I have some affection for Nikki Reed as a relatively nice-seeming castmember of the Twilight franchise. I haven’t seen an interview with her before. So I was surprised by the fact that she has a kind of a nasally, mildly annoying voice. Nikki takes the cover of Seventeen’s December/January issue, which we first saw a preview of six weeks ago.

Seventeen released a behind-the-scenes video of Nikki’s interview and photoshoot (above) and she gives some totally unremarkable comments about what she’ll miss about her Twilight costars. She says that Kristen Stewart makes good desserts, that Robert Pattinson tells elaborate stories and is a “good storyteller,” that Taylor Lautner has a lot of energy, and that Kellan Lutz is a goofball. Ashley Greene gives her workout tips and fashion advice (I get the impression that she’s a mini-Goop) and Jackson Rathbone jams out with her now-husband, former AI contestant Paul McDonald.

So everything Nikki said was diplomatic and my impression of her as a nice person was confirmed. If you read between the lines on what she said in the actual interview she may be hinting at some kind of issues with her costars. She said (and we covered this a while ago) that “success comes along and changes the dynamic. We’re not all best friends, and we’re not all going to hang out together after the final movie is done.” She also claimed in that video interview that what she’ll miss about Twilight is the time at the beginning of filming, when everything was innocent.

HollywoodLife claims that in this video Nikki disses Robert Pattinson as a liar and confirms a feud with him and his now-girlfriend, Kristen Stewart. GossipCop calls them out for drawing spurious conclusions, and I agree that they’re really reaching with that one. That doesn’t mean that there’s no feud though.

Quick background: Rumor has it that Nikki dated Robert Pattinson before Kristen Stewart and that Kristen and Nikki were friends back then. Kristen had another boyfriend at the beginning of filming, who was also friends with Nikki prior to when Kristen dumped him and hooked up with Robert. (Not necessarily in that order and more background is here.) So there’s probably bad blood there but I doubt they’re seething at each behind the scenes.

I think the most telling thing in Seventeen, though, is this first person work of “fiction” Nikki wrote about a young girl in love with a charismatic guy who convinced her that they should keep their romance a secret:

It had been almost a year since we began dating, but nobody knew about us. Sometimes I would bring it up casually, but he always found a way to twist and turn his words until they morphed into a theory that seemed to make sense. He was good with his words, and I was good at coming up with reasons to believe them. Only a few friends at school were allowed to know about us, and they were mostly hand selected by him.

At the time it made sense, because he was convincing when he spoke about privacy being a persons number one priority. Sometimes I would tell him half jokingly that I wanted to scream it out to the world on a megaphone, because that’s what being in love made me feel like doing. He never smiled at that. Although my mom sensed there was something unusually dark about him, I always argued that it was self-induced. Besides, I couldn’t let myself believe that I was too good for him. He was endlessly charming, and intelligent, and philosophical beyond his years. At least that’s how he would secretly want to be described.

I knew I loved him, and that’s all that mattered. Sure I wasn’t the prettiest girl in the world, but he always said he liked me for that very reason, so I felt content with that. Most of the time that is. One time, I gathered the courage to sing a song in front of him in the lunch room (I had always loved singing), and he laughed and said “…that’s what’s so great about you; even though you aren’t a good singer, you’re not afraid to try.” That’s a compliment right?

[From Seventeen, written by Nikki Reed]

That to me is way more revealing than the fact that she called Robert a good story teller. She’s married at this point, so you would think she’d be over this though. Maybe that explains why she got married so quickly in the first place.

