The love bug bites the deepest.
“What’s interesting about this story is that it’s supposed to be about this all-powerful immortal creature. But he’s completely destroyed just by falling in love with this normal girl. He can’t control anything afterwards. His entire life turns upside down. So I guess love can be more lethal than a vampire bite.”

A new perspective on relationships.
“Getting involved in Twilight has definitely changed my mind about how people are kind of fanatical about wanting to have the perfect relationship. I had no idea that people were so desperate and felt like it was so unobtainable. They want to put this idea of unconditional devotion just so high above everything else, which is why they can’t get enough of this story.”

Advice to the lovelorn Bella.
“I keep wanting to tell people who think she should choose between Edward or Jacob that she should choose someone else. Jacob seems like the perfect viable option at the beginning of New Moon, but he turns out to be just as tortured as Edward is. So I guess Bella is just an unlucky girl.”

Breaking up was hard to do.
“There was something weird about doing that scene where Edward tells Bella he’s never going to see her again. Millions of fans see it as the ideal for a relationship. So breaking up the ideal relationship is pretty daunting. As for a breakup like that in my own life, I can’t think of one.”

And don’t ask him about being romantic.
“I don’t know, I can’t think of a single romantic thing I’ve ever done. That’s terrible. Wait. I put a flower in someone’s locker when I was 15-years-old. It was a girl named Maria. She thought it was somebody else that had done it and the other guy was trying to take credit.”

The scene where he almost took it all off.
“I felt pretty goofy stepping out into the sunlight in front of 2,000 people in a town square, ripping my clothes off. I was essentially doing a striptease. But here’s the irony, it was also one of the moments where I’ve really felt closest to people’s emotional attachment to Edward. There were so many extras in that scene who were Twilight fans who had flown in just to be a part of it. It was a moment where I’ve felt the whole weight of anticipation, and I guess responsibility as well, of being Edward, for all the people who were kind of so obsessed with the stories. It was quite uplifting and it was also very nerve-wracking.”

Going head-to-head with Taylor Lautner.
“I didn’t see Taylor until just a little bit before we started shooting. I had the same reaction as everybody else. It’s like, ‘Jeez, now I have to go to the gym.’ Looking at Taylor’s martial arts videos from when he was nine, I wouldn’t really want to fight him for real unless maybe I had some kind of weapon. But in the story as it’s written, I think it’s actually a fact that Edward would win over Jacob. So I guess I can hold onto that for my ego.”

The good news (and the bad) about becoming famous.
“It’s a scary situation to be in, in a lot of ways. You really have to question yourself a lot more. Before Twilight, I did any movie that I could and I tried to make the best of it afterwards. But now you’re expected to come and provide, not only economic viability at the box office, but also a smashing performance as well. When no one’s watching your movies and you get a part, you can do whatever the hell you want. I don’t have that luxury anymore.”

It’s not easy being in the middle of a love triangle.
“Bella is pulled between these two guys who are completely opposite and mortal enemies. How do you choose? I honestly think it just depends on what kind of girl you are. I personally love Jacob and Bella’s relationship — how they begin as best friends and it starts to grow into something more. But both guys are always going to be there for Bella. So I guess it just comes down to what kind of guy you like — a werewolf or a vampire.”

So are he and Kristen really just best buds?
“We have a relationship that’s very similar to Jacob and Bella’s. We are very open and honest and can say anything to each other and that definitely helped during the filmmaking. I spent a lot time with Kristen because all of my scenes were involved with her. So she and I are very close.”

The big makeover.
“I had my eyes on the prize. My trainer was like a sculptor. He was going, ‘I want this bicep to peak more.’ He was very detail-oriented. The hardest thing was the diet I was on, while getting in the gym and pumping up was easy. I had to consume at least 3200 calories a day just to maintain my weight. Putting something in your mouth every two hours is difficult. I was going from meeting to meeting, so there was no time for eating. I literally would have to carry a little baggy full of beef patties, raw almonds, and sweet potatoes. I mean, it wasn’t like eating ice cream and cake every two hours.”

Well, he thought it was funny.
“Seriously, I start laughing so hard every time I see the scene where I take off my shirt to wipe the blood off Bella’s face after she crashes her motorbike. I’m like, ‘Oh, you’re bleeding, let me fix it.’ It was so embarrassing. But in other scenes, there’s a reason why Jacob is half-naked. When he transforms into a werewolf all his clothes get shredded. And he doesn’t need a lot to wear anyway because he’s also hot — his body temperature is literally 108 degrees.”

The downside of playing a hot guy.
“We were filming in the Pacific Northwest in March, so it was freezing. There’s a scene in the rain when it was like 35 degrees and it wasn’t real rain. They were spraying us from a rain tower, which came straight from a spring so it was ice-cold. All I was wearing was a pair of jean shorts and I was freezing to death. But, Jacob is hot, so he can’t look cold. That was the big challenge.”

