IndieLondon: Twilight Eclipse Cast Interviews

Interviews by Rob Carnevale

NEWCOMERS Booboo Stewart and Xavier Samuel talk about some of their experiences of shooting the latest Twilight movie, Eclipse.

Booboo also reveals his weirdest fan experience while Xavier reveals why Stephenie Meyers’ latest novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, also proved helpful (and violent).

Q. How did you get involved in Eclipse?
Booboo Stewart: I was actually involved with the Walt Disney Group a long time ago and had some friends from that. A friend called me and said there was thing on MySpace about the casting of the character Seth in the next book, so we talked about it a bit. Luckily, I got in for an audition and I was the last to be seen in the country for the call-backs. So, thank God I got the part. Everyone always asks if I had to act like a wolf, but I didn’t. I don’t think I would have gotten the part if I did.

Q. And Xavier?
Xavier Samuel: Well, I auditioned from Sydney, actually. And then I flew myself to Vancouver to meet our fine director, David Slade, and had the privilege of meeting with him. Then I had a call-back in Los Angeles again, and I think I had enough time to rush back to Sydney, grab some clothes and then we started shooting. It was all very quickly.

Q. Xavier, did you get to read the new Twilight book, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, as you were preparing for the role of Riley?
Xavier Samuel: I did. It was actually under lock and key and handed to me in person by David Slade. It was kind of water-marked with my name on every page, which was kind of intimidating. If I’d lost it, I’d have been in big trouble. But it was wonderful, because it really informed the world as it’s particularly concerned with the relationship between Victoria, Riley and Bree. Riley isn’t as present in the Eclipse book, so it was kind of a goldmine of information and actually really violent as well.

Q. Booboo, do you have a favourite book in the series?
Booboo Stewart: Yeah, right when I thought I might have an audition I started reading them so I’d know the story. But my favourite book is Eclipse, because it has the most action.

Q. What’s the craziest fan experience you’ve had so far?
Booboo Stewart: This one fan came up to me, when I was doing a promo, and she was like 40-years-old and she turned to me and asked if I wanted to make out. It was one of the most weird things that has ever happened to me in my life.







ASHLEY Greene and Nikki Reed talk about some of their experiences of shooting the Twilight franchise, including the latest movie, Eclipse.

They also talk about training regimes, hanging out with fellow cast members off-set and their subsequent travel experiences.

Q. Can you believe, looking back to the first film, that this franchise has become what it’s now become?
Ashley Greene: No, I don’t think any of could have predicted how big this would become. I certainly understand why it has, because the book series is incredible, and it kind of takes you into this while other world. But I think at the time we were doing Twilight, it really had this independent feel to it and we were just really happy to be working on a project. I think each time we’re very pleasantly surprise at just how passionate the fans are and how excited they get over this.

Q. Nikki, you have a back story in Eclipse where we find out a lot more about Rosalie. When you’re doing the first two movies and you know this is going to come up, is it frustrating thinking I’ve still got a while to go before people can actually find out about my character?
Nikki Reed: Well, I was hopeful when we made the first movie that we would get to the third, otherwise I’d feel like I couldn’t really justify my behaviour. Also, Stephenie wrote these really complex, dynamic characters and sometimes I think all of us can agree – as the Cullen family – that you don’t really have the opportunity to show that. So, you want to make the most out of every moment that you have and you’re and like over-thinking everything: every glance, every smile, or, in my case, every nasty look. So, I was really happy to have that opportunity… and really nervous.

Q. You’ve been able to travel all over the world as part of the Twilight franchise. So, what’s your favourite city? And why?
Ashley Greene: I think at this point I really enjoyed being in Montepulciano in Tuscany. It was just absolutely breathtaking waking up every morning and being able to look out. The way of life there is very different to anything I’ve ever experienced in the States. I really, really enjoyed it. But that’s coupled with the fact that I have really, really great memories there when we were filming New Moon. I have a lot of fond memories.

Nikki Reed: I’ve done a lot of independent travelling, which hasn’t been the best career choice, but it’s been a really great life choice. I lived in Russia for a bit and I spent all of last year in Athens and in Switzerland. I went to Africa for a few weeks of adventure. I can’t choose which is my favourite, but I’m going to Brazil I think next.

Q. Do you have a favourite book in the series?
Nikki Reed: I’ve read all the books and I love them all for a number of reasons. I remember when we were shooting the first Twilight, when we were in rehearsals, I was making my way through the series and I was almost done with New Moon and I remember panicking that I couldn’t find Edward. I remember running around set going: “Where’s Rob? I just want to see Rob for two seconds because it’s going to feel really comforting to know that Edward is still around!” Regardless of what you’re original idea is of the books, everyone gets so sucked into the series… they’re just like magnetic.

Ashley Greene: I think my favourite book to read was probably Twilight; my favourite book to film was Eclipse, though. I think I had more fun on that set than I have on the previous ones. The action packed stunt fight training was really nice. It’s always nice whenever we get to inter-act and be playful with each other because a lot of the time you see us with pained looks on our faces, so it was really nice to be able to have a lot of inter-action with everyone.

Q. What kind of diet and physical regime to did you have?
Ashley Greene: There was lots of circuit training, lots of competitions. We did some really fun competitions, too… like we tried to see who could do the circuit in the least amount of time. It was tonnes and tonnes of fight training, which was actually fun because it kept us in shape. But it was very cool as well because we had to learn different choreography and stuff. And then, at that point, you could eat whatever you wanted because we were working out so much.

Nikki Reed: It was very physically demanding. I remember getting off the plane and looking at my schedule and it said: “I hope the cast brought sneakers… tomorrow you’ll be picked up for training.” No one told us about this and we weren’t prepared for this [laughs]. Every single day, if we weren’t shooting, we were in training for two or three hours a day, and then we were in personal training. Luckily, I had actually quit smoking about three of four weeks before we began rehearsing! I don’t know what I would have done otherwise because we literally felt like athletes. It was like sleep, train, eat, sleep again. And that was the day. But it introduced me to a whole new lifestyle because, to this day, I still work out all the time.

Q. If you could have a special power, what would it be?
Ashley Greene: I think immunity. I think not being able to be affected by anyone would be pretty cool.

Nikki Reed: I don’t know. I don’t want any powers. I’m powerless. I wouldn’t want to see into the future, I wouldn’t want to know what anyone was thinking, ever! And I don’t want to relive my past. Kellan and I talk about this a lot… but his power is strength. I enjoy feeling physically strong, so maybe I’d like to be able to lift a building and launch it at someone.

Q. If you could switch roles, who would you choose and why?
Ashley Greene: I think I would choose Victoria. She’s such a departure from Alice, who’s so sweet and has this innocence about her. I think it would be really fun to play the evil character.

Q. Do you get chance to socialise much off-set?
Ashley Greene: Yeah, we do. Surprisingly enough we all like each other. So, we have cast dinners and play the telephone game. One cast member calls three people and someone else calls three people… we do a lot of game nights. A lot of the cast members are also musically inclined, so we have jam sessions and just kind of hang.


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