting tons of offers and is cur�rently nego�ti�at�ing an impor�tant turn in his career: become the new Johnny Depp or join Orlando Bloom and Hay�den Chris�tensen in the frozen aisle sec�tion. As he was fin�ish�ing Bel Ami, a Mau�pas�sant clas�sic and get�ting to begin�ning film�ing Water for Ele�phants, a Fran�cis Lawrence drama (I am Leg�end) with Reese With�er�spoon and Christoph Waltz, R-Pattz got caught by Pre�miere for an exclu�sive interview.
P: The last time we spoke you were film�ing New Moon. Now one year later we meet again for The Twi�light Saga Eclipse. I have trou�ble fol�low�ing it�s going so fast�
RP: Only two months went by between the film�ing of New Moon and Eclipse, dur�ing which I filmed Remem�ber Me. Every�thing, went by so fast that I feel like I never really left Twi�light. That being said, I still felt lost when I arrived on the set of Eclipse. I didn�t have any prepa�ra�tion time and it took me a few weeks to adapt.
P: What did you expect from David Slade and was he dif�fer�ent on set from what you imagined?
RP: I had absolutely no idea what to expect from a Direc�tor who was spe�cial�ized in movies more for adults, who doesn�t back away from very explicit bru�tal�ity. I sin�cerely won�dered how this uni�verse would merge with the Twi�light uni�verse, which isn�t known for its unbear�able vio�lence. David had very spe�cific ideas of what he wanted to do, with a work method and approach that was totally dif�fer�ent from Cather�ine Hard�wicke or Chris Weitz.
P: For example?
RP: Eclipse intro�duces many new char�ac�ters; the atmos�phere is less con�fined than the oth�ers. Twi�light was based on the romance between Edward & Bella, New Moon on the rela�tion�ship between Bella & Jacob with Edward in the back�ground. Eclipse allows each char�ac�ter to have his �moment�, the spec�trum is larger. The film also has more rhythm; it�s less based on intimacy.
P: Know�ing that there was a huge bat�tle at the end between vam�pires and were�wolves, did you some�times feel like you were film�ing a war movie?
RP: You couldn�t have said it bet�ter; we went through train�ing for almost a month before we began shoot�ing to learn how to fight and do stunts. It was noth�ing remotely like the pre�vi�ous instal�ments, where rehearsals were rather basic. Now it was purely phys�i�cal prepa�ra�tions. The fun�ni�est thing is that vam�pires and were�wolves each had their train�ing camp.
P: You had instruc�tors that were yelling at you and order�ing you to do push-ups?
RP: Con�stantly! To say that when I went to rehearsals I thought it would be like the 2 other movies: Kris�ten, Tay�lor and I rehears�ing the script in a room� I was surprised.
P: The choice of David Slade as a direc�tor stunned and showed courage from Sum�mit who pro�duces the saga�
RP: I don�t know if it was inten�tional, but each Direc�tor that worked on Twi�light had noth�ing to do with the pre�vi�ous one. Cather�ine and Chris had styles that were totally opposed, as artists as well as peo�ple. It�s the same with David, they all prac�tice three movie styles that are very spe�cific. It�s a good thing: I rather go to set and not know what to expect. I�m actu�ally impa�tient to dis�cover what Bill Con�don (Dream�girls) will do with the forth instal�ment. Once again it will be noth�ing related.
P: All this juicy stuff hap�pens in Break�ing Dawn: the sex scene, a birth scene where your char�ac�ter must per�form a c-section with his teeth.
RP: I know! I won�der how they�ll bring that to the big screen. We�ll end up hav�ing to ban it for peo�ple under 16� Can you imag�ine if they decided to go full out and Twi�light sud�denly became this totally hard�core series for adults with nude scenes? Sum�mit would sud�denly become the most pro�gres�sive stu�dio in the world. It would be funny.
P: I�m sure Stephe�nie Mey�ers would love that. Fans have actu�ally launched a peti�tion to keep the book inte�grally and so the movie is pro�hib�ited to peo�ple under 16. As the major part of the Twi�light fan base is quite young they�re basi�cally protest�ing to get banned from see�ing the movie.
RP: (Laughs) I�m sure they�d buy the DVD and would appre�ci�ate it even more because they love this story. I never felt like I had a role in the suc�cess of it all. Like I�ve always said, it�s the char�ac�ter that peo�ple love, not me. I hope to be able to reach out to peo�ple due to the qual�ity of the films that I make and not because peo�ple will hope to see a new Twi�light as soon as my name is in the end credits.
