BEVERLY HILLS – Our day of “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2” press conferences has already include Bill Condon, Michael Sheen (no live-blog, because I’m a man, not a machine), Melissa Rosenberg, Stephenie Meyer and Wyck Godfrey and Taylor Lautner.
Up next on the dais…
12:05 p.m. Only two more press conferences left and we’ve been promised Robert Pattinson in two minutes…
12:08 p.m. There he is. He’s looking rather dapper with a suit (no tie) and his hair properly gelled.
12:09 p.m. What perspective does Pattinson have on the whole spectacle? People have asked him from the beginning and he doesn’t know. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt more completely bewildered knowing that I only have a month of ‘Twilight’ stuff,” Pattinson says. He expects it to take 10 years. “I don’t think even the fans know why they connect with it the way they do. I think it’s a visceral thing. I don’t think Stephenie could tell you why she was fixated on this very contained story,” he says. “I don’t know,” is his final answer.
12:10 p.m. If he could go back and give himself advice what would it be? “Start drinking vodka instead of beer. Try and get a six-pack as early as possible and you’ll be a much more successful actor,” he jokes. “We’re still getting massive surprises any time you have any sort of ‘Twilight’-related events,” he admits, recalling a massive venue at Munich’s Olympic stadium. “IT’s absolutely bizarre. There’s no way you can ever compute it,” he says.
12:12 p.m. What does “forever” mean to Pattinson? “Ummm… Death?” he jokes. “Hope, I guess? That’s kinda a different question,” he says. He really doesn’t have an answer, but he laughs amiably while stalling.
12:13 p.m. What was his last scene as Edward Cullen? And his favorite fan moment? “It was hilarious considering we spent the entire series filming in the most miserable conditions and then we end on a beach in the Caribbean filming two scenes in the sea,” Pattinson says. “They were considering shooting it in the sea in Vancouver, which would not have worked at all,” he laughs.
12:14 p.m. He says the part is strange because so much of the audience attempts to project idealism onto the character, but he’s always wanted to accentuate the “fallibility and weaknesses.” “You’re trying to play an archetype on one hand and a character on the other,” he says, explaining his frustrations with Edward.
12:15 p.m. What was easiest and hardest to leave behind about Edward? He says he liked being about to keep improving the character across a series. “You feel strangely secure. It’s the opposite of how you’re supposed to feel doing a movie. It’s supposed to feel totally foreign each time,” he reflects. He admits there’s a tendency towards laziness, but having different directors has kept him on his tone. “Playing a part where you can’t get hurt and you can’t die, because there’s no framework. There’s too many possibilities if you can’t die,” he says of the worst thing.
12:17 p.m. He doesn’t know how this will impact him 10 or 15 years down the road. “It’s really not up to you. I’m getting other parts that aren’t vampires. I don’t know if people will accept me in them or whatever, but there’s really nothing to be afraid of,” of typecasting. “I don’t know how people will remember the series at all,” Pattinson says of the fanbase in 15 years.
12:18 p.m. Would he like to relive anything? “The whole first movie was pretty fun,” he says, recalling everybody’s relative inexperience, which led to “a really good energy.” “None of us were really known then, as well, so it felt like a big deal at the time. It was exciting. It was really exciting the first one.”
12:19 p.m. Is he worried about maintaining this level of success? “If I had a little bit more control over my public image, I guess, that would be nice,” he says, not quite answering the question. “No. I think it’s impossible, for one thing. I don’t think anyone can do that, apart from Denzel Washington,” he says. “It’s a strange place where the film industry’s at. I guess you could just play superhero after superhero, but that seems to be the only guaranteed, big money thing,” he notes. Pattinson isn’t sure that would be satisfying. “There are no guarantees, so I’m kinda signing up to do movies that I would be proud of if it were my last one,” he says.
12:21 p.m. At the end of the day, is he glad it’s over? “In some ways?” He stutters. “As soon as something start referring to something as a franchise, a franchise is a Burger King or a Subway,” he reflects. “You have no control. It’s a huge juggernaut, especially when something becomes part of the cultural landscape. It’s really scary. You get trapped and you get scared of changing, which is the worst thing that can happen if you want to become any type of artist,” he says.
12:23 p.m. “I get a lot more abuse in England,” Pattinson says of his varying level of fame.
12:24 p.m. “I think working with kids and I like working with animals, which is what everybody says you shouldn’t do,” Pattinson says of working with Mackenzie Foy. “They got some good baby actors,” he adds.
12:24 p.m. Which new character did he most like? And what’s his favorite vampire show or movie? “I like ‘Blade.’ I really like ‘Blade,'” Pattinson says, yearning for more hard-R-rated films like that. Among the new characters, he liked Benjamin and Rami Malek. He praises the actors who came in thinking it was a big deal and bringing enthusiasm to the set. He returns to the second part of the question, though he says he isn’t necessarily a vampire fan. He’s not a non-fan but he says.
12:27 p.m. Does he remember his first meeting with Kristen and with Taylor? He also isn’t sure when he first met Taylor, but he met Kristen at the audition. He remembers doing the “Harry Potter” movie and being impressed with the younger stars. He says he was star-struck when he met Kristen and even Taylor. “I still seem them as massively famous people. It’s strange to have gone through the same experience with Taylor and Kristen as well,” he says. He’s seen people lose their mind over minor fame and he finds it amazing how well the cast has maintained perspective.
That’s it for Rob…