‘Twilight’ star shares inside info in podcast
Thirteen years after fans sunk their teeth into the first “Twilight” film, one of its stars is reliving the experience of making the multi-billion-dollar franchise and sharing insider information with the fandom.
Ashley Greene Khoury — who played Edward Cullen’s sister, Alice — and her best friend Melanie Howe have launched “The Twilight Effect” podcast in which the two re-watch the five movies, quiz each other and provide commentary. Greene will also reveal “the good, the bad (and) the juicy” about behind-the-scenes of filming the blockbuster series with the help of her co-stars over the course of 30 episodes.
“We’re here to talk about all things ‘Twilight,’” Greene says in the first episode, released on March 15. “There will be, I think, some things that people already know, but also a lot of things … that people do not know.”
The Twilight films, which were based on the four-book series about
Bella Swan and Edward Cullen’s human-vampire love story by Arizonabased author Stephenie Meyer, were released every year between 2008 and 2012. The franchise has seen a resurgence since 2020 with the help of social media and availability on streaming services.
“I decided that I want to go on this journey now because … there’s, I think, this profound effect that ‘Twilight’ had on people, and it is a positive effect and I’ve seen that happen over the years. But (I) just recently noticed this resurgence in ‘Twilight,’” Greene said. “I miss Alice, and I miss my castmates. And I was kind of like, ‘Podcasting’s, like, a cool idea.’”
Here are some tidbits that we learned from the first two episodes of “The Twilight Effect.”
How Ashley Greene prepared for the role of Alice Cullen
With all of the blood drained from their immortal, venom-operated bodies, the Cullens are pale characters. Greene revealed that she incorporated method acting into her role and stayed out of the sun while filming the first movie.
“It was a process, man. That was a
two-hour process to get to that point,” Greene said of getting into Alice’s character each day of filming. “My experience with the hair and makeup was pretty OK, comparatively, to some people. I feel like the humans got off the easiest.”
She had some input in choosing her character’s wardrobe, which depended on the color scheme of the leads’ outfits. Greene even helped choose Alice’s purple dress that she wears during (spoiler alert) Bella and Edward’s wedding in “Breaking Dawn — Part 1.”
The actors playing the Cullen family also had to wear colored contact lenses that ranged from a gold or topaz color if they had recently fed on an animal’s blood to black, if they had not fed in a while.
Greene said that while she was not too bothered by the tunnel vision the contacts caused, the darkest ones “were like wearing super dark sunglasses inside.”
Ashley Greene auditioned to play Bella Swan
When Greene and Howe recap the moment Edward is first hit with the scent of Bella’s irresistible blood in their biology class, Greene reveals that this was her audition scene for the role of Bella Swan.
“They cast a wide net for the leads, and that’s who they cast first,” Greene said. “I auditioned for Bella and I auditioned with this chemistry scene and clearly had no chemistry either.”
The scene that eventually landed Greene the role of Alice was her introductory line, when she officially meets Bella at the Cullens’ home and reveals they’ll be great friends.
Robert Pattinson sings two songs in ‘Twilight’
Co-host Howe revealed that when Edward takes Bella to a Port Angeles restaurant — identified as Bella Italia, a pilgrimage destination for fans over the past decade, in the books — she didn’t know that Pattinson’s own song was playing in the background until Greene told her during their re-watch.
As Edward reveals that he can reads every mind except Bella’s, “Never Think” can be heard faintly in the scene.
This isn’t the only time singing Pattinson’s voice is featured in the movie. “Let Me Sign” also plays later in the movie, after Bella nearly dies in her encounter with nomadic vampire James.
Greene was surprised to learn that a lot of fans might not know that the actor who went on to portray Bruce Wayne in “The Batman” sings some songs on the soundtrack for the first film. Unfortunately, Pattinson’s singing does not make it into any subsequent films — as far as fans know, that is.
Which ‘Twilight’ stars will come on Ashley Greene’s podcast?
According to Entertainment Weekly, Kellan Lutz (who played Emmett Cullen and is a real-life graduate of Horizon High School in Scottsdale), Nikki Reed (Rosalie Cullen) and Peter Facinelli (Carlisle Cullen) are among the cast members who are confirmed guests on “The Twilight Effect.”
“He’ll come on; he’s my dad!” Greene said about Facinelli.
In the podcast’s trailer, Greene says, “We call Rob, Kellan, Nikki ... We’re going to try them all. We’re going to see who picks up my phone call.”
In episode two, Greene teases possibly revealing why Rachelle Lefevre was replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard as the vampire villain Victoria after “New Moon.” Potentially the actress will be invited on to the podcast to speak for herself.
Two episodes in and Greene and Howe are still reacting to the first movie, but the hosts hope to finish recapping “Twilight” in their third episode (March 22); episodes drop every Tuesday.
Where is ‘Twilight’ streaming?
Though streaming services such as Peacock and Netflix occasionally make the “Twilight” series available, currently “Twilight” is streaming on Pluto TV for free with ads. The movie is available for rent on other services, such as Amazon Prime Video and iTunes.