P: We heard all types of sto�ries sur�round�ing the film�ing of Remem�ber Me, like those of paparazzi that came out of the water when you were shoot�ing the beach sequence. You�re chang�ing their entire profession.
RP: No one can really under�stand this sit�u�a�tion unless you�ve lived it. The Remem�ber Me crew was hal�lu�ci�nat�ing when they saw 40 cam�era�men try�ing to steal pics of the set. Most of the actors hadn�t seen one Twi�light movie and didn�t under�stand what was going on.
P: They were ask�ing you why you paid so many pho�tog�ra�phers to show up on set?
RP: That�s it: �Hey Rob, I didn�t know that you needed that much of an ego boost!� (Laughs)
P: You say that being a celebrity opens doors but closes oth�ers. Which ones would you have liked to keep open?
RP: I�d like to not be para�noid of meet�ing new peo�ple. When I walk down the street I�m scared of meet�ing anyone�s eye in case they rec�og�nize me. I have to hide con�stantly, it�s a bit unset�tling. At the same time I live this weird way, I can�t be as open as I wish I could be. You learn as you go. Over the years, you learn to man�age the sit�u�a�tion more and more, I�m more at ease with the crazi�ness sur�round�ing Twi�light. I think you reach a peak at some point: either you lose it and become a recluse and turn your back on human�ity or you learn to accept it.
P: You seem more relaxed than last year�
RP: That�s the case. I�m begin�ning a new movie which I�m so enthu�si�as�tic about; I just fin�ished another one that I like. I know well enough that things wouldn�t have gone so fast for me with�out those fans who fol�low me every�where and peo�ple that rec�og�nize me on the street. You have to be realistic.
P: Do you think you�ve over�come the crazi�ness of the press or do you think there are still sur�re�al�is�tic expe�ri�ences to live?
RP: I have no clue� The advan�tage is that you don�t stay the object of so many stares for�ever. New actors will come and the atten�tion of peo�ple will move on to them. All this only lasts a while. The hys�te�ria reached its peak dur�ing Remem�ber Me, but it has already dropped since. When I was film�ing Bel Ami in Lon�don it was clearly calmer. I could go around freely.
P: Regard�ing Bel Ami, you know that French peo�ple will be wait�ing with this movie with a knife between their teeth�
RP: I�m aware of that, believe me. I would never have the courage to do promo for this movie in Paris I�m so stressed. I met Mar�ion Cotil�lard dur�ing a party before film�ing began and I asked her to read the script care�fully because there was a per�fect role for her. She asked me: �Why make Bel Ami in Eng�lish? It�s weird isn�t it?� At that moment I under�stood how the film will be received in your coun�try. I hope it will suc�ceed and that you will be open minded about it. What impresses me is that the book is not well known else�where. I only dis�cov�ered it after read�ing receiv�ing the script and it imme�di�ately became one of my favourite books.
P: At the moment you�re rehears�ing for Fran�cis Lawrence�s Water for Elephants�
RP: Yes with Reese With�er�spoon and Christoph Waltz. I�m really excited and ter�ri�fied at the same time to find myself face to face with actors such as these.
P: If Christoph Waltz asks you to give him a glass of milk start ask�ing your�self questions.
RP: For sure! He has a great role in the movie: he plays the Mr. Loyal of a cir�cus, a per�son who�s a totally cyclothymic and a bit crazy. I�m try�ing to steal his wife.
P: I admire your courage.
RP: Don�t you?
P: How would you react if every�thing stopped tomorrow?
RP: The end of the world you mean? I think I�d live well (Laughs). Actu�ally I have no idea. I would find some�thing else to do. The wave I�m surf�ing on right now is really help�ing me, but I haven�t accom�plished every�thing I wish to accomplish.
P: I�d see you play�ing music in bars in the nowheres of France.
RP: You couldn�t have said it bet�ter: when I was 19, I filmed a short movie in Brit�tany for 2 weeks. Every night I�d go play music in their pubs, it was fan�tas�tic. One of my favourite memories.
- Inter�view by Math�ieu Carrat
Robert Pat�tin�son will be in The Twi�light Saga: Eclipse by David Slade. Out in the�atres July 7th
Trans�la�tion by ToR
source via RPLife
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