Q&A: The Cullen family of “Twilight: New Moon”
Elizabeth Reaser plays Esme Cullen in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.” (Associated Press photos)
LOS ANGELES – At the recent “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” press day at the Four Seasons Hotel, Kellan Lutz (Emmett); Ashley Greene (Alice); Nikki Reed (Rosalie); and Elizabeth Reaser (Esme) were on hand to represent the benevolent vampire family the Cullens.
The four actors talked during a press conference about vampire makeup, their obsessions and the celebrity spotlight. This is an edited transcript from the press conference.
Q: How was it this time with a new director and a new story with a whole different kind of emphasis?
Greene: I think this go-around we were all a little bit more prepared, which was nice. In the first film, we were kind of all going, ‘What’s going on? What’s happening?’ And you know we had the support of the fans behind us. In the first one, again, we were going, ‘Oh, God, we hope they don’t hate us.’ And they completely embraced us, so going into the second one, I think it was a much more fun, relaxed experience, at least for me.
Lutz: Yeah, and it’s nice to have that weight off your shoulders. I mean, we all are stepping in and giving a face to our characters, which fans already have celebrities, actors, who they envisioned as Emmett or Alice or Bella. And it’s nice to have their support, so it’s a huge weight off our shoulders shooting ‘New Moon’ and then ‘Eclipse.’ And then also with having Chris Weitz who’s such a laidback, easygoing director who really had everything so organized. And it trickles down. When we feel at ease, you know, with knowing what the scene (is) and what he wants out of us and then allowing ourselves to go then to Chris and be like ‘I want to try it this way’ or ‘what do you think of this?’ And he’s so open to all our actors’ decisions. It’s nice to feel like an actor and not a robot. So it felt so easy.
Q: Does that mean Hardwicke was …
Lutz: Hardwicke was, I loved her. I’m not saying it like that.
Reaser: There’s a big difference.
Reed: They all have a different approach.
Greene: And I think Catherine was thrown into it just as much as the rest of us. So I think, you know, as the rest of us, she was kind of going ‘Oh, my gosh, what’s happening?’
Ashley Greene
Q: I wanted to ask Ashley about your wardrobe: Did you have any input into it because she’s so stylish? And was that you driving that car and how did that go?
Greene: It was me driving the car, I think which scared all of the producers. (laughs) Two takes and it was over.
Yeah, they definitely ask our input. We have a little bit of input in it. I don’t think it’s any secret that I really adore Audrey Hepburn, and so I asked that maybe they throw that in there a little bit. That and I think Jackie O was thrown in there a little bit. I loved it. I wanted to take my wardrobe home with me each day.
Q: Did you notice that you were reading, watching or listening to anything differently to get into your characters at all? And as your characters, do you think that since they’re so eternal, do they listen to new music. Do they change with the times or they are who they were?
Reaser: I think they do. I mean, I personally think that, you know, they’re trying to fit in to the human world. … (pause as problem with microphone)
So, I think it’s important to them, I mean in every way, that they look normal, that they have normal clothes and that they listen to music. I mean, they have a lot of time on their hands, too. They’re up all night, you know, so we work on our hairdos a lot.
Reed: We’ve found a way to like justify why we’re wearing like a lot of Nike and also why our hair is like totally flawless and our makeup. I mean, we always find a way to justify, like we’re up all night, so we have time for that. They want to be like contemporary and cool; we wear a lot of Nike. (laughing) Sometimes head to toe in Nike. We just love Nike.
Q: Following up on that, I’m just wondering since they don’t sleep, what do you guys do at night? What do you think about your characters about what they do at night?
Greene: Alice plans parties. Alice plans lots of parties.
Reed: I look at myself all night. (lots of laughter among them)
Reaser: I think Esme goes out and like tears apart a mountain lion every other night …
Reed: Yeah, we’ve actually discussed this.
Reaser: Yeah, and bears …
Lutz: Hey, that’s mine.
Reed: What does that Emmett do?
Reaser: You like bears?
Lutz: I do.
Reaser: I like mountain lions.
Reed: It’s funny because we’ve all become friends, and so it does in a sense like change your approach here, your character and the dynamic between all of our characters onset and stuff. And so Elizabeth and I became very close while shooting ‘Eclipse.’ We were housed right next to each other, and we were very isolated this time in Vancouver. I felt very isolated. So we decided that we’d tear apart mountain lions together. And we somehow found a way to like stand next to each other in certain scenes; I mean, a lot of it’s like left, you know, up to the actors, and it’s eenie, meanie, miney, moe.
Reaser: Why wouldn’t I?
Greene: Where we place ourselves it’s like a dance.
