Exclusive Interview: Edi Gathegi (The Twilight Saga: New Moon)

Edi Gathegi made quite a major impression in Twilight (2008), providing plenty of creeps as the almost-gentlemanly yet dangerous vampire, Laurent. As fans know, Laurent only makes the briefest of appearances in The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), but it's as memorable as it is short, with Laurent bumping into Bella (Kristen Stewart) in the woods of Forks, then having a close encounter with a few of Bella's werewolf friends. PopStar snagged a few minutes of exclusive interview time with Gathegi -- who was born in Kenya, raised in Los Angeles, and counts among his credits a recurring role on House M.D. (TV) and the films Gone Baby Gone (2007) and My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009) -- just hours before New Moon's spectacular Nov. 30th debut. Read on to hear Gathegi's thoughts about the Twlight experience, his big New Moon moment, and the reality that his work on Twilight is complete.

You couldn't have had a clue how popular Twilight was going to become. What has it been like to be along for that ride?

It's been a rollercoaster. A lot of ups and downs and mostly just thrilling. It's rare that any actor at any level will get to be a part of a pop culture phenom like this, so I'm feeling really blessed.

Based on your interactions with fans, based on your convention appearances and your Mall of America visit, what's your sense of the anticipation/mania for New Moon?

I've been getting a lot of tweets from fans letting me know how wrought with anticipation they are. It's the topic of a lot of conversations right now. When I say fingers crossed for this weekend, people laugh at me and give me a hard time.

In general, what's intrigued you most about Laurent as a character and how much of that have you been able to put across in the two films?

I've never really been a vampire fan, but I love the new mythology. It is exciting to play a character with super-human qualities. That's just cool.

Give us a feeling for shooting your big New Moon sequence? How long did it take? You had Kristen with you, but what else were you dealing with? Blue screen? A tennis ball? How did Chris Weitz guide you through the sequence?

There were a lot of technical elements that were new to me regarding the CGI, but we had the best people in the field guiding us. Kristen is great and we had a lot of fun doing that scene. The non-action part of the scene was shot in a day or two, I believe, and the second-unit action sequences, we spent over a week on them.

It's a really strong duet between you and Kristen. How did the two of you work on the scene and what was your sense of how she'd matured as an actress from one film to the next?

She knows her character very well and is constantly challenging herself, which is nice to see. My goal was to try to make her as uncomfortable as possible and I think that happened only once. But it did happen.

Assuming that you've seen the finished film by now, how satisfied are you with the way it's turned out?

I think it is everything that the fans expect and I think they are going to be repeat customers. Chris did a wonderful job.

How do you feel knowing that your Twilight ride ends with New Moon?

It's sad not being able to be with the gang again in that capacity, but the good thing is we all became friends. So hopefully these friendships will outlast the saga.