Photography Mikael Jansson
From Interview
MICHAEL SHEEN: Okay. This is my first question. This is the only really serious one, and then the rest are quite funny. The first one is: As an elf, raised by humans, have you found a lot of discrimination against the fairy folk here in Hollywood?
ASHLEY GREENE: Well, I think they�re just jealous that I sparkle and speak elfin and have cute little pointy ears.SHEEN: It�s true.
GREENE: So, yes, there�s discrimination. But I really don�t care.
SHEEN: You do get described as pixie-like a lot. In my younger days, I used to get described as sort of elf-like. I think it�s probably a lot easier to deal with that if you�re a pretty girl, rather than a sort of average-looking boy.
GREENE: I�m sorry about your adolescence.
SHEEN: Thank you. Well, look, let�s take a second and go back to the beginning, Ashley Greene. You grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. Is that correct?
GREENE: That is correct.
SHEEN: Now tell me about Jacksonville. What�s it like? And could you please sprinkle it with some alligator stories?
GREENE: I�ve only eaten fried alligator tail once.
SHEEN: How was it growing up there? Was school good? Or was it a bit of a trial?
GREENE: It was great. I mean, it was great until I realized that there was more out there. I went to a public high school with a magnet program for law and psychology. But right before my junior year, I decided that I wanted to leave and become an actress, so I graduated early and moved out to L.A. Now that I�m here, I can�t imagine living there.
SHEEN: What happened? You were doing law and psychology?
GREENE: Yeah. And I loved the classes. Everything was kind of set up to go on this course, which my parents absolutely loved; they were like, �Our daughter�s going to go to law school or become a psychologist!� And then out of nowhere, I pulled the acting card on them.
SHEEN: Was it out of nowhere? What was it that started you thinking along those lines?
GREENE: I just, for lack of a better term, fell into it�which I�m sure everyone�s going to hate me for saying.
SHEEN: School plays?
GREENE: No, not even. I always liked performing. I always liked being in front of people. That�s one of the things I loved about law; we had mock trials, and I got to go up and state my case. But I took an acting class, and after my first class, I was hooked. By the time I finished the class, I had a manager, and then I went on a trip to New York City and got an agent, at which point my manager and agent told my mom, �She needs to move to L.A.� I think they were crazy for saying that but I�m so glad that they did.
SHEEN: Well, to go from Jacksonville, Florida, to L.A. at 17 . . . That�s very young. Was that not a scary thing? Were your mum and dad concerned about that?
GREENE: It was more frightening for my mother and father than it was for me. I have a certain way of thinking where I see something, and I know that I want it and I make up my mind�and that�s pretty much all there is to it. It was like, This is what I want to do, and I�m going, and everything�s going to work out. I�m going to be an actress. There was no way around it. My parents, on the other hand . . . Obviously, they had a lot of long talks and sleepless nights. I was always a good kid, so they went out on a limb. But they did say, �If you go out to L.A. and start becoming this wild child, then you have to come back home and go to college.�
GREENE: Well, there was a time or two where they were like, �You probably need to come back to Florida.� But it just so happened that every time they told me to come home I would coincidentally book some type of role. I don�t know if it was fate or luck, and it was just happening at the right time, or if it was that they would say, �You are coming home,� and I would immediately go into survival-of-the-fittest mode and book something. But, whatever the case, it happened. And I did struggle. I definitely struggled. And I�m always grateful to my parents for letting me struggle, because you really don�t appreciate it as much, I don�t think, if you don�t realize what you�re gaining. But they paid my rent for the first year.
SHEEN: So, you turn up in L.A. with your bus ticket in your hand and a year�s rent in your pocket, and then what happened? What were the first auditions like?
GREENE: The first audition I went on was Days of Our Lives.
SHEEN: Did you see Joey Tribbiani on there?
GREENE: No, unfortunately not.
SHEEN: Dr. Drake Ramoray?
GREENE: I auditioned five times for it, and I met the producers�it was that thing where the first audition just went really well. I mean, I had a manager in Florida and I got my agent before I moved to California�I came out to L.A. all set up, and then I did extremely well in my first audition, so I had this kind of false hope in my mind. You know, everyone says it�s really hard, but then you come out and do extremely well the first go. And then reality hits, and it�s like nothing, nothing, nothing for a long time. Of course, I didn�t actually get the part on Days of Our Lives. They just toyed with me for a little bit.
SHEEN: How did Twilight come about? Do you remember how it all went down?
GREENE: It was just another audition. My managers were like, �You�re going into a great casting office. They cast great projects. They�re sticklers. If you suck, they won�t call you back in.� So I was like, Okay, I�ll pay extra attention. Then I figured out there wasn�t a script or a breakdown, but there was a book. So I got the series and fell in love with it. Then that determination kicked in and I was like, Okay, I�m going to book this part is what�s going to happen. I worked my butt off for it.
SHEEN: Now there�s so much more to this whole Twilight thing than just the films, isn�t there? There�s everything that goes with it�it�s a huge sort of phenomenon. What�s it like being right at the epicenter of that whole thing?
GREENE: [sighs] It�s a really hard thing to wrap your head around. I was working at a restaurant, I booked the role in Twilight, put in my two weeks� notice, got fitted, flew to Portland, filmed, and then it started getting hype. That helped me get my foot into certain doors before the movie even came out. I did fourindependent films during the break between Twilight [2008] and New Moon. I haven�t even really had time to sit back and process it all. But when you do finallysit back and think about it, it�s incredible.
SHEEN: You�re what, 22?
GREENE: Yes.
