Before the cast went back to filming Eclipse in Canada, Team Switzerland (aka Kara) and I got a chance to interview Charlie Bewley. Kara and I had a fantastic time as we spoke to Charlie on the phone while he was at a coffee shop in London. Now today we would like to share with you the questions we asked Charlie, and the fun and insightful answers that he provided. Charlie was brilliant in the interview, and since he’s an official member of TA, we feel pretty lucky to have gotten some time with him.
We have both the audio portion available and the transcript.
Below is the audio:
You can also read the entire transcript below.
Twilighters Anonymous Interviews Charlie BewleyTA: Twilighters Anonymous is proud to present Charlie Bewley. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today Charlie.
Charlie: My pleasure to talk to you lovely people at Twilighters Anonymous, it’s where it all started. It was the beginning; you guys were the first point of contact. You guys have got your Google search engine team working on overtime because I guess you guys popped up first. I think I might have just typed in Twilight websites or something and sure enough, there you were. I got a good feel off the bat; I got a good feel from you guys. I think it’s the black back drop or something. Something did it for me.
TA: Can you give us a little run down of your audition process starting from where you heard about the role of Demetri to when you were cast? We know you also read lines for Marcus too, so we’d love to hear about that.
Charlie: A lot of people get thrown in these auditions in Vancouver but I guess this was a fairly prestigious, high caliber auditions come out of Vancouver for a role, films as well. Every single one of my agent’s clients actually phoned her up and said “Get me an audition for that movie, I want to be in that movie”, which is unprecedented from her point of view. But when I got the audition I got a quick coaching session with my coach, just from in terms of technically speaking in an acting point of view. And then I logged onto your forum and asked some questions and some people replied about Demetri and yada yada; and I got a good idea of what Demetri is like. And I walked into the room after my first audition and I looked not too different from how Demetri looks actually in the movie. I had a beautiful long, gray, dark coat. I was wearing two inch black heels which is definitely something that I adore and these kind of black flares which is kind of cool as well. And the hair was very short at the time, not like in the film, but I managed to get a little spike down the forehead just to sort of insinuate some kind of, I don’t know, Italian. The first audition went very well. The casting director in Vancouver just basically said to me, “Look into my eyes and deliver the lines”, that’s what I did. And I guess they’re looking for a look off the bat, and then when I was brought back in to read in front of Chris Weitz and Wyck Godfrey who is the producer, I did pretty much exactly the same. I had obviously brought a lot more to the character and the beats and everything. The scene was the scene was the bell tower scene, just after where Edward and Bella come together. It went from there, yeah I felt really good actually off the bat. I could tell it went really well. Chris was laughing and Wyck enjoyed it and I said to him “Should I do it again?” and he said “Why not?”, so I did and I walked out of the room feeling very good, but then threw it all away like you do when you’re auditioning. You know, you don’t spend too much on it; you just throw it away and hope for the best. And sure enough three or four days later I got a very, very promising call which is when they said, well we want you to read for Marcus as well. So I went back in and got some coaching for Marcus, but I’ve got to tell you, my heart wasn’t in it. I wanted to play Demetri from the word go. I did buy Breaking Dawn and I read that, what I gained from Marcus’ character is he is very apathetic and not much fun, and totally against who I am as a person or as Demetri is – someone who is very close to who I am, I find anyway. I went back in and auditioned and it went to Chris Heyerdahl who is an excellent choice. He is brilliantly, brilliantly apathetic in the film, you have to see it. Once scene he did where his voice is just so old, and it’s a three thousand year old voice, it’s just so old; and it was just addictive to listen to the sound that he made when he delivered hi s line, it was something else.
TA: Why did you find it important to come on a Twilight forum to ask fans their opinion on the role rather than just inventing your own back-story for Demetri from the start?
