This has been an extremely busy year for Kellan Lutz. He started 2008 on the big screen as Rick Leland in the Prom Night remake. After that he shifted to the small screen for breakout roles in HBO's gritty Marine show Generation Kill and as part of the next generation of Fox's 90210 reboot. Now Lutz is capping the year with a return to the silver screen for his widest exposure yet as Emmet Cullen, the big brother to Edward (Robert Pattinson) in Twilight.
The actor was all smiles as ReelzChannel greeted him recently for an exclusive interview. Although he admits to some disappointment with the minimilization of Emmet's role in the first movie, he says he had a great time making the movie and has high hopes that he'll be returning to the role in the near future.
ReelzChannel: Tell me about how you wound up playing Emmet.
Lutz: I got the script and I was shooting Generation Kill for HBO. I was in Africa for seven months doing that and Twilight came [around] and it's really hard to audition when you're in Africa. I was really bummed because I couldn't really get myself on tape and send that to America. Everything happens so fast with the audition process, so that one kind of slipped away.
Once I finished Generation Kill, I told my team I wanted to take a month off and go see family. They respected that and I went away and then my agent called me and said, "Kellan, sorry to bother you, but Twilight's back." The actor they had for Emmet had fallen through. So I came back and auditioned, and they really liked what I did and wanted me to fly out to Oregon to meet with Catherine [Hardwicke]. I [met] her and did my thing and they loved it and she chose me to be Emmet. That day I went straight to rehearsals. We started shooting and had a blast. It never felt like work.
RC: How was Catherine Hardwicke to work with?
Lutz: She's an amazing director. She's really an actor's director and [she] gets down there. She doesn't sit behind the camera. It was really cool taking directions from her because she was amazing.
RC: Did you read all of the books?
Lutz: Yes. Reading the books really helps me develop that character that I'm trying to portray. With Twilight, I needed to know [more] than the actor's breakdown that says [Emmet is] the big, older brother that has super strength. I read the books as fast as I could, as soon as I could. Every day after [finishing on] set I would go to the gym and sit on the bike [and read them]. I think it took me a week to read all three.
RC: Your role is fairly small in this first movie. Did the books help you get a better sense of who Emmett was?
Lutz: There's an excerpt called "Emmett and the Bear" that Stephenie [Meyer] wrote that she didn't put into the book. It really talked a lot about Emmett and Edward's relationship and I really loved reading that because it really opened my eyes to how close we really are as brothers. It really helped out.
RC: Have you had the chance to talk directly with Stephenie about the character?
Lutz: We've all had one-on-one time. I had dinner with her. Goofing off with her is so much fun because, I mean, I'm bringing her vision to life so it's all for her and for the fans. To have someone who created something so huge, it's an honor to portray any character in someone's creation. She gave me a lot of insight.
RC: Have you had any weird fan encounters?
Lutz: Yeah, so many. I feel like anywhere we go. You know, if you go to the mall with friends people will see you. Recently I've been going to high school football games and because of Twilight [I hear] "Emmett's at the football game!" Now I'm signing shoes and sweaters and paper bags and hot dog wrappers more than watching the game. The game will just pass and it's like "What?"
RC: You've gotta work on your disguises.
Lutz: Yeah, that's what my roommates were saying. Or sit on the away field side. No one sits over there so that might work. But it's definitely been humbling. To have someone who wants to take a picture with me or get an autograph, I mean, I'm just a normal person who acts. It's all for them so I'm quite happy to do it.