Edi Gathegi

I think that different actors go about their preparation differently, but when it comes to acting, I use my imagination. I also have the belief that we have all emotions in us and that we each have darkness within us. It depends on what we choose to access. I have found that because I am generally a happy person, it is kind of fun for me to explore that darker side. Villains are fun to play.

I am managing my expectations. I am hearing every day how big this film [Twilight] is going to be, and believe me, I want it to be huge. The best I can hope for is that I begin to work really consistently on a bunch of high-profile projects as a result of this movie. That is the ultimate dream.

[New York or L.A.?] That is a tough question. I prefer New York, to be honest. New York is the only city that I have ever lived in that I have felt at home.

Yes [I met Stephenie Meyer]. Stephenie is a doll. I totally adore her. I did not meet her on set, but we ended up meeting at a dinner that the studio threw for the producers, the actors, the lot, and Stephenie. I ended up sitting next to her for the majority of the night and got to know her. She is just as great in person as she is in her interviews, and I am so happy that this success has fallen in her lap because she worked hard for it.

There were several stages of preparation that I went through [for my role in Twilight]. There was a physical preparation-I wanted to make sure that I resembled a vampire that could exist in the world that Stephenie Meyer created. For my character preparation, I knew that it was going to be a challenge to learn a slight French accent, so I felt that it was a smart move for me to learn as much French as I could and then just tone it down. I just sort of immersed myself in all things French. I even tried to get myself a French girlfriend, but that didn't work out.

At U.C. Santa Barbara, I was undeclared as an undergraduate and I was interested in playing basketball. I was training with some of my teammates and I blew my knee out. I decided that I wanted to take a somewhat easy course because I was depressed, so I took an acting class. I fell in love with acting. I auditioned for their conservatory, got in, and called my parents and told them that this is what I wanted to do with my life. They supported me, and the rest is history. As for grad school, I applied to a lot of schools and by the graces of God or whoever, I got into N.Y.U., which I am told is the best one.

I think that I can safely say that all of the characters in the film are very close to what Stephenie Meyer has written in her first "Twilight"" book. She was a consultant on the film