CRUNCH TIME FOR ROBERT PATTINSON

Echoing Jon Stewart’s offer of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to loosen Robert Pattison’s lips about his breakup with Kristen Stewart, ABC’s Good Morning America attempted to entice him with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal this morning (Wednesday). That failed to work, too. Pattinson, making his second stop on his current publicity tour to promote his latest film, Cosmopolis, stumbled through another awkward interview as host George Stephanopoulos began by remarking that he wanted to get the “elephant in the room out of the way,” then asked, “How are you doing and what do you want your fans to know about your personal life?” Clearly uncomfortable, Pattinson deflected the question by turning to the crowd outside the window of the studio and remarking, “Uh, you know, they seem pretty excited about whatever.” After a few more unintelligible words, he tried bantering, “I’d like my fans to know that Cinnamon Toast Crunch has only 30 calories a bowl in it, for instance.” When that attempt at humor fell flat, he said, “Pretty much anything that comes out of my mouth is irrelevant.” Nevertheless, his mere appearance on the show seemed to serve two purposes — it increased awareness of the actor’s latest movie, and it no doubt gave the ABC morning show a big ratings boost that it urgently needed following two weeks in which it ran far behind NBC’s Today show, which had aired from London during the Olympics. “It’s the reason why you go on to TV is to promote movies. That’s the only way to do it,” Pattinson finally said. “I’ve never been interested in trying to sell my personal life.” Meanwhile, it was announced following the interview with Pattinson was been signed to play Lawrence of Arabia in Queen of the Desert, a film about the life of Middle East archaeologist and political activist Gertrude Bell, who will be played by Naomi Watts.