First up: Rob Pattinson (and do not ask me why they are separate ones on the same day).
12:13 p.m. What was his last scene as Edward Cullen? And his favorite fan moment? “It was hilarious considering we spent the entire series filming in the most miserable conditions and then we end on a beach in the Caribbean filming two scenes in the sea,” Pattinson says. “They were considering shooting it in the sea in Vancouver, which would not have worked at all,” he laughs.
12:14 p.m. He says the part is strange because so much of the audience attempts to project idealism onto the character, but he’s always wanted to accentuate the “fallibility and weaknesses.” “You’re trying to play an archetype on one hand and a character on the other,” he says, explaining his frustrations with Edward.
12:15 p.m. What was easiest and hardest to leave behind about Edward? He says he liked being about to keep improving the character across a series. “You feel strangely secure. It’s the opposite of how you’re supposed to feel doing a movie. It’s supposed to feel totally foreign each time,” he reflects. He admits there’s a tendency towards laziness, but having different directors has kept him on his tone. “Playing a part where you can’t get hurt and you can’t die, because there’s no framework. There’s too many possibilities if you can’t die,” he says of the worst thing.
12:17 p.m. He doesn’t know how this will impact him 10 or 15 years down the road. “It’s really not up to you. I’m getting other parts that aren’t vampires. I don’t know if people will accept me in them or whatever, but there’s really nothing to be afraid of,” of typecasting. “I don’t know how people will remember the series at all,” Pattinson says of the fanbase in 15 years.
12:18 p.m. Would he like to relive anything? “The whole first movie was pretty fun,” he says, recalling everybody’s relative inexperience, which led to “a really good energy.” “None of us were really known then, as well, so it felt like a big deal at the time. It was exciting. It was really exciting the first one.”
12:19 p.m. Is he worried about maintaining this level of success? “If I had a little bit more control over my public image, I guess, that would be nice,” he says, not quite answering the question. “No. I think it’s impossible, for one thing. I don’t think anyone can do that, apart from Denzel Washington,” he says. “It’s a strange place where the film industry’s at. I guess you could just play superhero after superhero, but that seems to be the only guaranteed, big money thing,” he notes. Pattinson isn’t sure that would be satisfying. “There are no guarantees, so I’m kinda signing up to do movies that I would be proud of if it were my last one,” he says.
12:21 p.m. At the end of the day, is he glad it’s over? “In some ways?” He stutters. “As soon as something start referring to something as a franchise, a franchise is a Burger King or a Subway,” he reflects. “You have no control. It’s a huge juggernaut, especially when something becomes part of the cultural landscape. It’s really scary. You get trapped and you get scared of changing, which is the worst thing that can happen if you want to become any type of artist,” he says.
12:23 p.m. “I get a lot more abuse in England,” Pattinson says of his varying level of fame.
12:24 p.m. “I think working with kids and I like working with animals, which is what everybody says you shouldn’t do,” Pattinson says of working with Mackenzie Foy. “They got some good baby actors,” he adds.
12:24 p.m. Which new character did he most like? And what’s his favorite vampire show or movie? “I like ‘Blade.’ I really like ‘Blade,’” Pattinson says, yearning for more hard-R-rated films like that. Among the new characters, he liked Benjamin and Rami Malek. He praises the actors who came in thinking it was a big deal and bringing enthusiasm to the set. He returns to the second part of the question, though he says he isn’t necessarily a vampire fan. He’s not a non-fan but he says.
12:27 p.m. Does he remember his first meeting with Kristen and with Taylor? He also isn’t sure when he first met Taylor, but he met Kristen at the audition. He remembers doing the “Harry Potter” movie and being impressed with the younger stars. He says he was star-struck when he met Kristen and even Taylor. “I still seem them as massively famous people. It’s strange to have gone through the same experience with Taylor and Kristen as well,” he says. He’s seen people lose their mind over minor fame and he finds it amazing how well the cast has maintained perspective.
Second, Kristen Srewart:
12:42 p.m. What was it like for Kristen Stewart to uncage Bella? “I was really lucky to have played human Bella for so long,” she says. Vampires are an enhanced version of their personalities, so Bella got to be extra-enhanced. “If you were to take the fact that she becomes a vampire completely away, it’s just a more realized version of who she’s been the entire time,” she says, explaining that it really represents a phase of life and that’s why it touches so many people. She says people always think that Bella is nuts, but finally everything makes sense for the character. “It’s really satisfying and really fun,” she says, comparing playing Vampire Bella to breaking in a new car.
