Chatting with Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz about ‘New Moon’

I, along with three other journalists, enter a conference room waiting for the arrival of Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz, uber-stars of the Twilight franchise. With the second installment New Moon hitting theaters today, it makes me wonder if press is even necessary for this film. All they had to do was slap Robert Pattinson’s mug or Taylor Lautner’s naked torso on a poster and the movie will make millions.

Oh wait. They already did that.

Greene and Lutz play Alice and Emmett, members of the “vegetarian” Cullen family and siblings to the emo and lovelorned Edward (Pattinson). In all honesty, these two are not on the same tabloid celeb level as Pattinson, Lautner and Kristen Stewart (who plays the angsty heroine Bella) – and perhaps that’s a good thing.

As we sit there and wait, the other three journalists and I share our affection for the film. All three of them are lukewarm and a bit nonchalant towards the franchise. Some of them haven’t even read the books. I am discreet and say, “Yeah, I read the books and keep up with the franchise, but it’s a part of my job. I’m not one of those crazy fans.”

Minutes pass and Greene and Lutz still haven’t made their entrance. We are still discussing the phenomenon and I start divulging all my knowledge about the books and first movie. I even told them my experience with interviewing Robert Pattinson last year when he came to San Francisco and the mayhem happened at Stonestown.

“You are so a fan!” one of the journalists laughed.

She was right. I am a fan. And she outted me.

Just before I could back myself up, the two stars enter the room.

“Is this being filmed?” asked Lutz as he walked in with a jock swagger. He’s is what I expected him to be: a charming frat boy. But with his leather jacket, sweater, and jeans, he had an edge that subtracted the douche factor of a regular frat boy.

After learning that the interview wasn’t being filmed, he said, “Good!” and plopped down in one of the seats and propped his dingy-chic motorcycle boots on the table with a relaxing smile.

Demurely, Greene flashed us a smile. Wearing a Gryphon coat, a vibrant yellow dress and thigh-high Jimmy Choos, she sat right next to me. I mean, how could she not? I am irresistible.

As I look at her, she has an alien-like beauty that is mesmerizing. Her cat-like eyes and her fresh face pull me in. Her face is a magnet for double takes. I want to stare at her for hours.

Even though they don’t grab much screen time in New Moon, the two are integral cogs in the phenomenon. Considering they were a part of the film, it’s obvious that they are 100 percent aware of this. In the first two books, their characters are not in many scenes and Lutz says that they try to adhere to the book. He also points out that their limited screen time is a delightful tease to the third part, Eclipse.

“The scenes are crucial to the story,” says Lutz. “I worked on week in that movie for about a week.”

“The third film you see a lot more of the Cullens,” adds Greene. “My character got a larger role. Alice is the only Cullen other than Edward that really embraces Bella and they end up becoming best friends. In the beginning of (New Moon) you see her throw this huge party for Bella. Alice also takes Bella to Italy where they’re fighting to save her brother’s life. You get to see the relationship develop between her and Bella – and you didn’t see it that much in the first one. The movie is all about romance and why these people are willing to die for each other.”

Romance is certainly evident in the film and, based on the first one, it’s aimed at tweens via overtures of devotion and affection which kind of make me cringe – just like how I know I will cringe when I hear my awkward giggles in the playback of the interview.

I don’t usually like roundtables, but when it’s only four journalists, it’s a more intimate. It’s like we are all having enlightening dinner conversation – but without the food.

As I am scribbling notes, one of the journalists brings up the question about working with multiple directors. For Twilight they worked with Catherine Hardiwicke; New Moon with Chris Weitz and with 2010’s Eclipse, they worked with David Slade.

“Damn, “ I thought. “That’s such a good question. Why didn’t I come up with it?”

“Each director is going to be different,” starts Greene.”The books all have very different tones. I think it’s highly appropriate that we do switch directors. The first one was very much a romance. It was scenic and beautiful. Catherine (Hardiwicke) was really good at capturing that. She’s very high energy and works well in chaos. It was fantastic because we really didn’t know what we were getting into. She was there to guide us when we were freaking out. We were sad to lose her when we moved on to the second film. We moved on to Chris Weitz and he’s so giving, caring and collaborative. He created this safe atmosphere for us. It was really nice that he was on the same page as us. The second one is a warmer film – even in the color scheme. The first one had blue tones and the second one is richer and warmer and he did a good job at capturing that. We just finishing shooting the third one with David Slade. I think he’s highly appropriate as well. He did 30 Days of Night and Hard Candy. They are both dark and edgy films. Eclipse is very much that. I think it’s going to be fantastic. He is technically the most advanced director. He knows that tweaking something can affect the whole scene – he was really nice to work with.”

Greene’s answers are thoughtful and very detailed, which shows her insight into this film. She’s dedicated to the franchise. She knows her stuff. Even so, I think to myself, “Wow. That was a long answer. It’s going to take me a while to transcribe that.” It’s all for the sake of accurate journalism.

As she finishes talking, I see a window for me to throw my hat into the interview: “Why do you think people have an obsession with vampire mythology? It seems that vampires go through this pop culture cycle. We’ve seen it with Interview with a Vampire and even with films before that. How do you think it has parallels to our social climate?”

Without missing a beat, Greene chimes in: “I think this film is highly relatable. There’s a lot of situations that people can relate to. There’s the love story – and everyone could relate to being in love – or being in lust (laughs). It adds that next level of fantasy. Vampires are mysterious, sensual, dangerous and unattainable – and everyone wants what they can’t have.”

“It’s a good escape,” says Lutz as he shifts in his seat. “It deals with so many situations on so many positive notes. It deals with everyday issues on bigger levels.”

I thought my question was good. By adding smart phrases and words like “mythology” and “parallels to our social climate” I felt that I was being a good journalist – perhaps even a pompous one.

The six of us chat some more and then we reach a point where we talk about the obsessed fans. Lutz gave a humble take on the issue.

“I feel like it’s unearned in a way,” says Lutz. “The fans are making are careers. Without them, we wouldn’t be doing this saga. There are so many times when a series of books become a movie and the first one bombs and that’s it.”

“I still think we are all trying to wrap our heads around what’s happening,” adds Greene. “We kept very busy from one film to the next. It’s only those brief moments when you can sit back and take a breath and say ‘Wow! This is crazy!’ We’re just very lucky. I went into this film saying, “Yes! I got a job!” Then it turned into the biggest break of my life.”

Lutz continues, “You’re always hopeful that you get to do them all – especially since we all love our characters. I love Emmett Cullen to death. He’s my favorite character that I’ve ever played. I think we all hope that we can finish this series and do Breaking Dawn – but it’s such a blessing. It’s every actor’s dream to be a part of something like this.”

Someone comes into the conference room and says, “Times up guys.”

All of us get up from the huge conference table. I compliment Miss Greene on her outfit because that’s what I do best and Mr. Lutz makes the effort to go around and shake all of our hands.

We clear the room and I walk outside. I break out my Blackberry and Twitter the following: “OMG. Emmett Cullen just shook my hand.”

That was the day I came out of the Twi-hard closet.

For more of my ‘New Moon’ coverage click here