You may remember Edi Gathegi from two small, but memorable, parts: the Haitian taxi driver in Crank who gets Jason Statham so high he sees neon-lit visions that’d make Joel Schumacher proud and Cheese in Gone Baby Gone who spouts the titular phrase. Taylor Lautner popped up in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D a few years ago and the less I say the better–although he does seem like an extraordinarily nice guy.

Now Gathegi and Lautner appear in Catherine Hardwicke’s adaptation of Twilight as Laurent and Jacob Black respectively. During the roundtables for Twilight, Gathegi sold the film better than anyone else. The man has got charm. And even though I have little faith in the movie, I have to say I would have loved to interview Gathegi on any topic on any given day. But here’s what we he and Lautner had to say on Twilight.

Edi, your character had a small role in the book. How was he fleshed out for the film?

Edi Gathegi: Well, because it’s a movie there has to be dramatic tension. So we are very aware of the conflicts earlier on. In the book, you don’t meet the character until page 100, but in the film you have to know there is a conflict [earlier].

In terms of being vampires, what were some of the highlights of that? Of making the movie?

EG: There is something really cool about having super strength, super speed, being immortal, never dying. That’s sexy. And that’s what’s cool about the thing. Otherwise they were all humans at one point. You’re just human with all these other attributes. So I attack it like I would address any other role.

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It was a few minutes before the cast and filmmakers of Twilight were to go downstairs for the big panel when we interviewed them–yes, the panel that mentally stunted teeny-boppers had literally camped outside for overnight. I have no idea how big the Twilight movie will be. My guess is not nearly as big as some people think since the film looks likes ass and there’s a general feeling we’re nearing the peak of its buzz, only half a year before its release.

Regardless, this was the cast and filmmakers’ moment to bask in the affection (or insanity) of its fans. And you could tell they were visible nervous. I would have offered Robert Pattinson a beer if I had one on me. The man has much to live up to since he’s playing the oh so beautiful and graceful Edward Cullen (author Stephenie Meyer’s wording, not mine), and he looked weirded out, jittery and smoking heavily before walking in–or maybe it was just the state of his hair giving off that vibe since it appeared styled by lighting firecrackers on his head. Who knows?

However, he had the charismatic Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria) to help him find his comfort zone during the round-table interview. The two definitely have chemistry and noticeably enjoy each other’s company. It was a laugh-filled conversation that touched on Pattinson’s hair style, the film’s special-effects, and the fans.

Excited or nervous about how nuts it will be downstairs for the panel?

Robert Pattinson: I don’t know. I don’t know. I can’t even answer the most basic, fundamental questions. I don’t know if it’s nerves. I’m just incapable at the moment. I’m too worried it’s going to be embarrassing.

RL: Twilight does come with a built in fan base from the books. So you do have this whole thing…where you don’t want to upset people–you don’t want to upset what is already pre-existing in their imaginations. And you don’t want to ruin the movie. You don’t want to ruin the suspense for them.

Robert, how do you get your hair like that?

RP: I just don’t wash it, ever. It’s easy.

The obvious question is do you two feel chemistry?

RP: I don’t think we’re suppose to.

RL: No, no we hate each other. But no, we all had a really great time. The cast is all really close in age. So we all just sort of showed up in Portland and were like ‘Yeah, Twilight! What’s up? Let’s go for dinner.’ It was kind of like this amazing experience. Yeah we got lucky.

Was it like that when it was your time to hate one another?

RL: No. There was less group dinners once we started [laughter].

RP: There’s actually only one scene where we actually confront one another. You know, the nomadic vampires, which Rachelle is one, they kind of wander around being nomadic most of the time.

RL: Yeah, we’re always like a few steps behind. So you would think we worked together a lot. But actually it would be, they’d film something where we were like just behind them.

RP: That’s a much better description than just saying ‘wandering around being nomadic.’

RL: Yeah, if you don’t mind I cleared that up a little.

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Perhaps in a few days I’ll write something up meditating on the people who dress up at Comic Con, and what that actually means to our society, or the end of it. Essentially fantasy playing comes down to one thing: desperate attention whoring. So, while taking pics my goal was to capture these people without posing, something they will instantly do if they catch you raising your camera (although some are hired, but most are not). I find it much more interesting seeing someone dressed as the Joker (and there were more than plenty) eating a taco than pretending they’re in Marilyn Manson video. I wasn’t always able to do that,. but if I caught someone without knowing a few times, I was happy. Please feel free to insert your own captions below (I added a few of my own here and there) and send it to friends and family.

“Smell the glove. C’mon SMELL IT!”

“Does it make you feel like less of a man knowing I could squash your head with my abs?”

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I thought I had a lot more pics from the San Diego Convention Center’s floor, or the geek pit as I affectionately called it, or the whorehouse (not a reference to the hotties in there, mind you) as I truly thought of it–shilling and selling is the game here. However, it turns out there’s a reason why I’m a writer and not a photog. Most of the pics were out of focus (although it seems everything Sideshow Collectable and/or Star Wars related made it okay). So here you go with what I got. Obviously, we’ve already covered some of the things on the floor such as James Bond’s Quantum of Solace car and the Watchmen ship (and along with pics of hotties and upcoming pics of the halloweeners). So here are a few other things that caught my eye while roaming this place (which by the way does live up to expectations and smells like stale farts and body odor). 

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I missed the panel for “Heroes” (primarily because RopeofSilicon is not much of a TV site), but I was sitting just outside the doors as the panel played and was ushered inside just as it ended. However, you can now watch the whole thing right here in the video player below or at this link.

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