In other news, on Thursday I got to sit down with the stunning Cam Gigandet for an exclusive chat!  I know Cam plays the baddie in Twilight, but in real life he is absolutely lovely.  Very laid back, sweet and of course a genuine treat to gaze upon.  We met up in Soho and I asked a few questions about himself and about the ever tenacious James!  Despite coming down with a cold he was kind enough to devote some of his time to our wonderful UK audience!  He sat down in his blue jeans and a black button up shirt and we talked film, tattoos and travel.  I will also be broadcasting the interview as a podcast.  Here is the transcript for your reading pleasure, enjoy!

Sanguina: Would you like to say hello to the UK fans?

Cam: Hello UK Fans it is Cam Gigandet, I am playing James on the movie Twilight

Sanguina:  Brilliant!  So how long are you in London?

Cam:  I got here on Monday and I leave tomorrow on Friday.

Sanguina: Tomorrow!  Are you still jetlagged?

Cam:  Um, no not really, things are weird.  I mean I haven’t really slept.  I’ve had a weird sleep pattern.  I don’t know if it is jetlag I just haven’t been able to sleep very much, so it’s all right.

Sanguina:  So you’re here just mostly for promo?  Is that right?

Cam:  Yeah, yeah. It has been a full few days! 

Sanguina:  Is there anywhere you are really excited about going for promotion that you haven’t been?

Cam:  Yeah, I haven’t been ANYWHERE.

Sanguina:  Anywhere?  Is this your first time here?  Wow!

Cam:  Yeah, this is my first time in London.  There’re a couple other countries that will be coming up later after the premiere that I haven’t been to either so… yeah I haven’t been anywhere.

Sanguina:  So it will be a world travel expedition for you then!

Cam:  Yeah, it is kind of fun and exciting!

Sanguina:  You were born in Washington right?

Cam:  Washington state, yes. 

Sanguina: Was it nice filming close to home? 

Cam: Yes it was, yeah! 

Sanguina:  Did you get to stay with family?

Cam:  No, no.  I don’t think I’d want to.  My parents, you know, it was easy for them to drive down so they came down every once in a while

Sanguina:  Many readers in the UK won’t have heard of you before Twilight. So, if you could choose one film or show from your back catalogue to kind of showcase your talents, which would you choose?

Cam:  Never Back Down probably. 

Sanguina:  Is that because of all the kind of martial arts type work?

Cam:  That and I enjoyed it more than any other movie.  I mean, I haven’t done any really, but yeah I had a blast it was a challenge and yeah, I’m proud of that one.

Sanguina:  Cool.  So I have some character questions for you…  Twilight draws historical references through the vampire’s lives and we don’t know very much about James, so did you get any back-story?  Did Catherine or Stephenie or Melissa sort of pad out his back-story for you or did you get to make it up?

Cam:  No. No one really…(thinks)

Sanguina:  ‘Cause we don’t even know how old he is, do we?

Cam:  No, I’m actually um… 7,000… (laughs)

No we didn’t really go into that because you can start to focus all your energy on that and if you focus all your energy on that you can kind of lose sight of their relationships and the real story and what is happening right now, you know?  So it’s like where is your focus?  So I put all my energy mostly into their relationships, obviously the physical world, but their relationship and what’s happening right now and the reasons they’re doing the things that they do.  So, yeah as well as Catherine and everyone else that was our primary focus.

Sanguina:  So we get a lot of the relationship between you and Victoria then?

Cam: Well, yeah…

Sanguina:  Because she is avenging you for the next two films!

Cam:  Of course, yes!

Sanguina:  So it is nice to know we definitely see how strong your relationship is and have that kind of build up in there.

Cam:  Of course, and that’s what is a weird part because you have Victoria, while her and James have a relationship, the relationship that is overpowering I guess or overshadowing theirs is obviously Edward and Bella’s.  So, not only is it how our chemistry and relationship is between James and Victoria but its Victoria’s experience of watching me see a relationship that is overpowering, that is stronger, that is…somehow special.