12:45 p.m. “I kept the rings,” Stewart says of things she kept from the movie. “She’s not really in to ‘stuff,’ so there aren’t a whole lot of props,” she explains.
12:46 p.m. When did she realize how big this was going to be? “It’s grown so much even recently. I never really realized to the extent that it’s gotten to. Comic-Con was the first time that I was ever really hit with a wave of human energy,” she remembers. Up until that point, they thought it was only for them. “I was excited and incredibly overwhelmed, admittedly. But it’s the greatest part of the job to be able to share that,” K-Stew says.
Somebody from a fan site thanks her for respecting them and then asks about stunts. “I broke my thumb the first or second day of our intense action-type stuff, so that was frustrating, but it was fun,” she says. “I’d been on the sidelines for so long just saying, ‘I think I could do that. I think I could do that pretty well,’” she says, admitting that she probably broke her thumb because she was over-zealous.
12:49 p.m. A 14-year-old reporter asks if Kristen could pause her life at any point — vampire-style — when would it be? “I’m not there yet, so I don’t know… I can’t wait to get to that point,” she says.
12:50 p.m. How did Bella’s journey parallel Kristen’s journey? “Without taking any of the truth out of this, it’s so sorta general,” she says, meaning “universal.” “You question yourself along the way constantly and I don’t think you should ever stop doing that necessarily,” she says. “I definitely feel a little bit more realized. A lot more actually. I think that by chance we happen to be the same age. It’s a tough one, because she lives so many years in such a tight little period of time,” she says. “I think I’ve grown up a little bit. I don’t know.”
12:52 p.m. And how about the effect the movies have had on her career choices? She doesn’t know what her dream role is or where she sees herself going next. She doesn’t like viewing herself as an outsider would. She doesn’t like responding to other people’s perspective. “Things have fallen in my life and I’ve gotten incredibly, insanely lucky,” she says. “It’s always a pretty impulsive thing,” she says of her choice. She doesn’t think of herself as playing “characters.” The process for her is finding characters she responds to, which she admits is why some of her characters have been similar, but now she’s ready to dig deeper and she’s hoping to shock herself.
12:55 p.m. A reporter asks something about the end of the movie, the cumulative aspect at the end of the movie. She doesn’t want to discuss it for obvious reasons. “It’s crazy. It’s so crazy. You typically just don’t get that opportunity to look back,” she says. “[Bill] understood, really put his finger on what drives this thing. He wasn’t shying away from anything… sappy. This thing is romantic. It’s what is attractive about it,” she says. She praises Bill for not trying to be “cool” about the emotional cap, which she also describes as “a nice little knife-twist” that it’s over.
12:56 p.m. What was it like for Kristen to play a mom? ”It might be something that you’re born with or not born with. Some people have really strong natural instincts,” she says. “There was never enough about that in the script for me,” Stewart says, praising Stephanie Meyer for being on set and helping bring that side to the character. She ties the relationship to the animalistic nature that vampires have already. “I have a great relationship with my mom and she can be a bit feral when it comes to being a mom,” she says. ”I can’t wait to be a mom… but I can wait,” she says.
12:58 p.m. Stewart’s asked about the bonds between her and Rob and Taylor. “It’s nice to not be alone in that, I guess,” she says. “There are a lot of people who are exceeding famous, but we share the movies.” “I wouldn’t have done it in the first place unless it was something I was always going to carry and I think they feel the same way,” she says. “There a lot of exceedingly famous people and they all get it,” she closes.
Third, Taylor Lautner (mind you he was the first of the three to the press conference).
11:42 a.m. I’m actually gonna publish early, just so you have this live-blog up and running before it actually starts, rather than after… Taylor’s gonna be here any second.
11:43 a.m. First question… If Taylor could go back to before the first movie, what advice would he give himself? “Oh man,” he begins. “Honestly, I’d probably say, ‘Just soak up each minute,’” he says, explaining that things have flown by.
