Famed bottom-lip biter Kristen Stewart says there is some parallel poetry between the vampires of Twilight and the life of fame and riches that the movies’ roles have brought about for their young stars. Which really is the sort of startling conclusion that would’ve helped the past couple generations of child stars age a lot more gracefully. Maybe Stewart’s exceptional worldview is just part of a sea change for many young celebrities quickly learning to adapt to the ruthlessly fickle rhythms of celebrity culture. But she presents co-star Robert Pattinson’s Edward Cullen as a bleak metaphor for celebrity. She says, “Edward is actually a really good parallel to fame.”
“As a vampire, he has a sad, desolate life—fame is the same.” Too true, K-Stew! It’s lonely at the top. Because when you’re reportedly raking in at least $12 million to bite your lower lip, there really is no one else—apart from those already lingering in that same dark chamber of celebrity shame—who can “get” you. The rest of us will just bitterly bray about how you act by biting your lower lip, hoping that no one finds the joke tiresome. But Stewart’s candidness is refreshing. She adamantly wants to avoid becoming too A-list. “I don’t want to be a movie star like Angelina Jolie. Nothing about being a celebrity is desirable. I’m an actor. It’s bizarre to me that everybody’s so obsessive.” It’s like growing up in a Hollywood universe and watching their peers, like Lindsay Lohan, implode so publically, young would-be A-listers tread showbiz turf with more practiced reservation than even venerable Oscar darlings.
But the rest of us could make the argument that if fame is a lot like being a vampire, then what about the wild mischief that the coterie of vamps and fangbangers get into over at True Blood?