So whatever reasons she has or justifications for this film and what she did I don’t know but…

Sanguina:  So there’s a little bit of jealousy you’d say, of their (Edward and Bella’s) relationship?

Cam:  Exactly!  And even just how my focus is now on them and how it is not her anymore, she’s not the primary so there’s some uh…

Sanguina: Some issues there?

Cam:  Haha, yeah, exactly!

Sanguina:  Ok, so I have a cheesy question to ask you…

Cam: Uh oh…

Sanguina: So you got to do some wire work in the ballet studio, was this your first time?  Or have you done ballet before? (heehee)

Cam: (laughs) Wirework or ballet?  Can’t say I’ve done either before!

Sanguina:  Haha, I mean, did you get your own stunts or were there fill ins (double)?  How much wirework did you get to do?

Cam:  I got to do some.  It’s just the degree of difficulty and the higher risks ones I just couldn’t do those, they just wouldn’t let me, even if I begged!  But there was a lot of simpler stuff… but then we’re still so much a part of it because they have to be seamless, you can’t obviously see that they are two different people, so we were always working together and had to be there the whole time.  And I had never done wirework, maybe if I was a professional I would have gotten to do more but… I wasn’t!

Sanguina:  Is it fun?

Cam:  Yeah!  No, I loved it! It’s actually, I think… easier than I thought?   Easier to get the hang of but I think its extremely hard to make it look right, look good. But I mean I could just hang on and let them do all the work (mimes being a puppet) but it just doesn’t look right so… Yeah, it is a tough thing to master but its exciting.

Sanguina:  Yeah, it looks like it would be a lot of fun.  Hard work, but a lot of fun!

Sanguina:  Stephenie Meyer wrote Twilight with music in mind and this kind of influenced the soundtrack a bit.  Are there any parallels to your own musical tastes on the soundtrack?  Or what kind of music do you like?

Cam:  For James or me personally?

Sanguina: For you personally!  If it is too personal then you don’t have to answer!

Cam: No, it’s not too personal! (He seemed surprised I was asking about Cam and not James!)

Cam:  I mean its weird because I totally understand how, I mean that’s kind of what this movie is… does… it evokes emotion and not just visually and what you are watching but the music and I don’t know if its just now or its always been this way but… music can evoke such specific emotions and memories that it uh, I mean it can really… you know (laughs) evoke emotion!

So I really played around with that a lot in the movie and one of my favourite artists, at least during this movie, and… most of the time actually, is Damien Rice.  Which I thought was kind of an odd contradictory thing to have… but it brought up things for him (James) and then it was his perspective on what he did because of it.  He starts off in this place listening to this music, or me as the actor does, and then going into something that is so… violent I guess, or going after Bella or whatever.  It was kind of weird, I’d have to really justify every little thing because my mind and my emotions are here, in this one place but…  so it was kind of a weird thing to play around with and I actually had never played around with music while I was on set so it was fun.

Sanguina:  That’s cool because it does have such a big influence.  I mean, Stephenie’s got playlists and stuff for when she was writing the books so it is really nice to know the kind of inspiration you guys had as well.

Sanguina: Are there any cast or crew that you’d like to work with on another film?

Cam:  Pshh. No WAY!  Those people?  (whistles and swirls finger by temple)

Haha, no, I think Kristen is kind of… unbelievable! So I would love to work with her again.  I mean most of my stuff is actually with her.  A lot of the cast members unfortunately I didn’t get to work with a lot of them, at least extensively.  But also I think Rachelle and Edi are two of the most professional yet… I don’t know, they are just so enjoyable to be around and I think that is really important part of the shooting.  So I really enjoyed them.  And I think Rob is hilarious and talented and yeah, I mean I would work with any of them again.  It’s just, after this movie, who knows what going to happen!

Sanguina:  We heard that Edi was kind of the prankster on set, did he play any pranks on you?

Cam:  He was kind of hilarious!  No, he didn’t.  But we would sit while we were waiting and we would do impersonations of a movie called Snatch (looks at me questioningly)…

Sanguina:  Yeah yeah, I know that movie well!