SHEEN: I�ve been in L.A. and around Hollywood for maybe six or seven years off and on, and that�s as sort of an older guy. I don�t know how I would�ve coped if I had the kind of success you�ve had at your age, because people do react to you incredibly differently if success is associated with you. How do you cope with that?
GREENE: I think if it was fame for another reason, then it would be a little different. But, with this film in particular, people have become very passionate about it�about my character, but also about me, really relating to me and wanting to be my best friend. And so they cry, and they get so nervous.
SHEEN: Do people actually cry in front of you?
GREENE: Yes. Oh, yes. Fans shake and cry. You kind of don�t know what to do. I give them a hug or whatever. People ask if I get annoyed, but you can�t really get annoyed at something like that.
SHEEN: Are you sure they�re not crying after you hug them? Maybe they don�t want to be hugged.
GREENE: I will look at it the way that I want to, even if it�s not true. I�m an actor.
SHEEN: All right.
GREENE: But, you know, most of my fans are really respectful and great. It�s too early for me to be jaded. Ask me in 10 years or something. . . . I just booked a lead in a Warner Brothers film, and probably part of it was because they know that there are all these fans. I mean, hopefully it�s because of my talent, too.
SHEEN: This is The Apparition?
GREENE: Yeah. The great thing about this film is that it�s really serious. It�s more of a thriller. And, for once, I got cast first. They consulted me on the lead male, and we�re talking back and forth about this character, so it�s sort of a new stepping stone in my career.
SHEEN: When I was on the set of the Twilight films, I could see that Kristen [Stewart] and Rob [Pattinson] have a lot of clout. They have a lot of power within the franchise now, it seems�and rightfully so. They�re asked their opinion, and for actors who are so young, they seemed to have a lot of say in what was going on. You say that now, with this film, you�re getting to be more involved. Is that something that you relish? Or is that responsibility quite frightening as well?
GREENE: For whatever reason, I relish it. Part of it might be that I did get to work so closely with these people, and see close up how they handle things. But I�m really excited. One of the coolest feelings was when I was reading with people for a part, and this guy came in, and I was just like, That�s the guy. You just know.
SHEEN: That�s not just because you fancied him?
GREENE: No. I actually know his girlfriend.
SHEEN: I�ve heard that you are very attracted to pretty boys.
GREENE: Oh . . . um, no . . . He�s not a . . . I mean, all guys in Hollywood are kind of pretty.
SHEEN: Well, you�ve seen me, so you know that�s not true. This is just a fairly random question: When you met Adam Lambert, who was wearing more makeup, you or him?
GREENE: I think that he was, actually.
SHEEN: Yeah, I�ve seen the pictures. Twilight has obviously opened quite a few doors. Did I not see you as a fashion correspondent on the VMAs this year?
GREENE: I was, yeah.
SHEEN: So obviously you�ve developed an interest in fashion since the last time I saw you.
GREENE: You�re a jerk.
SHEEN: [laughs] Don�t say that. I�m the interviewer, and you can�t call the person who�s interviewing you a jerk. That�s the reason why I agreed to do this: I can do whatever I want. So tell me about fashion. Do you feel pressure every time you go out because you know that there�s a high chance that someone�s going to take a picture of you walking down the street? Do you feel a pressure to not dress in jean shorts and flip-flops?
GREENE: There was a moment in time where I was kind of having this mini-breakdown because it was all very new, and it was all being thrown at me really quickly, and I was going, �Why are people reporting on this? Why do people care what I�m wearing or what I�m eating, and why are people looking down on me because I�m not wearing high heels?� That�s the downside to being in the public eye. When girls come up and say, �You�re my role model,� it�s really flattering, but it�s also really scary because I�m not perfect and I�m going to make mistakes. I�ve just decided that I have to continue to live my life and do what I do. Hopefully, people love me because of who I am, not who I pretend to be.
SHEEN: Is it true that you always ask for a male body double because you have both sets of sexual organs?
GREENE: I might ask for a male body double because I have broad shoulders, but definitely not because I have two sets of organs, no.
SHEEN: Is it true that your Twitter name is HotForRob23?
GREENE: That�s absolutely not true.
SHEEN: Okay, last question: In exactly 10 years� time, what would you like to be doing?
GREENE: I�ll be 32. Maybe having a baby?
SHEEN: You�d like to be in hideous pain on this day in 10 years� time?
GREENE: I have a high tolerance for pain. No, I think something along the lines of doing a really incredible, inspiring film with a strong female character. I think when I�m around 32, I�ll be up for things like that.
SHEEN: What are a couple of female performances in films that you watched that have inspired you?
GREENE: Charlize Theron in Monster [2003]. She�s one of the most incredibly beautiful people alive, and when I was watching that movie, she scared the shit out of me. I thought she did a fantastic job.
SHEEN: I watched 500 Days of Summer [2009] the other day. I thought Zooey Deschanel was fantastic.
GREENE: She�s the queen of indies. And, Joseph Gordon-Levitt transitioned really well, too.
SHEEN: You make it sound like he�s an alien. �He transitions.�
GREENE: No, I�m just saying that I might have a mini-crush on him. That�s all I�m saying.
SHEEN: Well, this is an interview, not a dating agency. I�m not here to hook you up. But, on that note, I think we�ve taken up enough of your time. You can get back to your much more important life that you�ve got going on in the background.
GREENE: Like eating dinner.
SHEEN: By the way, you got the answer to the 10 years� time question wrong. The correct answer is: working with me.
GREENE: Oh, of course. Doing a fantastic film with Michael Sheen. Where he plays an elf.
In courtesy of Interview Magazine via ROBsessed
Michael Sheen photosource, courtesy summit entertainment.
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