The Stars of Twilight

After a grueling day on the set of Eclipse and playing guinea pig in preparation for shooting fight scenes, the always-gracious Kellan Lutz was sweet enough to use some of his much-needed down time to chat with me.


Kellan is an open book about many things close to his heart, including a several month journey to Africa to film Generation Kill, and his dog, Kola. I’ll reveal more about his passions tomorrow in part two of our interview. During our conversation, however, the issue of respect came to play, giving fans an inside peek into the lack of privacy which has become a constant in the lives of the Twilight stars.

Hype surrounding the Saga and enthusiastic, gift-bearing fans are at a culminated high during the filming of Eclipse, as are paparazzi determined to catch the actors in any situation, both on and off set. While the actors of the Twilight Saga are incredibly generous and appreciative of their endearing fans, they, too, enjoy their much-needed, rarely granted seclusion.

About his fans and desire for unrequited privacy from paparazzi, Kellan said:

Everyone’s so loving and supporting- there’s no haters. There’s so many Twilight fans that have given me presents- gummy bears or chew toys for my dog. It’s so humbling; people wanting to have a picture with me or wanting me to sign something. It’s so endearing.

But when we’re here working 12, 14, 16 hour days, on our off days we just want to be a normal human being and go get a bite to eat or go play pool and be normal. We just want to get out of our hotel rooms or apartments, but we can’t, and that’s a tough thing. And we don’t always want to have to look our best. I just love dressing comfy to go out, but we can’t because there’s always photographers there.

The other day I was working out at the gym. Photographers were shooting from across the street through the windows of the gym to me working out. I couldn’t just work out and blow off some steam. So where does the privacy start and the publicity end? When is it enough?

We’re all very happy to be working and be part of an amazing franchise like this, and we wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s allowed me to get some great work and to do amazing movies, independent ones that I can show some great acting with, and some great character roles, but really, we’re just human…

I can’t fathom what other people go through. I’m just a part of this franchise… I’m Kellan. There’s nothing super special about me that’s worthwhile. I wish there were more pictures of people helping out. Show Brad and Angelina and all the good work they do. Show me at my charity events, but really, do you need to see pictures of me walking my dog 20 million times?

Immediately following our conversation, I found this e-mail along with link and pictures from a widely known paparazzi-friendly site waiting in my inbox:

Kellan Lutz shows off his tight and toned body at a local Vancouver gym Wednesday during breaks in the filming of Eclipse. The Twilight hottie checked himself out in the mirror as he worked out - and with a body like that, who can blame him! See the newest pics of the shirtless Emmett Cullen...

Pictures representing the very lament Kellan had just shared were being plastered around the net as we spoke.

Understandably, viewing images and videos of our favorite Twilight actors, even being caught off guard, satiate a need fans have for that immediate fix of eye-candy. Though we don’t mean any harm, in feeding our addiction we unknowingly instill an inert sense of hurt in our favorite actors.

Kellan knows that paparazzi and fandom is a part of his lifestyle, and he graciously embraces the limelight under the proper circumstances. His intermittent, spontaneous lament, however, immediately put a soulful, heartfelt need of all the Twilight actors to light in a manner that may touch others and spur true fans to act.

The next time you’re tempted to check out that salacious picture of your favorite Twilight star caught “in the act,” be it working out, eating, grabbing a coffee, walking a dog, or catching a ciggy break in the dark, take a deep breath, resist temptation to gawk, and allow the actor to maintain what little bit of privacy s/he can.

It’s the least we, as fans, can do for the actors committed to bringing the story of the Cullen clan and the Twilight Saga from the pages of the black, glossy books, to life on the big screen.

In part one of my two part interview with Kellan Lutz, we spoke about the fans and enduring the endless paparazzi. Today, readers will glean a true sense of Kellan’s dedication to the Twilight Saga and his playful personality. Enjoy.

Combine a farm boy work ethic with a cutting edge intellect, then intersperse a savvy sense of the Hollywood scene, and you have a young man rich in the ways of life, but bright-eyed and ready to take on the world.

The chiseled physique of Kellan Lutz immediately draws in the eye. His background as an Abercrombie and Fitch model comes of no surprise; his exotic look and playful, yet Mephistophelian glint in his eyes implies a possible clannish, clubby decorum.

