More Jackson & Ashley Interviews
‘Twilight,’ ‘Airbender’ star Jackson Rathbone builds his entertainment empire
Vampire. Fantasy warrior. Rock star. Filmmaker. Actor Jackson Rathbone is making the most of his time in Los Angeles and filling it with as much art as he can. “I get off one job and then just move to another job, and there’s pretty much no dead time,” Rathbone says. “It’s one of those things. I could use a few more hours in the day honestly.” He reprises his role as the young vampire Jasper in Twilight: Eclipse, opening tomorrow, and takes on the character Sokka in M. Night Shyamalan’s fantasy film The Last Airbender, in theaters Thursday. But wait, there’s more. He’s also the producer and star of the indie drama Girlfriend, and Rathbone hopes to direct his own short film in the coming months - maybe before shooting the final two-part Twilight finale, Breaking Dawn. And then there’s his band 100 Monkeys, which he hopes to take on the road to finish a 100-city tour this year (in addition to releasing a live album July 20). Even with all this going on, Rathbone took a little bit of time to talk about his many projects for a Who’s News item in this coming weekend’s issue, but read below for his thoughts on Twilight ending, his filmmaking career beginning and what he does in his infrequent spare time.
This is shaping up to be the summer of Jackson Rathbone.
[Laughs] I don’t know about that. I’m trying to get as much art out there as possible. It’s funny that Eclipse and Last Airbender are coming out a few days apart. It’s nice.
What did you think of the Airbender role? It’s probably a little less serious than Jasper.
Yeah, it was fun. I’m playing a younger warrior who’s discovering himself throughout this trip to save the world. Two kids literally stumble across the long lost Avatar, the one who can bring peace to the world, so you want to let him save the world basically from the fire nation.
Were you a fan of the cartoon?
I’d known about it. I wasn’t a huge fan, but a lot of my friends are really into it. I’ve never been into too many animated shows. The only real good show I ever liked was South Park. [Laughs] I was always more of a film guy. My friends are really into it. They showed me a few episodes of it, and once I found out about the audition for it, I watched a few episodes and my friends caught me up to date with the story and everything, I was originally auditioning for Prince Zuko [played by Dev Patel], but then that didn’t work out and Night wanted me to read for Sokka. I gave that a shot and he really liked it and I did a screen test with [co-star Nicola Peltz]. It just felt like brother and sister from the moment we met.
How was working with Night?
Working with Night’s great, man. It’s one of those things where you’re working with somebody and you’ve seen so many of his films. He’s one of the big dogs, and it’s cool to be a young actor working with people of that caliber. The last couple of films I’ve been able to do, I’ve been working with people like Catherine Hardwicke, David Slade and Chris Weitz on the Twilight series. I’ve been big fans of all of their films, and working with M. Night, I’ve been a big fan of all his films. It’s like living out my own surreal dream life right now.
Since you are a fledgling filmmaker, do you try to pick up hints and tricks from those directors to use later?
Ever since I was 18 and I first started working, I was always obsessed with the camera and what the camera guys do, how they move the camera - I’d always talk to them, pick their brains about it, talk to directors about their shots. I just love the overall collaboration - I love how they are so many different artists, and I can definitely drawn from them. Every single one I’ve ever met, I take a little bit of knowledge away and use it as much as I can. I hope to be directing a short within the next couple of months, and I can hone my craft a little bit and work my way around the other side of the camera. Hopefully, I’ll be directing a full feature within two years - that’s kind of my goal, while I’m doing the music and acting and everything else as well.
Is a Last Airbender sequel in the offing?
Oh yeah, definitely. There’s supposed to be three - there are three seasons of the show, labeled as Books 1, 2 and 3, and I hope there will be a sequel and a third one. The over-arching story is so incredible and it’s a nice message, so hopefully we’ll be able to bring it to the screen.
Speaking of sequels, Eclipse is more action-oriented than the other Twilight films, especially for Jasper.
I might even do more technical fighting in Eclipse than I actually do in Airbender, just based on the character’s level of being a warrior. Jasper’s been a warrior for years, and in The Last Airbender, I play a character who’s becoming a warrior and learning how to fight. He’s trained by his father but has never really seen action, and there’s a character like Jasper whose entire background is in action and war. It was an interesting dichotomy to play.
