Poor Robert Pattinson, the living, breathing incarnation of the fictional heartthrob of every teen girl (and their mother) on this planet–Edward Cullen. The romantic, sexy vampire had girls swooning on the page long before it was even a thought in their heads that they might catch of glimpse of Edward in the flesh.
Apparently, Pattinson’s movie portrayal of Edward Cullen has been so real to Twilight fans that his life as Robert Pattinson is becoming difficult, writes Brooks Barnes, in the New York Times article “His Cross to Bear: Heartthrob Vampire,” about Pattinson’s special kind of celebrity. And it only gets worse for him during the days leading up to one of the movies’ releases, as it is the case now, with the June 30th premiere of ‘Eclipse’ just around the corner.
“Despite the best efforts of Summit Entertainment’s publicity team, which has a third “Twilight” movie to promote, it took more than a month to corral the heartthrob star of the franchise for an interview. . . Mr. Pattinson was not particularly eager to chat for the quadrillionth time about Edward Cullen, the tenderhearted vampire he will reprise on June 30 in “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.” . . . Mr. Pattinson seemed to have a bit of “Twilight” burnout. . . .”It can get a little boring,” he said softly over coffee at the Four Seasons hotel here, referring both to playing an unchanging vampire and to chewing over the Cultural Importance of It All. “The good news is that the whole thing is done in seven months.””
The experience has apparently been hard on Pattinson.
“[T]he searing, worldwide fame that has come with the franchise has left him emotionally raw. Hunted by the tabloid media (“R-Patz Cuts His Hair!”), Mr. Pattinson changed hotels six times in the month and a half he has spent in Los Angeles filming “Water for Elephants.” He arrived for coffee wearing both a baseball cap and sunglasses to cover his floppy locks and haunting good looks, and he immediately vetoed a booth hand picked by a publicist for its privacy as too public. . .”I’ve learned to let it go a bit, but I’m still really bothered by it,” he said. “The more you are exposed, the more people irrationally hate you. . .”
Wow, hate? I thought it was all love. What do you think? Should Twilight fans just leave Pattinson alone? Should they get a grip and remind themselves that the real Edward is just a fantasy on the page and now the screen? Do we need a little separation between fiction and reality here, people? I think so.