As we saw yesterday when Kristen Stewart stopped by Live with Regis and Kelly, nothing is more entertaining than watching an unapologetically clueless Regis Philbin discuss The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Reege did not disappoint when Robert Pattinson visited this morning. Some highlights:
• After Pattinson, who admitted he was running on fumes and screams of fans, said he’d been all over the world in the last two weeks (“Tokyo, Munich, Frankfurt…”), Philbin asked, “And do the young people there know you?” As the audience giggled at their crazy grandpa, Kelly stepped in to tell Regis, “It’s huge. You don’t understand.” “I just read about it today,” Philbin cracked. (Had he said yesterday, we might’ve believed him.)
• Pattinson explained that Edward is a bit of a defeatist. A seemingly intrigued Philbin responded, “No kidding. He’s a vampire! What’s wrong with him? He’s got the upper tooth!” He then shot Pattinson a kind of “Ha! Ha!” pose and shouted “I don’t care!” at the audience. Presumably, he meant that he doesn’t care if no one laughed at that joke, not that he doesn’t care about New Moon. Honestly, I prefer Regis’ retro zingers to earnest hosts asking him why he thinks vampires are so hot right now. (Which, Regis also did: “Is it the drama, the tension, the biting?” Pattinson gave the same answer he gave David Letterman last night — he’s still trying to figure it out himself.)
• At one point, Philbin tried to explore the plot of New Moon. “There’s another character here, the Volturi. I don’t like him,” he said. Giggling, Pattinson informed him that the Volturi is a “them.”
• Asked by Philbin if Edward is a “new vampire” in the sequel, Pattinson said Edward has metaphorically aged since he met Bella. He’d been the same for 50 or 60 years, but after meeting her, he changed. He’s tortured, Ripa explained. Then, she asked, “Is it possible for a vampire to have a soul?” As she sat back proudly in her seat waiting for his response, Robert just said, “Wow…” Regis shouted, “Excuse me, when did you get so deep? Who are you, a scientist or something?”
• Clearly, Philbin hadn’t watched Pattinson’s earlier appearance on Today this morning, when Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira made him walk outside to greet fans at 8 a.m. and speak to a girl who hijacked airtime so she could tell Pattinson about her friend feeding his Edward doll to a squirrel. Pattinson smiled until Vieira mercifully cut to commercial. He’s good to his fans. Regis seemed surprised that Pattinson went into the studio audience to “spread some personality out there” when Live went to commercial between segments, and that Pattinson charmed the Twilight Moms in attendance. “They always claim to be Twilight Moms, and they always look too young,” Rob said after Ripa pointed them out at the start of the interview. “Oh, is he smooth! Oh, does he know what he’s doing!” Philbin said.
Going back to Pattinson’s Today appearance, the show sat him down with Matt Lauer for a one-on-one. Lauer wanted to give him a chance to put some tabloid rumors to rest, but Pattinson was able to joke his way out of the only question anyone cares about: “You’re dating a costar whose name rhymes with Tristan Blewart?” “Tristan Blewart,” Pattinson said. “There was a Liston Hewitt last year. That would be true, yes.” Lauer did get a few real answers during the chat. Asked how he handles the mania, Pattinson said, “I speak in an American accent when I’m talking to crowds, because it’s so separate to my actual life. I mean, I still feel like I’m kinda acting. I think that’s the way that I don’t sort of go completely mad.” Does he ever wish he could put the genie back in the bottle? “I had to change my teeth a little bit for the first movie. And that’s the only regret I have. I was supposed to do this brace thing, and never wore the brace, and now I’ve kinda damaged my teeth permanently.” Does he mind that Edward’s not the focus of the sequel? No. He always thought New Moon was the most complex book and the most relatable Edward story line: “The more in love with someone you fall, the more you kind of lose control of the relationship and kind of attack and destroy it. I always thought that was interesting.”
Are you still Team Edward? Last day to vote in our pre-New Moon poll. To find out if the film causes anyone to switch to Team Jacob, we’ll be doing a post-opening weekend poll next week. Scientific! We know Ripa would approve. And Philbin’s mind just exploded.
More New Moon:
EW’s Twilight HQ with the latest photo galleries and news
Robert Pattinson to need even more security following Letterman appearance
Kristen Stewart on Fallon: ‘Jimmy! Move out of the way so we can see Kristen!’
New Moon morning TV roundup: Kellan Lutz won’t take his shirt off for $5,000
On the scene at the premiere with Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and inappropriate fan signs
Taylor Lautner talks Team Taylor panties with Jay Leno
Kristen Stewart: ‘I think it’s weird that we have underwear with Taylor’s face on it’
Comments (1-15) of 15 Add your comment
Where’s the review of the movie? What is taking so long?
It’s pretty hard to sugarcoat the words “this blows”.
Ha ha.
It’s probably really hard for EW to let down their core tween/cougar audience.
I watched both interviews and I thought Regis was kind of obnoxious. Doesn’t he do ANY research before he talks to people about their movies. He does this all the time and I think it is pompous and annoying.
i saw Kristen’s interview yesterday on Regis and Kelly. it was painfull to watch. i’ve seen a lot of people trying to defend her by saying that she was ill. but what i don’t get is this, she’s an actress, if she doesn’t feel well, then fake it. it what she does for a living. what am i missing?
I can’t stand the Twilight series, but I like Robert. I’ve liked him since Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. That doesn’t mean I’ll see New Moon, but watching him on the talk shows has been fun.
Alhough Regis was ill prepared, I thought it was a great interview – especially Rob’s response when Kelly asked if vampires have souls? The Today segment was borrrring!! Same questions Rob has been answering over and over (and over!) again AND another futile attempt [by Matt Laurer] to get an answer to the ‘relationship’ question. The best part of that segment was when Rob [seriously] tried to get an understanding of why one of his teen fans fed her Edward Cullen doll to a squirrel? That was hilarious!
I did record R&K yesterday. I agree with Marie on Kristen. I felt bad for her. I did not take it that she was sick …. I would say “scared sh*tless”. All hunched over …. not being able to find the words to answer the questions. Kelly picked up on it.
Regis never has a clue about anything. He and Larry King are in the same damn boat.
I cannot wait until all this Twilight crap is over with. Enough already.
I on the other hand find it completely refreshing to have someone out there who hasn’t been sucked into this whole vampire thing (not like I haven’t). Regis just tells it like it is.
. . . just take all these interviews lightly, come on! Everyone did fine. We just want so much more of these actors/actresses when we see them in real life, it’s UNREAL.
Seriously folks, who really cares!
I have a question, the last line spoken in the new movie is “will you marry me”… is this how it also ends in the book?
Nope
i heard that a lot of 16 year olds are madly in love with Robert Pattinson or Eduard Collen, that’s more like it. I guess it must be really frustrating to fall in love with someone you know you’ll never meet. I feel sorry for these girls…no offense