Nikki is shown on 11/14, 11/15 and 11/16. Credit: Pacific Coast News and Fame

Two weekends ago, there was an OMG SCANDAL in which Robert Pattinson was seen in the vicinity of a girl who was not Kristen Stewart. OMG. Actually, it was a bit more scandalous than that – Sparkles and Sarah Roemer were seen hanging out at a club and then they got into the same car. OK! Magazine even claims that Sparkles “stroked” Sarah’s hand in the car. OMG I bet she’s pregnant now!!! Anyway, OK! Mag has a hilarious/sad story about what’s really going on between Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson: basically, Kristen is a neurotic mess over Robert’s flirtations…? Who buys that? But I do buy that Rob “adores” Kristen:

It was the canoodle felt round the world: On Dec. 3, Twilight’s Robert Pattinson left L.A.’s La Poubelle restaurant with actress Sarah Roemer, then squeezed into the backseat of a waiting car and stroked her hand — this with Rob’s on-and-off- screen love, Kristen Stewart, 5,000 miles away in England, filming Snow White and the Huntsman. So speculation flew: Was Edward cheating on Bella? Twi-hards were aghast — and Kristen was furious.

“Rob’s one of the world’s biggest heartthrobs and Kristen’s never been able to relax the whole time she’s been with him,” an insider tells OK!. “This was, like, her worst fear realized.”

Rob, 25, denies any infidelity, claiming it was an innocent night out with platonic pals. But now the brooding screen vampire is terrified that Kristen, 21, might come home and toss his guitar and hoodies into the street — and he’s desperately trying to save their relationship.

“Rob’s in total panic mode at the thought of losing Kristen,” the insider says. “He’s desperate to keep her and is virtually groveling on bent knee.”

To return to Kristen’s good graces, Rob is buying her a spectacular Christmas present: A diamond ring.

“He’s designing it himself and wants to put an inscription inside,” a friend of Kristen tells OK!. “He asked if their initials were too cheesy, but Rob really is a hopeless romantic. He adores Kristen,” the friend adds. “He wakes up thinking of her and goes to bed thinking of her. And he would do anything for her.”

Another measure of Rob’s devotion? In a recent interview he hinted at having children with Kristen. Asked if he’d like to be a young father, Rob replied, “I think that would be nice.”

There appears to be some work to do first — the Sarah flap is only the latest bump of a rocky period in Robstenland.

“Kristen and Rob have been arguing a lot,” says a pal of Rob. “They’re overworked; their tempers are short.” But more than anything else, what’s fueling the discord is just plain jealousy. Working on separate film projects in between Twilight stints, Rob and Kristen have often been continents apart. Texting and Skyping only go so far both young stars face temptation. In the early days of the Twilight phenomenon, of course, it was mainly Rob who was fending off amorous advances from fans — and fueling gossip. While making 2010’s dark romance Remember Me, for instance, he got uncomfortably (for K-Stew, at least) close to co-star Emilie de Ravin.

“Rob loves the attention he’s been getting from hot women,” his friend tells OK!. “Growing up in London, he never had that. So he’s been taking advantage of his popularity by flirting.”

But, increasingly, it’s becoming a two-way street. Much like Twilight alter ego Bella Swan, Kristen has become more comfortable with her sexuality.

“Having so many enamored male fans drool over her has made Kristen feel the sexiest she’s ever felt,” says Rob’s friend. “Because of her newfound confidence, she finds herself wanting to flirt more. Kristen claims it’s all in good fun.”

Rob isn’t laughing — he’s especially steamed over Kristen’s recent outing with On the Road co-star Garrett Hedlund, and the attention she lavishes on easy-on-the-eyes Twilight co-star Taylor Lautner. In fact, Kristen’s friend suggests that Rob may have played up the Sarah incident just to make her jealous: “He does everything to keep Kristen’s attention. She doesn’t tend to be the type to dote on him, and it drives him crazy.”

Clearly, the next few weeks are crucial for the golden couple’s relationship. “Rob’s saying all the right things,” an insider says. “Kristen wants to trust him more than anything, and there’s no doubt she’d love to be Mrs. Pattinson one day.”

The holidays may provide a cooling off period. Kristen is spending Christmas in L.A. with her mother, Jules, while Rob flies back to London to be with his folks. Kristen’s friend is hopeful the romance will survive.