11:45 a.m. “It’s a fine line and I was worried about it,” Lautner says of the line between caring and creepy with Jacob and Renesmee. “She basically told me, ‘Stop over-complicating it,’” Lautner recalls of his advice from Stephenie Meyer, who explained it as “a life-long bond between two people.” “I couldn’t allow myself to think ahead and go beyond that,” Lautner says of the brother-sister bond between the characters. “I think the fans are going to be happy with it. I think it came together well,” he says.
11:46 p.m. “I remember meeting Kristen for sure. It’s so weird, I don’t even remember meeting Rob,” Lautner says of first impressions. He showed up midway through filming on the first movie and a family had already built up. “I was nervous. I was also the youngest. It was probably a little awkward when we first did meet each other,” Lautner says, recalling his “nasty wig.”
11:48 a.m. What has he learned from the experience and from Jacob? “I’ve learned a lot in the sense that I’ve grown up a ton, because I did start this when I was just 15 years old, so that was bound to happen,” he says. “I love the fact that we had different directors for each movie… That was amazing to play the same character, but be directed differently each time and to have different input,” he says. ”It was an amazing experience,” he says. And from Jacob? “I love Jacob. I really respect him in so many different way. He has so many qualities to him that I would love to bring with me — his loyalty, his persistence,” he says.
11:50 a.m. “That’s the biggest thing I’ll take from this is those relationships. We’re so close right now. They’re some of my best friends and that won’t go away at all,” Lautner says of his ties with Stewart and Pattinson. “Our friendships will go on forever. I find it so amazing that this cast meshed so well,” he adds, calling both filming and promotion “a blast.”
11:52 a.m. “It actually was pretty funny in person. I love Billy Burke to death and he’s one of the coolest people alive,” Lautner says of the scene in which Jacob wolfs out in front of Charlie. Of the disrobing, he says… “It’s always uncomfortable when I have to take my shirt off or something, because I’m always the only one doing it,” he laughs.
11:52 a.m. What did he do with that wig from the first movie? After his last scene, they did “a picture wrap” on his wig. Everybody was happy for him and they asked him if he wanted it. “I was like, ‘No. Get that away from me,’” he says. But now he regrets not keeping it. “But no, I don’t have fond memories of that wig.”
11:53 a.m. “That scene was probably my favorite in the movie,” Lautner says of his scene with Kristen after Bella learns about Jacob’s imprinting. “She had a lot of fun with it and I did as well. That scene, I love that scene. It came together,” he says. Regarding his weirdest encounter with a fan… “Man, it’s tough to choose one,” he says. He did, however, sign a girl’s arm and then the next day, he got an email that the girl had gotten the signature tattooed to her arm. “I’m like ‘Man, that’s dedication. And I’m sorry you did that,’” he said. “These fans are passionate and they continue to blow my mind,” he says.
11:55 a.m. Lautner recalls the year he spent proving himself to keep the part between the first and second movies. He thanks the fans, Kristen Stewart and the director for having faith in him. “Thinking back to that day in the gym, every burger patty shoved down my throat, every protein shake, it was worth it,” he says.
11:56 a.m. “I love challenging myself and doing different things,” Lautner says of his future. “Some of the actors I love most, they’ve gone from this to this and they’ve challenged themselves throughout their entire career and that’s my goal,” Lautner says. He’s excited to reteam with the producers of “Twilight” on “an awesome script that I’m excited about.” He says that project is “very serious and dramatic.” He adds, “I love all aspects of film and all genres.”
11:58 a.m. How was it to do the movies back-to-back and together, sometimes going from “Part 1″ to “Part 2,” morning and afternoon. “It’s completely different Jacob in ‘Part 2′ and it was tough. I just had to focus and keeping the book on hand was really helpful,” he says. “It was nice to play more of that comedic side to him,” he adds.
11:59 a.m. Last question: What is the greatest thing he’s learned about himself through this process? “Man,” he says again. “Yikes,” he adds, buying time. “That’s a good question,” he hems and haws. “I don’t know if I would be able to choose like one thing,” he continues. “As an actor I’ve learned so much. And the people who have surrounded me, I’ve taken so much from and as a person… You’ve got me stuck on that one. But moving forward, I can’t be more thankful for this franchise and everything it’s given all of us. It’s given us the opportunity to do things we love,” he says.
Source and for more information about the other press conferences for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 go to The Fien Report. Images from Twitter.
.