Ciao, Bella: 'New Moon' stars talk about breakup
MOVIE | For Pattinson, crucial breakup scene in 'New Moon' felt like 'something seismic'
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- "I know what it's like to be broken up with in real life," Kristen Stewart says. "I don't know what it's like to be broken up by with a vampire."
Ah, the perils of having a significant other who's a glowing immortal hunk ... and a protective one.
In the "Twilight" sequel "New Moon," out Nov. 20, teenage Bella (Stewart) is dumped by her vampire love Edward (Robert Pattinson).
You know how it goes: I love you, but I'm a vampire and it's really not safe for us to date anymore because members of my family want to eat you, so I'm going to disappear.
Robert Pattinson, hair professionally fluffed, in a black leather jacket, plaid red shirt and jeans, says he sensed the gravity of ditching his screen love.
"What really helped was people's anticipation of the movie and the fans' idea of what Edward and Bella's relationship was for them, which was some kind of ideal," Pattinson says, meeting the press Friday at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles.
"I was breaking up the ideal relationship," he says. "I felt a lot of the weight behind that because I was doing something seismic.
"I could feel the audience watching it before they could even see the movie."
Stewart, looking sleek in short black hair and a black jacket, says, "For Bella in this film, Edward leaving her is like physical withdrawal. She is an addict when it comes to this boy. I have a breakup scene with Rob in the movie, but that's not what intimidated me. It was the absence of him that was scary."
In the book, Edward Cullen disappears for a big chunk of the action, which provided a tough situation for filmmakers because he's still present in Bella's mind. "I was so worried that there would be a back story where he was in South America just moping. It would have been terrifying for me and mortifying for the film," Pattinson says.
"I fought to keep him as limited as possible. He's not in the book as much," he says. "I didn't want to do voiceover either, because that could be very cheesy. We found a happy medium."
It was tricky, director Chris Weitz says. "You didn't want too much Edward because then you lose the important sense of missing him. But everyone loves Rob. When Bella hallucinated, she could see Robert, which was a subtle way to ghost him and try to come up with something quite special."
The filmmaker used green screen to put Pattinson onto a candle flame, so he could flit in and out of her life.
She also has to deal with her best friend, Jacob Black, who goes werewolf and also wants to be her new boyfriend. He goes for it by flashing a hunky new bod.
Taylor Lautner -- in a grey suit jacket, starched white shirt and jeans -- says it wasn't easy being shirtless for most of the movie. And not just because he was chilly.
"I laugh so hard every time I see this scene where Bella is bleeding and I say, 'Oh, you're bleeding. Here.' Then I whip off my shirt to use on her forehead. It's hilarious.
"Here's the thing," he says. "There is a reason he's not wearing clothes all of the time. When he transforms into the werewolf, his clothes are shredded. All he can find in the woods is ripped jeans.
"He's also hot. He's 108 degrees," he says.
As for that other rumor that he's dating Taylor Swift in real life, he says, "The very funny thing is all of you have seen every single move I make. I can leave that up to you to decide."
There is no candlelight either between the other two stars, Stewart says. No, she isn't dating Pattinson in real life.
"The whole rumor tabloid stuff is so obviously false to me, and I knew it was false even before I became a part of it," Stewart says. She says the rumors about the two of them have "been like some sort of ridiculous show. It's like a soap opera, but filled with false realism.
"I don't take it personally," she says. "It might seem real to fans, but it isn't."
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