R.M. VAUGHAN
From Friday’s Globe and Mail
November 20, 2008 at 5:32 PM EST

Should I ever earn the privilege of interviewing the Prime Minister (and I’ve got some choice questions for him), I doubt he will be as difficult to access as the young British actor Robert Pattinson.

In exchange for eight precious minutes with Pattinson, the former Harry Potter regular and current star of the tween vampire movie Twilight (which opens today), I not only faced the usual flotilla of handlers, but also several layers of boutique hotel security, followed by a Get Smart-like series of locked double doors leading to a secret penthouse loft. Once inside, I was stared down by two burly, very still men I assume were bodyguards. I wonder where the panic room was located?

In fairness, the Prime Minister is only a leader of the country. He’s never been swarmed by thousands of insane, screaming tweenage girls, as Pattinson was a mere hour before we met. And tweenage girls, not boring old prime ministers, are running the cultural show today — because they’re the only people with any money. Maybe our auto plants should start making Hannah Montana and High School Musical gimcracks.

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1 day left…

Excited? I’m sure many of you are going to Thursday’s midnight screenings of “Twilight,” and I can’t wait to hear the reviews.

But what are the critics saying? Are the paid professionals, many of whom no doubt have not read Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” saga, buying into Bella and Edward”s forbidden-love story?

So far, so good:

Michael Phillips at the Chicago Tribune is mostly pleased, calling “Twilight” a film of “intelligent strengths [albeit] easily avoidable weaknesses.” He gives props to screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg for a script he deems “better written than Meyer’s book, which tends toward froth and fulmination. (Sample line: ‘I was in danger of being distracted by his livid, glorious face.’) [...] And she tones up her heroine, who was a passive Victorian simp — pure fainting-couch material — on the page.” Phillips’ biggest beef? The special effects, which he equates to “a weaker episode from season six of ‘Charmed.’ ”
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Rob Pattinson, aka Edward Cullen in the ‘Twilight’ juggernaut, chats about rioting fans, working with Kristen Stewart, Perez Hilton, ‘New Moon,’ and one girl who was begging for a bite.

By Sona Charaipotra

Just days before Twilight pandemonium is unleashed at a theater near you, Robert Pattinson, who plays the dreamy vampire Edward in the film adaptation of the Stephenie Meyer bestseller, still manages to work the mellow Brit vibe. We caught up with the actor during a quiet moment on the whirlwind promo jaunt for the movie, which hits theaters Nov. 21, to chat about his music, those adoring (if bold) Twilighters, and being one of Perez’s boys.

I’ve been hearing about the fans just going crazy at the promo events for Twilight. You’re bearing the brunt of it, huh?
It’s been fun. It’s weird, I get to a city and I always get told there was a riot earlier on. By the time I get there, it’s always quieted down a bit. But it is pretty nuts. I thought it might happen in one city, but it’s happening everywhere, in every single city we go to, around the world. It’s pretty crazy.

What’s the weirdest thing that’s happened so far?
Well, this was in New York, at the Apple store. This really, really young girl came up on stage, and she asked me to bite her, but like in such a passionate way — it wasn’t really fun and games, “Hey, will you bite me, haha, joking!” She’d made up her mind, she got on the stage, and she wanted it. Like a real vampire bite.

So did you bite her?
Yeah, I did!

You did?
No, I didn’t, really. Of course not. But it was really funny. It’s just so strange how I go to these events and a lot of the people who are there are just completely convinced that I’m Edward. I’m really the character from the book, there is no Robert Pattinson. It’s so funny. And they react in that way, not as if I’m just an actor.

Do you get stalked when you’re just walking down the street on your own? Do people recognize you?
I don’t even know. I mean, I haven’t really done anything normal for ages now. God, it’s been so long since I’ve even just walked down the street by myself. Actually, in New York, it didn’t really happen. I went off on my own a bit. But it’s really strange just being in airports and there are people there waiting for you to get off the plane with their cameras, and you’re just exhausted. It’s so weird. That’s the biggest change I’ve noticed.

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More vampire love for Meyers books

Just when you thought your eardrums might recover from hearing the screams of Twilight fans around the world when the first film was announced, it’s time to put the earmuffs back on, because Summit Entertainment has optioned the other three books in the series (to date) and hired a writer to adapt New Moon and Eclipse, the next two.

The series is the story of Bella, an ordinary teen in love with a vampire, Edward, in a rainy northern US town. In New Moon, Edward tries to leave Bella for her own protection, causing her to take up extreme sports to feel closer to him, and form a friendship with a Native American boy who turns out to have his own supernatural secret. Eclipse sees the couple face an army of hostile vampires under the control of a former enemy, while still trying to chart their own course through the tricksy waters of undead love. The fourth book, Breaking Dawn, involves things too spoilerific to talk about, and has not yet got a writer attached.