“They’re young, in love, rich, famous and their careers couldn’t be better,” the pal tells OK!. “For them it’s really just about enjoying their time together. Kristen is always saying they should live in the moment and not worry about what comes next.”

[From OK! Magazine]

I tend to believe that Kristen is the one who will cheat, if I had to make a choice between the two of them. Kristen allegedly screwed around WITH Sparkles when she was with her previous boyfriend, Michael Angarano – and I do think there was some overlap between the two relationships. Kristen seems really good at playing the game of keeping Robert interested in her, and I suspect she’s a withholder, and he’s a bit of a masochist. He’s always reaching out, and she’s always pulling away. That’s what makes them work. For now. Give it another year.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I didn’t write about this yesterday because I didn’t really think there was much to it, first of all, and second of all, the story made me too happy, and Kristen Stewart super-fans already hate me enough (because I dare to call their idol a “twitchy lip-biter”), so I don’t need the extra dramz. The basic gist is that Robert Pattinson was spotted out and about in LA – WITH ANOTHER WOMAN. The woman in question is named Sarah Roemer – the only thing I know her from is Disturbia, that half-decent Shia LaBeouf film. I always think Roemer is like a budget Blake Lively – don’t they look alike to you? They even slouch in the same way. Anyway, Sarah and Robert were acting friendly towards each other and then they got into the same car. OMG.

They have one of the most talked-about relationships in Hollywood. But it seems not all is well with Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, judging by photographs of the Twilight star leaving a bar in Los Feliz last night with Disturbia actress Sarah Roemer.

The 25-year-old actor attempted to keep his head down as he left the La Poubelle bar and made his way home in a car inside which Roemer was already waiting.

It’s claimed that Pattinson and Roemer had spent the evening with friends in the bar, before the group made their way to Soho House in West Hollywood. The pair are then alleged to have left Soho House together in a car driven by Roemer.

Robert is likely to know Sarah through girlfriend Kristen, who worked with the actress on her 2007 film Cutlass.

Pattinson and Stewart have been photographed together in recent months while promoting their most recent movie Breaking Dawn: Part I. However, the pictures of Pattinson, who looked scruffy in a checked shirt, leaving the bar with Roemer are unlikely to impress his girlfriend. And Roemer wasn’t the only female Pattinson attracted during his evening out.

An onlooker told X17Online.com: ‘Rob was literally fending off advances from girls, left and right. Every female in the bar wanted to get close to him and for the most part, he politely ignored them but one girl caught his eye and she left with him!’

Roemer is most famous for starring opposite Shia LaBeouf in 2007 thriller Disturbia. She has since appeared in US TV show The Event, as well as the new series of Hawaii Five-0.

[From The Mail]

This is the kind of story that makes me wonder what kind of s–tstorm awaits Pattinson whenever he and Kristen really do break up. I think it will depend on who does the dumping, and exactly when it happens – I keep rooting for them to break up before Breaking Dawn Part II premieres, just because I love a good, awkward red carpet. But the safe bet is that Kristen and Rob will be done by this time next year. How much is Robert’s life going to suck then? I’m guessing he goes back to England and “hides out” for a few years.

Oh, and in case you were seriously worried about Rob and Kristen, a “source” (probably from the studio) went to People Mag and said that “Rob rented a new house in L.A. and Stewart’s dog was walked by a dog walker yesterday by the home, leading to believe she will be staying there when she returns for the holidays.” Convoluted reasoning – Rob is renting a house in LA, and Kristen’s dog was seen in the area…? OMG DEFINITIVE PROOF.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

In Touch Weekly decided that Breaking Dawn Part 1 just hasn’t made enough money quite yet, so they went with a cover story that is pretty much a free advertisement. OMG TWILIGHT WEDDING! Only it’s REAL. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are totally TOTALLY going to get married just like Bella and Edward and everything is going to be so totally amazing and OMG.

