‘Twilight’: Robert Pattinson Shares These Personality Traits with Edward
It’s hard to find someone more critical of The Twilight Saga than Robert Pattinson. Despite portraying Edward Cullen (one of the lead characters) in all five movies, Pattinson didn’t always like or agree with some of his character’s decisions. But despite his critical eye, the actor seems to have enjoyed making the films. He even acknowledged ways in which he and the brooding vampire were similar.
Pattinson has made it clear that it was difficult to portray Edward at times because he was immortal. However, he also struggled with the “perfection” of the character. As Twilight fans will recall, Edward is described as a physically stunning creature. Furthermore, Bella seems to view him and perfect despite his obvious character flaws. Those expectations sometimes made it challenging for Pattinson to find the humanity in his character. Fortunately, reading New Moon helped shift that thinking for the actor.
Robert Pattinson reveals that ‘New Moon’ is his favorite book in ‘The Twilight Saga’
“When I read New Moon, it gave me ideas about how to play him in the first film,” Pattinson shared with MTV while discussing The Twilight Saga. “It’s the one I connected to the most, and the one that humanized Edward for me the most, as well. In the first one, he still does remain, from beginning to end, an idealistic character. But, in the second one, he makes a mistake that’s acknowledged by everybody, including himself. Also, he is totally undermined by more powerful creatures, and he’s undermined emotionally by people as well.”
How Pattinson is similar to his infamous character, Edward Cullen
Not only did Pattinson find a way to humanize his non-human character, but he even found some character traits within Edward that he possessed as well. The actor shared that, like the vampire, he can be pretty set in his ways.”I guess stubbornness, in some ways, about some things,” Pattinson revealed when asked how he was similar to his Twilight character. “He’s pretty self-righteous. I get quite obsessive about things, and possessive as well.”
The ‘Twilight’ star reveals how he can be obsessive and possessive
Continuing on, Pattinson got more specific about how obsession and possession manifested into his life. “I have very, very specific ideas about how I want to do my work and how I want to be perceived, to the point of ridiculousness sometimes,” he shared. “I don’t listen to anyone else. That’s why I don’t have a publicist or anything. I can’t stand it if someone is trying to tell me to do something, which is maybe a mistake sometimes. I like being meticulous, and it’s quite difficult, as an actor, to have that much control. The good thing about the Twilight series is that it does give you a lot more control over little things, which I want to have. I’m a control freak about it.”
Clearly, Pattinson found a through-line to connect with his Twilight character. And while he’s changed his views about having a publicist, his obsession with his work has certainly persisted throughout the course of his career.
