Xavier Samuel: "Yeah. VHS is very early ‘90s, isn’t it?"
Is this your first time in America?
Xavier Samuel: "I’ve kind of been dividing my time pretty evenly between Los Angeles and Sydney. I think they only let me stay here for 90 days or something...I’ve lost track. But yeah, I auditioned online, did a tape, yeah, in Sydney and I’ve been doing that for American projects for quite a while. Sort of sending them off into the ether and not knowing who’s watched them or whose desk they land on. So to hear a response…"
How do you feel about being part of this huge phenomenon that is Twilight and are you prepared for fame?
Xavier Samuel: "It’s certainly kind of a baptism [by] fire, and kind of a wonderful introduction to American film. It’s quite a different experience working on an American film, coming from an Australian context because you could make 100 Australian films for the budget of any number of American films. But yeah, it’s been really kind of a surreal experience. And it all happened very quickly. I flew from Sydney to Vancouver, when it was I think me and four other guys, I flew myself, met David Slade, and then had enough time to go back to Sydney, get some more clothes and then fly back to L.A. and Vancouver to start shooting. It all happened extremely quickly, but it’s just been a kind of exhilarating and wonderful experience and I’m very, very thankful."
Dakota, you went from New Moon to The Runaways, and you and Kristen are close. Were you confused at all? Was it like, 'Today I want to kill you?" What was that like?
Dakota Fanning: "During the summer when we were doing The Runaways, we both had in the back of our minds that she would have to go do Eclipse pretty much right away and I came a month or two later just for a week to do my part. But it was so weird just seeing each other in different costumes and being different people because we got so used to seeing each other as Joan and Cherie. And me especially seeing her with the short black hair, and she has green eyes in real life and then seeing her with brown eyes and long hair again, it was so weird. Obviously our relationships are very different in The Runaways and Eclipse. So that was kind of fun. But it was really, really weird at first."
Xavier, with all these evil characters what did you do to establish your presence?
Xavier Samuel: "Yeah, there’s a lot of competition for who’s the most evil. I had a lot of conversations with David Slade about how to approach Riley and not delve into the clichés of the stereotypical vampire thing. We kind of touched upon that he’s still got human blood pumping through his veins and he’s kind of a tragic figure in a way. He’s been manipulated to a certain extent, so it was that coupled in. And, also, he has this extreme hatred for humanity because that’s what he’s been deprived of. He’s extremely jealous, but he also has a heart. So kind of looking and trying to do justice to the complexity that Stephenie Meyer has created."
Who’s the prankster on set?
Bryce Dallas Howard: "It was really fun. It’s a very playful environment because everyone’s really friendly."
Dakota Fanning: "I was only there for like three days so I don’t know."
Bryce Dallas Howard: "Her one day was full of pranks!"
Did it feel like you’re making a horror movie when you shot your scenes?
Dakota Fanning: "I felt like I was making a horror film when there was a big fire pit and fake burning bodies in there. That was the only time it felt like I was making a horror film."
Xavier Samuel: "If you’re covered in tomato sauce, [then it feels like a horror movie]…but we didn’t do anything like that."
Bryce Dallas Howard: "There’s definitely an epic scale to this movie, to this chapter of the saga that is probably unique and distinct to Eclipse. The story does culminate in this massive battle sequence at the end. There’s multiple threats, like the strife between the wolf clan and the Cullens and the Volturi and Victoria is after Bella, Riley is after Bella and the Cullens and there’s a newborn vampire army that now exists. There’s a lot of stuff going on, so it definitely became like an epic action film to me."
Xavier Samuel: "David Slade has such a firm grip on the dark side of the film, I can understand how that might be the impression of the film because he’s got a really edgy, unique approach."
What was the most challenging scene you had to do?
Dakota Fanning: "My one scene. Because I am in such a small part of the film, it kind of adds to the pressure is the wrong word but the only word I can think of right now, just to get that one part right and do the best that you can. In that little moment that you’re in the film, make it the best it can be and the scariest it can be and the coolest it can be."
Bryce Dallas Howard: "The most challenging part, again, pressure I think it is the right word because there’s so much build up to the moment and for the end, there’s so much training that went into the choreography of this final battle sequence that I didn’t want to mess it up - and I certainly didn’t want to punch Robert Pattinson in the face."
Xavier Samuel: "I know it has so many devoted fans and with that comes a great deal of responsibility of really delivering your very best. So that’s the kind of challenging thing, to always be on your A-game. But also it’s kind of hard to act with a piece of fur on the end of a stick. All that green screen stuff was kind of interesting. You have to create that world in your head, as opposed to actually having it there. And then being bounced around on wires like a puppet."
Bryce, you approached Stephenie Meyer about the voice. Did you want to change that and as a Twi-hard was it hard to approach Stephenie?
Bryce Dallas Howard: "Yeah, it is intimidating talking to Stephenie although she is not an intimidating person. She’s a really, really lovely woman and a very warm person. It wasn’t something that I wanted to do necessarily anything different at all, it’s just Stephenie wrote in the book very clearly that when Victoria spoke she had a surprisingly high voice, almost like a little girl. That’s kind of how she wrote it. So I wanted to know more of what she envisioned in terms of that so it didn’t seem silly and I wasn’t doing a caricature of what she had written but rather an honest depiction of what she had written. That was just something I had a brief conversation about."
What projects are you working on next?
Dakota Fanning: "I don’t have anything that I’m working on right now."
Bryce Dallas Howard: "What did you do this morning, Dakota?"
Dakota Fanning: "This morning I took the ACT. That’s my plans."
Which was more pressure, that or this?
Dakota Fanning: [Laughing] "Maybe this."
You don't have a film scheduled down the line?
Dakota Fanning: "No, not right now."
So does that mean college is in your future?
Dakota Fanning: "Yeah."
Have you picked a school?
Dakota Fanning: "Kind of, but not that I’m ready to mention."
Bryce Dallas Howard: "I did a Clint Eastwood film called Hereafter I’m really excited about. It’s coming out later this year with Matt Damon."
Is that the ghost story?
Bryce Dallas Howard: "It’s kind of supernatural. And then I did a comedy with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, which used to be called I’m With Cancer, which is now Untitled Comedy. So look for it!"
Aren’t you doing The Help?
Bryce Dallas Howard: "Oh yes, I’m doing The Help, yeah. I’m going to do The Help in a couple of weeks."
Will that be faithful to the book?
Bryce Dallas Howard: "Yeah, the script really is. But it’s not been shot yet so…millions of things happen on a film shoot."
What is a supernatural Clint Eastwood movie like?
Bryce Dallas Howard: "To be totally honest I’m getting the impression that they’re still being kind of private about the process - I mean secretive - so I don’t want to reveal too much because I don’t want to be the person that messed up and said something when they’re trying to keep it a secret."
Xavier Samuel: "There’s an Australian horror film, kind of pop horror film that I did called The Loved Ones, which is coming out. Watching the film is kind of like peeking into a grotesque doll’s house. It’s really quirky and cool. And I just got back from Berlin where I did a Roland Emmerich film called Anonymous, which contests the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. I play the Earl of Southampton, who’s a patron of the theater and fights for what he believes in and kind of gets roped into a rebellion against the Queen. Lots of riding around on horses and going to the theater."
