The Twilight World

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 the
most 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 Greenehas 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 newfound
celebrity 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, in
which Greene plays the best friend to actor Shiloh Fernandez’s lost
protagonist, Ritchie Wheeler.

For Greene, the role of Michelle was a chance to stretch as an actor, to exercise muscles she hadn’t
been 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 subtle
emotional beats, and play out a tender love scene with Fernandez.

Cinematical spoke with Greene in Austin, where she was attending the SXSW premiere ofSkateland.

Cinematical: Tell us about your character and how you became involved inSkateland.

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 has
an edge to her. And that’s what I really liked about her; she does have
vulnerability and she’s compassionate, but she’s got a sass about her
and she’s a very strong character. Those are the qualities that drew me
in about her. Throughout the film you see her as the best friend of
Ritchie Wheeler, who the story centers on, and she becomes a love
interest. She’s the one that’s there pushing him, saying ‘You can be
more,’ and making him understand that he needs to believe in himself.
And when Skateland closes, everyone’s thrown into turmoil and forced to
reevaluate themselves and Texas and their situations, and she’s
definitely one of them. She’s one of the go-getters in the film, and I
really 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’s
crazy. It was really fun. I definitely talked to her and asked her
about it, because I was born in the later part of the ’80s so I missed
out on it. She was into the roller skating thing a little bit. But you
know, my character doesn’t really get to roller skate as much, that’s
more a Ritchie Wheeler-Shiloh Fernandez kind of thing, but it was fun
to observe and be around. The thing about the character is, once you
have the rollers in your hair and you have the hair and make-up on and
the clothes, it really puts you in that place and you get to live in
the ’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 theTwilight 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 to
give a taste of something else in between so [fans] still see you as
Ashley Greene and not Alice Cullen. And so, during the breaks, that’s
what I was looking to do. Because Twilight keeps gaining
more and more attention, and it’s doing so well and we have this
incredible fan base that doesn’t stop, with each film that comes out I
get more opportunities to pick and choose, which is really nice. Now
I’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 this
week, we were there for about two months filming at Babelsberg Studio
and we start filming again in about a week in Los Angeles. The film
actually takes place in L.A. which is the funny thing about this
business, because we went to Germany to shoot it, we came back to shoot
exteriors. It’s a psychological thriller that centers around these two
characters, 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 to
figure out what this thing wants. I definitely learned a lot of things
about myself while filming this… I read the script and loved it. I’m
so passionate about this project and my producers and director and
co-star, I’ve gone places as an actor I didn’t know I could go. So I’m
really 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 and
scary along the lines of Poltergeist, so I definitely didn’t want Kelly
to be one of those scared, dumb girls in a horror movie. So we all
worked together, it’s been a huge collaboration in making these
characters really smart.

Cinematical: There seems to be an emerging trend in horror films of filmmakers shying away
from the so-called ”torture porn” subgenre and towards what’s called
elevated 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 do
everything that you would have done and that you wanted them to do, and
yet things still start happening. That’s definitely along the lines of
what 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 a
name is to appear in mainstream horror films; is that something you’ve
been mindful of, or are able to choose not to do because of the clout
the 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 it
could be mistaken as such. So when I looked at this film, we had to
read through it, and I spoke with the director and producers to see
exactly how they wanted to go about the film. The fact that it’s as far
away from that mainstream horror film as you can get kind of relaxed
me, because I wanted to be a part of it but I didn’t want to be in a
horror film, so it worked out. But yes, I certainly think Twilight has
given me a lot of opportunities and it’s put me in a position and
enabled me to be able to say, no, I don’t want to do that film, and I’m
not going to do that, and I am going to do this. I’m in a very good
position.