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Sports blog: Stamford Sports Scene

MICHAEL SHEEN plays Aro, the leader of the Volturi clan and the unofficial king of all vampires. The Welsh-born actor, 40, also stars in Tom Hooper's "The Damned United," now playing in theaters.

On playing a vampire in New Moon after portraying a werewolf in the "Underworld" movies:

"The tailoring is so much better as a vampire. I've been observing vampires for some time now, and it was great to finally get my own fangs -- figuratively speaking, of course, because Aro doesn't actually have fangs. But it was nice to see how the other half lives."

On the inspiration for Aro's high-pitched, nasally snarl of a voice:

"Stephenie describes Aro as having a voice like feathers, so that made me think about what it would sound like if someone had a voice like feathers. Then, as I was starting to play around with it, I reminded myself a little of the Blue Meanie [from The Beatles' 'Yellow Submarine']. I was thinking about characters from when I was a kid, the ones that really freaked me out, and the Blue Meanie really freaked me out. [I also thought of] the Child Catcher from 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.' I liked the idea of a character who one the surface appears to be very friendly, a romantic at heart, and then he wants to eat your eyes. That was where Aro came from."

On Aro's unique capabilities:

"Aro's power is to be able to read people's thoughts by touching them. In real life, I would like to have the power to always look like I'm three centimeters to the right of where I actually am. In fact, I do have that power. I'm doing it now, as we speak. More fool you!"

On working with Dakota Fanning, who plays Jane, the Volturi's most feared henchman:

"We had to tone Dakota down. She was too evil. Her natural personality is just that -- evil. And she called me 'monster.' It's quite thrilling to have Dakota Fanning call you a monster."

On his experiences as a newcomer to the "Twilight" phenomenon:

"I haven't really experienced much of the 'Twilight' fan stuff yet. But I did go into a store in L.A. to buy a pair of jeans and I went into the little cubicle to try my jeans on. It's always a quite nerve-wracking time when I come out of the cubicle to look in the mirror -- I like that to be a private moment. As I came out, there was a woman standing there, shaking, saying, 'You're Aro, aren't you?' I just hid in my cubicle. So that's been my only experience like that, apart from going into my daughter's bedroom. She's got pictures from 'Twilight' and 'New Moon' everywhere, and [she put] my own little picture up, which I think she did out of pity."

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