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Money by Martin Amis. I read it when I was 15, I read it hundreds of times since then and it always makes me laugh. Amis has managed to create a world that is both funny and abrasive. I'd love to play John Self, the depraved hero, who's without illusions, he created.
I have no reason to influence people. I just want to have it all for myself. I just want someone to pat me on the back. (laugh) It's crazy. It seems just completely ridiculous. I don't know why. I mean, three years ago, I wouldn't be able to influence my dog to walk.
I had a stalker while filming a movie in Spain last year. She stood outside my apartment every day for weeks – all day, every day. I was so bored and lonely that I went out and had dinner with [her]. I just complained about everything in my life and she never came back.
I'm trying to make something every time that feels new and surprises people. Hopefully at least one person. But it's not like I turn it off. I don't make a movie and then go back to my normal life. When I'm finishing one movie the next day I'm thinking about the next one.
Since the day I finished shooting there's been at least one person come up to me every single day and then after the trailer came out, at least four. It's absolutely bizarre to me. This was before there was any systematic promotion of the movie. It's just completely nuts.
I haven't really decided to be an actor yet! I started doing plays when I was about 15 or 16. I only did it because my dad saw a bunch of pretty girls in a restaurant and he asked them where they came from and they said drama group. He said, 'Son, that is where you need to go.
I like the story about me being pregnant. It was in some Australian magazine, on the front page! I was like, 'Wow, that's just [insane].' And it's not even ironic. I don't even think the article [tried to justify it]; it was just a headline. The article was just like, nothing.
I haven't really decided to be an actor yet! I started doing plays when I was about 15 or 16. I only did it because my dad saw a bunch of pretty girls in a restaurant and he asked them where they came from and they said drama group. He said, 'Son, that is where you need to go.'
If I were a place, the area of South Bank, in London. Between the Hayward Gallery, National Theatre and all other activities, I'm never bored. I would also say New York for the breathtaking skyline formed by the buildings and the fast pace of the city, whatever the time of day.
If it's just screaming - and I know this sounds so ridiculous - that gets old. But sometimes when there's literal chaos, it's like being in a war zone, and that's kind of exciting. You're just running through the crowd of people chasing after you and no one knows what's going on.
To be honest, everyone thinks that a digital camera is more reliable and every single time I work on any movie, it's just as many problems, the memory card doesn't work or blah blah blah, it overheats; it's the same volume as another camera. I think people are bit taken in by it.
Having a persona people recognize, it's the thing that probably gets you paid the most - but it's also the thing that virtually every actor in the world doesn't want. 'Cause, like, no one would believe me if I wanted to play something ultra-realistic, like a gangster or something.
The other night I went out to have dinner in a London pub and the barmaid had this whole conversation saying, 'You look just like that guy from Twilight'. Every time she came up, she said something like, 'You literally could be his brother'. But she never put two and two together.
It's been amazing to play the same character through so many adventures. And it's so strange because my life has changed so much over these years, but 'Twilight' and Edward Cullen will always be a part of me. It's been my whole life. My whole 20s. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
I was at a small private school in London. I wasn't very academic. My dad said to me, 'OK, you might as well leave, since you're not working very hard'. When I told I him wanted to stay on for my A-levels, he said I'd have to pay my own fees, then he'd pay me back if I got good grades.
I remember when I was younger I used to write in my diary: I want my luck to be spread. “Never give me anything too lucky all at once. I'll take a little luck now and then, but spread it for seventy years. “Now that all of this is happening, I'm sure the rest of my life will be ruined.
It's supposed to feel totally foreign [to play in a series], every single time. But, going back for another go at it is good, on the one hand, but it's also bad, on another hand, because your ideas dry up sometimes, and also you get lazy sometimes because you're around the same people.
It's always been strange to me that someone can say they're a vampire fan. I'm not a non-fan, but it's such an unusual thing to be a fan of. That's like saying, "I love zombie movies! I just love 'em! They're my favorite!" That's more of a psychological problem than being an actual fan.
