How will civilization sustain itself without a Twilight movie to look forward to every fall? I for one will miss my annual trip to the theater each November to watch a Morrissey-looking vampire and shirtless werewolf fight for the love of an unhappy lesbian. One person with an even more personal take on the conclusion of the series is X-Men enthusiast, Civil War buff, and Twilight actor Jackson Rathbone (he plays Jasper Hale, neither the Morrissey-looking vampire nor the shirtless werewolf ), whom I spoke to during a recent press junket. Looking less pale and significantly less blond than he does in the films (Rathbone had to dye his naturally dark hair blond to match the character description in the books) the charming Texan talked about his illustrious ancestry, his action figures and what might be next now that Breaking Dawn has broken.

It’s been quite a ride since the beginning of the series. Is it hard to say goodbye?

It’s definitely an interesting feeling putting away the boots of a character you’ve been wearing for so long. I definitely had a wonderful, kind of intense moment on the last day of filming. We’d filmed for twelve, thirteen hours. It was cold and raining. It was 3:00am and I was in my trailer taking off my makeup, and I thought, “Wow, this is the last time I’m going to do this.” It was nice yet at the same time I’m like, “Oh, I’m a little bit nostalgic.”

How long did it take to get you into makeup?

It was about forty-five minutes every time. Although in Eclipse when they reveal Jasper’s scars, I was in the makeup trailer for almost four hours.

Is there a certain level of relief to have the whiteface period of your career seemingly behind you?

[laughs] So excited for that to be done! They paint your face white, they paint your hands white, if you touch anything the makeup is all over the place… it’s done.

Click here to read the rest.