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Twilight: Peter Facinelli interview
With the phenomenally popular teen vampire romance Twilight released on DVD on 6th April and its sequel, New Moon, filming at the moment, it’s a good time to catch up with one of the stars of the series, Peter Facinelli. He plays Dr Carlisle Cullen, head of the Cullen family and the first vampire to turn “vegetarian” – that is, he doesn’t harm humans and only drinks animal blood. We asked Peter about his early experiences of the franchise, what fans can expect from New Moon, and how Twilight mania has affected his life in between. LOVEFiLM: How did you become involved with Twilight? Peter Facinelli: My agents called and said, “Do you want to do a vampire movie?” and I said, “No.” I was thinking some kind of zombie film with blood and gore. They said, “No, it’s based on a book that’s got quite a nice fan base. You should read it. Catherine Hardwicke’s directing it.” And I said, “Oh, I love Catherine Hardwicke! When’s the meeting?” And they said, “Tomorrow.” So I had a day to read it. I started reading at 5:00pm and I finished at around 2:00am. I couldn’t put it down. I loved it. I went in with Catherine and I read for the part, and the rest is history. LF: What was shooting like first time around? PF: You know, we were shooting so fast, Catherine had very little time to do a lot of stuff. So we were moving really quickly, the weather was sometimes against us, but we just kept plugging through it and trying to do good work. I remember the cast really bonded well. We became like a family on and off set. We all were aware of the responsibility of trying to make a good movie for the fans, but we didn’t realise how big that fan base was going to get. I mean, when we were shooting it, it was kind of an underground fan base. And it just kept snowballing and growing after we shot the film. It totally became this mass phenomenon. LF: What has your experience been of the phenomenon? Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have been in the news ever since Twilight’s theatrical release…
PF: I don’t get as much of the crazed fans. I think because of the character I play. Dr Carlisle’s 350 years old and he’s seen as the rock of the family. So I think people are more respectful of me. It’s really weird how people kind of relate to you as your character. So I guess it’s a good character to be because Carlisle is very inspirational. He’s a guy that goes against every instinct he has in order to do what he believes is the right thing. People always ask me, “What did you do to get into the head of a vampire?” And I say, “Well, Carlisle’s really a vampire who’s trying to be human. So it was more a case of how can I be more human than vampire-like.” LF: What can we expect for Carlisle in New Moon? PF: His presence is again to keep the family in line. He’s the founder of this family, so when things go awry, he’s there to settle everything down. He doesn’t get fazed by much because he’s been around for so long. And I like that about him, that in a moment of crisis, he’s the one that remains calm. LF: And what can fans expect from New Moon in general? PF: In the broader, general sense, New Moon takes a bigger look on the werewolf side. It looks at Bella’s relationship with Jacob [Taylor Lautner] and there’s kind of this love triangle there. Bella has to decide who she wants to be with, Jacob or Edward. The Cullens are there at the beginning and they’re there at the end, but it really starts to delve into the werewolf mythology. So there’ll be a little bit more action, a little bit more CGI, people turning into werewolves… But you’ll always have the story between Kristen and Rob’s characters. That’ll always be the foundation. LF: So what’s the future of The Twilight Saga? Have the third and fourth films been green-lit already? PF: Eclipse has been green-lit, so we’re going to film Eclipse in the Fall. And then hopefully we’ll get a good fan response to New Moon and Eclipse, and I’m hoping that they film the fourth book. Finish up the series, you know? LF: Are you a fan of vampire films?
RF: I wasn’t a big fan of vampire films per se, when it comes to horror films. But the vampire tale I don’t think was originally meant to be a horror tale. Like if you look at the Bela Lugosi films, they’re these beautiful, mysterious tales that have a sensuality to them and a film noir aspect, and sexual undertones. Then, somewhere along the line, it kind of lost that and became horror. And I think Twilight brought it back to what it originated as, which is why I liked it. I think Interview with the Vampire, based on the Anne Rice novel, kind of tried to do that too. Tried to make it more sexual and make it serious. But I think that Twilight really was able to do that, blend the mysteriousness and the sensuality. Alexander Pashby Titles related to this articleRelated/similar articles
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