If you are using a digital camera specifically for that reason you have in mind from the beginning, then yeah, it'll work. But like if you're just shooting a normal film and just kind of just shooting extra stuff because you can because you've got the memory space, it's a bit pointless.
Cosmopolis is the movie of my life. I didn't consider myself an actor before, even if I had 10 years of acting behind me. I always felt like a fraud, and inappropriate. I doubt a lot. David Cronenberg gave me confidence in myself. He changed my way of acting and thinking in this industry.
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.
I used to wear my mom's Wayfarers. When the people of Ray Ban noticed that, they sent me a box full of sunglasses, two and a half years ago. Now they're all gone. They've disappeared during trips, many were also stolen from me, the rest I lost again and again. Now I have only one pair left.
The most embarassing is when friends ask you to meet up with them and you have to tell them "Sorry I can't go to that place" because you're fully aware photographers will be waiting for you there. I feel like such a weasle when things like that happen, like the world has to revolve around me.
It's insane. I've had girls throwing themselves at me since the hype started. Now the film's out I can't walk down the street without being pounced on. All my life I've hated crowds. Now I only have to step outdoors and I'm at the centre of one. It's very cool but it's very uncomfortable too.
I went out a couple of times with Pierce. He's totally recognizable, and he makes no effort to tone it down. Some people were glancing over at us in the restaurant, and he just went over and introduced himself. And it does work. It dissipates all the attention. Me? I just crawl under the table.
I would. I'm just too, I'm kind of, a pussy, I guess. That's the problem. But, no, I'd love to. I think everybody should do open mics. I think it's very healthy for your soul. So yeah, I'd love to do it again, but I don't know. It's like I'm cutting a record if I do open mic now, so, I don't know.
I don't really know how accepted I am. Nothing ever matters to me apart from the people with negative opinions. That's literally it. That always drives me on to the next thing. It's funny, you just focus on them and then the next movie. That's the only thing you're thinking about when it comes out.
I wanted to play piano in restaurants in the south of France. I went there on holiday once and I saw this guy playing in an old tuxedo. He was all disheveled, with a whisky glass on the piano. I thought that was the coolest thing. So what's happened to me with 'Twilight' isn't really what I'd planned.
All of my favourite actors are American and I grew up watching American movies. It's weird, but I used to do a New Jersey accent in every audition in the States just because I liked to do it, really. It's completely bizarre. Everybody would ask: 'Where are you from?' And I would say, 'Oh, I'm from London.'
If I go and try to watch a movie by myself I'll be completely transfixed the whole time, concentrating one hundred percent. But if I'm with another person on a date or something, within two minutes I'll be like 'This is rubbish, this is rubbish. We should leave and do something else.' I don't really know why.
I go through fan mail myself, but I think I might get them censored, because I'm always expecting to get the one thing that says, 'I know where you live and I'm going to kill you!' I'm always expecting that to come, but it never seems to arrive. I never get any negative mail, so someone must be censoring them.
I have so much residue crap in my hair from years and years of not washing it and not having any sense of personal hygiene whatsoever. Even today, I go into these things where I'm supposed to be this sexy guy or whatever, and I'm literally asking, 'If I get plumes of dandruff on me, can you just brush it off?'
I aspire to be Jack Nicholson. I love his every single mannerism. I used to try and be him in virtually everything I did, I don't know why. I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest when I was about 13, and I dressed like him. I tried to do his accent. I did everything like him. I think it kind of stuck with me.
After the first one [Twilight], people started referring to it as a franchise, but a franchise is a Burger King or a Subway. It's not a movie. The people who start to say it are generally the people who are making money off of it. They love it when something becomes a franchise. But, as an actor, I think it's scary.
I’m just trying to not be in stupid gossip magazines, basically, and I think the best way to do it is never be photographed ever. As I get older, I just get more and more and more self-conscious about getting photographed. I don’t know why. I’ve done it too many times and now I feel like everyone can see through me.
