Robert Pattinson’s Vanity Fair Interview
It’s been exactly one year since Twilight, the teenage-vampire book series turned film franchise, became a worldwide phenomenon, launching brooding, reluctant star Robert Pattinson into the celebrity stratosphere. Not since Leonardo DiCaprio’s Titanic era has there been a young actor so rabidly hunted by teenagers and paparazzi alike—enough that mere sightings of him with his co-star and rumored paramour Kristen Stewart make for international front-page news. For the cover story of Vanity Fair’s December issue, contributing editor Evgenia Peretz interviews Pattinson, Stewart, and a host of Twilight insiders for an intimate profile that describes how he landed the role of Edward Cullen, distills the essence of his appeal, and explores his discomfort with the hormone-fueled frenzy he inspires among his fans.
To read “Twilight’s Hot Gleaming” and see Bruce Weber’s exclusive photographs of Pattinson (only available in the print edition), pick up a copy of the December 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, available on newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on November 4 and nationally on November 10. For outtakes not available in the print edition, click here.
Peretz, who, as it happens, profiled DiCaprio in 2004, follows the Byronic British actor from the Comic-Con convention in San Diego to the Waldorf Towers in New York City, as he prepares for the November 20 release of Twilight’s sequel, New Moon. There are no wild nights out at clubs—even if he could go out without being mobbed, Pattinson would prefer to curl up with a good book.
Rather than working his way through supermodels, Pattinson, who’s been living out of three suitcases for the past year, has been feeling overwhelmed, self-conscious, and guilty. “I’m trying not to drown,” he says in his hotel room at the San Diego Hard Rock Hotel, which is littered today with beer bottles, old scrambled eggs, a half-eaten Twix bar, and a dirty pair of jeans on the living-room floor. And he notices that he hasn’t made his bed. “Oh, God. Sorry about that.”
“I’m unbearably self-conscious about stuff,” he admits. To the point where, while filming scenes before the army of New York paparazzi that has been following him around, he is terrified that his “ass crack is showing.”
Raised outside London in a small village, with a wavering desire to be either a musician or an actor, Pattinson is painfully modest about his talent and looks, and eternally confused by his fans’ devotion.
Despite the fact that he is an exquisite beauty—with perfectly formed red, red lips and a face that might have been dreamed by the Romantic poets—he thinks he resembles “a cartoon character.” One of his legs is longer than the other, which makes him look, he assures you, “like an idiot.”
He’s sure he’s driving people crazy by constantly talking about how he can’t leave his hotel room. And he sees his inability to relish his fans’ reverence as his own shortcoming. “I guess I’m not the type of guy cut out to do a franchise,” he says. “I’m not much of a crowd person.”
Pattinson’s first role in a major film was a bit part in Harry Potter, which ended up bringing him to the attention of Twilight’s producers. But if he had his way, he’d stick to playing awkward, tortured outsiders.
[Pattinson’s director from the indie film How to Be, Oliver Irving,] recalls, “he’d make his eyes water and get himself all worked up … slapping himself and doing everything he possibly could to make him feel ill,” while passersby wondered what the hell was the matter with this guy.
When you play a weirdo, he explains, “You can always have an excuse… He’s a weirdo!”
But Pattinson’s behavior was far from antisocial during the filming of Twilight. In the evenings, director Catherine Hardwicke remembers, Pattinson was “always drunk,” entertaining Stewart and other members of the cast in his hotel room with his guitar. A “nervous attraction” was brewing offscreen.
“What Rob and Kristen had is a multitude of feelings for each other. Complex feelings for each other,” says Hardwicke. “It was what we needed. Complex, intense fascination.”
Pattinson, for his part, says of Stewart: “She’s influenced how I’ve done all the Twilight stuff. It’s quite nice to have someone who is genuinely indifferent to the whole spectacle of everything.” For the record, however, Pattinson says the rumors of a love affair are false: “It doesn’t make any difference what you say [to the tabloids]. I’ve literally been across the country [from Kristen], and it’s like ‘Oh, they were on secret dates!’ It’s like ‘Where? I can’t get out of my hotel room!’ ” Stewart is even more emphatic: “It’s so retarded,” she says. “We’re characters in this comic book.”
These comments sound all too familiar. Fail
We have progress: Rob said he was living out of one suitcase before. Plus – how is he going to admit to his ‘friends-with-benefits’ camaraderie with KStew? Britney Spears was a virgin while dating Justin T. , right? A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell. Too bad, though, that he allowed the journalist to see his beer bottles. NOT cool.
Beer bottles are normal decorating accessories for 23 yr old men. Empty condom wrappers were probably lurking in the couch cushions. He’s a regular guy!
