think for a minute......: HE'S A SUCKER FOR SMART GALS

HE'S A SUCKER FOR SMART GALS - Robert Pattinsons

HE'S A SUCKER FOR SMART GALS
By Tan Shou Chen in Los Angeles
December 14, 2008 Print Ready Email Article

THOSE dreamy eyes, that devil-may-care grin, and that rebel-rocker mop.
Click to see larger image
--PICTURE: AP

It's no wonder that women - from teenage girls to their mothers - all over the world are literally throwing themselves at Robert Pattinson.

The 22-year-old has become Hollywood's latest 'It' boy, thanks to his role as Edward Cullen, the mysterious and sexy vampire in the fantasy romance Twilight.

The film is based on US author Stephenie Meyer's popular book series about a teenage girl named Bella (Kristen Stewart) who seeks forbidden love with her vampire classmate Edward.

The books - four in the series, with Twilight being the first - have gained an international cult following, especially with the tween and teen set, with over 25million copies sold worldwide.

The movie opens here on 18 Dec and sneaks are this weekend.

Yet, during a round-table interview with The New Paper at the posh Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills last month, the 1.85m-tall Londoner seemed as meek as a mouse.

And he appears unfazed at being the idol of thousands of teenage fans.

Surely, amid his throng of female admirers, there has to be someone who fits his type?
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CENTRE OF ATTENTION: Cameras click away as Robert Pattinson poses at the premiere of Twilight in Westwood, California.

'They're all pretty young,' Pattinson, who is single, said somewhat sheepishly.

Even mums love Twilight

'I don't really have a 'type', but I like smart people. You know, I really like (comedienne-actress) Tina Fey. She is, like, the sexiest woman.'

He also admitted having crushes on actresses Patricia Arquette and Elisabeth Shue at one point.

Looks like he does have a 'type' - older women.

The brown-haired actor with piercing blue-grey eyes added: 'I never really considered myself attractive, really. I was always kind of gangly in school.'

He appeared to be quite baffled by the heartthrob label and confessed he does not even watch his own movies.

He made his movie debut in an uncredited role in Mira Nair's Vanity Fair opposite Reese Witherspoon and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. This was followed by a handful of made-for-TV movies.

But if he looks familiar, here is a memory trigger: You probably saw him in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, playing the dreamy but doomed Quidditch team captain Cedric Diggory from the Hufflepuff house.

Pattinson said: 'I don't really like watching my stuff. It makes me feel sick. You imagine you look a certain way in your head, and when it looks even the slightest bit different from what you imagine, you go, 'Rubbish!'.
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FORBIDDEN LOVE: Pattinson plays a vampire who falls in love with a human (played by Kristen Stewart). --PICTURE: REUTERS, SHAW

'I'm pretty self-critical.'

Which such self-consciousness, it is hard to imagine how Pattinson can handle the sudden stardom.

Especially since the role of Edward in Twilight is a heavy burden to bear, given the amount of speculation and anticipation that preceded it.

Protective female fans who had read the books had fantasised extensively over who should play the role ever since the movie adaptation was announced.

That Pattinson, largely an unknown, was cast in the lead role raised the audience's expectations of him.

Co-star Stewart, an unknown herself, thinks Pattinson was the right choice.

She told The New Paper in a separate interview: 'I think what makes him so appealing is that he's so sympathetic.

'During the audition, he was organically feeling the pain and fear of what his character was going through. I think that's why girls love him.

Intense

'He's just a really intense guy. He was the one guy that came into the audition not obviously pre-occupied with what he looks like. He looked terrified when he came into the audition.'

Over 5,000 actors auditioned for the role of Edward and at first, when director Catherine Hardwicke saw a picture of Pattinson, she was unimpressed.

True enough, at our interview, Pattinson's signature tousled tresses looked like he had styled them after The Simpsons character Sideshow Bob's triangular hairdo.

And no, he does not plan to cut them soon.

If you are thinking that mothers cannot possibly approve of their young daughters plunging themselves into a novel that supports such strong desires - especially with someone who is more than a century old - think again.

First, the book's writer Meyer is a mum.

Second, there is an entire website dedicated to mums who love Twilight.

The movie's screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg said: 'Twilight is a romance between a girl and the ultimate unavailable boy - a vampire.

'Anyone who has been a 17-year-old girl knows what it's like to see that wonderfully mysterious and unavailable boy across the room and just feel that longing.'

And if that boy is Pattinson, who wouldn't? Or rather, who hasn't?

The actor has reportedly been mobbed, stalked and proposed to by teenage girls and their mothers (no joke) even before the movie premiered.

Besides his knack of not becoming self-absorbed despite all the attention, Pattinson's down-to-earth work ethic would also win the approval of many mums.

The hardworking actor spent two months before the shoot alone in cold Oregon, completely in self-imposed isolation to discover what it was like to feel the same loneliness that his character would have felt (vampires being the outcasts they are).

Pattinson said almost apologetically: 'Even when the cast first came up, I didn't talk to anyone about anything personal for, like, the first month of the shoot, only about the movie and character.

'They thought I was weird. But it kind of works.'

He continued impassionedly, raising his voice for the first time during the interview: 'Even if it's just a teen film, it should be done at the level where it's worthy of an award.

'I hate the idea of being part of a movie that is just cashing in on the book.'

Passionate, check. Talented, check. He plays the piano and guitar, composes music and has his own rock band - check, check and check, plus grab and 'chope'.

Totally boyfriend material if you are an older woman.

# The writer is a freelancer.

WRITE IN

Are you a fan of the Twilight books, and do you think the movie will live up to the book's popularity? E-mail us at tnpshow@sph.com.sg

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