Rob Pattinson talks about Tai and Water for Elephants with the Chicago Tribune

When many of you think Robert Pattinson, tabloid headlines and all things vampire come to mind. Pattinson, even more than any of the other main actors in the popular "Twilight" movie series, seems to be purposefully creating a body of work outside of his tween following.

This weekend, Pattinson shows that there's a lot more depth to him as an actor than we've seen in his "Twilight" character Edward, as he co-stars with Reese Witherspoon in the adaptation of the best-selling novel "Water for Elephants." When we talked recently, I wondered if there was a lot of pressure on him because of his "Twilight" success.

"I think it's actually a little less pressure. It's a little weird. There's a kind of a strange thing that happened and it's the same thing that happened when I did first did 'Twilight,'" he said. "I'd never heard of the 'Twilight' book series. I didn't know anyone who'd read it. I just kind of did it, so I wasn't nervous at all. Later on, it became this huge thing. With 'Water for Elephants,' again, I'd never heard of the book. … And then, I accepted the part and suddenly noticed people sitting next to me were reading it on three different airplane rides. So I guess I just missed the thing again and therefore also missed the nerves again. Now I just love it. Kind of everything about it. I could really connect to it all."



Not a lot of men connect with the movie so passionately. It's not really what might be called a "chick flick," but it's very romantic and very beautiful.
I know. It's strange. My dad loves it and he never reads anything. I think maybe because the reality of working in a circus? And then it can be so harsh ... maybe (it's) more relatable to men. But it's not really a totally romanticized story. It's impossible to romanticize.

You've worked with werewolves in "Twilight." What was it like working with Tai the elephant in this?
She's incredible. She's one of the best actresses I've ever worked with. She plays Rosie in the book, and that's an incredible difficult part to play. It's really integral to the story. It's really difficult casting to find an elephant that could pull it off. ... Plus, she does impressions.

Seriously?
She does impressions of chickens and stuff. And her general attitude is crazy, but she was also just so calm. She could be in a massive crowd of people … but she just stayed totally calmed, looking quite cheerful all the time. She just needs a bit of hay and that's it.

You two have that in common, right? I've seen you very calm in massive crowds of screaming teenagers.
Yes, but I complain about it afterwards. She doesn't complain about it; she is an incredible creature.
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