Melissa Rosenberg is the screenwriter attached to the films – which is no surprise, since she also adapted Twilight. And, er, Step Up, because really dating a vampire is just another step in every teen’s struggle towards self-empowerment and Being Yourself. At least adapting these new books will mean that she finally gets to read them: Rosenberg makes it a point of principle not to read sequels before adapting early books so that she doesn’t get ahead of her characters.

There’s no word yet on whether the cast will return, but we’re guessing that the film company will be under considerable pressure (especially their eardrums, given the volume of screaming generally associated with this project) to get Pattinson et al back.

Source

The vampire baddie admits that he’s a punishment junkie.

Though he’s unlikely to experience anything other than box-office bliss when the vampire saga Twilight hits the big screen on November 21, actor Cam Gigandet admits that he’s a bigger fan of unpleasant sensations in the latest issue of Men’s Health.

“I love pain,” says Gigandet, who plays villain vampire James in the flick. “Love pain.”

To illustrate his point, the 26-year-old—whose previous acting gigs include stints on The O.C. and Jack & Bobby—tells the magazine about a water-skiing mishap during a family vacation in Washington state last year.

Gigandet slammed into a buoy and, despite sustaining a cracked tibia, he “continued skiing just so my parents wouldn’t freak out.” It wasn’t until he drove 18 hours back to Los Angeles and visited a doctor that he discovered the extent of his injury.

The athletically inclined Gigandet (he enjoys a variety of sports and practices the martial art krav maga) isn’t just a fan of physical pain. He tells the magazine that losing his short-lived job on The Young and the Restless—he played Daniel Romalotti for seven episodes in 2004—was a driving force in his career.

“To be let go from a soap opera is the most embarrassing confidence basher in the world. It’s like, ‘Oh, if I’m not good enough for that, I’m not good enough for anything.’ So that was tough,” he says. “But you keep pushing forward.”

Source

I sat down with Peter Facinelli at the tail end of Saturday’s “Twilight” smorgasbord. Needless to say, he was a lot more relaxed than his co-stars, who were being hounded from all sides.

The actor, who plays the magnanimous Dr. Carlisle, revealed why “New Moon” bothered him, why it’s important for him to interact with “Twilight” fans, and, yes, what he thinks of the new “90210,” starring his wife, Jennie Garth.

Have you had any crazy fan experience yet?

I’ve had really nice experiences. A group of TwilightMOMs came to the set and were so sweet, always bringing presents. They brought this big basket of food and cookies — they are the best fans to have. They’re feeding me, I’m happy!

How are you all handling the pressure?

I feel for Robert. He didn’t sign up for this knowing what it would become. The fan base has grown even since when we filmed it. There were underground fans when we started. I remember we’d all go to their web sites and they all said, ‘All these actors are wrong for the roles. Facinelli doesn’t have blonde hair — what are they thinking?’

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As most of you know, opening in less than 2 weeks is Summit Entertainment’s “Twilight” movie. The film is based on the hugely successful Stephenie Meyers book and it’s the story of Bella and Edward….

In case you’re one of the few that doesn’t know the story, “Twilight” is a modern-day love story between a teenage girl and a vampire.

Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) has always been a little bit different, never caring about fitting in with the trendy girls at her Phoenix high school. When her mother re-marries and sends Bella to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, she doesn’t expect much of anything to change. Then she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), a boy unlike any she’s ever met.

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As most of you know, opening in less than 2 weeks is Summit Entertainments “Twilight” movie. The film is based on the hugely successful Stephenie Meyers book and it’s the story of Bella and Edward….

In case you’re one of the few that doesn’t know the story, “Twilight” is a modern-day love story between a teenage girl and a vampire.

Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) has always been a little bit different, never caring about fitting in with the trendy girls at her Phoenix high school. When her mother re-marries and sends Bella to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, she doesn’t expect much of anything to change. Then she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), a boy unlike any she’s ever met.

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If you want to make an enemy of a teenage girl (and perhaps her mother), say something bad about Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” saga, a four-part romance between a really hot vampire and a klutzy schoolgirl set in the dreary town of Forks, Wash.

I learned this firsthand by writing a critical piece; some readers offered to burn down my house in reply. For certain readers, there is no criticizing these books, which were written by a young Mormon mother from Arizona who put herself through Brigham Young University on a merit scholarship.

This alone could make her the least likely person on the planet to author the blood-drenched romance that’s captivated the imagination of millions.
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