Let’s be frank. For Elizabeth Reaser and Peter Facinelli, being part of “The Twilight Saga” hasn’t given them that much to do. As Dr. Carlisle Cullen (Facinelli) and his wife Esme Cullen (Reaser), the two pros are usually background players to the drama following their on screen adopted “son” Edward (Robert Pattinson) and the love of his, um, life, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). While that changes just a bit in “Breaking Dawn,” it’s given two of the more experienced members of the ensemble a different perspective on the fourth production in the series.
“There was a gentleness that Bill Condon brought. Every director brings their own tone and Bill’s tone was really this gentle, quiet and safe for you to explore and I liked that about the journey,” Facinelli says in an interview embedded at the top of this post.
Reaser adds, “It felt very different in some ways too because we had a different cinematographer and you would see that this was gonna look different. And it started to feel different because of that – from Guillermo [Navarro, the cinematographer,] who was so much fun to work with and just the look of it started to change the feel of it I think. I mean, in some ways we’ve been playing these characters for a long time, but it felt very different on this movie.”
Facinelli spent about a month going back and forth between the set of “Breaking Dawn” and “Nurse Jackie.” For Reaser, not only did she juggle a returning arc on CBS’ “The Good Wife,” but a key role in Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody’s’s new dramedy “Young Adult.”
“I shot ‘Young Adult’ right when this was starting and it was a real tricky thing with the schedule and I just lucked out because we got pushed because they were going to Brazil so I was able to do ‘Young Adult,'” Reaser reveals. “And then the same with ‘The Good Wife.’ I flew back after we had started back and forth. It was crazy scheduling.”
[Warning: Slight spoilers ahead.]
“Adult” finds Reaser playing Beth Slade, the wife of Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). The film’s heroine, Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), mistakenly believes she can convince Buddy, her former high school flame, to leave his wife and family and move to the big city (Minneapolis) with her. Mavis spends most of the film trying to seduce the quite content Buddy and her insane crusade climaxes during a sequence in which Reaser is a primary object of her rage. The scene is both unnerving and funny, but Reaser reveals that’s not how it seemed on set.
“That’s what is so amazing because at the moment it was so sad and freaky and devastating that scene,” Reaser says. “There are very funny moments in it, but in the shooting of it my character is so shocked and devastated by the turn of events and to see the entire party meltdown I’m sure was very funny, but it was really very upsetting while we were shooting it.”
And for Reaser, it had to be nice to spend some time on set on the spotlight for once.
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1” opens nationwide on Friday. “Young Adult” opens in limited release on Dec. 9 and expands nationwide on Dec. 16.
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