I went to do my first big movie when I was 17. I was in South Africa for three and half months, and I was by myself.

I was doing progressively smaller movies in England, after Harry Potter... to the point where I was doing nine-day shoots for, like, 20p and a packet of Space Invaders. And then this happened. So I'm not just another actor who's around and jobbing. When you hire me for a job, you're hiring.

You're trying to play someone [Edward Cullen] who's seen by a lot of people as being this perfect thing, but what is that? That doesn't really mean anything. You're trying to play an archetype on one hand and then a character on the other, so I felt insanely frustrated right up until the last shot, and then it ended.

School reports were always pretty bad - I never ever did my homework. I always turned up for lessons as I liked my teachers but my report said I didn't try very hard.

I get a lot more abuse in England. That's just a general English attitude. I did the same thing to famous people. It's just your instinct.

I suppose I should understand it [fame] better by this point, but I really don't.

I can't see any advantage to fame. I'm happy with the life I have now. I've got the same two friends I've had since I was 12, and I can't see that changing.