'Twilight' star causes mall madness

  By Alan Wang and Don Sanchez

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Robert Pattinson, star of the film "Twilight," appeared Monday evening at the Hot Topic store at the Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco; people began lining up at 3 a.m. in hopes of getting one of the 500 wristbands being sold for the event. When the crowd grew to 3,000 and began to get out of hand, police shut it down.

"Everybody just started running," Theresa Alpor said. "It was crazy and people were getting hurt, and then the police, the fire truck and the ambulance came and nobody moved, so they just shut it down."

One woman was injured when she was slammed against the front door of the mall.

"It was really badlly organized," Kimberly Dimicco said.

Pattinson did make it (under tight security) to ABC7 studios Monday afternoon for an appearance on "The View from the Bay," and shared his thoughts on his new-found popularity.

"People love the books so much and they kind of, they've transferred their affection for the book onto me," Pattinson said. "I could be anybody."

The movie is based on the first volume of a series about a teenage girl that falls in love with a vampire, played by Pattinson. The series has drawn comparison to the Harry Potter series. The Potter books have sold 400 million copies, while Twilight has sold 17 million and has been on The New York Times best seller list for more than 50 weeks.

Devon Mulhollan says she was one of the first in line to get an autograph from actor and teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson.

"I'm shaking, I'm still shaking, I think," said Mulhollan, from Alamo.

But Lauren Poulos, from San Jose, says she was actually one of the first in line at 4 a.m., until mall security tried to create another line. The giddy teens got pushy.

"I was within 10 people from the door. We were slammed, squished in there, person to person, so you can't even raise your arms for two hours," said Poulos.

Mall security announced the event was canceled.

"The police drove around telling everyone to go home, for about two hours, so I eventually left," said Poulos.

Then organizers of the event said it was back on.

For $30 you got a Twilight t-shirt and a wrist band which puts you in line for an autograph from Robert Pattinson and 500 screaming fans got back in line to get their wristband.

Meanwhile, Pattinson was live on the View From the Bay, talking about his new movie, "Twilight," in which he plays a vampire named Edward. He's surprised at his sudden rise to fame.

"In the character breakdown when I was doing the audition, it said, 'Edward is the perfect being in every way.' And even like, going for the audition, was kind of embarrassing," said Pattinson.

When Pattinson arrived at the Stonestown Galleria, Lauren and many others were unable to make it back in time to get a wristband.

Watch the entire Robert Pattinson interview: click here

"Twilight" opens Nov. 21.

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