Robert Pattinson had three words of advice for his fellow British star of 'Twilight', Judith Shekoni, when she joined him for the fourth and final film in the record-breaking vampire franchise.
"He just told me, 'Get your sleep,'" she remembers.. "He obviously knew the day would come when I'd need all that spare energy in the bank."
Judith Shekoni dazzles on the red carpet for the UK premiere of 'Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2'
If there were any danger of the young Brit having her head turned, and being permanently spoilt by all the attention she's currently garnering now 'Breaking Dawn Part 2' is busy breaking records in cinemas, a quick phone call to her mum is the perfect reality check.
"Tell me again. Is it 'Bewitched' you're in?" asked Shekoni's mother, when the former 'EastEnders' actress called her from the set of 'Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2', where she'd landed one of the biggest roles (outside the top three) in the final in the taking-on-all-comers vampire franchise.
Shekoni didn't need any such reminder. Already a paid-up Twi-hard herself, she was delighted to audition where her exotic looks gave her a head start to compete for the role of Zafrina, leader of the Amazon Coven of Vampires, - "Getting in the room is always the difficult bit in LA," she remembers. "The feral quality she had, that was pretty easy in comparison."
One aspect that sets 'Twilight' apart from many other scripts doing the rounds in Hollywood is the secrecy involved for every actor. Shekoni worried her friends with her big grin for no reasons...
"I had been shooting a dating show in LA a bit like 'The Bachelor', so it really was a case of 'Hallelujah, I'm saved.'
"But I wasn't allowed to tell anyone for three weeks. Friends kept asking what I was going to do. I'd shrug, couldn't stop smiling, had to say 'just going with the flow, something will turn up'..."
'They're very low key,' Shekoni says of her co-stars
The other element that differentiates 'Twilight' is all the attention the young stars attract, even when they're trying to film quiet, intense scenes.
"We moved around between Louisiana and Vancouver," the actress reports. "And the sets were delightful, foresty, very natural, it was easy to find my inner animal out there. I'd already been to LA Zoo to research, and decided my character should be like a gleaming black jaguar.
"But the fans around the set... people trying to get in all the time. It was extraordinary. Fans wait around the hotel all the time."
What's it like for the big three - Kristen Stewart, Pattinson and Taylor Lautner?
"They're really low key, they've been doing it for so long," Shekoni reflects. "But in Vancouver, they were staying in the middle of a shopping centre in Vancouver, which I thought was a pretty strange decision, as they can't go anywhere at all without hundreds of people bumping straight into them.
"For me, though, it was actually quite thrilling. It stirs you on, reminds you what it's all about. Half the fans are wearing Robert Pattinson badges. It's completely positive."
And now the round of premieres is properly taking its toll - "I genuinely had no idea, one day can involve six to eight radio interviews, racing to the hotel, getting changed, photocall, getting changed again, red carpet, bed, plane... and all the time, I'm meant to look ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS," she laughs - how is Shekoni planning to gain her grip back on normality?
"See my mum, hang out with my friends, wait for the phone to ring, all the normal stuff," she says convincingly.
"But right now I'm still on the 'Twilight' journey. It feels like a graduation for me, a celebration. I would say, right now, I'm feeling like a Spice Girl. It's lots and lots of fun."
'Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2' is in UK cinemas now. Pictures from the red carpet below...
Twilight Stars Dazzle At UK Premiere
