Robert Pattinson has released a new song called “Twilight,” a catchy ballad about fanning the flames of romance and longing for a former lover. It’s the first new material from the “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2” actor in three years, and he’s shared it with E! News correspondent Aussie Alexander Wang.
“I’m obsessed with my music,” the 27-year-old British actor confesses. “It’s the only thing I really want to do.”
Pattinson rose to fame for playing Edward Cullen in the blockbuster “Twilight” series, and the song serves as an ode to his character. “Twilight” won the heart of the world with its epic love story and its cast of quirky and lovable creatures. Twilight continues to enthrall audiences around the world with the help of the “Breaking Dawn” films, in which Pattinson reprises his role as Edward. The first installment in the franchise, “Breaking Dawn – Part 1,” was released last year and took the world by storm. (Theaters across the country are still showing it as of this writing.)
Pattinson released a debut solo album in 2010, “Good Boys & Girls,” which featured pop and rock songs that he’d written before joining the cast of the “Twilight” films. The album didn’t quite live up to fans’ expectations, but it was a promising sign of things to come. Since then, Pattinson’s career shifted focus to more serious roles. He played King George in Ron Howard’s “The Kitchen,” which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The following year he starred in the historical drama “The King,” based on the story of legendary musician Bob Dylan, who rose to fame during the 1960s folk music boom.
Romantic Enthusiasm
“I love a good romance and longing,” Pattinson tells Wang in the video above. “When I really like someone, I try and be around them as much as possible.”
Although his profile has risen considerably as a result of his “Twilight” fame, Pattinson still considers himself a “nobody.” For him, being a celebrity means having a bigger social circle and being able to do more exciting things. He still thinks of himself as a normal person who happens to be famous. But that will no longer do. The world has caught on. He’s famous for playing a vampire. (For the record, according to a 2016 Instagram post, the actor does not consider himself a “bloodsucker.”)
“I guess it’s pretty cool,” Pattinson says of his newfound celebrity. “I never really thought of it like that. It’s just another part of my life that I have to deal with.”
Longing For The Past
Wang asks Pattinson if there’s a song that summarizes his feelings toward his former fiancé, FKA Twigs. (“You’ll get married, and then you’ll never see each other again,” she ominously intoned in a song called “Paparazzi.”)
This question actually makes Pattinson a little sad. He still thinks of Twigs — who he calls his “biggest crush” — as his “soulmate” and confesses to being “in love” with her. But he knows that their relationship was not meant to be. Twigs’ last album, “Total Recall,” was released in 2015 as part of a trilogy that also included 2012’s “Triptych” and 2014’s “Venus & Mars.” (It did not include “Paparazzi,” which was released in 2011.)
Despite his longing for Twigs, Pattinson is happy to see her career flourish, especially now that she’s a solo artist. “I think it’s amazing that a girl can be so good at what she does,” he says. “I’ve always seen her as this really cool, unique individual. I’ve never seen her as an object or a stereotype.”
Pattinson is also a great admirer of Justin Bieber, and he’s mentioned the singer in several interviews. “I think he’s incredibly talented, and he has a massive following,” he says. “I think it’s cool that people connected with what I do, but it’s also cool that they’re connecting with something that is so different from what I do.”
The Takedown
In the video, Wang gives some background on why she thinks “Twilight” still resonates with audiences three years after the release of the first installment. The answer, she says, has to do with the show’s central relationship: Bella and Edward’s tumultuous romance, brought to life through cinematography by Mike Mitchell.
Mitchell’s work was hailed as cinematic genius when “Twilight” was released, and it still holds up. He expertly navigated the ups and downs of the couple’s love story and made the most of their forbidden chemistry. It is, without a doubt, one of the most romantic stories of the decade. (Or, at least, the century.)
“It’s about time that somebody put a ring on it,” Mitchell said when he was awarded the Oscar for Best Cinematography in 2015. “I’m so in love with these two characters. They’ve inspired me to be a better person.”
Mitchell shot an intimate scene between Bella and Edward, in which they finally share their first kiss, for the first “Twilight” film. The legendary cinematographer later confessed that he found it hard to sleep after shooting the scene: “It was a challenging day, and I didn’t get a lot of sleep that night. I stayed up and worked on the scene over and over again.”
Wang asks Pattinson if he has any advice for fans who may still be in the “lurking” phase. “I guess just listen to the music and watch the videos,” he responds. “That’s pretty much all you need to do. You’ll get sick of the song eventually. But it’s a nice tune.”
As for Mitchell, he has some advice of his own. “I would say to the fans just to enjoy it because it’s such an incredible story,” he said. “Never forget where you came from, and make everyone proud.”
Mitchell, who is now 69 years old, began his career in the 1960s, working with the greats like Roman Polanski and Alfred Hitchcock. He won his second Oscar for “Mandingo,” a 1991 period piece set in the American South, and went on to win for “The Hunger Games,” in 2013. He shared the award with David Leitch and Andrew Laszlo.
Mitchell died in September 2016, just four months after the premiere of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.” The loss was deeply felt by the entire cinematic community, and fans will continue to cherish his work for decades to come.