Robert Pattinson Interview

When we talked to Robert Pattinson about his upcoming biopic 'Little Ashes,' we first ran through some Internet rumors with the 'Twilight' star. Now we are pleased to present part 2, the rest of our breezy, candid interview.

The remarkably generous and self-effacing actor played along, answering our questions -- about doing an indie, stripping for nude scenes, filming 'New Moon' -- with a refreshing dose of candor and complete lack of any diva-tude.

After chatting with Pattinson, we have no qualms in pledging our allegiance to Team Edward. -- By Angie Argabrite

1. How was filming 'Little Ashes,' which is such a small production, compared to doing the 'Twilight' movies?

I kind of like small productions 'cause there's not so much waiting around. And it's strange, there are little things on 'Little Ashes,' like we didn't have stand-ins, so we'd just kind of sit or stand around the set, which I initially found kind of bizarre but after a while it's great, because you can just kind of stay in character the whole time. And also you can be much more a part of the set up of the shot, so I kind of liked that. I don't know, it was, I would say, a very different energy. [But] there's not a huge amount of difference, really. You're just inside your head anyway most of the time, so you don't really notice stuff.



2. I read that you were really nervous about filming the nude scenes and the explicit scenes, how did you prepare yourself for those?

[Laughs] I had so many ridiculous answers just come into my head [more laughs]. I had a penis implant! I don't know, I just kind of, it's funny because Spanish people are so ... have no problem with nudity at all, I mean at all, and English people obviously do have, like, the most enormous problem with it. It's like little things, like when I saw my father getting changed for swimming I got, like, traumatized by it ... I don't really know what I did, I just kind of freaked out a bit. [Laughs]

3. So was that the most difficult thing about filming this movie?

No, I mean, a lot of it was quite hard. I guess in a lot of ways, the more I read about Dali the more I kind of liked him, and liked what he tried to make himself stand for. I guess the hardest thing was that I didn't want to disrespect his memory, especially when I met a lot of people who he knew and stuff. People were very, very fond of him, so that was probably the hardest thing. [Laughs] I didn't want to mess it up!

4. You were playing a real person -- how did that affect your preparation? Did you study up a lot on Dali?

Yeah, I mean it's nice. There are certain things like studying photos. I never really concentrated on my body in a performance before, well not to such an extent, and there were tons and tons of photos of him and he had quite strange posturing ... There was one photo where he's pointing at something, and I guess it's quite nice, and I was trying to figure out "How do you point like that?" Then you realize "Oh, shit. You get your arm and ohhh..." and suddenly it clicks into place. And then when you realize you're walking right and stuff, and people -- Spanish people! -- know who you're playing, without the moustache, they know immediately just by looking in your eyes, it's very satisfying. I like the idea of that; I'd quite like to do it again. And I'm always quite attracted to playing real people.





5. Kristen Stewart is going to be playing rock icon Joan Jett. Is there a rock icon that you'd like to play?

I'd love to play Van Morrison, but I doubt I would get the part [laughs].

6. Who would you love to tour with, if you were going to do a tour as a musician?
I'd quite like to tour with Kings of Leon. I think they're pretty cool.

7. If you couldn't be an actor or a musician, what do you think you would be doing?

I'd quite like to be a political strategist and like a spin doctor. [Laughs] I'd really, really like to do that. I think I will end up doing that at one point.

8. Can you talk about the movie you're signing on, or about to sign on, called 'Memoirs'?

It's not final yet, but I think if it does happen it'll be a fantastic movie. It's an amazing script. I think Jenny Lumet [who's writing the script] is incredible and Allen Coulter [who's directing] is also. I think it could be. I was quite excited about it. I was working in New York on the script a few weeks ago, and we came up with some really cool stuff.

9. How are you handling the massive, instant fame and the craziness?

It's quite stressful in a way, but it's only when you're by yourself. When I have my friends around it doesn't make any difference. I just spend a lot of time by myself, and I used to walk around the block by myself in various different cities, and I don't know, you start to feel a bit vulnerable, I guess. [Laughs] Well, not vulnerable, I don't know ... for paranoid people it does allow your imagination to run rampant, so it's a little strange. You end up going out a lot less [laughs]. But I guess it's so early now I'm really still thinking about it in terms of getting good jobs and stuff, so I haven't really had a chance to be objective about my life, because every single day there's something new happening in my life. In my eyes, everything just seems ridiculous, like every single day it's like you're walking on the street, and then suddenly you step on something and it just starts moving really, really fast, and you're not entirely sure what direction it's going in, but you can feel the force of it. That's about it.