Jackson Interview with Spinning Platters

Jackson Interview with Spinning Platters

I should begin by noting that I am not fluent in Twilight (although, full disclosure, I also once personally accosted one of its cast members). I have not read the books. I have seen each of the first three films, but only once, and I honestly couldn’t tell you one blessed thing that happens in any of them. I know there’s lots of angsty sighing and prolonged pauses.

I am, however, familiar with its bevy of ubiquitous young stars, although it helps if I know them from something else. For instance, while Ashley Greene (Alice), 24, and Jackson Rathbone (Jasper), 27, were perhaps the biggest draws at the event, I only know them from their work in Twilight. Meanwhile, Charlie Bewley (Demetri, a member of the Volturi), 30, has a pivotal role in the well-received romantic drama Like Crazy, while Nikki Reed (Rosalie), 23, first burst onto the scene when she co-wrote and co-starred in the explosive 2003 indie drama Thirteen, at the age of 15. The film, which also launched Evan Rachel Wood’s career, was a collaboration between Reed and writer/director Catherine Hardwicke, who had been dating Reed’s father; it was inspired by Reed’s own troubled adolescence. And when Hardwicke came on board to direct the first Twilight film, the two reunited.

One case study I observed was Jackson Rathbone. He began at the front of the red carpet, which is where the flashier (read: broadcast) journalists were positioned. After charming his way through a few quick chats, he was snatched up by his publicist and hurtled against the backdrop for a photo call. He worked his way through what I came to recognize as his red carpet face repertoire, which ranged from handsome to dashing to debonair (although it paled in comparison to the full starlet posing course I witnessed Ashley Greene perform). After protests from the photographers that there was too much glare, he was dragged several feet further down the carpet for more photos. By this point, he was in front of our bedraggled little motley crew: the online press.

Moving quickly, Rathbone’s publicist said, “Okay, talk to one of them.” Eyeing my massive frame, she said, “You!” and steered him toward me. As I fumbled with my recorder and the publicist sternly inquired if I was ready, Rathbone looked at my SpinningPlatters.com press sign and said, “Spinning platters. That’s quite a talent! Can you do that?” As I opened my mouth to answer, the publicist shouted “Nevermind!”, yanking Rathbone away and pushing him into our press area to mingle with the fans. And so it went. He did return later, exclaiming, “Spinning plates!” I asked him my innocuous red carpet question of the evening: “What makes you geek out the way Twilight makes all these folks geek out?” “I guess The Rolling Stones,” he responded. “Once they go back on tour, I’ll be camping out.” So now you know.

Where did you learn to dance, Jackson?

JR: Where did I get my sweet dance moves? It’s a secret. I was with Nicolas Cage looking for that national treasure and I unearthed this tomb of sweet dance moves. [laughs] No, I did a cotillion back in Texas when I was growing up, and they taught us how to waltz, line-dance, two step. I was also a cinephile then; I fell in love with the movie Swingers, which has this little swing dance at the end, and after that I just wanted to watch anything I could about swing dance. So I rented Swing Kids and all these other films. I taught myself from the movie, and I just kinda kept it up.

If you could play any other character in the Twilight films other than your own, who would it be?

AG: I would be Victoria, because I really liked her character. I know she’s a villain, but there are some things you can relate to with her, like that someone destroyed her life partner, so you can kind of understand why she’d want revenge. I feel like villains are so layered and there’s always so much going on beneath the surface. There’s always a reason for why they are the way they are. So I think that would be an interesting thing to do.

JR: I would be Jacob’s dad, because he just gets to sit the whole time. There’s such long hours on the set! Sometimes you’re there for 14 hours-

AG: Are you kidding me? You would fall asleep.

JR: I know, it’d be awesome. I’d just tilt my hat down.

I hear you guys punked Bill Condon. Is that true?

AG: Yeah!

JR: I don’t think we can talk about that yet.

[they whisper to each other]

AG: Ah, gotcha. [to press] Nope, didn’t happen. You don’t get to see the punking until Part 2. Although I may have already talked about it tonight.

JR: Ahh!

AG: I’m sorry!

JR: But it’s gonna be awesome. Just wait till next year.

Source => Spinning Platters / Via => JRathboneFB