Robert Pattinson Talks To The San Francisco Chronicle About How Things Changed While Filming Each Twilight Movie

The San Francisco Chronicle spoke to  Robert Pattinson at the "Breaking Dawn" LA Press Junket where Rob told them about the Twilight Movies and how things changed while filming each movie

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In some roles played over long periods, performers can find a way to make their character evolve, bend to their will. But in the glittering vampire world of "Twilight," star Robert Pattinson found that some things really do last forever.

"It's a strange character because there's not too many places to go," says Pattinson of much lusted-after, noble "vegetarian" vampire Edward Cullen. "He's gonna be around forever, he can't die, can't get hurt, his emotions are quite fossilized as well. I think (series author Stephenie Meyer) mentioned this in a book: With vampires, once you start feeling one thing, it just stays like that for ages. Once he's fallen in love with Bella, that's it. There's no other place to go but worrying about her."

Pattinson looks fit, if surprisingly thin, and perfectly put together as he puffs on an electronic cigarette in this Four Seasons suite in Los Angeles. However, with the promotional blitz for the franchise's final film - "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" - only just begun, he's already sounding a touch weary, though unfailingly polite and willing to answer questions. Perhaps it's the sound of a man with one more hill before the finish line.

"It's a very strange character to play when you're projecting absolutely every human emotion onto another human. You're living vicariously through them. That's why he'd almost become a noncharacter, up until the last two movies - 'Breaking Dawn' is when he suddenly realizes, 'Oh, I have to actually live for myself. I'm not just living for her.' He spends the first three books completely saying, 'I don't exist.' I mean, that's how I read it.

"I guess I made the boldest choices in the first one. I was really thinking, 'How do I fix problems in my performance?' " He laughs at himself, then wistfully adds: "The first one was crazy; you could do anything you wanted. Entirely different thing."



The fifth installment is the only one to have a repeat director: Bill Condon ("Gods and Monsters") directed both parts of "Breaking Dawn." Still, it has a distinctly different feeling from the rest of the franchise, even from "Breaking Dawn Part 1." The film concerns newlywed Edward and Bella's struggle to defend their family against the encroaching Volturi, who want to execute an extremely hostile takeover. As such, it's an urgent, globe-trotting epic that contains the series' biggest surprise for fans (no spoilers here).

Over the course of the past five years and these five "Twilight" films, Pattinson has also appeared in some high-profile projects outside the franchise. Among these, "Water for Elephants" co-starred Oscar winners Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz, and "Cosmopolis" was directed by David Cronenberg. But Pattinson says he had trouble translating the lessons learned from them to the series that made him one of the highest-paid actors in the world:

"Everything stayed the same; the audience stayed the same. Even doing interviews to promote each movie, you're literally asked the same questions as the first one. It doesn't happen with other movies. Even the fans, they had the same reaction to it. It's crazy, it's visceral, but it's the same. So it kind of exists in this bubble."

'The Rover'

The actor doesn't seem ungrateful - just grateful for the opportunities he has before him. His next project will be "The Rover," by Australia's David MichĂ´d, director of the acclaimed - and very adult - "Animal Kingdom." Pattinson's involvement with other indies harks back to a very brief formative period for an actor who became a superstar at 22.

"The first ('Twilight,' directed by indie queen Catherine Hardwicke) definitely felt the most free, and scary, as well. You don't really feel the same nerves after that first moment. I'd never even done a movie in an American accent before. A lot of the clothes I was wearing in the first one ... I got stuck in Vancouver getting my visa - I was supposed to be there for three days and I was there for three weeks by myself. I ended up buying a lot of the costumes I had in the movie. You could kind of do anything. We changed lines all the time.

"But as soon as that one hit, the second one was very much about - we were all saying," he says, dropping to an enthusiastic, conspiratorial whisper, " 'We're gonna make it way better, way better!' It was much more slick on the second one. You could feel the kind of machine growing. By the third one it was like, 'Yeah, we're definitely doing a franchise.' " He laughs.

"So the idea of changing a line by the time we got to the third one? Unthinkable. Also, it kind of combined with the losing of anonymity. On the second movie, we could still kind of go out together as a cast. By the third one, the hotel we stayed at, every exit was covered at all times. Really different experience." This time his laugh is a touch rueful.

As he prepares to move on from such a significant chapter of his life, the 26-year-old says some of his fondest memories of the series still emanate from the first installment. But they weren't all warm and fuzzy.

News crews

"I remember the fights, seeing it transition into the franchise," he says. "I remember towards the end of the shoot, when the studio kind of realized, 'Oh, we've got something bigger than we thought on our hands,' and suddenly there were all these news crews on the set. And we all got so furious about all these people coming around." He laughs yet again. "All those little fights. Now there's 10,000 paparazzi every single time you do an exterior.

"Everyone was so passionate on the first one. We didn't want it to be just a teen movie or anything. It's good to know that's how this huge thing started. And we kept fighting. It was just a much bigger thing to fight against. But in the beginning, yeah, it was a great energy to be born out of." 

Source

Thanks to Amy for the tip!

23 comments:

Gozde said...

Omg I remember them fighting for the storyline,keeping it as close as possible to the book,talking to Stephanie to clear up any misconceptions but Catherine also had to tell Rob to lighten up because he wanted to go darker...It definitely changed by the 2nd and 3rd movies,the Team thing was introduced and MR changed the storyline to make it more "Guy friendly",more action scenes,trying to make it edgier blah blah blah...I still love the Love story between Bella and Edward and as Rob said about Edward,*once you start feeling one thing, it just stays like that for ages. Once he's fallen in love with Bella, that's it. There's no other place to go but worrying about her*.