Charlie: They’re going to be looking for people who play fairly close to what is in the book because you don’t really have anything more than what Stephenie has written and Melissa has translated into the screenplay. You don’t have anything more than that, so it’s wrong to, especially in an auditioning sense to make too many brave choices off the bat because you’re just going to take yourself out of the market essentially. Now I made enough choices in the audition to actually, bearing in mind what I heard from the guys on Twilighters Anonymous and what I read in the book, I made brave enough choices to stand out but not be untrue to what Stephenie wrote. When you get the role, that’s when you can really start playing with your character because you know that you are the person to play this and therefore you have to be as deep as possible, and that’s why I decided to create this huge back-story for Demetri so he had some kind of true journey through this whole thing.
TA: You mentioned in a recent interview that you made up a complete back-story for Demetri and ran it past Stephenie Meyer. Did she approve of what you came up with and did she give you any additional insight into your character?
Charlie: No, from what I remember when I met Stephenie and threw that back-story at her, obviously it’s a scary situation when you go to the author of a book and tell her about her character that she’s dreamt up. I didn’t know how it was going to go down to be honest; I just threw it out there because I’d rather ruffle feathers than not. But Stephenie seemed very receptive to the whole thing; she was kind of like bobbing her head along as I was getting in. Stephanie’s great, I don’t know if you’ve met her but she seems a very open character. I think it’s very flattering for her to have someone take things a little bit deeper. Obviously that wasn’t the back-story she intended but it was one that worked for me I guess.
TA: Was it nerve-wracking having Stephenie Meyer, the creator of the whole Twilight universe, on set while you were filming? Did you feel additional pressure having her there?
Charlie: I would say it was great having her there actually. I don’t think there was any pressure; I mean there was enough pressure when you’re standing around the people you’ve got on set. You’ve got some pretty fine actors from great talent behind the camera, you’ve got Chris Weitz, the Volturi lair, it’s an awe-inspiring place. The fact that Stephenie was there was great because it’s almost like she was supporting the whole thing as opposed to having her project taken out of her hands and someone just ran with it. But obviously Stephenie seemed very integral to the whole process of switching it from novel to screenplay, and I spoke with her a number of times and she’s just a regular cool chick who’s just come up with this absolute anomaly of a novel series which is a phenomenon. I think she’s quite taken about by that as well when you look at her it’s like yeah I can’t quite believe this either.
TA: You filmed scenes with several of the actors in New Moon. What was it like working with such a big cast and did everyone hit it off right away?
Charlie: I guess when you have a series of films like this; people who come in the second installment are obviously going to be like add-ons to the whole thing if you like. I mean in any kind of social contact you can’t just walk into a bunch of people and you know, just instantly be friends with them it just doesn’t work like that. Especially on a film set with a lot of, a lot of trust a lot of friendships get built over a period of time as opposed to like straight off the bat. Remember we’re actors; we’re very, you know insecure and untrustworthy. I mean I felt very accommodated on set, I mean first point of entry is hair and makeup and they’re the most wonderful people. And you make very good friends with them, and they’re just so interested in who you are, and it’s like five in the morning but no one cares and everyone looks like shit but they try and keep you upbeat. And then when you walk on set it’s very sort of professional off the bat. Like first time I kind of saw Rob and Kristen doing a scene it was a very surreal experience the first time you meet someone who you only know through films and through magazines and stuff. The first time you actually meet them you’re actually alongside them in a character context in a film and off the bat we were going like a house on fire.
TA: How was it working with director Chris Weitz?
Charlie: Chris Weitz is probably the nicest guy I’ve ever met. He really is, he is just; he’s a real unique kind of guy. He is very hands off, he places a massive amount of trust in who he has hired, that’s why he obviously a lot of time getting the right people on board therefore he just puts his trust in. It’s a very well oiled machine off the bat. Like I said he just trusts that everyone is doing their job. He is just an overseer. When I got a chance to talk to him he was just the nicest guy, he got to talk about being an Anglophile and going to Burning Man and having burning babies. We got a chance to talk and sit back and Chris is a really, really genuine, easy, accessible great guy.