According to In Touch’s story, Sparkles is “already” planning a romantic proposal to Kristen. Here’s a funny line – “They’re sending out joint holiday cards this year to close friends. It’s their way of saying the wedding invitation is next.” OMG Christmas cards!!! Let’s see, what else… no wedding date yet, but that’s not shocking if Sparkles is still in the planning stages of the proposal. Kristen and Rob already know that they want a “small ceremony” though. And they’re super-favorite spot in the world is the Isle of Wright – “Their best times together were spent on the Isle of Wight. When they were at the height of the Twilight hysteria they’d be able to sneak away there and just be with each other.” But what about the push-pull of two careers? “They agreed to take three years to get their careers going after Twilight. Then, she will take a year off.” Because she’ll try to have a sparkly BABY.

I’m including some newly-released stills from Breaking Dawn of Bella’s Carolina Herrera wedding gown – I don’t care for it from the front, but from the back, it’s lovely.

PS… in a much more interesting tabloid story, Star Magazine claims this week that Kristen is still pissed off at Nikki Reed for sleeping with Sparkles before she (Kristen) got around to him. A source tells the mag: “Kristen has never forgiven Nikki for the fling she had with Rob. Kristen never confronted Rob about the affair, she just put the blame on Nikki and accused her of pursuing him. Nikki is very vocal about Kristen not being supportive of her success. Nikki is not one to censor herself to avoid confrontation and Kristen doesn’t like that. Miraculously, Robert’s been able to maintain a friendship with Nikki. But it won’t last, not if Kristen has anything to say about it.” I believe that story so much more than the wedding one.

Photos courtesy of Summit Entertainment, In Touch.

These photos are from the London premiere

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart looked solid and very much together during the promotional tour for Breaking Dawn. In fact they happily posed together, smiled and looked at each other more than they have during any other premiere or promotional event for Twilight. Robert even joked that the officiator during their onscreen wedding was a real priest who kept using their real names and that they might be accidentally married. Tabloid stories had Rob smitten with Kristen and hoping she would marry him someday, and that had a ring of truth to it. As Kaiser has mentioned, it’s easy to imagine their dynamic like that: Rob is gaga for Kristen and she’s pretty blase about the whole relationship. Only according to Mike Walker in the National Enquirer, Robert broke up with Kristen right before the big Breaking Dawn LA premiere.

Reports My Twilight Spy: “Just two days after the couple was inducted into Hollywood’s legendary Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Robert – who’d been having second thoughts about their relationship – hit Kristen with the news that he’s ending it. They kept on smiling at the Los Angeles premiere, but Robert was an emotional wreck – and so was Kristen, who never saw the breakup coming. Explaining his reasoning, Rob told Kristen he adores her, but feels that their romance blossomed only because they’d been thrown together as on-screen lovers for nearly four years. Rob felt it was time to explore other relationships and move on.”

Even though Kristen’s devastated, the source added, she knows they’ve got to put on happy faces to promote “Breaking Dawn” – and the sequel next year.

[From The National Enquirer]

I’m not really buying this, particularly since these two are said to have hung out at the after party for the LA premiere, but it could have happened. Maybe it explains why Kristen was somewhat uncomfortable looking during the LA premiere and was smiling during the London premiere – she’d come to terms with the breakup and was relieved. She’s always been so shy about showing affection toward Robert, but looks more comfortable and buddy-buddy with Taylor. If they broke up and the pressure was off, that could explain it. It’s hard to tell, though. If this really did happen they deserve credit for posing together at two of the premieres and acting like nothing was wrong.

Meanwhile Hollywood Life has some new quotes and a video of Robert being interviewed by German outlet Viva. They ask him about Twilight vs. True Blood and other vampire franchises with more teeth, to use an apt pun. Robert uses the tired Coke and Pepsi metaphor to explain it, saying that Twilight is like Coke and Pepsi was a copy. He said:

It’s like that Coke versus Pepsi thing, and how Coke just said ‘There’s a reason everyone compares themselves to us.’ ‘Twilight’ was the original and everybody’s trying to copy it. They’re all just trying to jump aboard the ‘Twilight’ train!

