Robert Pattinson a 'grungy' guy

AP

Robert Pattinson.

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Is it the Beatles? Is it Superman? No, it's Robert Pattinson, 23-year-old star of the Twilight series of films, for whom the girls are screaming hysterically.

Remarkably, the hysteria hasn't ruined the British actor, who speaks warmly and with unmistakable honesty. He seems almost unprepared for the questions thrown at him and takes thoughtful pauses, as if to filter out any hype from questions - and his answers.

Pattinson is a self-confessed grungy type who likes "shitty stuff" like old, beaten-up cars. He prefers normal girls, unconcerned by fame.

Having grown up without any conviction he was talented, the London-born actor has been genuinely blown away by the Twilight phenomenon.

"I came back to the UK at Christmas and was mostly left alone. Now it's everywhere," he shudders, screwing up his face in torrents of laughter. "I keep waiting for the day when I wake up and I'm just an asshole to everybody."

These days Pattinson is ushered in and out of buildings by burly bodyguards, so he lives in a kind of bubble. "There are certain situations that turn into chaos, like at airports when you're by yourself, but it rarely happens,'' he says. ''Sometimes it's bizarre. Like you're trying to take a piss and 20 people come up to you and I say I didn't wash my hands."

Pattinson's fame means that at this very moment, even if he moves his head to the side, squeals emanate from an onlooking throng.

Pattinson, who plays vampire Edward Cullen in the movies based on Stephenie Meyer's mega-hit Twilight saga, is promoting the second movie, New Moon, directed by Chris Weitz (About a Boy).

When the mortal Bella (Kristen Stewart) accidentally sheds blood at her 18th birthday party thrown by the Cullen family, Edward's brother is overwhelmed and tries to kill her.

The Cullens move from Forks, Washington, and Edward is heartbroken after ending the relationship with his beloved Bella. She is distraught, too, though is comforted by her childhood friend, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), who turns out to be a werewolf.

Since Bella knows of vampires' existence, she is under threat again when the Volturi, the vampire royalty, decree that she must transform into a vampire or be killed. Edward must come to her rescue.

"It's not a girlie film," says Pattinson, who had to do a lot of emotional pouting in the first film. "There aren't many girlie lines.

''I could relate much more to this one. It was always my favourite book and in the third one, Eclipse [now being directed by David Slade], there's a lot of fighting, too, whereas it was quite difficult for me in Twilight [2008, directed by Catherine Hardwicke]. I think it's difficult for guys to accept those kind of emotions, even to watch it."

The proliferation of vampires on screen, he says, is largely because the new romantic style has been so successful.

"There's a darkness to the love story,'' he says. ''I think people like to have a secret in their relationship with a girlfriend or boyfriend. It keeps things exciting."

Even so, the Twilight films are puritanical. According to British horror film expert Alan Jones (the author of A Rough Guide to Horror Movies): "The Twilight movies use every excuse not to suck blood, the horror film's equivalent to sex. They're really about a silly little girl's obsession with the bad boy."

Of course, Kiefer Sutherland and the other Lost Boys were the bad-boy generation X vampires of the 1980s, while Interview with the Vampire's Tom Cruise sank his fangs into Brad Pitt's neck during the commercial vampire period in the '90s, which also produced Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Whether Pattinson is sinking his fangs into Stewart's flesh in real life is the burning question in tabloid circles. It's at least a great publicity stunt, with Pattinson and Stewart maintaining they are not together, while the gossip mags insist they are.

Given the expectations, Pattinson approached reprising the role with trepidation. "I was worried I wouldn't know how to do it again but I have a natural chemistry with Kristen,'' he says.

Pattinson can relax because in New Moon he has a smaller role, (flashback scenes were added because of his popularity). The actor, who had previously played only minor roles, most notably Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is making the most of his success "while it lasts".

- © Fairfax NZ News