These answers are not exact, it was liveblogged right as it happened and I can’t type that quickly. Enjoy!
What did your daughter think of your portrayal?
When I first told her, she said Aro is bald. Completely bald. It made me realize everyone has their own visual of the character. I think she was around 8, and she was really annoyed, because it was her thing. So, I slightly underestimated the effect on her. I mean she got really excited eventually, but you realize nothing can be what imagine in your head. So even though I wasn’t a bald Aro, I hope she liked it. I think he’d just like me to play her father, stay around, she’s had enough of the acting.
Can you talk about the edge of comedy in your performance?
He thinks of himself as being a sentimental old fool, watching all the young people have fun, and then he kills them! He’s been around for hundreds of years, and you just get bored. Who wants to live forever? It’s just really boring! Everything new is interesting, so he’s constantly trying to amuse himself. I think hopefully it makes it so the scary parts are more chilling. You realize how much Aro enjoys his general meanness. Just his general insanity.
Can you talk about your red contact lenses?
Having anyone fiddle with your eyes is not what you want to be going on first thing on Monday morning. I had to wear contacts in Underworld in Tron, but I’d never worn them all day. The ones I had to wear were bigger than everyone elses because they wanted to affect my entire eyeball instead of just my iris. So, they wanted to make him look older. So they’re like half golf ball. They have to lift the top and bottom of the eyball to get it in, So everything goes a pinkish hue, and you don’t have much peripheral visual, and I’d go very quiet. Inner turmoil. So it helped me out a little bit in my performance!
Can you talk about your public life after being a part of the series? Having it come to an end?
I’ve had a peculiar position with the films. I’ve come in and out with them, not like Rob and Kristen who are right in the thick of it all along. So, I can have a sense of it from the outside and inside. Young fans of this series don’t recognize me until their parents point at me and say “That guy’s in Twilight!” Then of course “AHHHH!” [immitates screaming fans] My daughter has grown up with this book, so when you come to the last chapter, I think Bill has done a great job making the movie also have closure for all the fans. So, it’s very moving by the end, not giving anything away.
Can you talk about Bella’s journey?
I think people can relate to Bella’s journey! There are plenty of vampires and werewolves in high school. So, I’ve seen the movie twice, and by the end I was bawling. I find it very moving.
Research for the role?
I love vampires so I didn’t have to do much research! I love vampire movies.
Compare Tony Blair and Aro?
One is a slightly delusional psychoopath and the other one is Aro…only joking! They were both in positions of power, but Aro has got an insanity that goes way beyond the depth of Tony Blair inside.
Shooting the battle?
My team were on one end, and the other team were at the other end. We were so far away from eachothers that we couldn’t talk! The poor vampires, they all had to stand there for so long. However, then we had this amazing group dance. The Cullen team had choreographed a whole dance to ‘Sweet Dreams are Made of This,’ maybe it’ll be on the DVD!
Craziest fan experience?
I was buying jeans and these girls had figured out that I played Aro, and just screamed at me. I just said, “I’ll take these please! Two please!”
Advice you’d tell yourself before joining the franchise?
There’s nothing like being around Kristen, Rob, and Nikki…to make you feel like an old, fat, welshman. You feel like by osmosis you’ve gotten more attractive, but then you look in the mirror afterwards and scream!
