"How have I changed?” Nikki Reed asks me. “I’m curious.” Reed her*self hasn’t changed in the year since we met to discuss the first Twilight movie. She is the same smart, outspoken, engaging girl she was when we met in September of 2008. But things around the actress, who plays Ros*alie, sister of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattin*son), in the hugely successful movie series, sure have changed. When we met in Sep*tember of last year we met sans any han*dlers in a Hollywood coffee house. A year plus later and we meet at the Four Seasons where I am greeted in the check-in suite by a swarm of industry-ites and there is as much security floating around the hotel as if Obama was in the building.
It’s strangely surreal, especially since at the media screening of Twilight: New Moon the night before, journalists were wanded every time they went in and out of the theater and all cell phones were banned. “Have you ever seen anything like this?” Reed wonders.
No, not really. But then Twilight is a new kind of phenomenon, combining the devotion of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fans with teen heartthrobs that send fans into pal*pitations a la New Kids on The Block. Add in the ability of fans, thanks to the internet, to monitor their heroes 24 hours a day and you have a full-fledged mania. It’s an odd world in which to find Reed, an actress who is sincere when she says she cares more about the work than stardom. And though she admits to finding the attention difficult she has a very clear head about it, something probably helped by the fact that she has already found herself the lightning rod of attention once before, when the superb Thirteen, a movie she co-penned and co-starred in, won praise for its gritty realistic look at the lives of teenagers in the ’90s.
Reed spoke with Venice about fame, deal*ing for the first time with paparazzi, making the most of her brief time on screen in New Moon, role models, and her dreams outside of Hollywood.
I love the photos and interview.