[via Hollywood Life]

True Blood star Stephen Moyer previously called Pattinson’s character “The diet Coke of Vampires” so who’s copying now? Also, the Southern Vampire Mysteries series, on which True Blood is based, were around way before Twilight and have quite a few similar plot points. Some have accused Twilight author Stephanie Meyer of lifting elements from that earlier series, particularly the whole clairvoyance issue between the protagonist and the love interest vampire. In The Southern Vampire Mysteries, first out in 2001, the lead Sookie Stackhouse is a clairvoyant who is relieved that she can’t read her boyfriend vampire’s thoughts. In Twilight, out in 2005, the vampire boyfriend is relieved that he can’t read the female lead’s thoughts. So I think that comparing Twilight to Diet Coke is more apt, while True Blood is Jack Daniels.

Update: As miagirl points out, Kristen and Robert were out and about in London over the weekend. They went to a show together and were even photographed sort-of embracing. So if they did break up it didn’t last.

These photos are from the London premiere on 11/16, when these two had already supposedly broken up. There are also a couple of cute photos of Robert and Taylor Lautner promoting Breaking Dawn in Berlin on 11/18. Credit: WENN.com

With some movies, reviews just don’t matter. Such was the case for the latest Twilight Saga installment, Breaking Dawn Part I, which received a 29% certified “rotten” score from critics yet nonetheless went on to secure an estimated $139.5 million opening weekend. Even though this result isn’t quite as remarkable as New Moon‘s $142.5 million opener, Summit Entertainment still has absolutely nothing to complain about:

While it wasn’t quite able to reach the series high $139.5 million opening indicated that the sexy teen vampires are as popular as ever. What does appear to have lost some of its appeal, however, is dancing penguins: Happy Feet Two struggled to even open to half as much as its popular 2006 predecessor. Overall box office was up around 20 percent to at least $218 million, and the weekend could wind up ranking as the fifth-highest on record.

Breaking Dawn‘s $139.5 million opening is second-best among Twilight movies behind 2009′s New Moon ($142.7 million). That’s a small gap, though, and Breaking Dawn still managed to claim fifth place on the all-time opening weekend chart behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 3 and New Moon. As is typical for the Twilight movies, its weekend was incredibly front-loaded with 51.6 percent of the gross coming from Friday showings (including its $30.25 midnight tally).

The audience was 80 percent female and 60 percent over 21 years old. That’s more female-skewing than Eclipse (65 percent) but even with New Moon (80 percent). Also, the audience was younger for those movies (only 50 percent over 21 years old), though it’s logical for the crowd to age along with the series. Breaking Dawn received a “B+” CinemaScore, which improved to an “A-” among females.

Happy Feet Two debuted to an estimated $22 million, or just over half as much as the $41.5 million that the first Happy Feet opened to on the same weekend in 2006.CinemaScore.

[From Box Office Mojo]

Score one for Summit’s marketing team, which clearly embraced the balls-out absurdity of Stephenie Meyer’s fourth book. From the very first movie still, which featured the tell-tale after effects of Edward Cullen’s pillowbiting frenzy, the entire promotional scheme for this movie highlighted the main question that the Twihards were dying to know — how could anyone possibly translate all of the book’s ridiculous happenings into a watchable, PG-13 movie? Of course, I’ll issue a mild SPOILER ALERT while also suggesting that all interested parties review the film’s theatrical trailer:

See? The trailer embraces the pure camp of the book (and series) by kicking things off with the long-suffering Jacob ripping off his shirt and wolfing out while his poor father heads out after him in the pouring rain. Jacob, of course, was in agony because Bella was marrying Edward, but all fans of the book realize that Jacob later imprints on a baby. Naturally, a lot of people (myself included) were very interested to see how director Bill Condon could possibly interpret that jacked-up moment on film as well as the notorious birth scene. This is not to mention the headboard-crushing moment when an 117-year-old vampire has sex for the very first time, which is also prominently featured within the trailer as well. Brilliant marketing, indeed. So yes, Breaking Dawn Part I achieved a very well-deserved victory this weekend at least from a promotional standpoint.