Reaser: At one point you were saying like you didn’t dig Esme.
Reed: No, no, no. I’m feeling at little bit funny about Carlisle.
Reaser: Carlisle. You have issues with Carlisle, and Esme you didn’t totally, you weren’t feeling her so much.
Reed: I just didn’t really understand. Yeah, she’s trying to crack the whip and I really didn’t understand why she thought she could do that. But we’ve come to an understanding.
Reaser: Yeah, we’ve found that we hunt together.
Reed: We hunt together. We don’t speak. We hunt.
Reaser: Yeah, like we don’t have all this chitchat. Like I think Alice and I hang out and we maybe go shopping and do all this girly stuff. This one and I, we just hunt.
Lutz: Am I a loner? Is that what you’re trying to say?
Reed: Yep, pretty much.
Reaser: No, sometimes you get to come.
Greene: You and Jazz can spar.
Lutz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jasper and I.
Reaser: Yeah, you and Jasper and I are always hunting.
Reed: Remember that this is not a metaphor for anything. (laughing)
Nikki Reed
Q: In the last year and a half, all of you have been thrust into this celebrity spotlight. I’m curious you guys have such an avid fan base. Where do you think the public and fans’ right to know about your private life start and stop? It’s just a really blurry line nowadays.
Reed: I had like a really interesting start because the first film I did was marketed as being autobiographical. So there weren’t ever boundaries set, I feel, between me and the public or like between journalists and interviewers and myself. And so I’m still trying to find that honestly like, you know, the balance. I mean, I don’t know how these guys feel about that.
Greene: I mean, it’s a fine line definitely. I think it’s hard because the reason that we are here is because of our fans, and they want to know everything about us because they adore us and they support us. And so you do want to give them a little, but there is, you know, a certain point to where it’s normal for everyone to go everything about you. I mean, not all of my friends know every single thing about me; there’s different people that know different things. And so it gets a little tough there. And then on the flip side, you never, ever know what someone’s going to write about you. Like maybe an interviewer likes you and maybe they don’t, and so that’s where it becomes kind of tough because you do want to be open and honest but then you still have to protect yourself.
Lutz: I think it’s great to adopt a pet — a dog that bites. I mean, that’s where the paparazzi will stop. She has a lovely dog Marlow, which is kind of small but hurts. My dog, Kola, does not like anyone that she’s not friendly with.
Greene: Kola’s mean.
Lutz: Yeah, so the paparazzi stops at my front gate. And it’s usually kind of crazy have paparazzi step outside your house. And the coolest thing with the Vancouver guys are they’re respectable, and they will just ask for a signature or photo and let us go about and go and, you know, have a cast dinner away from set where we can feel human and we’re out of the white makeup and the contacts. And you know, it’s a double-edged sword. I mean, we’re blessed to be actors and have such a loving fan base. And the fans are always so great, and they’re giving us presents, which is so crazy ‘cause we’re allowed to work because of them. And the time they put into making dolls or buying gummi bears or anything like that, it’s very humbling. So it’s really nice to just have everyone who is respectful just understand that it’s a job at the end of the day. We aren’t really these characters in life. And just thank them for everything.
Reed: Also — like I don’t want to go on with this for too long — but it’s something that it’s really upsetting and also something that I’m fascinated with as well. It’s weird to be a part of this new wave, it’s kind of like a cultural phenomenon on its own, like this whole like online gossip situation. I mean, people have always been obsessed with celebrity, but there was a disconnect, there was a separation. People were on a screen, there were like even filters. Even like shooting like high-def and stuff, I feel like your success is almost determined a little bit now recently by like how exposed you are to the world, but yet you’re recycled really fast, especially women. Like you’re hot while you’re literally hot. (indicating her face and laughing) And then you’re out.
And so I think, I don’t know, like an ideal career for me would be to sort of slide under the radar so that I know that I’ll always work and people will always wonder. There’s like mystery still. There’s just no mystery anymore.
But then again, like producers actually cast like based on this. Like if you’re not known like in a small town like in, you know, Italy or wherever, they don’t want to cast you because they need to finance their films. We’re trying to figure it out. There’s a new system of law right now.
Lutz: I think that’s what’s really cool. Like we didn’t know what this would become in a way. We were just actors who fell in love with a script and within doing that, it’s not like a Marvel hero where you know Green Lantern or Captain America, whoever is that is gonna be famous right off the block. And with us, you know, we fell in love with our characters and kind of looked at this as just another job. I know for myself I didn’t know it was a book series. And you know, it’s just great to be a part of something for the reasons that we are a part of it.
Read more after the break.
Q: Speaking of Vancouver, what are some of the things you like to do there? Where are some of your favorite spots? Do you have any like hangouts?
