Lautner’s legacy
SheKnows: OK, Taylor, they have that iconic scene, but your Jacob is hot. So was there any concern about overshadowing Edward? Was that something you had to temper in your own
performance, because you were very winning?
Taylor Lautner: Thank you very much. I think it depends on what kind of girl you are, what kind of guy you like. Edward and Jacob are completely opposite guys. They’re hot
and cold. Literally. I personally love Bella and Jacob’s relationship, how they begin as best friends and it grows into something more. Both guys are in love with Bella. Both guys are always
going to be there for Bella, and they’re protective. I just think it’s what kind of guy you like.
SheKnows: Makes sense. Can you talk about the stunt and wire work you did? How difficult was that — and bonding with the other hot wolf pack guys?
Taylor Lautner: The physical side was really fun. Some of it was challenging. I’d never ridden a dirt bike before. And yes, I rode the dirt bike for a total of about five
seconds in the film, but for those five seconds, I had to look as cool as possible. So it did require a lot of practice just safety-wise, so they’d let me do it. And the wirework, like when I
run up the side of her house — the wires were there, so if I slipped and fell, I didn’t face-plant into the ground. But it was definitely challenging. That stunt was really complicated. You
need to be on. I’m using a little plug in the side of the wall to take off from and jump, so it’s really complicated and required a lot of practice. Every single weekend, I
would practice that stunt for three hours a day. It was the last thing we filmed. The bonding with the werewolves was very fun. Those guys are characters. They’re a lot of fun. They’re
great guys, and they each fit their character perfectly. So on set, we just had a blast. They just made that so exciting.
SheKnows: We heard them say they were talking about getting a wolf pack tattoo. Are you in?
Taylor Lautner: I don’t know. I’ll have to think about that. I’ll have to discuss it with my pack.
SheKnows: Rob, these films have made you a bankable leading man. How does that change your life? Where do you want to be five years from now?
Robert Pattinson: I’ve only done one movie outside of the series: Remember Me, which is going to be
out sometime next year. But even that I did with the same studio, and I guess I’m still a little bit blind as to what my actual economic viability is outside of the series. I mean, it’s definitely
different. You get offered stuff that you would’ve never have dreamed of being offered before, but that’s also scary. You don’t have to audition for anything, so you’re like, “Well, I don’t want to
do a movie just because it gets made.” I have no idea. It’s a scary situation to be in, in a lot of ways. You really have to question yourself a lot more than before Twilight. Before, I
did any movie that I got and tried to make the best of it afterwards. Now I’m expected to come into the movie and provide not only economic viability but also a performance as well, because people
are like, “You can’t just mess around. We’re employing you to be a star and an actor.” So it’s difficult, and it’s scary.
SheKnows: But isn’t that what you dream about when you start out as an actor?
Robert Pattinson: You do. You always think, “Oh, when I’ve done a big movie [they’ll want me]” because when you haven’t got a big movie behind you and you’re not bankable, everyone
is like, “He’s not bankable enough,” so you can’t get the kinds of roles you want to get. Then when you do, you have to, especially with a movie like this where there’s a perceived specific
audience. People start thinking, “You need to get this audience and you need to do this and that and you need to look a certain way,” and so on. There are limitations to it, as well. Whereas
when no one is watching your movies and you get a part, you can do whatever the hell you want because that’s just the way it is. So there are good and bad points either way.
SheKnows: Taylor, this movie is also going to make you a bigger star. You’ve already got a lot of teen girls who idolize you. Going into this movie with a bigger role, how
did you think about that? How did you prepare yourself for that?
Taylor Lautner: I don’t think there’s any way to prepare yourself for this phenomenon, just because none of us expected it. When we were filming Twilight, we
didn’t expect anything. We were just filming a movie that we wanted the fans to enjoy, and then it kinda just blew into this whole other world. So I don’t think there’s a way to
prepare for that. You could definitely say I felt a little bit of pressure trying to bring Jacob’s character and Jake and Bella’s relationship alive for the fans, ’cause this
movie definitely develops their relationship and sets up the love triangle. So it’s a very important story.
SheKnows: What is it like for you to see all the posters and billboards with your face on it? Is it kind of strange?
Taylor Lautner: Yeah, of course. Yeah, I don’t think there’s a way to ever get used to it. It’s not normal to drive down the street and see your
face up there. But it’s Twilight. It comes with the job.
Pattinson on Edward cullen
SheKnows: Rob, what personality traits do you share with Edward?
Robert Pattinson: Sstubbornness in some ways about some things. I guess he’s pretty self-righteous. I guess I am. I get quite obsessive about things and possessive as well, I
think. I don’t know.
SheKnows: Rob, what are your favorite things about Edward? And do you get more favorite things with each film?
Robert Pattinson: It’s funny about New Moon. When I read it, it gave me ideas about how to play the first one, and it’s the one that I connected to the most and the one
that humanized Edward for me the most as well. In the first one, he still does remain from beginning to end an idealistic character, but in the second, he makes a mistake that’s acknowledged by
everybody including himself. Also, he’s totally undermined by more powerful creatures and emotionally by people as well. I think that’s what humanized it. Since I’ve read that book, I’ve kind
of liked him as a character. I try to play that same feeling throughout the first one and after the third one, as well, trying to get some element of an almost all-powerful person, the kind of hero
who just refuses to accept that he’s the hero. I think there’s something admirable there.
SheKnows: Are you obsessive about your privacy?
Robert Pattinson: In some ways. What am I obsessive about? I have very, very specific ideas about how I want to do my work and how I want to be perceived to the point of
ridiculousness sometimes. I don’t listen to anyone else. That’s why I don’t have a publicist or anything. I can’t stand it if someone’s trying to tell me to do something, which might be a mistake
sometimes. I like being meticulous, and it’s quite difficult as an actor to have that much control. That’s the good thing about the Twilight series as well because, in a lot of ways, when
you agree to the job, it gives you a lot more control over the little things, which I want to have. I’m like a control freak about it.