Cam:  And then it turned into like any movie we could possibly think of so yeah he’s great at them and we had a good time together.

Sanguina:  The web and Twilight Fandom are abuzz with images and comments about your physique, of course.  Have you ever tried what I like to call ‘google-bating’?  (Its when you google yourself online) and seen what the fans are saying about you?

Cam:  At the beginning when I was cast in Twilight I would look on IMDB or whatever and that was the extent of it, some of the YouTube things but then I was just like alright… it’s just too much!  And you never really listen to compliments and you never really listen to any praise but you REALLY listen to all the criticisms and all the negative stuff so you just kind of put it aside and hope that they are all saying good things.

Sanguina:  There is also a lot of discussion, and this might be too personal so let me know if it is, about your tattoos.  I’ve got several tattoos myself. Can you share the inspiration behind the tattoos that you have or are they too personal?

Cam:  No no.  Um, the one on my arm is a reminder to not be an idiot!  I’ve actually been getting it removed for the past two years, or year and a half?

Sanguina:  Really?  (wince, removal is less pleasant than getting them in the first place!)  Wow! 

Cam:  I mean it has been so off and on but… so I am taking that one off, so lesson learned on the whole ah… ‘I’m gonna go get a tattoo today’ type of comments!

Sanguina:  Haha, what inspired it originally?  Where you just…

Cam:  Um well, when I was 16 I got the darker part, it was just a little dragon, a tribal dragon, but then that was fine and I was like ‘I want more I want more’ so one day when I was 21 or 22… no I had to be older, I think I was like 22 or 23 (thinks) I’m so old now…

Sanguina:  Hahaha, HARDLY! (Cam’s 26 )

Cam:  (smiles) I think I was like 22 or 23, it wasn’t that long ago!  One day I just went to a tattoo place and was like ‘Can you put a background on it?’  So 3 hours later I walked out with all of this red stuff on my arm… and you know… I am not that good at just confronting strangers and stuff so I never really said anything and I was looking down so I couldn’t really tell and I got out of the shower that night and took the bandage off and I was like ‘Oh my god!’  I looked in the mirror and I was like ‘I am so S.O.L.’ I was like ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna lose it!  I’ve gotta lose it!’ So I waited for it to heal and then started getting it removed.

And the other one is just a word that my parents thought of that means good luck on your journey (Godspeed), so yeah.

Sanguina:  Cool!  What kind of research did you do for the role of James?  I mean do you have a favourite vampire movie or book or anything?

Cam:  Well, it was a kind of conscious decision, I mean since they are not traditional vampires.  When I was reading the book it just became enough for me.  I didn’t want to go anywhere else because I wanted to do this justice first and foremost and I wanted to make Stephenie and the fans and all of these people’s visions as close as possible so if I was going to start going out doing other research it was… I don’t know it just seemed almost… not fair, you know?  And I was like if I use my imagination while I read this book, which is what everyone else did, I can do it in my head and have it in my own mind’s eye and so I thought that was enough. So my imagination kind of proved to be the best thing, I mean, and well obviously her book!

Sanguina:  But before Twilight did you have a favourite vampire movie or anything? Or a preference?

Cam:  Probably the original Dracula.

Sanguina:  So like, Bela Lugosi?

Cam:  (Smiles and nods.)

(I was going to mention Max Schreck from Nosferatu, but I figure only I am that big of a vampire and film geek, so I opted for Bela, everyone loves Lugosi!)

Sanguina:  And have you read all the books now?

Cam:  (coughs and hides a bit) No, no.  I haven’t.  I actually…

Sanguina:  How far have you gotten?

Cam:  (looks sheepish)  Honestly?

Sanguina:  Haha, yeah, honestly!

Cam:  I’ve read the first book… (looks ashamed)

Sanguina:  Well that’s fine!  That is the only one your character is in!

Cam:  (pouts and looks hurt) Really? 

Sanguina:  (He was just too adorable with his pout, I had to laugh)  I know, its really sad!

Cam:  No, I actually, I have them all!  My mom’s read them all.

Sanguina:  Do you want to read the rest?