When all the Twilight madness is over, will you miss it or be relieved you can get involved in other stuff that will cause obsession in fans?
I’m already involved in other stuff now. For me, the theory is constant motion - keep moving forward. That’s all there is to it at the end of the day, just keep doing whatever you do and make sure you keep yourself happy when you’re doing it. And I’m definitely happy. I’m surrounded by a close group of friends who are all artistic and really talented. It’s a good life. I wake up with a smile on my face and I go to bed with a smile on my face. As long as I can keep doing that, I’m cool.
Growing up, were you always an artsy kid?
Oh yeah, when I was growing up, we moved around a lot. At one point, I ended up in Midland, Texas, where they have an amazing community theater program. My older sister was in it, and my parents were like, “Yeah, why don’t you try it out and make some friends?” I went into the theater and I was just backstage, building sets and construction stuff, and I figured out that all the girls who liked to perform were really pretty. [Laughs] I was like 14 and it was very important to be where the pretty girls were, so I was like, “I’m gonna try the whole acting thing out!” I auditioned for Grease and I played Doody, a guitar-playing role, so I had to learn how to play guitar and sing and act all in one. It was my first experience entertaining a large audience, and I just loved the way art can inspire people and make them happy and give them a little buffer from their daily life. I found it something I had to be a part of.
Is it hard to find time for yourself to go and watch an episode of South Park or to find an outlet for escape?
I find usually about 30 minutes to an hour a night to unwind from the day, but I’m always multitasking. I do a lot of work through emails and everything, so I can do that pretty quickly in terms of the production company and dealing with the acting side of things. And if I want to watch an episode of TV, I’m probably going to be playing guitar while I do it. I just can’t help it. I always carry a notebook and a harmonica on me, and I don’t travel anywhere without my guitar.
source
In this episode of Off the Cuff, Rolling Stone's Peter Travers sits down with Twilight Saga: Eclipse star Ashley Greene, who opens up about auditioning for Bella, her party girl vampire character Alice and why Eclipse is the most "guy-friendly and action-packed" film in the series. Greene also teaches Travers how to perfect the "Alice stare" and even sings a few bars of Jason Mraz' "I'm Yours" in this exclusive video interview.
Jackson and his The Last Airbender costar Nicola Peltz talk about their movie:
Vampire. Fantasy warrior. Rock star. Filmmaker. Actor Jackson Rathbone is making the most of his time in Los Angeles and filling it with as much art as he can. “I get off one job and then just move to another job, and there’s pretty much no dead time,” Rathbone says. “It’s one of those things. I could use a few more hours in the day honestly.” He reprises his role as the young vampire Jasper in Twilight: Eclipse, opening tomorrow, and takes on the character Sokka in M. Night Shyamalan’s fantasy film The Last Airbender, in theaters Thursday. But wait, there’s more. He’s also the producer and star of the indie drama Girlfriend, and Rathbone hopes to direct his own short film in the coming months - maybe before shooting the final two-part Twilight finale, Breaking Dawn. And then there’s his band 100 Monkeys, which he hopes to take on the road to finish a 100-city tour this year (in addition to releasing a live album July 20). Even with all this going on, Rathbone took a little bit of time to talk about his many projects for a Who’s News item in this coming weekend’s issue, but read below for his thoughts on Twilight ending, his filmmaking career beginning and what he does in his infrequent spare time.
This is shaping up to be the summer of Jackson Rathbone.
[Laughs] I don’t know about that. I’m trying to get as much art out there as possible. It’s funny that Eclipse and Last Airbender are coming out a few days apart. It’s nice.
What did you think of the Airbender role? It’s probably a little less serious than Jasper.
Yeah, it was fun. I’m playing a younger warrior who’s discovering himself throughout this trip to save the world. Two kids literally stumble across the long lost Avatar, the one who can bring peace to the world, so you want to let him save the world basically from the fire nation.
Were you a fan of the cartoon?
I’d known about it. I wasn’t a huge fan, but a lot of my friends are really into it. I’ve never been into too many animated shows. The only real good show I ever liked was South Park. [Laughs] I was always more of a film guy. My friends are really into it. They showed me a few episodes of it, and once I found out about the audition for it, I watched a few episodes and my friends caught me up to date with the story and everything, I was originally auditioning for Prince Zuko [played by Dev Patel], but then that didn’t work out and Night wanted me to read for Sokka. I gave that a shot and he really liked it and I did a screen test with [co-star Nicola Peltz]. It just felt like brother and sister from the moment we met.