SheKnows: What is the strangest thing that has ever been written about you, Taylor?
Taylor Lautner: Honestly, I try to stay away from what has been written about me ’cause if you let that stuff get to you and it’s not true, it can drive you crazy. One
thing that I have heard recently, which is not true — I definitely didn’t say it — I was quoted as saying, “I will never take my shirt off for a movie again.” I didn’t say that. If I
have to, if the character requires it, I will. Who knows, in 10 years, I might do that. And like I said earlier, if a character requires me to lose 40 pounds, I’ll do it. It’s just what
the character requires.
SheKnows: And you, Rob… What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever read about yourself?
Robert Pattinson: The weirdest was something recently, some magazine had on the cover that I was pregnant. I was like, “Wow,” but it was without a hint of irony or anything. I
didn’t really know what to make of that one. I don’t know if that even qualifies as libelous because they can just say, “Well, it’s obviously fiction,” but it’s printed in a non-fiction magazine. I
did see a couple of comments under the article, saying, “That’s why he always wears a jacket. He always wears layers to hide it.”
SheKnows: How do you balance letting the fans know who you really are, outside of Jacob, with keeping your private life private?
Taylor Lautner: It’s difficult. It is. It’s definitely important to stay true to yourself and stay close to those people you were close to before — your family, your
friends — and just not let that outside stuff get to you.
SheKnows: Kristen was amused by a Brazilian fan screaming, “Where is Ho-Bert?” Anything fan-ish cracked you up?
Robert Pattinson: Yeah, a lot. There’ve been so many things. Recently, I have less direct interaction with people because there’s way more security on the sets and stuff, but I
always find it funny when older people come up. There was a woman who came up to me the other day who must’ve been in her 90s and was saying this stuff. It’s very unusual, and they say exactly the
same things as 12-year-old girls. That is kind of bizarre.
Jacob eclipsing Edward?
SheKnows: Taylor, we’ve talked about how the fans can be invasive in your life, but what’s a touching and really sweet fan encounter you can tell us about?
Taylor Lautner: Man, we have fans all the time who will just burst into tears, and that’s just moving, like it must mean so much for them to meet us. It’s an amazing
feeling to know that you can touch somebody that way. It also makes you sad. You don’t know what to do. You’re like, “It’s OK.” It hard — we feel bad for them — but we’re also
happy at the same time.
SheKnows: Let’s talk wiggage! I’m wondering about the wig, how it informs your character. Was getting rid of it freeing? For Twilight, we didn’t get the idea that
you were too fond of it.
Taylor Lautner: It was very freeing (to get rid of it). It not only was uncomfortable… One, I’d look at myself in the mirror and I wouldn’t even be able to
recognize myself. It was so weird just to see that hair on me. Two, it was very itchy, hot, whatever. Annoying. Also, it slowed down the filming process. Whenever it got caught in my eye
or whatever, we’d have to cut and start over. It got caught in my mouth, and I was spitting hair out in the middle of the scene. I was coming this close to kissing Bella and…
“Sorry, I’ve got to spit my hair out.” It was annoying. We actually had a picture wrap on the wig. The crew claps for you at the end. My last day of filming with the wig, we ripped it off,
held it up in the air, like “That’s a picture wrap on Taylor’s wig.” The whole crew gave it a standing ovation. It was amazing. It was great to chop that thing off.
Robert gets romantic
SheKnows: Let’s talk romance. What have you done that is romantic? What is going through your head in romantic scenes?
Robert Pattinson: I haven’t done that many romantic things. What was going through my head? It’s weird: I keep being told by people that I need to pump up all the stuff about the
action and all this stuff for the guys to go and see the film. It’s ridiculous. It’s like saying guys can’t appreciate romance. I don’t think that you can say that about Gone With The Wind
or something. I’ve watched Titanic and I didn’t think, “Oh, this is a girls’ film.” Unless you’re a complete idiot of a guy. In New Moon and in the whole series, I’ve never played
it as if I’m playing a series of girls’ films, or doing something just for girls. I don’t feel like I’m doing Tiger Beat every week. I like doing the romantic scenes. The storyline in
New Moon felt very heartbreaking and true. I didn’t think that I was doing something just for the sake of romance. In a lot of ways, it’s a really sad story.
SheKnows: So, have you done anything at all romantic for real? Like serenade someone?
Robert Pattinson: Oh, no. I don’t think that I would ever do that. You have to have balls to do that. I can’t think of a single romantic thing that I’ve ever done. That’s terrible.
I put a flower in someone’s locker when I was 15 years old. This girl called Maria. Maybe I was 14. She thought that it was someone else, and the other guy claimed it as well, which was great.
Robert on his rival
SheKnows: Ah, that’s sad. Let’s talk about Taylor’s transformation. And what was it like setting up the growing romantic triangle?
Robert Pattinson: I didn’t see Lautner until just a little before we started shooting. So when he came back, I had the same reaction as everyone else, like, “Jesus. Now I have to
go to the gym.” It was strange. This one was weird because I hardly did any scenes with Taylor. We did just the scenes at the beginning and the end, and that’s it. He had his entire storyline
develop without me being around, which is interesting because I had no idea where his performance was going. It really wasn’t really a competition or anything. It was all sort of independent.
Whereas in Eclipse, we’re doing scenes together all the time with Bella, so it really shows the dynamic.
Up next…Lautner talks about turning 18 and Robert talks about the oddest story he’s ever read about himself.
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