A: Do you know what you’ll be doing before shooting Breaking Dawn?
R: I just wrapped a movie called Bel Ami, with Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas, and I’m about to start shooting Water For Elephants.A: And how are the roles you play in those movies?
R: In Bel Ami, I play a parisian for whom it’s impossible to have any empathy. He treats badly anyone who does him any favors, but he ends up with a lot of money, which I think is quite realistic [laughs].
A: And what about Water For Elephants?
R: The movie’s set around the time of the Great Depression and I play a guy who drops out of College and join the circus.
A: So, you actually work with elephants?
R: Yes. It’s a great story, an amazing cast, a very good director and a spetacular movie, without any special effects, but one of the things that caught my attention were the elephants. I met them, and I’m going to work with them, it’s wonderful. Do you know elephants purr? I found that out.
More scans from the magazine and complete interview after the jump.
A: First and foremost, happy belated birthday! Well, since you play a character that never grows old, how do you deal with birthdays?
R: Playing a vampire makes me feel like I’m getting older faster than I actually am, cause every six months I come back to the set and everyone says: “What have you been doing? It seems like you’re one year older.” I turned 24 and I feel like 35.
A: Eclipse opens very soon. Do you think the fans will be surprised?
R: Twilight had a story more focused on Edward and Bella and New Moon was more about Jacob. So, Eclipse is interesting cause everyone has their place and the audience can see Edward, Bella and Jacob interacting with each other.
A: And to you, what was the biggest challenge in playing Edward this time around?
R: Edward lives different emotions in Eclipse. In the first two movies, he’s a lot more distant to everyone, but now he needs to be a part of the world and not be indifferent if he wants to keep his relationships.
A: Do you have a favotire scene?
R: I like the scene where Bella thinks she’s cheating on me with Jacob and Edward has to deal with it and forgive her. It’s one of the most interesting scenes.
A: How would you describe the experience of working with David Slade?
R: It was exciting, cause David came up and said: “I wanna make something really different.” And I think he succeeded. There will be a huge contrast between Eclipse and the other ones.
A: There are rumors that Breaking Dawn will be in 3D, what do you think of that?
R: I see myself in 3D all day [laughs]. I can’t even imagine the movie in 3D, to be honest, but I think it’s cool.
A: There’s still a little time left before the Twilight Saga’s over, but how do you think you’ll feel when it’s all done?
R: Between movies, I always forget how much I like the character. It’s very comfortable and indulging to be able to come back to Edward, experiment and develop my performance in each film. But it’s hard to think about this whole experience. It all happened so fast and exploded in such a short amount of time, it’s like a supernova. I think it’ll take me ten years to process all of this.
A: Do you know what you’ll be doing before shooting Breaking Dawn?
R: I just wrapped a movie called Bel Ami, with Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas, and I’m about to start shooting Water For Elephants.
A: And how are the roles you play in those movies?
R: In Bel Ami, I play a parisian for whom it’s impossible to have any empathy. He treats badly anyone who does him any favors, but he ends up with a lot of money, which I think is quite realistic [laughs].
A: And what about Water For Elephants?
R: The movie’s set around the time of the Great Depression and I play a guy who drops out of College and join the circus.
A: So, you actually work with elephants?
R: Yes. It’s a great story, an amazing cast, a very good director and a spetacular movie, without any special effects, but one of the things that caught my attention were the elephants. I met them, and I’m going to work with them, it’s wonderful. Do you know elephants purr? I found that out.
A: With each one of your characters have you learned the most?
R: Besides Edward, I’d say it was Salvador Dalí in Little Ashes. I really changed my way to observe acting. But I think every character that I play has been defining my personality for that particular moment.
A: It seems like you work almost non stop. Do you have any vacation plans?
R: Not yet. Maybe after Breaking Dawn, but I feel like I don’t have to. This job is like being on vacation, or at least it’s not a heavy work. It’s great going to work everyday.
A: Do you ever feel lonely?
R: I think that, since I work all day, I kinda live an isolated life. Most conversations I have are about the same subject and people sorta dictate the way I’m supposed to behave.
A: You’re being considered the most famous actor in the world. How do you deal with all this attention?
R: I spend a lot of time hiding. There are good days and bad days, and I’d like to not panic about those things. But I think I try to keep work separate from my personal life, and with that, my ego hasn’t been affected much. I don’t get out of London if it’s not because of work, but that doesn’t mean I spend most of my time in Los Angeles, going to Hollywood parties.
A: Have you ever had a fan moment with someone famous?
R: I sat next to David and Victoria Beckham in a restaurant the first time I went to Los Angeles and I acted a bit like a fan.
A: Of whom, David or Victoria?
R: [laughs] A little bit of both, it was just surreal to me.
A: You said that success hadn’t gone up to your head. But what about all of those times you’re considered “the best dressed” or “the sexiest”? Isn’t it cool?
R: I know that next year there’ll be someone else on the list. Actually, those things make me laugh. This morning, I was leaving the gym and suddenly I realized that, not only I was wearing my old gym clothes and beat up sneakers, but I was also wearing black socks, the ones you wear with a two-piece-suit. I think that this, sometimes cancels the sexy and best dressed.
A: What’s the weirdest question anyone’s ever asked you?
R: People ask me if I believe in vampires, and I don’t. Someone also asked me once the color of my tooth brush and I couldn’t remember.
A: And what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever read about you?
R: That I was the best dressed. Who thinks that, obviously never saw me wearing gym clothes.