Success is always something completely different to people. I feel like I’ve succeeded, if I’m doing something that makes me happy and I’m not lying to anybody. I’m not doing that now, so I feel really good about myself.
This weird thing happens when you’re in a movie that has some level of success. People start offering you all kinds of things, and they just expect you to do them because they’ll be good for your career. It’s not about the project’s integrity or anything like that.
Success is always something completely different to people. I feel like I’ve succeeded, if I’m doing something that makes me happy and I’m not lying to anybody.
The sad thing is that I feel so boring because ‘Twilight’ is literally how every conversation I have these days begins – whether it’s someone I’m meeting for the first time or someone I just haven’t seen in a while. The first thing I want to say to them is, ‘It’s insane! And, as a person, I can’t do anything!’
I had to act in a school play when I was about ten years old. I really didn’t want to do it. But everyone had to do it so I didn’t have a choice. A talent agent came and watched it and later gave me some work. It’s funny because I’d always known that I wanted a movie career. I just didn’t think that I would be in the movies.
It’s a funny thing: You want so badly for people to see what you do – you’re proud of it – and I like the effect that movies have on people. But the attention can also make me uncomfortable.
I like being in movies that have a great story. I’m not so interested in being a Hollywood star. It’s a job, you know. When you wake up at six in the morning every day for a week, it feels like hard work.
It’s not like I sit around watching my movies again and again, but I’ve never quite believed actors when they say they don’t watch themselves.
I mean, I love L.A. – I love living here. But I wish that we could make things without the need to hit a home run every single time. It’s a unique thing to Hollywood that if you don’t do that every time, then you’re considered a failure. But it’s like, ‘Well, are you making movies to be successful? Or are you making movies to learn something?’