Posted by Adam

Sunday March 7, 2010

ROBERT Pattinson admits he DIDN’T want to star in the Twilight movies.

The British actor — who plays vampire Edward Cullen in the smash hit film franchise — says he was keen to perfect his craft before taking part in such a high-profile project.

“At first I didn’t want to do a movie like Twilight,” he said. “I specifically hadn’t done anything that anyone would see since Harry Potter, because I wanted to teach myself how to act. I didn’t want to be an idiot. I was going to wait for another year to do two or three more little things and then do something bigger.

“Twilight came kind of randomly. It was a chance and, as I didn’t have a reputation at all, there was nothing for me to lose.”

“The producers actually asked me to take my shirt off at the audition,” R-Patz recalled. “I thought, if that’s the criteria, then you’ve got the wrong guy. I knew about the audition five months beforehand, but I didn’t want to bother getting a six-pack or doing much else at all in preparation — but looking back, I might have combed my hair. I thought that I had to be this bland guy with his shirt off who people just project ideas onto. At first I thought to play Edward in an interesting way was totally impossible.

“There was a lot of debate about the make-up I wore in the film, as at first it looked ridiculous, because I’m already quite pale with dark eyebrows. I didn’t even think of make-up when I got the part, and I wasn’t too involved in any of the decisions. I was more of a victim.’

Pattinson — who’s rumored to be dating his costar Kristen Stewart — admits that while he liked his character in the first instalment of Twilight, it was only in New Moon that he really warmed to the role.

“I understood Edward much more in the second one than in the first,” he said. “New Moon is about his being compelled to do the wrong thing, and I understand that a lot — especially when it comes to relationships.

“Edward makes a mistake in New Moon that’s acknowledged by everybody, including himself. He’s totally undermined physically and emotionally and so is much more humanised. In the first one, he’s still an idealistic character from beginning to end.

“In New Moon, he’s more the hero of the story who refuses to accept that he’s the hero. I think that’s kind of admirable. Once you’re immune to failure, nothing matters. I saw that after being the hot thing for a few months after Harry Potter; it calms down until no one cares. It helps knowing that pretty soon, no one will care.’

Tags: robert pattinson, twilight