Edi Gathegi to Join X-Men

Earlier this month rumors swirled that Taylor would be joining the X-men franchise and that stars like Hugh Jackman were behind the idea. Those rumors later proved to be just that, rumor. However all is not lost for Twilight involvement in X-men. Edi Gathegi has landed himself a prime role.

According to Deadline Hollywood who got the scoop:

“Edi Gathegi, who played a chillingly evil vampire in Twilight and Twilight Saga: New Moon, is joining X-Men: First Class in the role of Darwin. That character, the first bi-racial mutant (in the comic series), has the power of “reactive evolution,” which allows him to adapt to any situation or environment. Plunged underwater, he’ll grow gills, he’ll gain night vision in pitch black and his skin grows fire retardant when burned.”

At the moment, Edi is over in the UK filming.

Essence Magazine: History of Black Vampires

Essence magazine has a retrospective of Black vampires throughout the ages. Edi Gathegi is featured.

Twilight Lexicon Interviews Edi Gathegi

EdiNewMoonWe had the opportunity to interview Edi Gathegi at the creation Entertainment Official Twilight convention in Arlington, VA a few weeks ago. Edi took 5 minutes out of his busy schedule to give a brief run down on the Twilight experience and what he has in store next.

Laura: So one of the things actors usually talk about is how acting is this life long process.  You never stop learning with acting, and you’ve had the chance to work with two really great directors – Catherine Hardwicke and Chris Weitz.  What do you think you’ve learned from Catherine and brought into your ensemble?  And what do you feel the same way with Chris?  What do you think you got from each of those directors that you didn’t have before?  Or maybe a new respect for something having worked for them?

Edi: I’ll start with Chris Weitz.  He’s a great director and amazing in so many different ways.  But I think in the nature of New Moon with the CGI was a completely different experience for me.  I grew up watching big, epic, cinematic films, but I didn’t have that concept of how you make a movie like that.

Laura: Yeah, like Star Wars.

Edi:  And then when you get to be in a movie where you have technical people on set and they’re holding up, you know, Styrofoam cows and telling you, just act here and we’re gonna insert it later, that just opened up my eyes to the inner workings of how a movie like that comes together.  So I think I’ve learned certain things technically from Chris Weitz that I didn’t know before hand.

But I’ve worked with a lot of different directors on a lot of different projects.  I mean, my whole background was theatre so I’ve worked with directors who were only concerned with the moment to moment, just relationships with characters.  The thing that’s different in a film is that there’s a lot more that goes into it.  So the director might only be partially concerned with character.  They’re worried about budget.  They’re worried about time.  They’re worried about scene.  Like location and a lot of these other technical aspects that directors in theatre don’t consider, you know what I mean?

Laura: Yeah, that doesn’t come into play.

Edi: The kind of director that I’m really excited to work with, not to say that Catherine and Chris weren’t this, but the kind of director who doesn’t have that much pressure from studios that gets to spend time on each moment with every character.

Laura: That’s great.  What about your fellow cast mates, the actors in the movie? Like you said, how do you pick a favorite out of all these guys you worked with?  [On stage Edi had been asked who his favorite actor in the Twilight film was and his response was, “Well whose your favorite child? You can’t pick!”]Sometimes when you’re on set with somebody, you just kind of have the moment where you click as an actor and you can’t predict that.  It’s just chemistry.  Anybody with Twilight you feel like you had that moment where you clicked and you like to work with them again?

Edi: Well, off the bat, the first that comes to mind is Rachelle.  But I think just generally when you’re working in the television and film industry – and this is a gross generalization – but generally you connect with a lot of people, because you guys speak the same language.  It’s the common vocabulary of what it is to be an artist in this business.  So you all have sort of a commonality where you’re gonna connect with a lot of people.  But with Rachelle it was like, “Oh, we’ve got the same sense of humor!  Oh, we have the same interests.  Oh, you’re like the female version of me! Let’s freaking party!  Let’s hang out!” So we became friends.

But then again, everyone in the cast got along very well.  I still hang out with Taylor.  I see Kellan every now and again with my friends.  I see Nikki a lot.  Peter and I always make plans and then fall apart.  Like last night, he’s here and I’m like, “Uh, I’m too tired Peter, and we reschedule for LA?” “I never see you in LA!” “That’s cause you’ve got kids… and a wife.  Let’s set a night.  Go hang out.” He has poker nights every now and then, and I do that.

But a lot of the casts are friends.  But Rachelle was the first person that came to mind because, naturally I was doing most of my scenes with her.

Laura: You talked about how you were going to go over to the UK.  [Edi had given a Q and A on stage at the convention mentioning a project he would be working on in the UK. He had studied theater there briefly when he was a student and has always wanted to go back, but gave no details about his upcoming project.] I’m such an Anglophile, so that rocks, and I’m a big theatre person from New York.

Edi: YEAH!  Me too!