Greene: Our rooms.
Reed: This is good for Ashley. Ashley was much better at like finding ways to hang out. … We didn’t really go out that much.
Greene: I mean, in the beginning, I think I definitely took advantage of the shopping. There’s a lot of people filming at there, and so it was kind of nice to have different friends that were filming different things be out there. I mean, I don’t want to say what the restaurants were because there’s a possibility that we’ll be back there again. But you know, there were a couple of spots that we definitely found that we would go and have dinner and there consistently was never fans outside, never friends outside, the actual restaurant didn’t call the press. And so whenever something like that happens, we definitely revisit it. And then apart from that, I mean, we’re constantly having people over in our rooms. We’re all housed in the same place, yeah, most of us were all in the same place. So it’s a lot of game nights and you know, we’d cook dinner at home and stuff like that.
Q: Is it the Cullens that are hanging out together in a group and like the wolf pack hanging out in a group?
Greene: Sometimes. And it’s not intentional, but it’s a lot of first unit work, second unit work. So like there’s a lot of times a lot us were doing second unit because there’s so many stunts. Oh, wait, that’s ‘Eclipse.’
Reed: We’re talking about ‘Eclipse.’ Yeah, no, let’s go back to ‘New Moon.’
Greene: OK, back to ‘New Moon.’
Reed: But she was talking about this last experience. It was segregated.
Greene: The last experience, we were all second unit and then there was a different team on first. And so we’re like ‘I feel like we’re making different movies and we don’t see each other.’ So you do get that sometimes to where you’re kind of grouped together, but there’s no hard feelings and there’s no intention behind it.
Reed: It’s totally intentional.
Reaser: It is. You know we don’t like humans or wolves.
Greene: We all hate each other.
Kellan Lutz
Q: Kellan, you also got to shoot ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street,’ which was a phenomenon in my day. Tell us about Dean and any cool dream sequences that you go to shoot on that.
Lutz: Dean becomes Freddy Krueger actually, it’s great. I kill Jackie Earle Haley and take away his glove and sweater — the sweater itches. (with a grin) No. You know what, it’s such a blessing to be a part of something that for me, I grew up with. And a lot of things scared me growing up — mainly my brothers picking on me. But as far as Jason or Chucky, I had a Chucky doll, like those things didn’t scare me. But Freddy Krueger, there’s something. It’s this psychological thriller that can take you in your dreams, you know, it’s something that you can’t physically take care of on your own. You know, working with Platinum Dunes guys, I mean, Brad Fuller, and Andrew (Form), they’re great. And to work with Sam (Bayer), the director. And then great cast: Thomas Dekker was always pumped on Red Bull every day, (Rooney) Mara’s great, Kate Cassidy has been a great friend of mine forever. And meeting Michael Bay was so cool.
So, it’s really cool to be a part of something that now, since all our minds are so corrupted with blood, guts and gore, that this generation, it takes something special to scare our generation now. It’s revamped. And where 10 years ago, someone just knocking on the door, you’re like ‘Oh, w-who is that?’ You know, what ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ is gonna show, it’s scary. If you guys haven’t seen the trailer, you know, how it’s shot and the things that you will see from the movie will scare you. And it’s a great psychological thriller. …
I mean, it’s basically it’s a revamped version of the first one. But it is different in a lot of aspects. So you know if you like the first one, this is going to be a new somewhat cool spin on it.
Q: Wanted to ask you guys about the makeup for your characters. Did they find a way to streamline the process for you and make it easier for you, or did you just get used to it?
Reed: I look much better in the films to come. (laughs)
Reaser: You know, there’s just no way to tighten that up. You know, we’ve had the most amazing makeup artists. It just takes time. It’s really hard to lighten skin. It’s much easier to make someone tan. So, it’s always gonna be a couple hours in the chair. It’s just what it is.
Reed: Four hours.
Greene: It’s worth, though, we look good.
Lutz: Yeah. But it’s in our control to not be in the sun in a way. So it’s your choice, and we live in L.A. …
Reed: It’s not always a choice, Kellan.
Lutz: Well, I mean, exactly. But I didn’t go to the beach that much so I saved probably an hour in the makeup chair. Because you have to get coats and coats and coats …
Greene: And you’re a guy.
Reaser: You’re also a man.
Reed: OK, yeah, you’re also a boy.
Lutz: A boy? So I’ve gone from a man to a boy? Good to know.
Q: I just was wondering, since this book has struck a chord with so many fans and, you know, vampires, what have you obsessed about in your life? Do you love vampires or …?
Reed: I loved the Spice Girls. No, I’m serious.
Greene: Did you pretend to be a Spice Girl in school? I did.