Also, I kind of love this unintentionally hilarious still of Kellan Lutz carrying the trunk of a redwood tree in manner of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando. You just know that the Lutz is carrying a big hunk of plastic:

Photos courtesy of AllMoviePhoto

I’m just going to briefly pretend that CB didn’t use last night’s Breaking Dawn premiere photos for the lead link yesterday, because I’d really like to talk about them. The premiere was in London, and I think it was a much better showing for everybody involved. I really liked Kristen Stewart’s Roberto Cavalli gown – sexy, pretty, well-made. In retrospect, I dislike that J. Mendel dress even more. I like Kristen’s styling much better here too – her hair is much prettier, she seems less awkward, and she and Robert seem almost sweet together. Also: she posed for photos in heels and then she went somewhere, changed into her Converse and did more red carpet stuff. I don’t know how that works – does she go inside to change her shoes? If it’s that big of deal, why not do the whole red carpet in your sneakers? Anyway, since we’re currently being sold this grand love story, it helps if the two leads are actually loved up and the studio can sell that too, right?

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart might not officially be married but they definitely act like it! A new report in Us Weekly says Rob, 25, and Kristen, 21, tell their friends that they already feel like “an old married couple” because they spend their free time watching documentaries, reading and cooking huge meals!

Not to mention that the pair’s romance has been going strong for at least two years, they spend as much time together as their demanding schedules allow and neither has any interest in ever dating anyone else.

“They go to Kristen’s parents’ house and make big meals,” a source says. “Everyone helps cook. Her mom and dad welcome him as if he’s their own. They crack to everyone that they feel like an old married couple.”

Then why hasn’t Robsten already walked down the aisle like their co-star Nikki Reed who married Paul McDonald in October?

“Rob would have married her like yesterday,” the insider says. “But she is happy with the way things are.”

In 2009, Kristen mentioned in an interview that she didn’t want her engagement ring to look like Bella’s, saying a “huge rock” was not her style. “Rob was sweet and said something like, ‘I’ll make a note of that!’”

And when Kristen and Robert filmed Bella Edward’s wedding, Pattinson “could not even remember the vows,” Kristen says. “I think he was kind of nervous.”

[From Hollywood Life & Us Weekly, print edition]

I’m tired of this story line, and I think it’s changed too. While I used to think Sparkles was the one who wanted commitment and wanted to be more public with Kristen, I actually think he’s just tired of everything to do with this franchise, including his girlfriend. Now, I’m sure they’re still together, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he had gotten close to her family and that Kristen and Robert really do act like an “old married couple”. But that also means that they might have lost some of the spark, you know? I still wonder if they’re even going to be together after the promotional tour for Breaking Dawn Part 2 – which means they have to wait it out for another year? What happens if they break up before then? Would the studio freak out?

Oh, and Pajiba has a lovely piece on Robert Pattinson and why he’s a lovely dude despite this awful franchise – go here to read it.

Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.

Here are the real stars of last night’s Breaking Dawn premiere, the most photographed actors on the red carpet, real-life and on-screen lovers and the objects of desire, fanaticism and loathing: Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Let me start with Kristen. She wore this blue-purple-black J. Mendel that I’m not in love with. I don’t hate it, and I actually like the blue-purple color on Kristen a lot. The cut of the dress is kind of bad, and it looks rather cheap to me. I think it has something to do with the too-high slit and how hundreds of Twihards probably saw Bella’s vadge on the red carpet when she walked a certain way – what‘s with Kristen and her vadge-high slits and too-short miniskirts? Why is she determined to show us her biscuits? The slit is also bad because you can see a lot of the lining, and the material looks tacky and cheap.

