Twilight stars deny 'retarded' romance rumours

UPDATED:

Brooding

Twilight

heartthrob

Robert Pattinson

wants to set the record straight and silence the gossips once and for all - he's not dating

Kristen Stewart

. Those hook-up rumours are, to quote the latter, just plain "retarded".

Rumours have been rampant for months that the

Twilight

co-stars - whose simmering on-screen star-crossed lovers routine continues to titillate Twihards apace - have also been enjoying a torrid love affair off-camera.

Photos: Twilight stars Pattinson and Stewart

You name it, we've heard it: They're dating, getting married, he's ready to raise rug rats, she isn't. Well cobblers, says Robert 'The validator' Pattinson.

It's the news that will either break your china heart ('but they made such a lovely couple'), or make you cackle with glee at the thought of Mr. Perfect's newfound eligibility.

Boys and girls - love don't live on R-Pattz island. At least not with Stewart...

'Good friends...'

In a candid interview with

Vanity Fair

, R-Pattz, 23, says he and Stewart, 19, are nothing more than just "good friends".

"It doesn't make any difference what you say [to the tabloids]," he tells the glossy.

"I've literally been across the country [from Kristen], and it's like 'Oh, they were on secret dates!'. It's like 'Where?' I can't get out of my hotel room!'"

Video: Third trailer for New Moon

But while trashing the pesky romance talk, he says he does have warm feelings for Stewart.

"I think she's the best young actress around. She's influenced how I've done all the

Twilight

stuff. It's quite nice to have someone who is genuinely indifferent to the whole spectacle of everything."

Stewart, on the other hand, doesn't sugar the pill and tells the mag: "It's so retarded," she said. "We're characters in this comic book."

Pattinson also offered an insight into how he's coping with the fame-game - having been plucked from relative obscurity to star in the blockbusting vampire franchise.

"I guess I'm not the type of guy cut out to do a franchise. I'm not much of a crowd person," he tells

Vanity Fair

writer Evgenia Peretz.

Photos: Pattinson's Vanity Fair portraits (external link)

"I'm trying not to drown," he says, admitting that he gets "unbearably self-conscious about stuff." Case in point his paranoia of paparazzi taking snaps of him with his "a** crack showing."

He also trashes suggestions that he's good-looking, adding that he thinks he looks like "a cartoon character", with one leg longer than the other, "like an idiot." We think your legion of admirers will vehemently disagree, mister.

'Nervous attraction'

Fuelling the rumour mill further,

Twilight

director

Catherine Hardwicke

also offers her spin on the Pattinson-Stewart dynamic.

"What Rob and Kristen had is a multitude of feelings for each other. Complex feelings for each other. It was what we needed. Complete, intense fascination," she said.

Writer Peretz also offers this telling nugget: "She and Pattinson have mastered the not-touching thing.

"She even throws the crowd a few curveballs by over-flirting with muscle-bound

Taylor Lautner

."

Does she? The minx. Sounds like a classic ricochet flirt.

Interestingly, Pattinson thought he didn't stand a chance of landing a role in the franchise - having lost a role in

True Blood

.

"I auditioned for the TV series and didn't get it. I didn't have high hopes of getting the role of

Edward Cullen

either," he said.

He reveals he was on the verge of quitting acting before getting the gig.

"I remember calling my parents and saying, ‘That's it. I'm not doing this anymore,'" he said following his audition. "And then hearing, ‘O.K., fine,' which was not the answer I wanted to hear at all."

And the rest, to coin the fossilised cliché, is history.

End bit.

So what do we think? Is Mr bloodsucker getting it on with Stewart?

Tell you what, although rumour of a sizzling romance between co-stars is no doubt a rocket for bolstering box office takings, it's a bit of a PR no-no.

Picture it: Heartthrob lead, idolised by millions of lusting Twihards hooks up with a love interest...he's suddenly off the menu and unflatteringly unattainable. Ultimate passion killer. Come on, the  kids out there in the dark need something to aspire to.

Then there's the likelihood that this trash-talk trashing

Vanity Fair

interview was conducted many months ago - probably at a stage when Pattinson's 'romance' with Stewart was still wet behind the years. Who knows what could have happened since...

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Pictured: Twilight co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Photos AP/Getty Images.