An awful lot of Twilight fans will be lining up to see vampire heartthrob Robert Pattinson in his new movie, Remember Me, opening this Friday. When co-star Emilie de Ravin signed on to play his love interest, however, she literally had no idea what she was getting herself into. "I didn't know him," she says bluntly, discussing the film from a Toronto hotel room recently. "I had no preconceived notion of who he was because I didn't know from his name."
So, totally unaware of the Twilight books and films phenomenon? "I suppose I was aware of it," she allows. "But I hadn't seen the films, and I didn't connect his name with that."
The 28-year-old Australian actress is currently shooting the sixth and final season of Lost, in which she plays Claire Littleton, one of the survivors of a downed airliner. (Maybe getting stranded on a Pacific island is the only way to avoid Twilight.) "It's bittersweet that it's ending," she says, but adds it will open up more time for film projects.
Remember Me seemed to fall in her lap. "The script was just sent my way," she said. "I knew nothing about it, knew no one involved, just read it and really I just couldn't put it down. I just immediately fell in love with it and the role of Ally. Such a great meaty role, something I felt I could really do something with."
Her character is living in Queens, New York, with her single father, a police officer played by Chris Cooper. As we learn in the opening scene, her mother was shot and killed in front of her by purse-snatchers on the subway in 1991. Ten years later, she meets Tyler Hawkins (Pattinson), who carries his own secret wound.
Filming on location in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens was a challenge, de Ravin says. Pattinson tends to draw crowds. "There was such a heightened excitement around all the sets," she says. "So even if you come in and are doing a very serious scene, everyone around is so excited and happy. So it's odd, if you're not doing a scene that requires that emotion, to be surrounded and enveloped by it."
De Ravin's erratic acting career began with parts on TV's BeastMaster and Roswell when she was still a teenager. Since then she has found work in such low-budget gems as 2005's Brick, and blockbuster fare like last year's Michael Mann film Public Enemies. ("For a minute," she says of her minor role.)
"I wouldn't say I was drawn to a certain genre or a certain kind of character," she notes. "I think it's mainly about just something that clicks when you read it, and something that's going to challenge me in a new and different way. I think it's very easy, especially nowadays, to get somewhat pigeonholed in playing the funny girl or the girl next door or the girl in the horror movies. So I strive not to let that happen."
In fact, de Ravin has twice appeared as "the girl in the horror movies," in Santa's Slay in 2005 and The Hills Have Eyes the following year. Her next project is a little different, however. She will provide the voice for an owl in the animated film Legend of the Guardians, directed by Zack Snyder (Watchmen).
"I'm a 'tween owl," she says, unable to stop from laughing. "Half the fun was just trying out all these different voices. And you're also taped while you're doing it, so they can put your facial expressions ... into the animation, which just amazes me. Just to see how I look as a little fluffy owl. She's very cute."
No comments:
Post a Comment