Laura: I’m curious, can you say who the director is or can you expand any more on that project?  If not, what can you tell us about upcoming work?

Edi: I think I can talk about this one.  It’s not completely done, but I can talk about it.  I can’t talk about this other thing that’s really exciting.

Laura: No problem!  That’s okay!  We can just say you’re really excited about something else, but you can’t say.

Edi: This other project is called 50/50.   It’s like True Romance meets Snatch.

Laura: Oh wow!  That’s an awesome combo!

Edi: And I get to play this British gangster and he’s the wild card.  He’s dangerous and funny.  It’s cockney and I have a deal with the director: if I can’t sound completely authentic, then were’ just going to go Jamaican or something.

Laura: HAHA!

Edi: So I have a month where I can get my cockney accent down.

Laura: Awesome!  I can’t wait till it comes out!  Thank you!

We would like to thank Edi for taking the time to speak with us and to Creation for the opportunity!  We are looking forward to interviewing another member of the Twilight family in Vancouver this coming weekend.

Edi Gathegi in Live Theater in Los Angeles

WordtheaterEdi Gathegi is in a play in Los Angeles that explores the grip of mental illness. The ply has a number of familiar faces from TV and movies.  According to the site, the play is being done in conjunction with the Minding Your Mind Foundation. You can read up on the origins of the theatrical performance here.

“The Minding Your Mind Foundation leads initiatives to reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues among adolescents in middle and high schools as well as college students. Our outreach programs enlighten families and educators about the warning signs so often masked by adolescent behaviors, and promote open dialogue in schools and at home to encourage families to seek appropriate help. For more information visit www.mindingyourmind.org”

For more information and tickets see the Word Theater’s site. Tickets are EXTREMELY LIMITED, so if you are interested act now!

Nikki Reed given style award by US Weekly

Us Weekly’s Hot Hollywood Style bash was held on Thursday night.  Among the guests were Nikki Reed and Edi Gathegi.  Stars known for their fashion sense were awarded in some very clever categories.  Nikki Reed was named “The Colorful Coquette.”  But the top award for “Style Icon of the Decade” went to Jennifer Lopez.  Read about all the awards named over at the LA Times.  Check out all the photos from the event at US Weekly.

** I failed to notice that Anna Kendrick was also named “The New Showstopper” at this event.  Thanks to Olivia for pointing it out!

UK’s Idol Magazine Interviews Edi Gathegi

We are going to be interviewing Edi this weekend at the Official Twilight Convention in VA. If you have a question suggestion for Edi, write it in below.

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There are also two other conventions (Charlotte, NC and Vancouver, Canada) coming up shortly and Creation has an amazing special for day passes. According to their press release:

“The Official TWILIGHT Convention Tour is visiting CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (April 30-May 2, 2010) and VANCOUVER, BC, Canada (May 14-16, 2010) and you are invited to join the non-stop fun! And, to make it even more fun we’ve just slashed GENERAL ADMISSION DAILY TICKETS to $10 a day!

That’s right: for the cost of a movie you can get a full day of Twilight-themed entertainment! You’ll see all the day’s celebrities, take part in contests, events, auctions, see exclusive videos and panel presentations, enjoy The Hillywood Show Parody Cast, and more! It has to be the greatest entertainment bargain around: ONLY $10 A DAY! No other fan convention comes close to these cool prices so don’t miss these two tour stops if you are in the area!”

How did the Twilight Stars Spend Easter/Passover?

Here’s a bit of a retrospective of what various Twilight stars did over Easter.

beachPeter Facinelli took his family on a well deserved rest to an undisclosed tropical location. Peter Tweeted, “The Easter Bunny left Carribean quarters in their plastic eggs My daughter asked what the exchange rate was.”

Here’s to Peter and family having great quality time together.

booboosoup

Booboo Stewart and his sister Fivel volunteered at a soup kitchen in Los Angeles that will receive a donation if you accroding to Booboo’s Tweet,  “Hey if you text MEALS to 40579 to donate $5.00 to LA MissionThanks for the support ask your parents first haha.”

eclipseegg

Jodelle Ferland asked for suggestions from her Twitter followers on what she should do with her Easter eggs and she did an Eclispe one.

And Edi Gathegi went to the dogs.

Edi Gathegi Jumps and Celebrates With Fans

Edi JumpEdi Gathegi was on hand in Pittsburgh for a DVD release. You can catch the photo gallery on the KDKA news site.

Happy Birthday Edi Gathegi

The Lexicon would like to wish Edi Gathegi a very happy belated birthday!  His birthday was March 10 and we missed it due to all the trailer hype.  So we’re correcting that right now!  The one time we saw him at a Convention, he totally rocked the house and had us in stitches.  I still can not watch his death scene in New Moon without hearing him say, “Do you see cows in my eyes?”

And Edi, if you happen see this message, we still love black olives!

Edi Gathegi on Swedish Radio

Via Team Twilight