PATTINSON: ‘I’M A BIT MANIC DEPRESSIVE’
You could be forgiven for thinking that with his sultry good looks and iconic status after playing the lead role in Twilight, Robert Pattinson would be a tad arrogant.
Not so. When new! goes to meet the London-born actor, we are taken aback at how humble he is. He doesn’t seem to understand why women swoon over his chiselled features and incredible blue-grey eyes. But in the flesh, up close, his beauty is breathtaking.
We are here to discuss his upcoming film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the sequel to Twilight, in which he again plays the mysterious Edward Cullen. But when we move onto the subject of girlfriends, he won’t be pinned down.
Rumours persist that he is dating his co-star Kristen Stewart, 19. The pair were spotted looking intimate together at a Kings Of Leon gig earlier this year and were seen having a romantic meal after the MTV Movie Awards in May. He has also been linked to Hollywood publicist Erika Dutra.
Yet Robert says the rumours are “ridiculous”. Instead, he insists that fame works against him finding a girlfriend. “Girls scream for Edward, not Robert,” he says. “I still can’t get a date!”
Unsurprisingly, though, we can’t help but press the allegedly single 23 year old on his love life, his legions of fans and his messy hair…
In New Moon, you compete for a woman’s affections. Has that ever happened to you in real life?
Yeah, it has, but any girl I’ve ever really wanted to go out with in the past, I’ve always lost to someone else! I know that sounds like the ones I did go out with were the ones I didn’t want to go out with, but that’s not the case. A lot of my ambitions are tied up with wanting pretty girls to like me [laughs].
Have you ever had a fight over a girl?
No, I’m terrified about getting into fights because it’s like, “Hey, I’m an actor – don’t touch the face!”
Are you romantic?
I used to be very romantic, but acting ruined my seduction techniques because you start to think everything is a “method”. You over-analyse everything – you analyse how if you say one thing, someone likes you and if you say another, they don’t. You just start to experiment on people, which isn’t good for real life! I don’t think I’m very romantic any more. I’m just a bit manic depressive!
You seem different from Edward – very gentle. Do women get scared of you?
I’d hope so, yeah. If you can’t scare a girl then you’re not much of a guy [laughs]!
What sort of girl do you like?
I like people who are strong and have a lot of darkness to them.
Is it true you had female fans camping out in front of your home?
Yeah, they were, for a while. I used to get people leaving notes on my car every day. The first note would say something like, “Hey, I’m not weird or anything – just call me.” And the next day, it would be like, “Please don’t ignore me, please don’t ignore me.” The next day it’d be like, “If you ignore me, I’ll kill myself. But I’m not weird!”
How does it feel being the fantasy of millions of girls?
It’s just funny, because if the fans were to talk to me for five minutes – if one of them came up and sat with me for five minutes – the illusion would be gone!
So you think your fans would be disappointed if they met you?
Yeah, they probably would! There’s just no way to be what so many people want because everybody has their own view of me.
So if a woman comes up to you, do you know if she is really interested in you or just your fame?
If she’s attractive, it doesn’t really matter [laughs]! I kind of prefer that [women coming up to me] and if they’re a fan, it’s perfect.
Do you see yourself as a heart-throb?
No, I’ve never thought like that. I’ve never got the “good-looking guy” roles before, so that’s saying something!
Is it true that you rarely change your clothes?
Yeah, kind of. Like these jeans are a few days old, but the top is probably fresh because it gets to the point where even I can’t stand the air around me. I don’t know, my personal hygiene – it’s so disgusting! Really it’s just that I have very few clothes that I like and I’m travelling all the time, so I can’t really get any more.
And what about your hair?
Yeah, there’s a fascination with my hair, too. It’s funny, because that’s all down to how I used to hate my dad wanting to brush my hair when I was a kid. I hated it! So it’s funny this whole thing with my hair is just from not brushing it!
How has life changed for you since Twilight came out?
It’s quite tough at the moment. It was OK for a while, but then something happened and it changed and suddenly people started hanging outside my house. It’s strange because I haven’t been somewhere where people don’t know where I am for a while now. It’s quite hard to get out of hotels without being followed – you have to think cleverly about things. That’s a strange thing to deal with. And it’s funny because, no matter what you do – no matter how uninteresting it is – it still ends up on the cover of magazines. It’s just weird. It just seems like the more boring you are, the more people think you’re doing all sorts of sordid things!
Was it fun reprising your role as Edward in New Moon?
Yeah, it was. I was surprised by how relaxed and easy it was to get back into it. I think it’s because I always connected more to the second book than the first one.
What is next for you?
I’m doing a couple of films. I’m not doing any massive movies. They’re just things that say something to me.
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