How was working with Night?
Working with Night’s great, man. It’s one of those things where you’re working with somebody and you’ve seen so many of his films. He’s one of the big dogs, and it’s cool to be a young actor working with people of that caliber. The last couple of films I’ve been able to do, I’ve been working with people like Catherine Hardwicke, David Slade and Chris Weitz on the Twilight series. I’ve been big fans of all of their films, and working with M. Night, I’ve been a big fan of all his films. It’s like living out my own surreal dream life right now.
Since you are a fledgling filmmaker, do you try to pick up hints and tricks from those directors to use later?
Ever since I was 18 and I first started working, I was always obsessed with the camera and what the camera guys do, how they move the camera - I’d always talk to them, pick their brains about it, talk to directors about their shots. I just love the overall collaboration - I love how they are so many different artists, and I can definitely drawn from them. Every single one I’ve ever met, I take a little bit of knowledge away and use it as much as I can. I hope to be directing a short within the next couple of months, and I can hone my craft a little bit and work my way around the other side of the camera. Hopefully, I’ll be directing a full feature within two years - that’s kind of my goal, while I’m doing the music and acting and everything else as well.
Is a Last Airbender sequel in the offing?
Oh yeah, definitely. There’s supposed to be three - there are three seasons of the show, labeled as Books 1, 2 and 3, and I hope there will be a sequel and a third one. The over-arching story is so incredible and it’s a nice message, so hopefully we’ll be able to bring it to the screen.
Speaking of sequels, Eclipse is more action-oriented than the other Twilight films, especially for Jasper.
I might even do more technical fighting in Eclipse than I actually do in Airbender, just based on the character’s level of being a warrior. Jasper’s been a warrior for years, and in The Last Airbender, I play a character who’s becoming a warrior and learning how to fight. He’s trained by his father but has never really seen action, and there’s a character like Jasper whose entire background is in action and war. It was an interesting dichotomy to play.
When all the Twilight madness is over, will you miss it or be relieved you can get involved in other stuff that will cause obsession in fans?
I’m already involved in other stuff now. For me, the theory is constant motion - keep moving forward. That’s all there is to it at the end of the day, just keep doing whatever you do and make sure you keep yourself happy when you’re doing it. And I’m definitely happy. I’m surrounded by a close group of friends who are all artistic and really talented. It’s a good life. I wake up with a smile on my face and I go to bed with a smile on my face. As long as I can keep doing that, I’m cool.
Growing up, were you always an artsy kid?
Oh yeah, when I was growing up, we moved around a lot. At one point, I ended up in Midland, Texas, where they have an amazing community theater program. My older sister was in it, and my parents were like, “Yeah, why don’t you try it out and make some friends?” I went into the theater and I was just backstage, building sets and construction stuff, and I figured out that all the girls who liked to perform were really pretty. [Laughs] I was like 14 and it was very important to be where the pretty girls were, so I was like, “I’m gonna try the whole acting thing out!” I auditioned for Grease and I played Doody, a guitar-playing role, so I had to learn how to play guitar and sing and act all in one. It was my first experience entertaining a large audience, and I just loved the way art can inspire people and make them happy and give them a little buffer from their daily life. I found it something I had to be a part of.
Is it hard to find time for yourself to go and watch an episode of South Park or to find an outlet for escape?
I find usually about 30 minutes to an hour a night to unwind from the day, but I’m always multitasking. I do a lot of work through emails and everything, so I can do that pretty quickly in terms of the production company and dealing with the acting side of things. And if I want to watch an episode of TV, I’m probably going to be playing guitar while I do it. I just can’t help it. I always carry a notebook and a harmonica on me, and I don’t travel anywhere without my guitar.
source
In this episode of Off the Cuff, Rolling Stone's Peter Travers sits down with Twilight Saga: Eclipse star Ashley Greene, who opens up about auditioning for Bella, her party girl vampire character Alice and why Eclipse is the most "guy-friendly and action-packed" film in the series. Greene also teaches Travers how to perfect the "Alice stare" and even sings a few bars of Jason Mraz' "I'm Yours" in this exclusive video interview.
Click to viewJackson and his The Last Airbender costar Nicola Peltz talk about their movie: