In a strange twist of fate, Robert Pattinson has announced he will retire from acting following the fulfillment of his contract with Summit Entertainment and the completion of the Twilight Saga which will see the release of New Moon this November and Eclipse next June. When asked if he planned on returning for an adaptation of the fourth story in the famed Stephenie Meyer series, “Breaking Dawn,” the actor said, “It will depend on the quality of the next two films and the demand of the Twilight fans.”
The first Twilight film, released in November 2008, put Pattinson on the map as the film garnered over $190 million domestically and over $375 worldwide. Although Pattinson had already starred as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire it was Twilight and the conviction of its fanbase that propelled him to instant stardom.
Pattinson also starred in a trio of smaller, independent films in 2008 including The Summer House, How to Be and Little Ashes, the latter of which will see a limited release on May 8 from Regent Releasing. In the film Pattinson plays Salvador Dali and he has already received some decent word-of-mouth for his performance.
Recently awarded the New Hollywood Award at the Hollywood Film Festival it comes as a shock that Pattinson would decide to end his acting career so abruptly, but according to the actor he has his sights set on other entertainment avenues.
“Acting was a passion of mine from an early age,” he said, “but as I have grown older I have found other ways of expressing myself that appeal to me on a more personal level. I certainly hope this doesn’t upset my fanbase as they have made me who I am, but who I am goes a bit deeper than simply being an actor.”
Pattinson revealed his first goal was to get an album recorded after singing “Never Think” for the Twilight soundtrack.
“I never knew how much singing that one song would affect me,” he said. “I was never sure if it should even be used, but it sort of became my jumping off point. I also sang three songs on the soundtrack for How to Be, which was a lot of fun and I think I just have so much more to share with the world through my music that I feel I would be a fool not to jump on it right away.”
So it seems Pattinson may be leaving the world of acting, but he won’t be leaving the spotlight. He also said the working title of his album is “A Love Song to Edward” based on a song he recently wrote while taking some downtime on the set of New Moon. A link to the early artwork for the CD cover can be found here and it is something you certainly will want to check out.
You can catch Robert in How to Be as a guy experiencing a quarter-life crisis after getting dumped by his girlfriend on April 29 on the Independent Festival Direct movies-on-demand channel and then in Little Ashes on May 8, New Moon on November 20 and Eclipse on June 30, 2010.