Now I’ll say something nice – her makeup looks good. Her posture is improving somewhat. She’s still pretty slouchy, but she’s evolving it into a more model-pose slouch. And I love that ring she’s wearing on her left hand – it’s gorgeous.

As for Sparkles… he was slouching more than Kristen! I think because he’s so tall, and he didn’t want to tower over Kristen as they posed together on the red carpet. His suit was meh, his hair was a mess! I didn’t like her hair either – it was not a good hair night for either of them. And Sparkles really, really needs to work on not making those dumb expressions when he’s being photographed.

This was the friendliest I’ve ever seen them on a red carpet, by the way. Usually, they only pose together for a little bit and then they invite Taylor Lautner over so it’s a creepy threesome pose. Maybe it’s the time they’ve spent apart, maybe Kristen has just accepted that she has a cute British boyfriend, whatever it is, they looked more coupley than I’ve ever seen.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

During this round of endless Breaking Dawn promotion, Robert Pattinson stopped by the “Late Show with David Letterman.” Beforehand, he posed outside the Ed Sullivan theater with some fans and signed autographs too. As always, Robert is much better in motion, and photographs rarely do him justice. It certainly doesn’t help matters that he tends to do this when the flashbulbs go off:

During the interview itself, Robert was his usual self-effacing and adorable self and made a reference to My Little Pony while discussing his sparkling vampire character, Edward Cullen:

On New Yorkers: “People in New York are a little more vocal than other places. It’s funny. They’ve got some dirty mouths, which is kind of great because it makes it exciting after you’ve done it a few times. You want anything, you want people to attack you.”

On Dealing With The Frenzy: “People screaming at me and stuff? I mean … It feels like job security in a funny sort of way.”

On Disguising Himself: “I attempt to — it doesn’t particularly work ever. I started off just trying to make strange expressions, but that’s not a particularly good tactic. You try and get little tics and things. You try and draw attention to the wrong part of your body, but that doesn’t realy work at all. The best disguise is repellant.”

On Edward Cullen’s Missing Sparkles: “There’s a big sequence of the movie in Brazil where for whatever reason, because Brazil is obviously very sunny, I could not possibly explain to you why I’m not sparkling. It’s sort of a glaring continuity error.”

See, here’s the difference between the Sparkler and Kristen Stewart. Whereas the latter compares the trappings of fame to being raped, the former sees the hassles merely as a sign of job security. This is why we can’t help but love the guy.

As for Breaking Dawn itself, I begrudgingly admit that I’ll end up watching this crap in the theater and more than tolerating the experience. However, I can at least (in public) blame it on my daughter, who will be receiving IMAX tickets for a birthday present. Shhhh — don’t tell her about it just yet. I’m trying to avoid the joyous screaming as long as humanly possible.

Photos courtesy of WENN

For a few months now, while Kristen Stewart has been filming Snow White and the Huntsman in England, I’ve been loosely keeping tabs on how often Robert Pattinson visits her. It hasn’t been very often – he’ll come in for a weekend every so often, but mostly K-Stew is without her boyfriend as she works in England. This lack of being-stuck-up-each-other’s-bums has caused me to often wonder if they are close to shutting this romance down. Robert isn’t working right now – he finished production on Cosmopolis weeks ago – and he just seems to be hanging out in LA a lot. I would imagine that he’s taking meetings, hanging out with friends, and gearing up for Breaking Dawn promotion, but it’s weird to me that two young people aren’t spending more time together if they’re in a relationship. Isn’t that what being young is all about?

Anyway, Us Weekly has an interesting take on what’s REALLY going on. Hint: it involves K-Stew being cold and withholding and Sparkles eating it up like a masochist.

In real life, Bella and Edward’s roles are reversed.

