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Vamped Up
From playing a badass young troubled teen in Thirteen, NIKKI REED is now living it up with the undead in the hit film Twilight. FILMINK talked to Reed about the issue of typecasting, dealing with the fans of the book series that the film is based on and working as a young actor and writer.
Can you talk to me about your relationship with director Catherine Hardwicke, who you worked with on Thirteen? Did she just ring you to play the part of Rosalie, or did you have to audition?
"No, you know there is a slight misconception that everything is sort of handed to me which is not the case at all. I have known Catherine a long time. We have a long history together and in later years it became more of a professional relationship. We are a good creative team and it's a great collaboration. In the first film we did together Thirteen [co-written and starring Reed] it was my first film and it was her first film. I heard about Twilight very early on because Catherine signed on obviously long before the cast did and I didn't have a pick of the roles. It was the studio who said ‘Rosalie' and I went ‘they're out of their minds. Are they serious, that's quite the transformation. What about Victoria? Or one of the other vampires who look mature and worldly?' But the answer was no they wanted me for Rosalie; they were very specific."
Did you have to contend with the army of fans who may not have seen you as the right person for the role?
"Yeah, well the entire cast (had that problem). I mean if you can believe this, Robert Pattinson when he first signed on to the film, they sort of trampled on him. They were very upset. Now he is Edward Cullen and they couldn't imagine anybody else playing him. It took a lot longer for people to jump on board with me playing Rosalie. Of course there are always going to be some who will doubt my ability to play this character, but that's the risk you take when playing in a film that was previously a book. Hopefully after seeing the film and seeing enough of the clips and magazine articles, they will."
Do you feel the weight of having been typecast in any way?
"Yeah that is an issue. That's one of the reasons I wanted to play Rosalie because she is so physically different from myself. I think it's really easy (to typecast), as much as pale blonde hair and blue eyed girls get typecast as the puritans. I know a lot of actors my age who are fair skinned and innocent looking who would kill to play the more risky edgy roles, and they would say ‘no I can look like this when I put the make up on, I can look like that I swear!' I moved out [of home] at a very young age and I would consider myself as a pretty responsible young adult. I play all of these rebellious teenage roles; these badass roles. It's fine with me, that's just what it is right now. I think the only thing that hurts my feelings is when people associate the characters I play with the person that I am."
Besides pursuing different types of roles as an actor, do you see yourself writing again?
"Yeah I'm not going to be an actress forever. Sometimes when I say this to people they just take it the wrong way. I'm appreciative for what I do. I really do enjoy acting, for the time being. I really don't think acting is what it used to be, since certain reality television shows have been developed in the last 5 to 10 years. I am a creative person and I do write constantly. I would like to direct and I want to produce but I do love acting."
Do you enjoy promoting the film or is it a chore?
"This is definitely a different experience to any I've ever had. When I was promoting Thirteen, there was a lot of questions about my personal life, and my beliefs and my family. Promoting that film was very much about my past, and this one is a lot sillier and a lot more fun which is really great."
Have you signed on for the sequels?
"Yeah. I don't know if they have released the exact dates but we are making the sequels."
Is there anything coming up in the future?
"I'm doing a film called K-11 with Kristen [Stewart, Bella in Twilight] where we both play the opposite sex. It's set in a men's county jail. It's a very controversial piece and hopefully it will give us all the opportunities that I was speaking about earlier of where we all get to play a character that no one would see us as."
Twilight is released on December 11, 2008.