Robert Pattinson on "Twilight"

Since its publication in 2003, Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books have become a literary phenomenon, the teen equivalent of Harry Potter if you will. Its Hollywood adaptation was inevitable, as was the scrutiny its fans would heap on the casting decisions.

In "Twilight," Washington state transplant Bella falls for her classmate Edward Cullen, who she finds out is a vampire. Meyer's book describes Cullen as being impossibly beautiful, so it took fans a while to warm up to actor Robert Pattinson. He thinks they were right the first time.

Wrong for the role?

"I still believe the initial reaction I had when I first found out I had been cast was the true reaction," Pattinson said. "Now everyone is like, 'Okay I just love the book so much I'll just let him go with it' and 'Yeah, okay, alright, he's beautiful, whatever.' But the initial reaction was 'He is completely wrong for it' and I agreed with them. But I didn't play it like some guy who knew he was some beautiful person, I hope. I still don't really feel it. I don't really feel it at all."

They must not be paying that much attention anyway. Obsession over his broody Edward hair has made people neglect to notice he's no longer sporting the vampire coif. "I cut it yesterday. No one's even noticed all day. They're all like 'So they're still not letting you cut your hair?' And I'm like 'I already did cut it."

Facing such obsessions, Pattinson keeps things in proper perspective. Nobody would care much about some British actor were it not for Meyer's creation. "It's bizarre. You kind of know that it is essentially the book. The book has so many obsessive, obsessively loyal fans. It's strange because people just immediately relate you to the character right away rather than you as an actor."

His new fans may be surprised to know that Pattinson is a part time musician. He actually has a song on the "Twilight" soundtrack, under the deceptive pseudonym "Rob" Pattinson.

"[It happened] just by accident. I think Nikki [Reed] gave a CD of stuff I had recorded on my computer to Catherine Hardwicke and I recorded it years ago. I think Catherine just put it into a cut and then said 'Look at this' and she played it and it kind of worked. I hadn't even realized what it was at first and it kind of fit really well. I did not really think about it other than that. I didn't know it was going to be on the soundtrack or anything. I wanted to do it under another name because I thought it would be distracting, which it has been. So it's probably all been a big mistake but I like the idea of it and I just think the song fit and I did not think it sounded like me. So I thought it would just work but I don't know I'm not trying to get a music career out of it or anything."

Music informs Edward Cullen too, as much as the audience gets to hear excerpts from his record collection. "I think it's the outsider thing. [Vampirism] has always been associated with kind of goth culture and it's become more mainstream now so everybody seems to be an emo now and I think it's because young people feel like they don't connect with anything anymore. There's no such thing as an insider anymore I think everybody feels like outsiders and I think vampires are really the definition of them. I mean, anyone who preys on the rest of humanity is obviously going to be an outsider to society so I guess that's why it is. I don't know, I've never really understood it. I guess all the other supernatural things are pretty ugly. They are either ugly or they are kind of silly. I mean, not a lot of music is inspired by fairies, or zombies for instance. It's quite difficult to say 'I'm obsessed with zombies. They are so cool.' It doesn't really work."

Thinking undead thoughts

That's a guess from someone who only started thinking undead thoughts when he got the part. He's actually guessing on the "emo" thing too. Emos may like the Cullens, but he's not one of them.

"I think he is kind of the opposite. I think he's spent his entire life suppressing everything and is ashamed of himself when he lets his fa?ade of formality break when Bella comes into his life. He does not want to feel anything because he wants to make his world smaller and smaller and smaller because he does not feel like he belongs in it. He doesn't know why he is in it. He just either wants to be a human or die because his existence is completely pointless. That is why he doesn't talk to anyone or really feel anything in the book, apart from when Bella comes. He is literally counting the cracks in the wall and stuff. It is just like every single day is just exactly the same thing and if he feels anything he cuts it and shuts it down immediately because if you start liking someone or something he just thinks he's this monster so he doesn't let himself feel anything at all, even within himself. So I guess he is a closet emo."

Edward Cullen is also American, so Pattinson had to learn the dialect so to speak. "I actually grew up watching American movies and stuff. In a lot of ways it feels more natural if you speak in an American accent than speak with an English one. You kind of feel like you're acting more. Otherwise I feel like I'm not actually doing anything."

The one problem, however, was the national pastime. A major set piece in the movie, as in the book, features the Cullens playing baseball in a thunderstorm, because the thunder masks the sound of their powerful hits.

"I just didn't care. I think sports are stupid. Actually, [director] Catherine [Hardwicke] was so determined to make me look like a professional baseball player she had this coach teach me how to do this ready position, like a little squat. I was like. 'Seriously, I'll do it on the day. ok? You don't have to f***ing teach me.' And Catherine was like, 'Let me see it, let me see it' in front of all these extras and stuff. It was just very embarrassing. So for the rest of the shoot, whenever there was a moment where Catherine could not decide how to block a shot or anything I was like, 'I think I should be doing my baseball ready position.' But, yeah, I am terrible at baseball. I am terrible at every sport apart from running, but I am terrible at that now too."

Now that the public is learning all about Pattinson's hair, his music and his lack of athletic prowess, they can make up their own minds about him. Pattinson himself will be interested to see what people think.

"It's like when you meet someone and you want to know what they think of you, it is one of the only situations where you can find out. You can do an interview and if you are trying to be as honest as you can in the interview and say, 'Okay, I think this is me being myself.' Then you get judged on little things and you see what the other person thinks. Not that I do anything to change myself afterwards, but it is kind of interesting and it is kind of addictive. At the same time it is kind of pathetic."

Twilight opens Friday.