TA: What scene in New Moon are you most looking forward to seeing finished and on film in November?
Charlie: There’s a huge fight scene I’m sure you’ve all heard about. They’re introducing a lot of new concepts into this fighting style. I mean when you work with second unit, the stunt guys everything is very, very precision perfect in camera angles all this kind of stuff. I saw firsthand the huge process it goes through to put a fight like that together. And from what you have there, it took two weeks to shoot, and what you’re going to get in New Moon it’s going to be you know like, a minute or two of absolute just hectic high contact fighting. I’m involved slightly, much as I’d like to be. I got in there you know, quickly at one point. I’m really looking forward to seeing how that comes out.
TA: Were there any scenes, emotionally or physically, that were particularly hard to film?
Charlie: That’s a tough question. I don’t think so really in this movie. Demetri’s a very in control kind of guy, he doesn’t like flip out. He’s not like this sort of mental ball of exposed nerve endings; he’s just a very cool customer. He’s very in control all of the time. I was like where’s Demetri on the whole hierarchy of vampires? And I thought well in terms of physical ability Demetri is probably number one. I kind of equate the Volturi to the Mafia. And Aro is like the big Don Corleone Mafia guy, and the two guys next to him, Caius and Marcus, just kind of like aged, frustrated brothers, you know in the Mafia family. And then you hire to guard your Mafia family the best vampires possible. And therefore Demetri, until Alec and Jane came along with their cheating powers; he was typically the most apt vampire of the game.
TA: Being a fan yourself and having read New Moon, how true to the book would you say the Volturi scenes are?
Charlie: Well when you’ve got a book that’s 700 pages long obviously everything is concertinaed. Everything is like accordioned into this manageable 110, 120 minutes. So I would think it would be like condensed. So if you can imagine every like three or four, five maybe six pages that you have in the book is actually condensed into one minute of footage. So what I would say is that you have a lot of emphasis on the Volturi and it’s obviously this next step in the whole Saga. This is like where everything kicks off. The moment when the bell tower thing happens and they have their part, and then Demetri and Felix come around the corner, and then it’s like the music drops. And then suddenly you realize that this whole Twilight Saga thing has just taken another level of danger, and of intrigue and excitement. We’re introduced maybe twenty minutes from the end with a taste of what’s to come and this whole new dimension of the underworld. When you look at people like the Cullens and the werewolves and the wolf pack and that kind of stuff - that was just a taste of it. Now you’re dealing with the Mafia. Now you’re dealing with the boys.
TA: You and the rest of the actors who make up the Volturi have your own unique accents in real life. Do you retain those accents for the film or did you all adopt a common accent?
Charlie: Look at the cast that’s been cast as the Volturi. You’ve got a heavy amount of thespian, British-ness in there. Everyone kind of looks at that and thinks about the whole accent thing. What would work? What would look good? And time has proven, and the history of film has proven that evil characters are more often than not played by British people. Like look down the list, people like Sean Bean who has this great British accent and the list goes on. You know Michael Sheen is playing the part. British is evil.
TA: In terms of fans, paparazzi and overall filming, what were the biggest differences in going from Vancouver to Italy?