Reed: No, but when I was 11, my brother told me if we took a bus, we would find the Spice Girls. And this is a true story.
Lutz: You took a bus?
Reed: In Culver City. And we got on the bus with a suitcase, my brother and I, who was a year older than I, and we took the bus all the way down to the beach. And the Spice Girls weren’t there. But he was watching the news or something and it said they were on some highway and he thought he could put it together. My mom found us. That didn’t work out.
Lutz: That’s cute.
Greene: I just pretended to be a Spice Girl in high school. Or not high school, middle school. Oh, God.
Lutz: (laughing) High school.
Greene: You’re obsessed with candy.
Lutz: I’m just obsessed with candy and animals. I love safaris now; I can’t go to a zoo. When I was in Africa I went to a safari and giant white lions and tigers were walking right by our place. Baboons just, you know, trying to break in our car and steal my candy, which isn’t nice. But no, I’m a huge animal advocate. And I just love animals.
Reed: (to Reaser) What were you obsessed with?
Reaser: I don’t know, I’m currently obsessed with Jay-Z. (laughs) If that makes sense. That’s all I can listen to.
Q: It seems America is now obsessed with vampires. This series is like a vampire avalanche or something, and I wondered if you could talk about why you think the culture is so obsessed right now with the undead?
Greene: Well, one, in Hollywood if anything is a success, I think there’s always that tendency to create a trend and, you know, take the ride. It’s a common thing to happen in Hollywood, so we definitely have witnessed that I think.
And then, with vampires, I mean, I think that it’s because they’re so mysterious. You know, there’s something kind of dangerous about them and they’re sexy and they’re unattainable. And I definitely think that sparks people’s interest.
Reaser: I think it’s just ‘cause they’re sexy. If they were, you know, if they were just a bunch of dorks sitting around, you know, I don’t know if people would be … You know what I mean? I mean, I’m not saying I’m sexy.
Reed: Yeah, you were.
Greene: We sat through three hours of hair and makeup, we’d better look kind of sexy afterward. But no I agree.
Reed: That sexy four hours at 5 a.m. every day.
Greene: Ohhh…
Q: What question are you most tired of answering?
All: Do you know Rob Pattinson?
Reaser: Where’s Rob?
Reed: Have you talked to him? Do you work with him?
Q: So, do anyone of you know Rob Pattinson?
Reed: Un-uh. He actually doesn’t work with the rest of the actors. You know, six degrees of separation, somehow we know him. I know of him.
Reaser: Sometimes he says hi once in a while.
Lutz: He doesn’t act. He just has this cardboard cutout there. High five! (miming high-fiving the imaginary cardboard cutout)
Q: To Reaser: Even though you’re nowhere near the age to be the parent of these other actors …
Reaser: Thank you. (laughs)
Q: … did you find a sort of maternal instinct toward them on or off the set?
Reaser: You know, sometimes, yeah, I feel protective I think just being an older actress. You know, I’ve been on a lot of sets and I feel protective of younger actors. Not that there’s anything I need to protect ‘cause Summit is awesome. But you know what I mean, like sometimes, you know, you’re just looking out for them. But really I feel like Nikki is way more maternal than me. And she’s much more of a caretaker.
Reed: Just because I made her dinner every night.
Reaser: She would cook me dinner and make me coffee and she was so sweet.
Reed: OK, that’s true, I did mother Elizabeth, that’s true.
Reaser: So I don’t feel very mature. I mean, I think it’s weird that I play mothers and pregnant people and stuff. It’s so bizarre to me because it’s like not my personality at all.
Greene: It means you’re a good actor.
Reaser: Thank you.
Reed: It means you look really great pregnant.
Q: Pretend there’s no book and there’s no future script you’ve read, what do you wish that they would let your character do?
Lutz: All his stunts. No stuntmen. I’m sorry.
Reaser: Have sex.
Reed: You see what I mean? Nice, Mom.
Greene: My character gets to do a lot of cool stuff.
Reed: I don’t know, smile and interact. No, but seriously, the scenes that we’re in, like they’re lacking warmth. I mean, for obvious reasons, but it’s nice when you see like the wolf pack come in because it’s needed. You need it. They wrestle around like a bunch of kids and like you want that. It doesn’t feel natural like to watch all of us.
Just know that it is intentional and we’re not retards. Like the fact that we don’t touch in the scenes and we’re all like we don’t touch ourselves. I mean, we’ve got white makeup from here to here. (indicating arm from elbow to fingertips) It’s a skill on its own to learn how to function in our hair and makeup and also knowing that we’re like cold stones. You know what I mean? I just want a hug all the time.
-BAM
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