Twilight Interview: Jacob Vs. Edward

By Jeff Otto
For the tweener hardcore faithful of Stephenie Meyer's wildly successful Twilight novel series, the Edward vs. Jacob debate unquestionably holds more weight in 2008 than McCain vs. Obama. Some Borders book stories are even hosting live debate sessions to celebrate the midnight release of the fourth book in the series, Breaking Dawn, on August 2nd.
Perhaps equally anticipated by fans is the first Twilight movie on December 12, 2008. When casting was first announced, young girls across the nation cried out in gleeful joy or rather, in some cases, tearful disappointment at the casting news. Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward, claims that the fans hated him at first, although the ear-piercing screeches of the young ladies at each and every public appearance these days seems to indicate that they've certainly come around.
At last week's Comic-Con, ReelzChannel was in the highly enviable position of sitting right across the table from the young hunks portraying Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. Oh, if only I were a 13 year-old girl...
Laymen may not realize that Twilight fans are generally split into two categories -- Team Taylor and Team Edward. Which, oh which, should fair Bella choose? Edward is super-hot but, you know, he's got that issue of yearning for the taste human flesh. Also, he's 108, but he does look quite good for his age. And then there's Jacob -- mysterious, quiet and, yeah, he's a little hairy at times, sure. But Bella can get past that and see the beauty within, right?
In the first movie, Jacob's hot," Taylor Lautner says of Meyer's description in the first novel. "But Jacob, he won't live forever. He's more human-like than Edward. With the first book, you don't really know much. You just know that he's this really happy, go lucky guy who's in love with Bella."
"[Edward is] this kind of semi-reluctant vampire who's 108 years old," says Rob Pattinson. "He's stuck in the body of a 17 year-old school kid pretending to be a human. He wants to either die or become a human again. He meets what becomes [the focus] of his life, a mortal girl called Bella and he falls in love with her. Their story is of the trials and tribulations which occur when a vampire falls in love with a normal girl who he wants to kill all the time."
Although the release of Twilight in theaters is still a few months away, the fandom is already quite rabid. The movie has been declared a hit before ever being projected on the big screen.
"The book has so many obsessively loyal fans," Pattinson says of the phenomenon. "It's strange because people immediately relate you to the character rather than you as an actor."
"It's very surprising," Lautner admits. "But at the same time it's because the fans behind it are just extraordinary. [They] are driving this thing and the story line is awesome. It's got everything in it so it's going to be interesting to see on the big screen."
As Lautner mentioned, the book describes Jacob as being far from hard on the eyes. But his description is nothing like the female fantasy Edward is described as. "It is kind of weird when you read the description of him," Pattinson says with as much modesty as humanly possible. "So beautiful it kind of hurts. It's kind of difficult to handle that. Hopefully they've done a lot of post production airbrushing." (Laughs)
Mr. Lautner, your 30-second rebuttal? ""Edward? Who's Edward? Is there an Edward character in the book?"
But it would be hard for anyone affiliated with the movie to avoid the fan intensity of the Edward vs. Jacob debate. We asked Lautner whether he checks out any of the fan sites online. "I'm not online crazy 24-7 but I come across things. It's weird, weird to see shirts that say 'Team Taylor' on them and other materials of clothing. I don't have a shirt. [And] I don't own the thong." (Laughs)
Even if it is Edward that ultimately win's Bella's affection, physical satisfaction might prove difficult considering the animal instincts his character just can't seem to shake. Screaming teenage girls everywhere will be happy to know that Edward and Bella do indeed swap spit in the Twilight movie, albeit briefly. "There's only really one time," says Pattinson. "The more Bella says 'I'm not scared of you, you're not a monster' the more I believe it. I kind of forget that I am a vampire and what my actual instincts are. I try and kiss her and it ends up being a nightmare. She has a sort of hormonal rush and I have the 'I want to kill you' rush."
"It ends up being quite sexy though in a weird sort of way."