14 DAY TRIAL // Vampires have always exerted this kind of weird and irresistible attraction on us, especially when put on film. With their ridiculous good looks, their impenetrable calm that bespeaks unimaginable cruelty and perhaps something more as well (a soul?), unmatchable physical abilities and unpredictability, it’s no wonder they’ve been moviemakers’ favorite subject for so long. Because of this, USA Weekend decided to take a closer look at vampires throughout the years in a weekend piece.
Of course, it was hard to love or feel the slightest sympathy for the original Dracula, the piece says. It was also easier to kill Dracula, since some garlic, a cross and daylight would suffice. Not the same can be said of the vampires we have now: not only are they no longer repulsive or scary, but they’re also almost impossible to kill. Daylight only bothers them slightly, crosses and garlic have no effect, and, surprisingly enough, they seem to have developed feelings with the passing of the years. It’s the case of Edward Cullen from “Twilight,” the hottest vampire of our times.
For Robert Pattinson, the London-born actor playing Edward, things are still too much to take in. Describing himself as a deer caught in the headlights, Pattinson says he did a lot of research when preparing for Edward, who will be seen next in “New Moon,” the second film in “The Twilight Saga,” which opens on November 20. He started off, of course, with the classic “Interview With the Vampire,” he reveals in the USA Today interview. However, he needed more than watching vampires to get a convincing Edward, so he also began to look for James Dean movies because he was working on building a character that was as dangerous as he was irresistible.
“‘Rebel Without a Cause was a big influence on the first [‘Twilight’ film] – it influenced the hairdo and stuff. In lots of ways, it has a very similar character arc: An everyday girl brings this relatively strange individual out of his slump.” Pattinson says. As it turns out, the British actor did such a wonderful job, that he’s become practically inseparable in the eyes of the fans from Edward. Not that Robert minds it all that much, though, especially not when he knows there were things he could have done to prevent it. Now that it’s happened, though, he just rolls with the punches.
“I’m not entirely sure what it is.” he says of the “Twilight” phenomenon. “I’ll probably realize afterward how I could have controlled it a little bit more. But I am still like a deer in headlights. Right at the beginning, everyone just called me Edward. I don’t really mind either way. There’s something about that character that, for some reason, has sparked an interest in massive degrees in so many different people. If you want to compete with your own character, you have to really fight. I don’t know if I could be bothered to fight. I just let it go by.” Pattinson says, chuckling to himself.