Emmett Cullen Wants To Be An Action Hero

It’s not every day that you get to meet a vampire. Thankfully Kellan Lutz, who plays the “vegetarian” vamp Emmett Cullen in The Twilight Saga: New Moon and its predecessor Twilight, doesn’t suck.

“He really hasn’t changed, there’s just more to him,” he tells me about his role in the sequel. “My character is not the lead and he doesn’t have a ton of dialogue but his presence is great, and felt,” he adds.

Being accepted by the fans was a huge weight off of Lutz the second time around and, he said, it allowed him to have more fun with the character. He still prepared just as much as the first time however.

“I got my journal out, the journal that had all my Emmett notes about how I was going to play him and what I liked and disliked. I made relationships with all the characters and just elaborated on that.”

The 24-year-old is genuinely enthusiastic about New Moon and says his role as the protective big brother plays a larger part in the film. He also notes that, compared to the relatively low budget production of the first Twilight, this was a big studio movie.

“After the success of Twilight we got a lot more funding for New Moon and could make it bigger and better. A lot of money goes to CGI for the wolves but it was cool to have an endless supply of resources to make it the best film it could be,” he says.

If you have opened a newspaper or turned on a television in the last couple of months you know that Twilight fans are an intense bunch. And it’s not just its main stars, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, that are being constantly hounded. Lutz thinks the fans are an amazing group but he also has some stories to tell.

“[The fans] allow us actors to continue working,” he notes. “But there are also the marriage proposals and people wanting to handcuff themselves to you. [We get] common ones like ‘will you bite my neck’, ‘will you sign my baby’s forehead’, and scandalous pictures in the mail. Most recently a lady wanted to know if she could lick my face.”

New Moon also has a new director with Catherine Hardwicke being replaced by Chris Weitz. In The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third film that opens in 2010, David Slade takes over the reins. Does Lutz like a fresh eye behind the camera each time?

“I don’t think there is one director who could do all the books justice because all the books are so different. Catherine was perfect for the first, Chris for the second and David for the third. Who knows for the fourth…I would love Chris to come back,” he says. “Chris is easy to deal with. He was an actor once so that goes along with the territory of knowing how to deal with actors.”

After New Moon, Lutz will be battling the iconic horror character Freddy Krueger in the reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street. This time around Freddy is played by Jackie Earle Haley, and Lutz, who plays Dean, can’t give us much more information than what we already know.

“My character is the guy you want to root for,” he says when describing his new role. “I’m up for a couple of days…I can’t sleep, I’m an insomniac, and I’m taking medicine because I’m having these dreams where I see Freddy.” He teases, “I might make it and I might not.”

Lutz says he’s also ecstatic about the release of Eclipse and can’t wait until a trailer is cut so the world can get as excited about it as he is.

“It’s amazing. It’s going to kill in the theatre with the guy audience,” he tells me. “So many cool stunts and fight scenes. We did six weeks of training…some kung fu, jujitsu, boxing, kick-boxing…everything. My character is in it a lot more,” he continues. “David Slade is a kick-ass director. He did 30 Days of Night and Hard Candy and just has this way of making movies edgy.”

Lutz’s goal is to be an action hero like Matt Damon in the Jason Bourne movies. He would happily work on one of those films with Damon too, if the offer was ever given.

“There’s no rush, I don’t need to work every day of my life. I don’t need to be on a TV show where I’m working nine months a year. I have a great team that understands I want longevity…I want to do this for the rest of my life,” he concludes.

And with that he turned into a bat and flew out the hotel window to battle some spies. Or something like that.

Watch the video for Death Cab For Cutie’s Meet Me At The Equinox from the soundtrack for The Twilight Saga: New Moon below.

brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com

Top image: Kellan Lutz and Nikki Reed in a scene from The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Courtesy E1 Entertainment.