“hotel room at the San Diego Hard Rock Hotel, which is littered today with beer bottles, old scrambled eggs, a half-eaten Twix bar, and a dirty pair of jeans on the living-room floor. And he notices that he hasn’t made his bed. “Oh, God. Sorry about that.”
Sounds like the widespread stereotype of a British man… Im kinda disappointed by that interview. Did they ask him anything new, anything that he could really be interested in in answering, anything that surprises the reader or the one who was interviewed. RP could have taped the answers by now and just do play back…
Must be tiring when people are not really interested in your character but only in your red, red lips and the girl you allegedly love to distraction and got preggers. Not that his physique isnt juicy but his personality is what really makes him enjoyable. He is dorky. And a weirdo. A peculiar personality. A real person. Nice. Talented. Grounded. So ordinary that he is already extraordinary in this crazy world called Hollywood. All that is really refreshing. Couldnt they report more of such stuff?!
Or am I the only one who thinks that it would be nice to read some more about the person per se??
it’s an old article and clearly not current.
If it was directly after Comic Con he might NOT have been with Kristen yet. Doesn’t mean that he isn’t now. Because that was right as he returned from NYC and was supposedly giving her space to decide between himself and Michael. (Obviously, this is all heresay). So difficult to determine reality from interviews that happened months before printing. Things change.
Wow, you idiots are really desperate to believe the “Robsten” bullshit, aren’t you? They and other castmates have all denied it millions of fucking times!!!! It NEVER happened, and it is NEVER going to!!!
GET THE FUCK OVER IT ALREADY.
Actually, numbers, I’m hoping that they aren’t together. But I’m trying to face the reality that they probably are. Read another site that said the interviewer called and tried to confirm statements made right before printing but Rob and Kristen refused to comment. Who knows???
discusting…its not accurate. well obviously this is a load of shit. i highly doubt this is true..who would let someone see where they are living when they are like maybe… famous? and its the same old stuff. rob + kristen = ? love? hate? yeah well we wont not until they tell us. tabloids are retarded.
I don’t think Vanity Fair is considered a tabloid.
GET OVER IT!!! how many times do these guys have to deny they are together and yet random fans insist on saying they r together and insisting they r lyin about bein together. LET IT GO, they r not bella n edward they r rob n kristen. I love them both but damn if they say they r not together take it at that… until they say otherwise. guys and grls can b friends without bein together, that doesnt mean they r together LE IT GO
Hey German Girl… love your posting! I also love his dorky, weirdo, peculiar personality.. THAT is what makes him so unique!.. gorgeously dorky!.. Is that an oxymoron?.. I think! ha..
Hey numbers.. that was a little heated and taken quite personally.. don’t fret he will be back in the US soon enough!.. the rumours will go on and on until the franchise is over .. you know that!.. so hold tight and stop reading things that bother you so much!..
I do like the articile but I wish they would have touched on some of his new projects. I understand there is a reason for the interview, to promote the new film. Maybe when Remember Me is released, we’ll get an insight on how he views his world now, one year later, and life beyond Twilight.
I don’t believe that Catherine Hardwicke would say that rob was always drunk during the filming of twilight..people in show business don’t say things like that about other people who work for them..if they say anything it is positive..they don’t rat on each other.. people who do never get any-more.. work.
beside that.. people who drink or take drugs get a bad reputation in the business..big business are not going to spend millions of dollars on someone that get,s drunk all the time..and rob would not be where he is if he did..i will believe peter facinelli when he said…rob was complex..brooding …and in one word…solid…that i believe….
He is not with her. She just came out after she told him that she loved him and he said thanks but no thanks. Check Access Hollywood. Rob fell for her as Bella and while she was pretending to be a nice girl. She is with Dakota. Before that it was Nikki.
Rob is so cool and will try to date once his life settles down. I think Camilla Belle is as nice and well brought up as he has been. They have been close friends for years. Kristen is a stoner punk…Rob is an exceptional guy and could not dismiss her lack of class and bossy ways. Thank goodness he took his time and stuck to his principles. He does not believe in getting involved with your costar as you are being paid to do a job. Read or listen to his interviews and he tells you who he is. The media hyped them to cover the fact that she was bi or gay. Rob is a wise guy..They are close but will never be more than friends.
Rob will be getting married soon but not to Kristen THANK GOODNESS….she almost fooled him. Michael was a ruse. She did not expect to fall for Rob but lets face it….he is hard to resist. There is no way that I spectacular and decent guy like him could fall for the likes of Kristen. They are a beauty and the beast couple….she is the beast. That is why he had minders….they were afraid he would slip up. They never touched or dated off set because he was unsure about her even when she did her best to act like a sweet girl. Many of his fans were worried about his judgment for awhile when he was seen hanging at clubs with her. There were always cast, managers, crew and friends around.