Eclipse stars dish to EW about the new movie, Oprah, careers and their feelings...

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Highlights from ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’s July 2, 2010 issue

(on newsstands nationwide Friday, June 25):

TOTAL ECLIPSE – THE BEST TWILIGHT MOVIE SO FAR

The stars of the scorching-hot franchise dish TO EW about the new Twilight movie, Oprah, their diverging careers, and (yes) their intense feelings for each other

New York – The last two Twilight movies have earned more than $1 billion worldwide and supercharged their careers. Kristen Stewart is about to shoot an adaptation of Jack Karouac’s On the Road, Taylor Lautner’s embarking on John Singleton’s action thriller Abduction, and Robert Pattinson’s starring alongside Reese Witherspoon as a veterinarian in a traveling circus in Water for Elephants. The actors make an extremely tight trio: honest, protective of each other, and warmly familial. In person, as on screen, Pattinson and Lautner’s mutual affection for Stewart is the tie that binds.

Taylor, you and Rob have some pretty serious confrontations in this movie.

Lautner: Some of those scenes were pretty hard for me. I think we ruined a couple of takes in front of the house and in the tent. It’s just, I don’t know, I have a hard time looking at him…

Stewart: Ha! “I have such a hard time looking at him”!

Lautner: {Laughs} I wasn’t finished. He and I were thisclose to each other – we are literally, like, an inch away – and we’re screaming at each other.

Stewart: About to kiss…

Lautner: A couple of moments it felt like that.

Pattinson: Every single time we had to do a threatening thing to each other – for one thing, you always have your shirt off, and so in the tent scene I literally grabbed your breast. And it’s very difficult to remain in the moment. Also, in that tent scene, I can’t really get over the fact that the word thought sounds like fart.

Stewart: The word thought does not sound like fart.

Pattinson: It does.

Stewart: Maybe because you are an English person.

Pattinson: The opening line of that scene is “Can you at least keep your farts to yourself?” I couldn’t quite get over that.

So do you feel more at peace about being in the spotlight these days?

Stewart: I just feel more comfortable, more myself, and I feel less bare. I feel much more like nobody can take anything from me. Before, I felt literally like my chest was cracked open and people could just reach in and examine and pick at anything they wanted, and it just freaked me right out.

You got a lot of criticism recently for comparing the intrusiveness of the paparazzi to rape. The comment got blown out of proportion very quickly, and you apologized.

Stewart: I’m so sensitive about stuff like that. It is the one subject that means a lot to me. I made one movie directly concerning it and I made another one where my character has a horrible history of rape. I talked to a lot of people about it. I used the wrong word. I should have said “violated.” But I’m young and emotional. It’s just the way it goes sometimes. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I just feel like people got so excited once they saw that it was me. It was like, “Sweet! Lets get her!” And then for the people to exploit it under the guise of being morally upstanding is disgusting – and it embarrassed me because I was part of it.

Did you see it all unfold and then think, I have to issue an apology?

Stewart: No, I was in Korea when it all got bad. My publicist called me and said RAINN had issued this terrible statement.

Pattinson: Who’s Rain?

Stewart: You know, The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

Lautner: I thought you were talking about Rain, that Korean star, or something. I was like, What did they do? They sicced Rain on you? The Ninja Assassin?!

Pattinson: None of those associations came out and gave a statement {criticizing Kristen} without being called upon by the media first – who were doing it specifically to get hits on their websites. That whole system of Internet journalists, where no one is called to account, is almost entirely about hate. All these people get away with doing it because they have no responsibility to anyone. All they need is to get a salacious headline and people click on it, because it’s easy. And it’s quite good being part of these Twilight films because you have to give so many interviews all the time, you can defend yourself. That’s the only way. All of us stick together as well. There as so many little nerds behind their computers, on their little blogs.

Stewart: See, if I said that? Crucifixion. You can say so much more than me. It’s insane.

Pattinson: That’s not true at all. When did I say anything {controversial}?

Stewart: You’re really good, but you could say “I just took a s--- on the Queen’s face,” and people would be like, “Oh, I love him! I love him!”

Pattinson: That is so not true.

What about when you guys were on Oprah recently? There was a story all over the place that Oprah talked to you backstage and demanded to know if you, Kristen and Rob, were a couple. And that you said yes. Did that really happen?

Stewart: {To Lautenr} Did you see my interaction with Oprah backstage?

Lautner: Yeah. I witnessed it.

Stewart: She glided over to me – and she was strong, by the way, really firm hands – and she said, “How are you?” I said, “Good.” She said, “Good. Are you nervous?” I said, “Yeah, I am, but I think I’m okay.” She said, “Good. We’ll have fun.” And then she just walked away. And that was the most I talked to her backstage. (Cover Story, Page 30)

Link to full story on EW.com: http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/06/24/cover-twilight-kristen-stewart-robert-pattinson-taylor-lautner/

credit EW.com