‘Eclipse’ star Xavier Samuel, the newest ‘Twilight’ vampire

Robert Pattinson was the breakthrough star of the first Twilight movie. Taylor Lautner was the “it” guy of the sequel New Moon. So will Australian actor Xavier Samuel be the man of the moment in Eclipse, the third chapter of the mega-popular series opening on Wednesday?

Playing the evil vampire Riley, partner of sorts to the even more evil Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) — who’s out for revenge on the loving couple of Edward (Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart) — Samuel has already been that guy for many Twi-hards for a while. “Even going to the New Moon premiere last year, there were fans who loved the Riley character and knew that I was playing him.

It is strange hearing people scream your name when you haven’t even done anything yet,” he says, laughing. I recently had the chance to talk with Samuel about his roles in Eclipse and the upcoming Roland Emmerich drama Anonymous, as well as his take on what animal is more dangerous than a pack of movie werewolves.