Charlie: Going from Vancouver where when you’re working you’re actually on set. You’re on set it’s enclosed, you know, no access. It’s locked down. The only time I really encountered any fans, and I really didn’t because I’d only just been introduced and people don’t really know what I look like. Because I really don’t think I look in person, what I look like in my photos. I just don’t think I do, it’s just an energy or something. In Vancouver, I just walked around anonymous, like I’m doing in London, its fine. Plus I haven’t been disseminated that bad, so there was no problems in Vancouver whatsoever. I just did the work and walked home. When we went out to dinner sometimes with Rob and Kristen, that’s when you had paparazzi just swarming the place, like rats on a ship, it was weird. And Poor Rob, you know, he sits down in a corner and is like “This is ridiculous, I can’t believe this is happening. Just leave me alone.” Which is sad, because he can’t leave his house. When you go to a place like Italy; I don’t know why Summit really told everyone they were going to film in Montepulciano a good two months ahead of time. I don’t know why. But when we got there it was just, it’s impossible to keep five thousand girls out of a place as small as Montepulciano. You’d need a thousand extras on set every day. They were just allowed, you know, to ride, go wherever you want. So there was no cordoned- off areas really, as such, apart from the hotels and stuff. So you were always, wherever you went, followed by a hundred to a thousand girls….and boys. They were the Italians. And it was a wonderful experience, a very surreal experience, because you take Montepulciano which is this beautiful, secluded, hilltop Tuscan countryside which is rolling with grapevines and wonderful hay fields and trees and beautiful sunshine. And on top of this mountain is this beautiful, rustic, nine hundred year old village which is untouched by commerciality. There’s just not one trace of a commercial footstep on it at all. Then you have that beauty and a film set, the buzz of a huge Hollywood film set to it, then you have five thousand screaming fans wherever you go. You’re treated like royalty wherever you go, with security guards and everything. It’s just the most surreal experience I think I can ever expect to go through again, really, honestly. The whole everything together was just. I mean I’ve written an article about it and I’m going to put it out there at some point just to try to capture, because my writing is much better than when I talk. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that. It was another world, it really was.
TA: Did you have any idea how big the Twilight hype was when you joined the cast?
Charlie: Yeah, I knew what it was going to be like. I didn’t expect the whole Italian thing to be as ridiculous as it was. Not to say I’m not grateful for it at all because I love the Italians. They are wicked, wicked people. Not to mention they make up probably like 87% of my fan base right now. Did I know what was going to happen, the whole hype thing? Yeah, I mean it’s fairly obvious. In Canada, where I was living, Rob was on the cover of every single magazine going. I knew that as soon as our faces were thrown out there and disseminated things were going to get a little crazy. But you know, it’s been okay so far. Being a totally unknown actor, there was a lot more intrigue into me as to other people, I’m pretty sure of that. But it’s you know, going to be fairly steady until the film comes out and then I expect another sort of wave of commitments and paparazzi. I don’t know, I mean I don’t think about it too much to be honest because I just, whatever happens happens. There’s nothing you can do about it. And you can just enjoy it when it comes. It’s a wonderful thing to happen to someone in their life, to be subject to such interest. People can be actually intrigued, have an intrigue into what you’ve done in your life. Especially when you’ve got a back-story like I have, it’s something that’s very exciting.
TA: Your character makes appearances in the final two books in the Twilight Saga. Are you confirmed to return for the film versions of Eclipse and Breaking Dawn?
Charlie: I’m optioned. Which essentially, you know, does bind me in some respects to the film. But as far as contracts go, no, they get sorted out closer to the time. I’ve no reason to expect they’re going to fire Demetri.
TA: Have you read the Eclipse book yet?
Charlie: No, I’m not very good at reading. I read audio books.
TA: How much interaction have you had with the director of Eclipse, David Slade?
Charlie: David Slade, yeah. David’s actually from twenty minutes north of where I’m from. David’s a very unique character. I met him at Melissa Rosenberg’s meal that she put on for us. And within about two minutes of speaking to him, he’d already told me the dirtiest joke I’ve ever heard in my life. The most disgusting yet funny joke I’ve ever heard in my life. David just doesn’t give a shit, he just doesn’t. I mean that’s very typically northern British, often. It’s quite clear that when he directed Hard Candy that anything goes, you know. I’d, if you’re underage, I’d rec. you don’t watch it. But he’s got his own style. His style is that picture that was put up on your website where he’s just like two fingers both up. And everyone was really angry about it. I think he knows and he’s just laughing at the world and he’s got a style and that’s going to come out in Eclipse. I’ve no idea what to expect to be honest. But you know, in David we trust.