The downside of being in the media spotlight.
“I try and stay away from what’s been written about me because if you let that stuff get to you and it’s not true, it can drive you crazy. One thing that I have heard recently which is not true, I didn’t say it, was that I will never take my shirt off for a movie again. If I have to, if the character requires it, I will. Who knows, in 10 years, I might do that or maybe gain 40 pounds.”

He’s getting used to weeping fans.
“A lot of them will just burst into tears, and that’s just moving. It’s like it must mean so much for them to meet us and it’s just, it’s an amazing feeling to know that you can touch somebody in that way. It also makes you sad and you’re going, ‘Don’t cry, please stop crying.’”

What’s he looking forward to in Eclipse.
“It was my favorite book, so I was really excited. I just love that it’s the height of the love triangle because Edward, Jacob and Bella are physically together. It has one of my favorite scenes ever when we’re all in a tent together. Bella is on the verge of hypothermia, so Edward let’s her sleep in my sleeping bag so she won’t die. I guess that’s the advantage of having a body temperature of 108 degrees. But, Edward is in the tent right next to us. It’s a funny scene.”

Why he won’t marry Angelina Jolie
“I have love in my life, a soul mate—absolutely. When someone asked me why Angie and I don’t get married, I replied, ‘Maybe we’ll get married when it’s legal for everyone else.’ I stand by that, although I took a lot of flak for saying it—hate mail from religious groups. I believe everyone should have the same rights. They say gay marriage ruins families and hurts kids. Well, I’ve had the privilege of seeing my gay friends being parents and watching their kids grow up in a loving environment.”

The right to love
“Man, I resent people telling others how to live! It drives me mental! Just the other night, I heard this TV reverend say that Angie and I were setting a bad example because we were living out of wedlock, and people should not be duped by us! It made me laugh. What damn right does anyone have to tell someone else how to live if they’re not hurting anyone? How many times do you think real love comes to someone in a lifetime? If you’re lucky, maybe two or three.”

On becoming a family man
“My life has been about big changes. It’s always been that way. When I go down a path, I take it to the end. Then I take another one. I took the path of not having kids—now it’s time for family. Children are a dominant value in my life now, and they weren’t before. They were always something I thought I’d get around to having when the time was right. It wasn’t what I was really seeking. In a way, I think I had to go and exhaust me before I could be good at being a parent. This family is full of life! There are laughs, aggravations, irritations, but at the end of the day, it’s fun. When life is really good, it’s messy.”

His early days in Hollywood
“I liked to smoke a bit of grass at the time, and I became very sheltered. Then I got bored. I was turning into a damn doughnut, really. So I moved as far away from that as I could. I was done. In Missouri, where I come from, we don’t talk about what we do—we just do it. If we talk about it, it’s seen as bragging.”

Love has an age:
“Girls my own age are not really an option. I find, generally speaking, they have to be entertained more than older girls do. So most of the girls I have had serious things with are generally sort of in their 20s.”

On turning 20 next month:
“I’ve noticed I make noises when I get up and sit down now. I mean, my knees are rotten bad—I refused to wear knee pads too many times when I was doing stunts, and I just clobbered them up a bit. I am an old man in a young man’s body.”

Where Harry leaves off and Daniel begins:
“When I started out at the age of 10 or 11, I was essentially saying the lines as I myself would say them. When I became aware that that’s what I was doing, at 13 or 14, it didn’t make sense to change, because it would suddenly be a dramatic shift in the character.”

“I always feel completely oblivious to any Zeitgeist that’s coming on. Whenever people talk in those terms, I feel absolutely lost. I know certainly what intrigues me. Most of the time, I tend to think it’s complete coincidence if other people are interested in it as well. I do find the man that I play, although he’s certainly in the superhero pantheon, is the most questionable of superheroes as he doesn’t have special powers whatsoever. I think the others may well question his legitimacy to be a member of the club.”

You can’t talk about Batman without discussing the famous suit, and you’ve been candid about your complaints. Have they done anything to make it more comfortable?

“Thank God, yes, they have. I’m so appreciative of that. The first movie was like having a vice tightened around my skull for months on end. Which I convinced myself only helped me to portray the rage that this alter ego, Batman, felt. I thankfully discovered that I didn’t need that vice squeezing my head to portray that rage this time around. They were able to make that a whole lot more comfortable.”

So you have an air-conditioned Batsuit?

“It was nothing so advanced as that. It was just material that was able to breathe a little, so that I wasn’t leaving the puddles of sweat behind me if I stood still for longer than 30 seconds.”

Tell me about agreeing to do the next Terminator.