I've never really taken myself seriously as an actor, It is surprising the amount of people who think I'm going to be really dumb. I think they think anyone who has done teen movies is just an idiot. I don't know, maybe I am. Some of the best actors, if you talk to them, they're not the smartest people in the world.
You're trying to play someone [Edward Cullen] who's seen by a lot of people as being this perfect thing, but what is that? That doesn't really mean anything. You're trying to play an archetype on one hand and then a character on the other, so I felt insanely frustrated right up until the last shot, and then it ended.
The only time I ever follow Twitter is if I'm in a restaurant or something, just before I leave, to see if people are waiting outside. It does make you a bit of a loser, especially when someone asks you, 'Hey, you want to go to dinner at this place?' and I'm like, 'Can we have dinner at this place? It has three exits.'
It's nice that I've grown up with the same friends since I was 12, I have a very close knit set of them... I grew up with a lot of people who a lot of other people regarded as heroes, and no one ever came to me for advice, no one ever came to me for protection, and so I don't ever really think I've been looked at as a hero.
It's funny what you really see when you're the subject of the completely bizarre gossip magazine industry. It's just like, 'WHAT?!?' All this stuff with Emilie [de Ravin, his costar in Remember Me] as well. The tabloids say stuff like 'They went on a date to an Indian restaurant.' We were doing a scene! There's a film crew there!
[Sometimes] I will go through periods where I will think 'Oh maybe I should do a commercial movie' and then I just think, someone gave me a really great piece of advice, someone from my agency weirdly, they said the only clients that are happy are the ones that just do what they want to do. So I just kind of do everything for myself.
But you're not really allowed to complain about any of this, You're just supposed to be grateful. And obviously-I get it. You're lucky and you should appreciate your luck. But, I mean, it just seems if you even hint that there's a bad side to any of this people will be like-Liar! I guess it's because people want to have it as a dream
I don't know what to say to people. It's become so big. It's become part of the cultural environment. For the first and second Twiglight, I knew exactly what to say to people. If you don't know what the story is by now, then you've probably never been to the cinema before. How about, "Why not go to the cinema for once?" I don't know.
I’ve always said to my agents and stuff, like, it’s going to be 10 years before people forget about Twilight, And that’s totally understandable. Normally people keep working and working until their big break. You just keep trying to make the best of your decisions. Like I try to think how I used to think before all the Twilight movies.
I don't really understand it even now, It does have an angle which is attached to something quite primal in girls. I guess people want it to define them, like 'I'm a Twilight fan.' That's crazy to me. I think people really just like being part of a crowd. There's something just tremendously exciting about hyping yourself up to that level.
If I could get any semblance of, not really anonymity, but control over my public image, that would be nice. But no, I think it's impossible [to maintain that], for one thing. I don't think anyone can do that, apart from Denzel Washington. It's a strange place that the film industry is at, where you can just play superhero after superhero.
It's strange because I'm a sex symbol to 14-year-old girls which I guess is not the most helpful situation to be in. But yeah, I've never really thought of it. It's just so funny. I mean, just last year I couldn't even get a date and then this year, the world turns and it's so bizarre that everybody just changes their mind at the same time.
I think 26 is the turning point. I’ve got to make up for 10 years of living like a degenerate. I’ve suddenly become conscious of being unhealthy. You’ve spent every bit of free time since [the age of ] 15 in a pub. And suddenly you’re like, ‘Oh God, I don’t want to be this grey ghost sitting there with a pot belly. I’ve got to get it together.
You really, really feel like you have no control [participating in franchise] . I mean, it's a huge juggernaut, especially when something becomes part of the cultural landscape in a way as well. It's really scary because you get trapped and you get scared of changing, which is the worst thing that can happen if you want to be any kind of artist.
Christoph Waltz is stunning, an insanely nice guy. He is not only a ridiculously good actor, he’s also funny, helpful & a good colleague. I like his work ethic. I mean, the guy has won an Oscar and despite that he is receptive, open-minded & not the least bit snooty. Reese Witherspoon is the same. It may be the nicest cast that I have worked with yet.