TA: What do you think David will bring to Eclipse that maybe another director couldn’t?
Charlie: Well that’s really hard to say because I’ve only seen Hard Candy. I don’t know his style to be honest; I don’t know what his style in terms of directing would be. All I can say is that you know, it’s very intriguing working with a different director every time. You know, Chris was very laid back. With working everyone had a lot of freedom within their acting to kind of explore where they wanted to go. From what I gather with David is he likes to shock and he likes to be fairly morbid, kind of, fairly dark. And that’s something that you know, I can imagine he’ll bring to Eclipse. I don’t really know what else to tell you more than that. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does with it.
TA: You went on a Twilight fan site initially to get fan insight and opinions on Demetri. Do you continue to check in on fan sites to see what fans are saying about you and the film in general?
Charlie: Absolutely. I’m so bored right now. Every day I wake up and I’m like, it’s a blank canvas. I don’t know what to do. If my agent wants to work up nice meetings my way and audition, that’d be great. Otherwise I’m just entertaining myself in this city which is so different than Vancouver because everyone just goes from like, five days a week everyone just disappears from existence and then they pop up in a few days. It’s kind of like I’m almost designing my own life for myself right now waiting for Eclipse to shoot. Cause I know that I’m not shooting anything in between because I’m not doing any sides, so what do I do from now til then. Well yeah, I mean I do, I check in. I see what’s being said and stuff. I love the fans I have right now, there’s a great bunch of Italian fans I’ve got and there’s a bunch of Australian girls who’re petitioning for me to come down to the TwiCon down there. These guys, they have this blind faith in who I am and that can only be from what they’ve seen from you know, footage from Montepulciano and stuff. So these people, they’ve felt the need to you know, spend their valuable time in creating fan sites and stuff, it’s only fair that I give them some, I interact with them at some point. And actually be, I don’t know what to tell you.
TA: Twitter?
Charlie: I’m very precise with twitter. Though I hear it’s very addictive, it’s a very addictive thing. It’s one big thing here? No, I’m not the guy that says “Charlie is going to the toilet now…get out”. If there’s something going on, then I’ll kind of like quickly put it down and whatever.
TA: Can you tell us about any past projects that fans can watch you in? Any future projects in the works?
Charlie: I’m not looking to kind of whore myself out in any respects, and sell out. I’m not sure if you’ve seen me in too much other than Twilight until, probably a couple years time because of production times and stuff. I won’t be out doing stuff until maybe 2011. But you can guarantee that stuff that I do choose to do or you know, have the opportunity to do, will be stuff that will be very, very thought out and close to my interests.
TA: Is there anything you would like to say to your fans?
Charlie: Yeah, I’m so grateful for every bit of support that I get. It’s always blind faith right now. I’m so looking forward to you guys seeing the movie, so you can actually see who I am and see what Demetri is and everyone else and everything else. You’ve spent a lot of time into keeping up to date on every single nook and cranny on what’s going on in this movie. I would love to in your, well I will be in your shoes actually but to the last few days before the movie comes out and what kind of excitement that generates for you guys. Cause I have a feeling it going to explode. I really do appreciate at this time in proceedings, anyone who takes time out to support someone they have very little idea of based on just a feeling or a whim, or just to go ahead and do stuff like Facebook, fansites and some of the stuff the Australian girls have put together is just amazing. I really do appreciate everyone who goes and does that. It’s very humbling for someone who’s just been thrust into this whole thing, this kind of attention is very humbling. Don’t ever, I’m very accessible and very easy to talk to, so if you ever get the opportunity to come and talk to me make sure you do, and do my best.
TA: Will we see you back on Twilighters Anonymous?
Charlie: Oh absolutely yeah, I’ll be first to comment on my terrible interview I’ve just conducted.
TA: Thank you Charlie Bewley!
From myself, Kara and all of TA, thank you again for your time Charlie, from the bottom of our hearts!
It’s Friday again and that means another Friday Funny!
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