USA Today talks to Peter Facinelli about Coop from Nurse Jackie and Carlise from the Twilight Saga: how hard it is to play both during overlapping filming, who the real Peter would go to for medical care, and the changing of the scarf ritual in Eclipse.

“Dracula had his cape. But he has nothing on Peter Facinelli’s Carlisle Cullen and his scarves.

Given that members of the doctor’s makeshift family of vampires in the Twilight films are so batty for fashion that they tend to color-coordinate their ensembles with one another, it would make sense that their father figure would pay attention to his accessory choices. Even if there is always a threat of blood stains to consider.

But why exactly does the good doctor, who is more than three centuries old, have a yen for neckwear?

Says Facinelli, “I went to Catherine Hardwicke (the director of the first movie) and told her that Carlisle is a perfect gentleman and it would be interesting for him to wear scarves since they might have been in fashion at that time. Plus, after being bit on the neck, it might be a subconscious need to not have it exposed.”

So for Twilight and its sequel, New Moon, Carlisle almost always wore some sort of dangling swatch. However, the director of this summer’s Eclipse, David Slade, was not a big fan.

“He thought it was getting to be like Mickey Mouse ears,” says Facinelli of his signature apparel. But instead of just putting them in storage, the actor thought it might be better if he first made some sort of statement on-screen. “It’s a scene where I go to the werewolves for help. I take the scarf off. I wanted to show him standing before them naked and vulnerable.”

Luckily, Carlisle can always make a style statement with his Tweety Bird yellow hair”

See more on USA Today.