When Robert Pattinson's character, Cedric Diggory, was ruthlessly slain in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - thereby ending his brief, but magical spell at Hogwarts - it could so easily have been curtains for his fledgling career. Instead, it acted as the catalyst for a grander fantasy, as he was propelled from bit-part wizard to vampire lead Edward Cullen in the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling teen-tome, Twilight.
In doing so, not only has Pattinson starred in two of the biggest fantasy franchises in film history - a huge coup for any aspiring actor - but he's also become one of Hollywood's hottest new stars and a pin-up for hordes of adoring, teenage girls.
Accordingly, his life's become a whirl of crazed, Twilight fans loitering outside his home, the paparazzi preying upon his every move and being mobbed whenever he appears in public. It's a predicament he's struggling to cope with.
"Every time I go out, no matter where I am, people just go completely nuts! It's unreal," he says, shaking his head in disbelief. "When I started doing this, I knew the books were big in America but it keeps surprising me how much bigger everything's getting! Every time I see physical manifestations of it, like fans going wild, my brain can't process it, because it's just too weird.
"One of the weirdest days was when we started shooting New Moon at this high school, in Canada. The school was still open, so there were kids everywhere," recalls Pattinson. "We did this scene, where we were just walking around the corridors but, after every take, all the kids started applauding. It was the same whenever a class came out after a lesson: they'd all clap. That was really bizarre - one of the strangest days ever."
He's also bemused by the frequent comparisons made between him, Jude Law and Leonardo DiCaprio - who personally endorsed Pattinson's burgeoning career and teen heartthrob status by declaring; "finally there's someone to take that burden off me".
"When I heard Leonardo DiCaprio had said that, I just thought; 'Wow, that's so cool,' because that guy's had the best career of any young actor," enthuses Pattinson. "You can virtually guarantee anything he's in will be good. That's the type of career I'd like to have too."
He's beginning to, with a series of diverse roles including portraying Salvador Dali in Little Ashes, a biopic of the legendary Spanish artist, playing an angst-ridden 20-something in the acclaimed How to Be and starring alongside Pierce Brosnan in Remember Me. But, for the moment, Pattinson's world revolves around New Moon and Eclipse, the next two instalments of the Twilight chronicles.
