Exlusive chat with Twilight's Jodelle Ferland
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Jodelle Ferland, what a lil’ champion. I interviewed the 16-year-old actress a few weeks ago ahead of her trip Down Under this weekend for the Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Brisbane. You may have read part of my exclusive chat with Ferland when we discussed her audition for the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. Unfortunately she didn’t get the part and, as we now know, it went to the much older and blonder Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence. I still have my fingers crossed for her nabbing a support role, but I digress. Ferland is best known for her role as Bree Tanner, the ill-fated teen vamp from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. For horror buffs, we’ve been familiar with Ferland for a long time. After becoming the youngest Emmy Award nominee in history for her role in TV movie Mermaid at age four, Ferland has taken the unusual route of going from child star to horror movie star. The 16-year-old Canadian has made a career out of manipulating her innocent exterior into something much more sinister and given her filmography, many consider her a pre-pubescent Jamie Lee Curtis. Outside of the Twilight Saga, she has a dedicated network of horror fans who have followed her starring roles in films such as Silent Hill, They, The Messengers, Trapped, Case 39 and TV shows such as Supernatural, Stargate Atlantis, Smallville and Dark Angel. She recently completed work on Buffy creator Joss Whedon’s horror film The Cabin In The Woods and chiller The Tall Man with Jessica Biel, which we talk about in the interview. Ferland was such a lovely interviewee to chat to and I’ve included a full transcript of my interview here so you don’t miss any of the good bits. Of course, I don’t like repeating myself so you can read her comments on The Hunger Games here. Otherwise, Ferland talks Twilights, Twihards, a Bree spin-off film and much, much more. Movie Mazzupial: Hello Jodelle? It’s great to talk to you, how are you doing? Jodelle Ferland: It’s great to talk to you too, I’m doing good. MM: I have to apologise if I sound a tad drowsy, it’s early morning here Now where are you talking to me from at the moment? JK: I’m at home in Toronto, Canada. And it’s not early here, otherwise I would be out of it too. MM: (Laughs) Okay, thanks, that makes me feel a bit better. Now, straight to it; tell me about your experience working on Eclipse. That set that shoot must have been incredible? JK: It was absolutely amazing, I was so shocked when I found out I got the part. Oh my gosh, I couldn’t believe I got to be a part of this amazing series of movies. On set it was so unreal seeing all the actors who you forget are real people because you’re so used to seeing them on posters and in magazines everyday. But they were all such nice people and so down to Earth. MM: Once you got the role of Bree, did you have any idea just how coveted that character was and how much people wanted to be a part of the film? JK: Wow, if everybody wanted it as badly as I did then a lot of people were disappointed. I wanted it pretty badly and honestly, I didn’t think I would get it. I try not get my hopes up, especially for something as big at that. Only the first movie had come out at that point (when I got the part) and I had just finished reading the last book and thought they were amazing, Stephenie Meyer is great writer. MM: Well, Stephenie wrote a whole book about your character too. How exciting was that for you, to have a whole story about Bree? JK: I was amazed Stephenie had actually written a book all about my character. Of all the people in the saga she choose Bree. I’m a huge reader, I love books and I read everything. I got to be one of the first people to read the book and I was reading it on set as we were filming. MM: Now, there have been rumours circulating for a while that after the success of the Bree novella the folks at Summit (Entertainment) are considering making another film based on that spin-off book with Bree. Is that something that’s going to happen? What can you tell me about that? JK: It’s definitely a possibility. They could easily do a movie about Bree, but nobody knows for sure. They’re really concentrating on finishing Breaking Dawn (Parts I and II) and getting that right, but once they’re finished . . .nobody knows for certain, but I’ve heard it’s definitely a possibility. MM: That would be fantastic for you, a whole Twilight movie to yourself. BK: (Laughs) It would be great, but we’ll see. MM: Now what was it like working with all the actors on Eclipse? I mean, as well as Robert and Kristen, you’ve got the whole cast of Cullens and the Wolk Pak. JK: It was amazing, I tried not to be too star stuck. It was really weird when everyone is in front of you on set. I guess you never think of these movie stars as real people until you get to meet them and know them. People think those who are really famous are snobs, and sometimes that’s true, but nobody was on Eclipse.
