Pattinson, who looks sharp with shorter hair, also admitted during the Eclipse press day that he checks out fansites to figure out his schedule. But one thing he wouldn't confirm or deny was whether he and Kristen Stewart are an off-screen couple. And who can blame him? That's personal, and he was there to talk about his work and not his private life.
Enough of my recaps; check out everything he had to say in this Q&A at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles.
Robert Pattinson Eclipse Press Conference
What did you learn for Eclipse?Robert Pattinson: "I guess I had to learn how to run properly. In the last two I’ve always run with a kind of limp/skip and I had to sort of look like I could run more solidly this time. So I spent a lot of time on a giant treadmill, like one of those wheels mice run around - and got filmed doing it to improve my form. I guess that was one of the big things."
Edward is considered a romantic hero but he’s also very possessive. Can you talk a little bit about what you think halfway through playing Edward? Has he changed?
Robert Pattinson: "Yeah, I mean in the first two movies, earlier on in the story, were just caused by his desolation from reality, so when he finds one thing to hold on to, that’s where the possessiveness comes from. I think as the series goes on he accepts more and more that he’s part of the contemporary world. I think all the things that were deemed to be flawed before start fading away. I mean, that’s how I’m trying to play him. I think he’s coming out of his shell a little bit in Eclipse, so hopefully by the end of Breaking Dawn I’m hoping he’ll be basically a normal 17 year old guy, just a little bit pale."
Did you ever compete for a woman with another guy the way Edward does with Jacob?
Robert Pattinson: "Did you say, 'Have you ever slept with a woman with another guy?' [Laughing] I was like, 'I don’t know if that’s appropriate!' Compete, no I don’t! I’m not good at doing it. I just kind of leave it alone. And also I guess, well I was about to say if you own the girl but that doesn’t make sense, if you are the one with the girl in the first place I guess maybe you’re forced into fighting a little bit. But I would never be in Jacob’s position, because then you just end up being the guy who broke up a couple anyway."
How was working more closely with Taylor Lautner in Eclipse?
Robert Pattinson: "Yeah it was good in this one because I never do anything with anyone else, apart from Kristen in the other two. I mean brief things, but it’s kind of part of how I was answering the other question, letting Edward have petty emotions like being jealous of Jacob and not being able to control himself around him because he gets under his skin so much it became much easier to play, a much bigger scope of emotion to play as soon as you let someone else get through your armor. So doing that with Taylor was great. He’s really good too."
Was there a scene in particular with him that stands out?
Robert Pattinson: "Some scenes it was just quite cool to have him there. I like the scenes where Bella has to reveal something about herself in front of Jacob and me at the same time. It’s quite a nice extra thing to relate to. Most of the time it’s just with Bella and she’s trying to convey something to me and Edward is being totally sympathetic to her. But seeing another guy and seeing it’s not just about our relationship, it’s about some other person, it kind of made it a little more interesting."
Do you believe in a soul, like Edward?
Robert Pattinson: "Yeah. I mean, I think definitely. I can’t remember who said it, but a soul and a heaven must exist because good people aren’t rewarded enough on Earth. I always liked that idea, if that makes sense."
How was working with David Slade? Do you have to kind of explain to each director about the character?
Robert Pattinson: "It’s interesting. After doing Twilight, the first one everyone had very specific ideas and everyone was butting heads the entire time, and you can kind of feel it in the movie. It’s a different energy where everyone’s like, 'No, this is what it’s about.' Then when Chris Weitz came in for New Moon, he basically came in with the opinion that he liked the first one, he liked what the actors were doing, so just follow along that road."
"Then when David came in he was like, 'I want to do everything completely different, not do it like the first two.' So we talked about the character development and consistency from the two and he was like, 'It doesn’t matter. Let’s just do something completely different,' which is good because then it’s challenging. It’s easy to get stagnant if you play the same character and luckily I’ve kind of felt, I don't know...I guess in New Moon I felt like I was developing something a little bit deeper. And then with Eclipse I felt like I was doing a completely different movie, and a completely different character in a lot of ways. So, yeah, it was nice and challenging."
What was David’s biggest imprint on you as far as how you played Edward this time?
Robert Pattinson: "I mean, I guess he was really fighting to make it not so, what’s the word, solemn I guess, just the speed of it. Just to speed things up which is a massive deal because I mean Edward always, in my eyes, has been so calculated and everything is not rash, any of his decisions. David wanted to speed up the whole thing and make him more vulnerable."
You were on the first soundtrack, would you contribute again on anymore of the movies?
Robert Pattinson: "I’ve done a couple of things. I mean, I’ve always just been playing around. As for the soundtracks, I mean I’m not sure. It was nice to be involved in the first one. I just saw Twilight on TV for the first time a few days ago."
You’d never seen it before?
Robert Pattinson: "No, [laughing] apart from the commentary. When my song came on I was just thinking that is so bizarre that I actually had a song in the movie. I’m kind of amazed Catherine Hardwicke did it. It really shows how none of us thought it was going to be so massive. I didn’t know anyone was going to buy the soundtrack or anything. So it’s a little more nerve-wracking now. I don’t know, maybe."