Gozde said...

Looking weary but "unfailingly polite" - Bless our lovely Rob and hope he gets some rest very soon xx

Gozde said...

Nice interview. I really hope when all this promo stuff is over for him he can really relax and enjoy the holidays. He really deserves it!!. It really sounds like 2013 is going to be a busy year for him.

Gozde said...

I know these reporters don't read all Rob's other interviews, so they don't know how very repetitive this all feels to us fans. But man, so much of this we've heard before. My teen daughters are huge One Direction fans, and I guess the band's publicity people gave a list to the media of "suggested do not ask" questions for this latest album's promotion. And it wasn't "private lives" stuff -- it was "same old questions." Like "most embarrassing moment" and crap like that. They got tired of the same questions over and over. For the Twilight Saga, they really should suggest people do not ask the question "how does it feel to come to the end," and "which movie was your favorite" and "will you keep in touch." Blah blah blah. Poor Rob (and all the rest of the cast) have got to be tired of it. That said, this one wasn't too bad -- at least they talked about his other movies.

Gozde said...

I check out Robert Pattinson AU occasionally. The format is a little different than here, even if it is a sister site. I went on earlier this morning and you could actually see the fatigue and stress of Rob, going quickly through the pages. These were on the junket days, but Rob was much more relaxed with Ellen, JK, JF and even JH. It was very telling as to who he trusted and who could or would ask the questions he didn't want to answer. I'm glad for Rob there is only one more week.

Gozde said...

I love it when he talks about the energy of things/situations etc...*

Gozde said...

I loved the way Rob handled this one. Same questions..better and more articulate answers. Rob rules in promo-land like he always has.
It will be over soon, Baby...then you can get some rest. <3

Gozde said...

You are so right Van! And I will never understand how journalists don´t do their "homework" and research what has been asked already. It is their job after all....

Gozde said...

I like Kimmell and Fallon. They always get him laughing and don't ask him anything embarrassing. What is Robert Pattinson AU? Australia?

Gozde said...

Yes, Australia! On the side bar there are listings for sister sites and one day I checked them all out. AU was my favorite.

Gozde said...

thanks, I'll have to check it out, I never noticed that before. After all, you can never have too much Rob!

Gozde said...

but MR still ended up tweaking the whole saga and ended up being one of the most PISS POOR writers of the whole franchise and I my question is why did'nt SM really stand her ground and say that the movie has to be as close to the book as possible without tweaking anything the day she signed the contract was the day she became a hollywood machine she is a nice person but whatever happend too the person that wrote the story with such compassion and love for the charaters and the story and none of the movies were done right and as i have said before I let Ms Rosenberg have it on her fb page calmly of course I simply said "let me ask you something why did you tweak the scripts and not keep it as close too the books as possible and I gave her a few examples and I do mean QUITE a few examples and this was a good interview I liked it and let the record show that JK Rowling made sure that each HP movie was as close too the all 7 books as possible and she did not fail they were all perfect and NOTHING was tweaked everything was very close too the books yeah theere were a few deleted sences but piont being, they were not tweaked and that made me very happy and in 3 days this little chickie will be sittin in the theater watching the GOD and I can't wait when does BD2 premire in Australia is it the 13th or 14th LOL

Gozde said...

what can i say SF Chronical rocks but yeah it is a very nice interview I liked it and yeah he is going to be one busy little bee in 2013 and I do hope he has a nice holiday with his family :D

Gozde said...

oh no kidding it's like listening to a broken record over and over again! I think I would go insane! and yeah I wish they did have that rule do not ask the same questions over and over again UGH I feel so sorry for the cast too have repeat themselves! and the same annoying(*in a goofy voice*) how does it feel that it is all coming too an end I bet Rob was screaming inside like SHUT UP I'm SICK of answering the same questions LOL!

Gozde said...

well that because they are so fucking lazy and they just don't bother doing any homework or asking he right questions or just being plain annoying

Gozde said...

I am too but like I said above and that is I bet he was screaming inside his mind why do you have too ask the same damn questions?! *o*

Gozde said...

yeah I go on the Robert Pattinson AU site too the only thing is I can't comment I used too..unless something has changed and that you have too log in more than just your name and password all though I could be wrong and sometimes I go on the thinking of Rob site just lurking LOL

Gozde said...

Great read! He´s so smart ♥

Gozde said...

I've never commented, but I love the pic of the day, so I go to get a new Rob Picture. I have an external hard drive and there are over 6000 pictures just of Rob. I know I'm way behind some of you, but I was a late bloomer.

Gozde said...

Iwas a lurker on here for a long time. I usually don't comment on the other sites. I commented a couple time on another site, because I was pissed at the Haters and trolls. I don't even go to those webloid, tabloid, rag mags,etc any more and haven't in about 4-5 months.

Gozde said...

I like that Rob keeps refering to the small movie Twilight was, how the cast was unknown and how nobody believed at that time that it was gonna be so huge as it is now. Many journalists tend to forget that the saga got a phenomenom without any help of the media, it was just the success and the love for Edward. The Hunger Games was already called a phenomenom when they were still shooting it, big difference IMO.

Gozde said...

3 days, 6 hours, and 5 minutes! ladies!

Gozde said...

Yes Leah,I was never happy with the *Team* thing.

 
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