It’s not every day that you get to meet a vampire. Thankfully Kellan Lutz, who plays the “vegetarian” vamp Emmett Cullen in The Twilight Saga: New Moon and its predecessor Twilight, doesn’t suck.

“Hereally hasn’t changed, there’s just more to him,” he tells me about hisrole in the sequel. “My character is not the lead and he doesn’t have aton of dialogue but his presence is great, and felt,” he adds.

Beingaccepted by the fans was a huge weight off of Lutz the second timearound and, he said, it allowed him to have more fun with thecharacter. He still prepared just as much as the first time however.

“Igot my journal out, the journal that had all my Emmett notes about howI was going to play him and what I liked and disliked. I maderelationships with all the characters and just elaborated on that.”

The 24-year-old is genuinely enthusiastic about New Moon and says his role as the protectivebig brother plays a larger part in the film. He also notes that,compared to the relatively low budget production of the first Twilight, this was a big studio movie.

“After the success of Twilight we got a lot more funding for New Moon and couldmake it bigger and better. A lot of money goes to CGI for the wolvesbut it was cool to have an endless supply of resources to make it thebest film it could be,” he says.

If you have opened a newspaper or turned on a television in the last couple of months you know that Twilightfans are an intense bunch. And it’s not just its main stars, KristenStewart and Robert Pattinson, that are being constantly hounded. Lutzthinks the fans are an amazing group but he also has some stories totell.

“[The fans] allow us actors to continue working,” he notes. “But there are also the marriage proposals andpeople wanting to handcuff themselves to you. [We get] common ones like ‘willyou bite my neck’, ‘will you sign my baby’s forehead’, and scandalouspictures in the mail. Most recently a lady wanted to know if shecould lick my face.”

New Moon also has a new director with Catherine Hardwicke being replaced by Chris Weitz. In The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third film that opens in 2010, David Slade takes over the reins. Does Lutz like a fresh eye behind the camera each time?

“I don’t think there is one director who could do all the booksjustice because all the books are so different. Catherine was perfectfor the first, Chris for the second and David for the third. Who knowsfor the fourth…I would love Chris to come back,” he says. “Chris iseasy to deal with. He was an actor once so that goes along with theterritory of knowing how to deal with actors.”

After New Moon, Lutz will be battling the iconic horror character Freddy Krueger in the reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street.This time around Freddy is played by Jackie Earle Haley, and Lutz, whoplays Dean, can’t give us much more information than what we alreadyknow.

“My character is the guy you want to root for,” he says when describing his new role. “I’m up for a couple ofdays…I can’t sleep, I’m an insomniac, and I’m taking medicine becauseI’m having these dreams where I see Freddy.” He teases, “I might make it and I mightnot.”

Lutz says he’s also ecstatic about the release of Eclipse and can’t wait until a trailer is cut so the world can get as excited about it as he is.

“It’s amazing. It’s going to kill in the theatre with the guyaudience,” he tells me. “So many cool stunts and fight scenes. We did six weeks oftraining…some kung fu, jujitsu, boxing, kick-boxing…everything. My character is in it alot more,” he continues. “David Slade is a kick-ass director. Hedid 30 Days of Night and Hard Candy and just has this way of makingmovies edgy.”

Lutz’sgoal is to be an action hero like Matt Damon in the Jason Bournemovies. He would happily work on one of those films with Damon too, ifthe offer was ever given.

“There’s no rush, I don’t need to work every day of my life. I don’tneed to be on a TV show where I’m working nine months a year. I have a great team that understands I wantlongevity…I want to do this for the rest of my life,” he concludes.

And with that he turned into a bat and flew out the hotel window to battle some spies. Or something like that.

Watch the video for Death Cab For Cutie’s Meet Me At The Equinox from the soundtrack for The Twilight Saga: New Moon below.

brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com

Top image: Kellan Lutz and Nikki Reed in a scene from The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Courtesy E1 Entertainment.