MM: That’s nice to hear. Did you have any concept of just how hysterical the fans are about these movies when you signed on? JK: I already knew going into Eclipse that there were pretty dedicated fans because we started shooting just after the first movie had come up. I knew it was a really big deal and (I knew) how crazy it was when I went to the premiere and saw fans that had been camping out for almost a week. It’s hard to prepare yourself for something like that. I don’t think I signed so many autographs in one day. When I watched the first movie I never considered that one day I’d be part of those films. MM: Coming out next for you, you’re in Cabin In The Woods which, as a huge fan of Joss Whedon, I’m very excited about. What can you tell me? JK: It was a pretty cool experience, especially as someone who’s a fan of Joss Whedon and Buffy (The Vampire Slayer). I’ve been a fan of that show forever, it was so cool to work with him. I can’t tell you too much about it because they’re still working on it. You will have to wait and see. MM: Fine, keep your secrets. JK: (Laughs) Sorry, MM: No, it’s alright. I’m just teasing. I’m going to bug you again though, you’re in TheTall Man with Jessica Biel as well. Can you talk about that? JK: Yes, well, we just finsihed filming on that. It’s still pretty secretive and you will have to wait again, sorry. MM: (Laughs) Okay. It’s another horror, you’ve done a lot of horror films and supernatural thrillers. What is it about that particular genre that attracts you? JK: I do get typecast quite a bit, but that’s okay because I enjoy it and it means I’m good at something. I’m a fan of most of the types of movies I do. I do like horror movies and I love being scared, but only when I’m watching them with friends or under a blanket. MM: (Laughs) It’s more atmospheric that way I guess. Now, this is your first time to Australia. Is there anything in particualr you want to do or see? JK: I’m really excited, it’s one of the places I’ve always wanted to go. What I usually do when I go to a place is I ask the people from there on Twitter to give me advice. I definitely want to go to a zoo and see the different type of animals, kangaroos and koalas are so adorable MM: I’m sure your Twitter followers will have plenty of advice for you. Thanks again for chatting with me Jodelle, it was truly a pleasure and hopefully I’ll see you at Supernova. JK: Great, thanks so much and I might see you there. See, what did I tell you? A lovely, lovely girl. And I’m not just saying that; I practically interview a Disney star under the age of 17 every second week and Ferland was a very intelligent young woman who didn’t reek of the well-trained media machine that I so often associate child stars with. Seriously, their answers are almost interchangeable. Anyway, if you want to follow Jodelle Ferland I recommend you follow her on Twitter here or check her out at Supanova this weekend here.
From Catherine Hardwicke’s severely under budget, yet insightful, direction of the first film, to Christ Weitz’s melodramatic and lush take on the second, director David Slade has trumped both of his predecessors with Eclipse. The British filmmaker comes from a background in complex horror thrillers and he is the first to give The Twilight Saga some much-needed teeth. Central to the series are the slow, soppy scenes where the characters profess their undying love for each other and Twihards will be pleased to know there are still plenty of those. But scattered amongst them are pockets of action which have Slade’s stylish stamp all over them. You will still be hard-pressed to raise an eyebrow, let alone goose bump, in the `scary’ scenes, but from the suspenseful opening chase through the rain-drenched streets of Seattle with Aussie newcomer Xavier Samuel, Slade takes it up a notch.
The dialogue is slightly less sickening, thanks to some refreshingly realistic scenes between Bella and her dad, Charlie (Billy Burke), banter between Edward and Jacob and a few splashes of humour throughout. Stewart and Burke once again prove to be the most formidable acting talents in the cast, however, Rathbone, Reed, Anna Kendrick, Dakota Fanning, Samuel and Pattinson also put in decent performances. Lautner, however, is once again out-acted by his biceps and his constant shirtlessness even causes Edward to ask “doesn’t he ever where a shirt?” But of course, a clothed Jacob decreases the films total gross by a few hundred million, so the producers also throw an almost-naked scene in there too. You know, just to whip up a blood-in-the-water-esque frenzy amongst the shark pool of Twihards.