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|       CITAZIONE You know the story: Heartthrob actor lands a major TV role, develops a global following of swooning women — then the role eventually ends and they sink into obscurity along with the rest of Hollywood’s lost boys. Fortunately, Ed Westwick, former star of “Gossip Girl,” seems likely to avoid that plot. “[Chuck Bass] was very prominent and my main association, but we finished a year ago and that’s that,” Westwick says of his five-year-long role.
He certainly isn’t wasting any time. In October, less than a year after “Gossip Girl’s” finale, Westwick starred in an adaptation of “Romeo & Juliet” as Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin and Romeo’s rival. The project was a change of pace for the actor, allowing him to step outside of his comfort zone, swashbuckle with a rapier and finally speak in his native British accent on screen. “I really think what we did has opened a complex language to a wider generation,” he says. “And I got to wear a really long wig — that was fun as well.”
Next fall, Westwick, 26, will show up on the big screen again in “A Conspiracy on Jekyll Island,” which he just spent several weeks filming in Chicago. In the indie thriller, Westwick plays Ben, a computer programer duped into a financial scandal. “I think it’s incredible to [receive] a script that’s of substance and that’s topical not just now, but for the next few years,” he says.
In 2014, Westwick will also star in “Kitchen Sink,” a satire of the vampire/zombie fad that’s recently swept Hollywood. “The last thing I ever wanted to play was a vampire,” laughs Westwick. “I get asked if I’m Robert Pattinson all the time. I had this hair before him!” Yet for “Kitchen Sink,” the Brit goes full-on vamp, donning prosthetics and demonic contact lenses. “It’s something different for me,” he says. “It pokes fun at the genre in a really witty, intelligent way.”
With his future as a film star coming to fruition, Westwick is ready to say goodbye to the character that launched a thousand gifs. “It’s a really interesting journey,” he says. “[Gossip Girl] opened so many doors, and I’m forever grateful to the people who hired me, who wrote our stuff and the work we did. But it’s time to do other things.” |
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such a perv
