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The last place fans will find up-and-coming “Twilight” actor and 100 Monkeys musician Jackson Rathbone?

“I don’t go to malls,” he jokes, taking a break from filming the indie flick “Girlfriend” outside of the State Road Auto Body’s garage in Wayland. “You won’t see me in a tabloid magazine outside of a club unless my band just played there. I keep myself busy. I consider myself an artist and not just an actor,” he says, punctuating each sentence with a thick Texas accent.

Rathbone, known as vamp brother Jasper Hale in the “Twilight” series, is playing a volatile auto mechanic Russ in the made-in-Wayland flick. He’s wearing gray coveralls and is covered from head to toe with grease. Behind him is a picturesque autumn setting with leaves changing colors juxtaposed with the harsh metal garage set. The actor graciously signs autographs and poses for photos for the handful of locals checking out the set.

The 24-year-old comments that he’s been filming around the clock in Wayland since flying in from Vancouver where he’s shooting a beefier role in the third edition of the Stephenie Meyer franchise called “Eclipse.” So far, Rathbone says he’s blown away by the New England aesthetic … and the kindness of the locals.

“I’ve never filmed in Massachusetts,” he says, signing an autograph for a mechanic wearing a “bodies are our business” T-shirt. “It’s been wonderful filming in Wayland and Natick and in the outskirts because everyone has been so kind to us. I mean, they shut down their auto body shop on a weekday for us. They could be working and they’ve opened their garage for us.”

In “Girlfriend,” Rathbone is thrust into a bizarre love triangle with a small town single mom (played by Shannon Woodward from “The Riches”) and newcomer Evan Sneider. The drama centers around Sneider’s protagonist, a young man with Down’s Syndrome, who romantically pursues Woodward’s character Candy. So far, the actor says the on-screen chemistry has been magic.

“Every time we go back to watch dailies, we’re all silent,” he says. “If you’re watching playbacks in a room full of producers and they’re all silent, you know something is going right.”

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