Insiders tell the new Us Weekly — on stands now — that Robert Pattinson is “desperate for affection” from Kristen Stewart.

“He is always worried about her leaving him,” a confidant of the 21-year-old actress tells Us.

“She will blow him off, and it makes him crazy,” adds the friend. While Pattinson, 25, admits he’s eager to settle down, Stewart is far from ready to walk down the aisle.

A friend of both the Breaking Dawn stars chalks it up to Stewart’s youth: “Don’t all people her age play games?”

For more on Rob and Kristen’s tortured two-and-a-half-year romance, check out the new Us Weekly, on stands now.

[From Us Weekly]

Do you buy this dynamic? I used to think this was what was going on, and I think Sparkles probably still feels like he’s the one more prepared to “settle down” – that boy seems like a nester. But I don’t think Sparkles is sitting around, waiting for whatever crumbs of affection K-Stew deigns to drop. At least, I hope he’s not.

Meanwhile, Sparkles has a new interview in The Guardian, which you can read here. I’ve done some highlights below – he’s as neurotic and charming as always. I love his interviews. He’s like a pasty, English version of Woody Allen:

The Mark Hamill Career Trajectory: “It’s like being compared to people who’ve been in massive movies who just sort of disappear afterwards, even though they probably had incredibly fulfilling and successful lives,” he says, nibbling on a fingernail. “Like Luke Skywalker.” He scratches his head. “What the f–k’s his name?” Mark Hamill. “Yes! People are like: ‘Oh, the Mark Hamill curse.’ And poor Mark Hamill. Jesus Christ.” He tilts back in the chair and laughs, apparently oblivious to the state of his T-shirt. “I mean, I’m sure he did fine.”

Twilight was his safety net: “In career terms Twilight was like a security blanket,” Pattinson continues. Then he furrows his brow for a moment and corrects himself. “Not a blanket – a safety net. I had a three- or four-month window between each one during which I could do another job. But whatever I did I knew that I’d have another Twilight movie on the way, which is theoretically guaranteed to make a lot of money. So I could always afford to fail.” Now the net is gone. The stakes have been raised. He once described choosing roles as “crippling”. “After the last one comes out, you can kind of have two failures – and they’d better be low-budget failures. Because if you have one big-budget failure you’re pretty much done in this environment.”

He admires Kristen Stewart’s career: “It’s different for Kristen, for example… She doesn’t think about it like that at all, because she grew up gradually, doing independent movies and stepping up the ladder, whereas I was doing progressively smaller movies in England, after Harry Potter… to the point where I was doing nine-day shoots for, like, 20p and a packet of Space Invaders. And then this happened. So I’m not just another actor who’s around and jobbing. When you hire me for a job, you’re hiring…” Twilight guy? “Yeah. I’m now this ‘thing’ that’s supposed to be something. And if you then don’t fulfill that expectation, what the f–k are you?”

Being cast in Twilight – and the audition was his first time with Xanex: Apparently he had the X-factor Hardwicke was looking for: as far as Pattinson was concerned, that X stood for Xanax. “I’d never had a Xanax before,” he says, looking guilty for a moment. “But I’d started getting so paranoid about messing up auditions all the time that I would actually mess them up. So I took like half a Xanax. And it went really well, so when I had to go and meet the producers I thought: I’m just going to take another Xanax!” He laughs and rocks his chair. “And then I went in and almost fell asleep.”

In the end: “If I do decide one day to stop acting, I just hate the idea of people going: ‘Oh, did you ever do anything else besides that Twilight thing?’”

[From The Guardian]

Poor Sparkles. I don’t think he’ll be Mark Hamill’d. I think after Breaking Dawn, he’ll have a few off-years where he gives solid performances in small films and weak performances in bigger films, and then the second wave will occur when he gets a good part that’s well-written and it will be his second big break. Now, Kristen, on the other hand. I have no idea what her career future will be, but it will be interesting to see if she’s still relevant in five years.

Photos courtesy of WENN.