FROM playing a vampire in True Blood to Bigfoot in the fantasy se-ries Sanctuary, this has been a big year for Christopher Heyerdahl. But his most memorable role is undoubtedly the heartbroken Marcus, a member of the Volturi, in the Twilight saga.

“In all honesty, I haven’t actually been recognised once in the street for being in the Twilight movies,” Christopher admits.

No wonder, because the man I talk to looks nothing like the pale, red-eyed and slightly vain vampire we saw in the Twilight movies. But how has his life changed after starring in the films that have turned into a world phenomenon?

“I’m invited to an awful lot more birthdays for girls between the ages of 13 and 16,” he says jokingly.

Unlike Christopher, 49, the young-er cast members such as Taylor Laut-ner, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattison and Dakota Fanning are names that

dominate the press. Christopher says he takes his hat off to his colleagues and talks about how difficult it must be to become so famous and recog-nised almost overnight.

“It’s something I really wouldn’t wish on anyone. It’s a bit of a crap-shoot, this business. You never really know when that moment is going to come.

“They are always really generous and kind with fans and good-natured with the press. I think they dealt with it with extreme grace.”

Christopher acts alongside Mi-chael Sheen as Aro and Jamie Camp-bell Bower as Caius. The trio form the Volturi, the evil rulers of the vam-pire world in the Twilight universe.

“They really are a bit of a tedious group. I wouldn’t advise spending too much time with them,” Christo-pher explains.

But he emphasises that his role as Marcus is definitely the good guy out of the three.

“All he does is pine for Didyme, his wife who passed away. He has been heartbroken for the last 2,500 years.”

The relationship between the vam-pires in the Volturi is pretty much the same off-screen as we see in the films, according to Christopher.

“It’s really art imitating life,” he says laughingly.

“Jamie and I have the closest off-screen relationship. We did spend a fair bit of time together when we weren’t shooting. Michael was really off courting his love at the time. He has his own Didyme (believed to be Rachel McAdams) to deal with and he would spend most of his time keeping that relationship alive.”

“I’m quite a passionate cyclist so whenever I wasn’t exploring off into the wilds of Louisiana on my two wheels, Jamie and I were getting up to no end of mischief.”

Looking back on his favourite Twi-light moments, Christopher bursts out laughing at a particular memory

of a photograph (above) taken of him with the rest of the Volturi cast.

“The shot was taken of Michael, and I remember the moment of look-ing at Jamie and saying ‘Are we in this shot? Are we in this photograph or is it just Michael having his picture taken?’

“Jamie looks like he is adjusting his garter belt. It looks like he is pulling up some support hose or something up his leg. And I don’t know what the heck I was doing, some kind of meditation? I have my palms facing the camera,” Christopher laughs and adds:

“These are the kind of silly, benign activities we would do.”

When Christopher is asked which other character he would play in the movies if he could, he answers that he is “pretty darn happy” with Mar-cus.

Then out of nowhere his wife in-terrupts and says: “Just be honest. Just say it. Jane.”

So why would the 49-year-old ac-tor want to play the role of 18-year-old Dakota Fanning?

“To be so captivating when she said one word, ‘pain’. All the range of emotion that she went through in trying to ignite this power that she has felt for such a long time, and to express her own impotence was quite an amazing thing to witness,” he explained.

Even though the Twilight saga is over and his role as the vampire Di-eter Braun in True Blood died, Chris-topher welcomes the possibility of playing another vampire in the fu-ture.

“I have the type of face that will probably invite me into a few more vampire roles if I so choose. I wouldn’t say no to another vampire and worry about being a vampire-type cast. Bring it on, I don’t care.”

We’ll be hoping to see Christopher yet again as a badass vampire trying to rule the world.

THE RIVER - ENTERTAINMENTwww.riveronline.co.uk 29

Interview with the vampire

THE long anticipated finale to the epic saga of the vampire fantasy failed to disappoint. It was the ultimate heart-warming conclu-sion to the complicated tale of two young lovers.

Breaking Dawn - Part 2 has every-thing a fantasy film needs. There are the attractive leading trio, vampires Bella (Stewart) and Edward (Pattin-son) and werewolf Jacob (Lautner). The chemistry is paramount in their desperate quest for the protection of

life and love. The highlight of the film is the ferocious battle scene in which many vampires, good and evil, per-ished at the hands of their enemies.

The film takes a rapid journey into the heart of the world of vampires. The cast managed to deliver a film that will appeal far beyond its hard core Twilight fan base.

As always, the most popular scene is when Taylor strips down to his beautiful bare-bod. This is a more than necessary part of every Twilight film that never fails to make the audi-ence scream with delight.

There were only a couple of down-falls to the film. The graphics used to bring the new born baby of Edward and Bella to life were pretty shoddy. Although the baby was half vampire it looked more like a creepy cartoon character than a sweet little child.

Despite the dramatic climax the film doesn’t go out with quite the bang that was expected.

However, on the whole it is a fan-tastic fantasy film, which will enter-tain and excite. Whether you are a fan or not, it’s an enjoyable watch on a night out at the cinema.

Twilight star Christopher Heyerdahl shares all to Ingvild Olaussen about life on the set, being Hollywood’s go-to vampire and living under the radar

By Eve Carson

Christopher, left, with Michael Sheen and Jamie Campbell Bower, right, as the Volturi in the latest Twilight movie ENTERTAINMENT ONE

Mr and Mrs Cullen with their daughter and werewolf Jacob ENTERTAINMENT ONE

Christopher ROB DALY

Fantastic conclusionREVIEW: