With so many female-driven films and strong roles at this year’s fest, and in the spirit of the opening night film, we’ll be profiling some of themost kick-ass females representing at SXSW this week. Next up: Skateland star Ashley Greene.Like many of her cast mates, 23-year-old actress Ashley Greene has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity thanks to her involvement in the Twilight films, in which she plays the cheery, pixie-like vampire Alice Cullen. And, like many of her co-stars, Greene has taken advantage of her newfoundcelebrity to pursue non-Twilight projects between filming on New Moon, Eclipse, and the planned franchise finale, Breaking Dawn. One of those projects was Skateland,a Texas-set coming-of-age drama set at the beginning of the ’80s, inwhich Greene plays the best friend to actor Shiloh Fernandez’s lostprotagonist, Ritchie Wheeler.For Greene, the role of Michelle was a chance to stretch as an actor, to exercise muscles she hadn’tbeen given the chance to explore in her pre-Twilight days. Fans who have only seen Greene as Bella Swan’s perky BFF should enjoy watching her take the lead in Skateland,in which she’s asked to riff with her male co-stars, express subtleemotional beats, and play out a tender love scene with Fernandez.
Cinematical spoke with Greene in Austin, where she was attending the SXSW premiere of Skateland.
Cinematical: Tell us about your character and how you became involved in Skateland.
Ashley Greene: I play a character named Michelle Burkham. You start out seeing her as a girl-next-door character, but as you watch the film you learn she hasan edge to her. And that’s what I really liked about her; she does havevulnerability and she’s compassionate, but she’s got a sass about herand she’s a very strong character. Those are the qualities that drew mein about her. Throughout the film you see her as the best friend ofRitchie Wheeler, who the story centers on, and she becomes a loveinterest. She’s the one that’s there pushing him, saying ‘You can bemore,’ and making him understand that he needs to believe in himself.And when Skateland closes, everyone’s thrown into turmoil and forced toreevaluate themselves and Texas and their situations, and she’sdefinitely one of them. She’s one of the go-getters in the film, and Ireally liked that.
Cinematical: Skateland is set in a roller skating community in the ’80s. How did you get into the vibe of that particular time and place?
Ashley Greene: I spoke to my mother a lot; I look so much like my mother in this, it’scrazy. It was really fun. I definitely talked to her and asked herabout it, because I was born in the later part of the ’80s so I missedout on it. She was into the roller skating thing a little bit. But youknow, my character doesn’t really get to roller skate as much, that’smore a Ritchie Wheeler-Shiloh Fernandez kind of thing, but it was funto observe and be around. The thing about the character is, once youhave the rollers in your hair and you have the hair and make-up on andthe clothes, it really puts you in that place and you get to live inthe ’80s for a short period of time.
Cinematical: At what point between Twilight films did you make Skateland?
Ashley Greene: I made it directly after Twilight. After Twilight, I came right back to auditioning. Actually, Aquila/Wood Casting did Twilight and they cast me in this, so they were like my cheerleaders rooting for me.
Cinematical: You’ve also been working on a few additional films, outside of the Twilight world. What sort of projects were you looking for to do between films?
Ashley Greene: I adore Alice Cullen and doing Twilight, but because there are so many of these films you definitely want togive a taste of something else in between so [fans] still see you asAshley Greene and not Alice Cullen. And so, during the breaks, that’swhat I was looking to do. Because Twilight keeps gainingmore and more attention, and it’s doing so well and we have thisincredible fan base that doesn’t stop, with each film that comes out Iget more opportunities to pick and choose, which is really nice. NowI’m focused on showcasing what I can do and building longevity.
Cinematical: Tell us about The Apparition, your next foray into horror.
Ashley Greene: The Apparition is something I’m currently filming. We just got back from Germany thisweek, we were there for about two months filming at Babelsberg Studioand we start filming again in about a week in Los Angeles. The filmactually takes place in L.A. which is the funny thing about thisbusiness, because we went to Germany to shoot it, we came back to shootexteriors. It’s a psychological thriller that centers around these twocharacters, Kelly and Ben, who are played by myself and Sebastian Stan.We play a couple who are haunted by a supernatural force and we have tofigure out what this thing wants. I definitely learned a lot of thingsabout myself while filming this… I read the script and loved it. I’mso passionate about this project and my producers and director andco-star, I’ve gone places as an actor I didn’t know I could go. So I’mreally excited for this one to come out.
Cinematical: What kind of scary places did you find yourself in during your performance?
Ashley Greene: I was terrified, and as far as just being vulnerable and sad and hurt, and strong… it’s not a horror film; we want it to be elevated andscary along the lines of Poltergeist, so I definitely didn’t want Kellyto be one of those scared, dumb girls in a horror movie. So we allworked together, it’s been a huge collaboration in making thesecharacters really smart.
Cinematical: There seems to be an emerging trend in horror films of filmmakers shying awayfrom the so-called ”torture porn” subgenre and towards what’s calledelevated horror.
Ashley Greene: Yes, that’s exactly what we’re doing. I look at a movie like The Strangers, and the scariest part about that movie is that these people doeverything that you would have done and that you wanted them to do, andyet things still start happening. That’s definitely along the lines ofwhat we want to do, because that’s the frightening part about it.
Cinematical: There is a sense that one of the easier ways for young actresses to make aname is to appear in mainstream horror films; is that something you’vebeen mindful of, or are able to choose not to do because of the cloutthe Twilight films have given you?
Ashley Greene: Absolutely. I’m looking at The Apparation thinking, okay, this is a horror film; do I really want to go down that path? Because even though Twilight is certainly not a horror film, it is labeled a ”vampire” film and itcould be mistaken as such. So when I looked at this film, we had toread through it, and I spoke with the director and producers to seeexactly how they wanted to go about the film. The fact that it’s as faraway from that mainstream horror film as you can get kind of relaxedme, because I wanted to be a part of it but I didn’t want to be in ahorror film, so it worked out. But yes, I certainly think Twilight hasgiven me a lot of opportunities and it’s put me in a position andenabled me to be able to say, no, I don’t want to do that film, and I’mnot going to do that, and I am going to do this. I’m in a very goodposition.
Källa
Be Safe/ronjiisss
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