Yet nothing could be further from the truth. A free spirit, Kellan’s boyish, playful nature and willingness to speak to me and put his life on a platter for fans to snack on is endearing, bold, and insightful:

About being a free spirit:

I just love what I do. I found myself going on this one path becoming a chemical engineer making $60,000 a year- it was a respectable job. But my personality needs more. The rush of having an audition or becoming another character was awesome. But thank God that He was there shooing me in the right direction. He just kept me safe, and I know I put my mom through some stressful times.

That’s why I wear a white bracelet on left wrist. It's my freedom bracelet. It’s finally my life and I get to do what I want to do, and it reminds me where I came from. I’m in it for the right reasons. I don’t care to be famous; I don’t care to be in the tabloids. I just love to act. I enjoy it so much. It’s just my favorite hobby that I’ve unlocked inside of myself, and I’d love to do it for the rest of my life.

About his favorite project:

My oldest brother’s in the marine corps, now for 10 years, in Iraq, and we retold the story of Generation Kill for HBO, which is based on the 2003 Iraqi invasion. It’s the story of these marines who went in there and killed all these people and no one died out of the whole recon division. It’s based on a true story. It’s such a reality check that we got to show the world through HBO’s eyes. It was really challenging, and I grew so many years in maturity. It was seven months living in Africa, and I saw parts of the world that I was so ignorant about. But once I got there, I fell in love with Capetown. I’ve never been somewhere where the land, the earth gave you energy before. I felt so alive there. And I have friends for life now, from all around the world.

(Generation Kill is a seven part mini-series available on Amazon.com, at Blockbuster, or on HBO)

About staying in shape- both at home and on the set of Eclipse:

I like to box. I have a boxing area in the back yard with a couple of bags and I like to see my boxing coach when I’m in town. I have a pool in my back yard. I love to swim; I grew up swimming. I just love it; it’s the best exercise. I hate running but I’ll take my dog for a walk or we’ll go climbing boulders she has so much energy and that’s why I love her, because she pushes me and I push her.

When we’re up here (Vancouver) I’ve been gaining weight and lifting really heavy. We do fight training every other day that consists of jujitsu, kung fu, boxing, and kickboxing- just mixed martial arts to really prepare for our fight sequences. It’s intense. I’ve never had the small muscles that hold the big muscles so sore before.

About the Twilight Saga directors:

Catherine Hardwick- She was really energetic and wild and crazy in a good way, because I’m that way too. It was really fun working with her because she just had an energy that was really fun to have in a director because then you don’t get sluggish and down.

Chris Weitz- He was really calm and really had everything planned out. Every time we had a question, he had an answer. Every day we went on set it was really easy; you didn’t even have to work at all.

David Slade- This is an action movie, so it’s nice to have him and his team make it a manly movie that’s really action packed. With his insight and making it gritty from Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night with the action packed vampires, it's looking great.

About being snapped by the paparazzi driving a mini-van: I did that on purpose- my family was in town, and I like taking my family to the stuff I get invited to so they can have a taste of the cake that is my life, in a way. So I didn’t care, I was like, let’s take the van. I hopped in the driver’s seat because I wanted to be photographed in it. We thought it was kind of funny- so we blasted the rap music.

Because if you can’t joke and have a good time… the paparazzi’s always going to be there, so you can either hide from them and not have a life, or you can have fun with it. If I go out into Hollywood, I know it’s a part of the territory. When I’m at home, though, I’ll go up to them and ask them not to shoot my house and to at least have the decency of that.

About Rob and the paparazzi:

There’s no way I could be doing what I do now if I were Edward. Its such hard shoes to fill compared to the fans who fell in love with Bella and Edward in the book series because they ARE the book in a way, and then you add in Jacob. For every million fans we have, they have 10 times. It’s just a different world. And like hanging out with Rob, it’s tough to see what he has to go through. It’s really tough for him because you can’t put a price on your life, your freedom, your happiness, and it’s gonna go on for a couple of years. It’s tough when you can’t even leave your hotel room to go get a coffee.

True to “Emmett” form, Kellan loves the feeling of being the big brother, and believes he has such an opportunity and responsibility as an actor to focus efforts into charity works. He quickly spews charities close to his heart including the Boys and Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity, the Blind Project, Invisible Children, and, thanks to his love for animals, the Humane Society.

Says Kellan wholeheartedly:

I believe if you walk down the street and just give someone a smile or say hey, you look great, just one little encouraging word can change a whole day, or a whole life.


I think this is the best interview with Kellan that I have ever read. I would type more but I am speechless right now.

Interview from examiner.com