Interview 'Eclipse' Chaske Spencer

Interview 'Eclipse' Chaske Spencer



Twilight: Eclipse fever is officially here. Besides being a massively huge box office success, the franchise has created a very loyal fan base and a very large media circus. I recently was a part of that circus as I found myself at the Four Seasons talking one on one with some of the people involved with the film. While I didn't get to talk shop with Robert Pattinson, I did meet him (very nice fellow by the way). But I did however chat with Chaske Spencer who plays Sam Uley and I dug the hell out of the guy.

When I sat down, we both began praising the music of Ryan Adams, a musician we are both fans of. But after music, we jumped right in to Eclipse territory. We also spoke about his upcoming work and a project that he holds near and dear to his heart called Shift the Power to the People . I had a great time and I have a feeling we’ll be getting to see a lot more of what Chaske can do in future films outside of the Twilight universe.

Now, I have to say that I think David Slade was a good choice for this film. The opening scene reminded me of 30 Days of Night, right?

Yes, the opening scene. We’re watching it and I remember when we were at the screening, you know, it got dark and all of a sudden you see Xavier [Samuel]… BOOM I don’t want to give the whole movie away, but that first ten minutes, and then it goes… “Eclipse.” This is gonna be a really good ride. It stands out on its own and he is the perfect director for this film, for the book. And it is fast, there is a lot of action.

Now with your character, where are you going, how are you changing?

Well, in Breaking Dawn… I don’t know how much I should talk about Breaking Dawn.

[He turns to Josselyne Herman, his manager, and gets his answer.]

No, I can’t talk about Breaking Dawn. [Laughing]

Josselyne Herman: Read the book.

Yeah, read the book. [Laughing]



Now there is a real, sort of, chemistry between you and the other guys. What is it like filming that and being a part of this whole experience?

You know, I’ve inherited brothers. We’re really tight. It all started when we first met, it just clicked. And then we started working out together and then we started hanging out with each other. Because of that film set, there are so many characters. You are in different pockets of the film schedule so sometimes we’re off and we are at the gym, or just hangin’ out. And then we go in to film. So you don’t really get to see people, you hang with your crew. And we got pretty tight, we’re hanging out, we go to dinner. I talked to Alex [Meraz] all the time. When Julia [Jones] came into the mix, she fit right in. We accepted her, and she is like a sister. These are good people. These are really good people. Bronson Pelletier, Kiowa Gordon, Tyson Houseman, BooBoo Stewart, Tinsel Korey, all these people are really good people. And I’ll be friends with them probably for the rest of my life. We got thrown into this, and it’s good that we’re all going through it together. Because we do, we talk to each other a lot. Make sure we’re checking in and things are good and who’s doing what. It’s nice.

It must be strange to suddenly be a part of this franchise and then deal with the amazing popularity it has received.

Yeah. You know, with New Moon we were kinda known, but with Eclipse I can feel that it’s gotten a lot bigger. And it is definitely… for me, I have to go in and really focus on what I want to do. Because it is really easy, I can see where it would be easy to get caught up in all the hype. You could really see that. You just really have to maintain, and know that this is all an illusion. All the press, everything, it’s just a background for what you really want to do. It’s hype. You know, it’s all hype. So you have to know who you are.

And also, you are an actor, and just like every other actor, you rehearse and then you go and do your work. And that is really what it is about.

Yeah. That’s really what it’s about. I’d worked on a few other projects before New Moon and I knew I had to take it seriously like anything else. You gotta get to the gym, you gotta work out. You have to keep that same type of discipline you have with other projects. And what was nice… it’s just great to be a part of it too because you get thrown into this stratosphere and you get more opportunities. And I just finished a film called Shouting Secrets. That’s where I got to really act. You get in there, and then you get the character and then you keep your shirt on. It’s about this character and his dying mom. And you get the opportunity for people to see you in a different role. You have to be choosy too on how you’re going to pick roles because I don’t always wanna get stuck taking my shirt off. I want to do other things too. And it’s all a crap shoot, it’s all a gamble.

It’s definitely a fine line to walk.

I’m lucky in a sense where I’m thirty-five years old. I’m not going to be playing teenagers, you know. I know that I’m an adult, and I can go do adult roles. [Laughing] And I’ve trained myself enough as an actor that I can do different things. And I’m just not given the opportunity to do that so I’m just really excited to take on different roles.



What’s it like dealing with the fans?

It’s fine with me. It’s great. I mean, they just come and they show their love and support. And it’s not a bad thing when you have screaming girls after you, it is an ego boost. But it’s good to know that we’re doing a good job. To know that, in the end, they are the ones that are paying our bills. Without them, there’d be no movie, there’d be no books. Stephenie [Meyer] could’ve written this and nobody read it. So the fans are the people that really made this whole project happen.

You’ve read the books correct?

Yeah.

When did you start? When you got the role?

Yeah. I didn’t know much about Twilight, aside from the space on subways and such, I didn’t pay attention. Then it was after I got the part and everything, then we knew how big it was. Then we knew we were in for a ride.

What’s next for you after all this?

Well I just finished Shouting Secrets. And we wrapped that a couple of weeks ago. And then I signed on for a movie called Winter in the Blood based on a James Welch novel, directed by the Smith Brothers. And then we have a project called The Block which we’ll be doing, maybe after Breaking Dawn… I think, somewhere around there. So I’m looking forward to Winter in the Blood because it’s one of those once in a lifetime characters that an actor really gets to play. I’m looking forward to that. That’s a challenge right there. And Monday is my launch event for Shift the Power to the People.

Oh yeah, I was reading about that.

Yeah, it’s a project where… what I’d really like to do is shift the power to the people, which is pretty self explanatory. I know that we depend on a lot of things. With me, because I’m native, a lot of us depend on the government to give us things, especially on the reservations. Sometimes elected officials, we put them in office and they don’t do their job. So I would like to have people to put the power to themselves and get the job done. I’m not saying to be anti-government; I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying that we could put a lot of power into ourselves to make sh*t happen.

It’s just that there is a system going on and it’s been here for hundreds of years. And you’ll notice, especially coming from my native background, I’ve seen what that system does to people, especially indigenous people and their rights, especially for natural resources. Any people... Any people, their homes will be burnt, they’ll be thrown out, and sometimes genocide will be practiced on them… most of the time for natural resources. In China right now, they are digging for oil and they are setting up a lot of construction for their new homes. They are kicking people out of their homes. They’ve buried… here’s a story, they buried an old woman who was trying to protect her home. They killed her, put her in a box and then her family right there, they put dirt over her and built a home over her. Now that is f*cked up.

That is majorly f*cked up.

Yeah! And so, over here, what I can do is help my own people out. I’m all for celebrities going out and helping people all over the world, but there is a third world country here in the United States and Indian reservations. So we are having a launching event party on Monday. It’s to help bring awareness. Any one can do it. That’s what the whole event is, to help people find their own subjects and their own thing they want to work on, and how do they shift that power in their own communities.

[Cheske’s Manager adds]

Josselyne Herman: It’s not to fight the system but to create a new system that empower people. There is a whole mobile campaign that Shift the Power has launched called, “Be the Shift” and you can text Be the Shift to 66397 and sign a mobile petition. The more people look at this in the media, the more people will look at it and the government will deal with it in a new way, with listening to peoples voices.