Cam:  I do, I really do.  I actually, I really did love the first one.

Sanguina:  Well, I doubt you have the time right now though!

Cam:  It’s just been kind of, ah…(looks a bit overwhelmed thinking about it)

Sanguina:  A bit hectic?

Cam:  It’s been a bit hectic!  (laughs)  It’s been a busy few months, its like all in this one year!  It’s like WHOOSH! So yeah, but I will read them, I PROMISE, people!

Sanguina:  Is there a particular British director you might like to work with one day or have you ever thought about performing on the West End?

Cam:  I don’t know if I know if they’re British directors or not!  How would I know?  Um…

Sanguina:  Well, you were quoting Snatch… Guy Ritchie maybe?

Cam:  Oh yeah!  I guess.  Is he actually British or does he just live here?

Sanguina:  No, he’s British. 

Cam:  Oh really? I thought he just lived here! Haha.  I guess he has an accent though!  I mean I love his movies, so yeah!  He would be one of them.  There is so much talent that comes from here, especially actors, it’s like… what about Americans?

Sanguina:  But they love us over here too!  Some of us anyway.

Cam:  (nods)  I would love to do a play.  I think it’s just very difficult.

Sanguina:  It is a very different type of performance…

Cam:  (agrees)  A very different medium!

Sanguina:  But something you would think about?

Cam:  (looks a bit unsure)  If it was something I thought I could actually do!

Sanguina:  Haha, I’m sure you could!

Sanguina:  Are there any questions, when you do these interviews, that you wish somebody WOULD ask that they don’t?

Cam:  Wish somebody would ask… (thinks)

Sanguina:  Because I know people prepare for interviews and you get the typical questions like ‘Tell us about your character, etc.’ but are there any that you wish people would ask that they never do, that you can think of?

Cam:  (pondering)  I’ve never, ever…

Sanguina:  Never thought about it?

Cam:  I think I have gotten asked every single question in the world!  Haha, that is such a good question!  But I have no idea, I really don’t!  Its all been kind of… anything about acting I guess, I love.  But then its kind of weird because that’s not the interest, it’s my interest and what I love, like the specific acting part of it, you know?  And kind of the journey that goes into all of that.  But you know it’s the result of this movie that’s why it is out here and that is why it’s getting this press or whatever you want to call it.  Yeah, anything… it’s just all kind of great. I just love talking about this business so it doesn’t really matter, as long as it’s about this, I am kind of great!

Sanguina:  Are there any positive things about James that you wish you could incorporate into your everyday life?

Because I know everybody sees him as kind of a negative because he is the bad guy but he’s definitely got… perseverance and commitment.

Cam:  Commitment!  Perseverance, that’s better! Perseverance.  And, I don’t even know what kind of trait you would call… someone who is single track minded…or tunnel vision…

Sanguina:  His focus?

Cam:  Yeah, something like that.  I get distracted.  I’m like this (throws hands in the air) instead of like this (uses one hand to demonstrate focusing in a straight line).

Sanguina:  And one last thing… do you have any wise words for the patient UK audience who have to wait an entire MONTH after the US release to see the film?

Cam:  I think you can buy tickets from London to LA for under $1000.  That’s what I would suggest!

Sanguina:  So that would be under £500!  That’s not too bad!

Cam:  Yes! That’s a toughy, its gonna be a toughy.  Don’t read everything, I think is what I would say because…

Sanguina:  Try to stay away from the spoilers?

Cam:  Yeah, you know?  Yeah, even the reviews. It’s gonna be hard not to but…

Sanguina:  I mean, we’re all addicted!  We have to read everything about it, right now! 

Cam:  Yeah!  I know, right?  But, that’s what I would suggest.

Sanguina:  Ok!  Oh, and my collegue on the website, she couldn’t be here today and she really wanted to meet you so I was wondering if you could just say hello and that you wish she was here, her name is Stephanie.

Cam:  “Hello Stephanie!  I wish you were here!  Would have been a good time!  Next time though, promise!”

Sanguina:  Thank you very much.  Thank you for your time! 

Cam:  You’re welcome! And thank you guys!