The DePaulia sits down with BooBoo Stewart and Tinsel Korey of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.”
The DePaulia: How does this film in the franchise differ from the others?
BooBoo Stewart: I think it has way more action. Guys are going to really like seeing it. It’s just a great action film. Each film gets better as they go.
Tinsel Korey: And it’s a lot darker. (Director) David Slade is known for his films in the horror genre, and there are definite scenes that sort of, take you back when you’re not expecting it. I think people sort of expect the lightness of “New Moon.”
BS: This one goes to another place.
TK: Lot more intense.
TD: Tinsel, I’m wondering for you, how do you think the character of Emily changes between the last film and this one?
TK: I think the main change, not in her character, but for the film, was the presence of Leah (the character, Leah Clearwater, played by Julia Jones.) You know, there’s that awkwardness, where Leah can hear about what Sam is thinking about Emily, and all those romantic thoughts, and Seth gets to hear it, the rest of the wolf pack gets to hear it, so you definitely feel that presence, and that sort of gaze from Leah when I’m with Sam. So that was a little different, whereas before it was just sort of, the guys, and us. That energy was definitely more present.
TD: Do you feel a lot of the craziness that comes with being brought into the world, and this franchise, say, when you’re at premiers and such? How much does it hit you, that “Wow, here we are, in this huge, huge phenomenon.”
BS: It just changes so much, you know? You can never expect anything. It’s so different every time, and I don’t know what to expect. It’s so awesome though. I’m really happy to be part of it.
TK: Like we just came from Denver, and it was just like over 600 people screaming, and they were waiting in the rain.
BS: Ten hours? One person said?
TK: Yeah. And it was like pouring and they stayed there and waited for us, and it was so heartwarming that people love this film so much, and want to meet us and interact with us that they’re willing to go through that. I mean, they camped out for the premiere. There’s just a lot of love from the fans. The fans are what make this movie, we’re privileged to be in it, to help facilitate whatever the books created in their imaginations.
BS: I went down to tent city (where the fans camped out)… coincidentally I went, and then right after I got done she was there, Tinsel, and so we went and signed autographs for the fans. We appreciate them coming down.
TK: Because people are always like, “I can’t believe you guys went down. You sure show the fans a lot of love.” But we have that mutual respect between each other I think.
TD: BooBoo, you’ve done martial arts with the Sideswipe Kids (a Disney group), and your dad’s a stuntman, I guess I’m wondering, how did you end up deciding you wanted to act, and did the physicality you learned in your background help you at all in this role?
BS: Unfortunately when the shape-shifters fight they turn into wolves (laughs) so I never got to do any cool stunts. But you know, acting us just, once I started acting I was just like, “Oh my gosh, this is so awesome, and it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.” And I’m just having’ a really good time, I just love it. And when you’re an actor, you can do your own stunts sometimes, so I’ll use my stunt background, karate background.
TD: I understand that you’re both musicians as well; can you elaborate a little bit on that?
BS: Yeah, our sound that we have, with me and my sister Fivel, and my older sister Megan actually plays bass, it’s actually like an alternative rock sound. You can actually go in iTunes and check out the song “Rainy Day.”
TK: My music I guess is a sort of bluesy, rocky, jazz. I sort of call it soul music, because that’s where it comes for me, and I play guitar and piano. But it’s been such a juggling act, every single time that I get excited about music, it’s like acting comes and sort of pulls me away, so it’s been a journey trying to complete a CD. But I’m hoping this year. I’d love to get on the “Breaking Dawn” soundtrack, but I know I need a CD to make that happen.
TD: Yeah, the soundtracks for these movies are really awesome. You guys talked a little bit before about David Slade, and him taking a different tone with this film, because he’s done darker stuff in the past, with “30 Days of Night” (another vampire movie), and “Hard Candy.” Can you kind of talk about what his process was like on set, and working with him? I know he’s a different director than the last film (“New Moon” was directed by Chris Weitz.)
BS: He was just like, when you walked on set you felt comfortable, which was really nice, because it’s so much easier to work on screen when you feel comfortable. And he was just so friendly. I remember, I’m sitting down, and I see him behind the camera, doing karate punches and Russian dancing, I think he might’ve been a little tired (laughs). But he was a really cool guy. He knows what he wants to shoot and gets it.
TK: I think he’s much more of a technical director, whereas Chris Weitz is I think is like an actor’s director. I think he focused a lot more on the emotions and all that sort of inner-dialogue work. Whereas David Slade had a vision stylistically, and also because there was so much more action he was focusing on that. I mean, I’m sure he focused on the emotional stuff too, but for me personally, I thought he was a really technical director.
TD: I’m curious, for both of you, being Native American actors in Hollywood, do you ever feel like when you’re being cast that you’re sometimes limited in that? This film seems like a pretty good opportunity for that to be embraced.
TK: I mean, I think the problem is that people only see Native people in feathers and buckskin, I mean, that’s what we’ve been fighting against. And they don’t think that there’s like Native doctors and lawyers and police officers. But it’s slowly changing, so a film like this broadens people’s perspectives on what Native people can do. But I think you’re limited by yourself. If that’s how you see yourself, and you think that you can’t go further then that’s where you’re going to stay, you know? So for me, yeah there are hindrances because people are like, “Oh, you’re Native, you can’t do this,” but there are going to be people out there who are willing to work with you, and you just have to fins those people and work with them. I don’t know what it’s like for, say, Tantoo Cardnial (longtime Native American actress,) back when she was one of the only Native actresses, but it’s slowly changing, for sure. As long as you think that you can do it, then people will see you doing that.
BS: I agree (everyone laughs.)