Jackson Rathbone and Aimee Teegarden Interview AIM HIGH
On the new Facebook and Cambio 6-part web series Aim High, premiering on October 18th, Nick Green (The Twilight Saga star Jackson Rathbone) is a top agent for the U.S. government. He’s effective, clever and deadly, and a 16-year-old high school student. And, if all of that wasn’t tough enough, Nick is interested in Amanda (Friday Night Lights star Aimee Teegarden), a cool rocker chick dating the captain of the school’s championship swim team. With a look and feel equal to the quality of any TV show or big screen movie, this fully interactive web series certainly seems like a sign of things to come.
At a press day to promote Aim High, co-stars Jackson Rathbone (who is also a producer on the series) and Aimee Teegarden spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how this project came about for both of them, how the idea of the personalization aspect is really going to change the way that people consume entertainment, training to play a top spy, and what makes high school more difficult than being a teenage assassin. They both also talked about closing the recent chapters in their own lives - with Rathbone finishing the Twilight Saga films, and Friday Night Lights coming to a close on television for Teegarden - and how bittersweet it was to say goodbye. Check out what they had to say after the jump.
Aimee, did you get any input into your character?
AIMEE TEEGARDEN: When I came on, the character was pretty developed, but it was really fun to shoot. We had a couple takes with everything because we were just running and gunning, but we got to play around a bit with the characters. I had such a fun time. The idea of the personalization is really going to change the way that people consume entertainment. I feel like television, as it is now, isn’t going to be the same, in a couple of years.
RATHBONE: No one really has television that much, anymore.
TEEGARDEN: I don’t have a TV at my house. I literally do not. I have a television, but I don’t have anything plugged into it, though. I watch DVDs.
Amy, did this compare to your high school experience, in any way?
TEEGARDEN: I wasn’t really around too much. I graduated when I was 15, so I didn’t have the traditional high school experience. I just kept going, for all four years, and condensed it down. And then, I was working full-time, which is not something that a typical 16-year-old does. But, no matter where you are or where you grow up, you always go through the same awkward moments of being a teenager and growing up and trying to figure out who you are. I think there’s a lot of really different, fun characters in this series, that a lot of people can relate to.
Did you guys have a lot of fun working together and developing the relationship between your characters?
TEEGARDEN: Amanda has a boyfriend, and they’ve been together forever. It’s the simple, easy thing to do. But then, she starts to have feelings for Nick. He’s a really sweet guy that she starts to feel really safe and comfortable around, and that she feels she can tell all of her secrets because he’s not going to judge her. She gets caught in the middle over what to do.
You’ve each recently closed a big chapter in your lives, with Friday Night Lights coming to an end, and the final chapter in the Twilight Saga wrapping. How difficult was it to for each of you to say goodbye to a character you’d played for so long?
TEEGARDEN: It’s really bittersweet. I grew up on Friday Night Lights. I was living in Austin for the show, and I love the city of Austin and the music scene. The people are so great there. So, it’s a brand new chapter, growing up into my adult life and moving back to California and starting over, in a certain sense. But, it’s been so much fun. Going to the Emmys and seeing Kyle [Chandler] and Jason [Katims] win was just phenomenal.