Fans of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" saga have been swept up in the romance of an average teenager and the godlike vampire who falls madly in love with her.

Readers from elementary schools and retirement homes alike feverishly read through the four books. But it didn't stop there: Women (and some men) across the globe started talking to one another about their love of the characters. The contemporary vampire-human love story has blossomed into a worldwide pop cultural phenomenon, seemingly leaving no one untouched -- not even the film's actors.

"We had read all the books by the time we had gotten on set, and we were already fans," said Rachelle Lefevre, who plays a vengeful vampire named Victoria. "We wanted to get it right because we all fell in love with the books."

The movie's young cast soon found they were part of something bigger than just another movie, but part of a cult with a ravenous fan base that was, at first, difficult to handle.

In Web posts, some readers lambasted casting choices, especially those of the main male love interests, vampire Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson) and werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). "We all knew that if they could just give us a chance, we would prove we loved the books as much as they did and that we cared about doing this right," Lefevre said.

Luckily, she said, on recent press tours, fans seem to have finally have gotten caught up in the excitement for the movie, as well as those beloved books. "We're really, really grateful because it's amazing energy to be around," Lefevre said.

Contrary to popular belief, "Twilight" fans aren't all women, Lautner said. "It's an exciting romance, but there's danger and action," the actor said. "I'm a guy, and I'm in love with the book series and the film. They're for everyone."

And by everyone, he's referring to, well, everyone. After all, he's heard from fans who are women old enough to be his grandmother who say they have fallen in love with his character. "We've had the criers, the hyperventilators, the shakers," he said. "It's something I've never experienced and probably never will again."

In fact, the cast jokes about those older women fans, and suggests replacing the popular "Team Jacob" shirts with "Cougars for Jacob" slogans. "Just send me the $20 for each one sold," Lefevre said, laughing.

Edi Gathegi, who plays vampire Laurent, underscores Meyer's ability to bring her characters to life, which has led to sales of more than 17 million copies of the books worldwide. "Readers get invested in this love story and she sets the story in our world as we know it and then has every justification for how they could exist in our world, so we believe it's our world," Gathegi said.

The actors claim the film stays true to the book -- that is, as true to the book as possible when a 500-page novel is condensed into a 100-page script. It helped that Meyer was hired as an on-set consultant.

And in phone interviews, the cast seems invested in defending their characters, as if they were real people. Lefevre even tries to claim her alter ego, Victoria, isn't evil, despite a blood-thirsty drive for revenge.

"Well, I mean, in terms of Bella staying alive, sure, she's evil," she said. "But she's a bit of a victim of the old adage 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely.' She does have motivation, though. She's sticking by her mate, James, and then she's fueled by vengeance instead of just blind rage."

For Gathegi, playing a vampire allowed him to live out childhood fantasies of being able to levitate or punch through walls. "Vampires were once human, but they now have this virus that gives super strength and super speed, and that's alluring and intriguing, and that power is sexy," he said. "It's why vampirism never really dies, and why it's hot again."

For Lautner, who plays Jacob before the teen transforms into a werewolf, the film was an opportunity to explore his character's humanity. "It's my job to show the difference between his regular human side, when he's the nicest guy in the world, and his werewolf side, where he's grumpy all the time," Lautner said. "I just wanted to bring that human side of him to life, and try to get the audience to believe I'm the nicest guy in the world."

Pleasing the fans is the goal of all three actors, who say it's the outpouring of love from readers that has gotten them through grueling publicity tours. "It would be so hard if everywhere we went we weren't surrounded by screaming, encouraging fans," Lefevre said. "We're going on fan adrenaline right now and we're grateful for that."

Gathegi hopes the books' fans enjoy the film as much as he and his colleagues enjoyed making it. "We're young, passionate people striving to bring this beautiful book to life," he said.

And Lefevre knows it will be hard to pull one over on fans, who show their own passion by memorizing passages from the books -- some even going so far as tattooing their bodies with "Twilight" quotes.

"We all love the books and we care so much about getting it right," she said. "One thing we all have in common is the desire to make the best movie we can."

smcfarland@sltrib.com