New Kiowa Gordon Interview

We hopped on the phone this week with Twilight Saga star Kiowa Gordon, who is best known for playing Jacob Black’s werewolf BFF Embry in everyone’s favorite uber-franchise. Did you know Kiowa scored the role (out of thousands) at an open audition, after Stephenie Meyer - his friend from church - encouraged him to give it a go? That should tell you how much talent this kid’s got tucked away in his back pocket.

Kiowa - who will be at Comic-Con this weekend! - was gracious enough to gab with us for a while about shooting those barefoot werewolf scenes (they have special foot padding!), his musical aspirations with his band Touche and his favorite lady character in the Twilight Saga. Hint: he likes his real-life girlfriend best.


TheFABlife: Are you touring right now with your band Touche?

Kiowa: We’re just easing up on the touring right now because we have to look back and think about what we’re doing and just start out fresh right now.

TFL: So are you taking a break musically or are you kind of reassessing everything? Your band is still working together?

KG: Yeah definitely, we’re just reassessing things and we’re still going to go strong.

TFL: How has being in the Twilight movies impacted your musical career with Touche?

KG: We have played shows and Twilight conventions in LA. There seems to be a really big following there and they love it and they want to support me in what I do too. So I let them grab a hold of it and see what they can do with it. It helps our fan base and our publicity a lot. We actually went out a day before the Eclipse premiere and they were all camped out there, like crazy fans do and we came out and played a little acoustic show for them. It was pretty cool and it was really magical.

TFL: Do you find out that Twilight fans are limitless in their support? Like if you were to start painting, they would probably support that too?

KG: Yeah, definitely. Actually one of our pack brothers Alex Meraz, he actually does painting and he sells them at the Twilight conventions he goes to.

[Ed. Note: I am a huge Twi-nerd and I did not know this tidbit. But here's a pic of Alex Meraz painting! Unrelated: he is a hunk.]

TFL: I know your cast is super musical. Rob had a single on the first soundtrack, Billy just put out an album, Kristen and Nikki play music and now you’re in a band. Who would you vote most musical in the Twilight cast?

KG: I would say Jackson.

TFL: Oh of course! Jackson is in 100 Monkeys. Fail on my part.

KG: Yeah definitely Jackson. He’s a great guy and his music, I like it.

TFL: I know during the Twilight shooting there were a lot of impromptu jam sessions. Did that ever happen when you were shooting New Moon or Eclipse?

KG: No, our schedules were so different and so much time was [spent] on set and working at the gym that we didn’t have time to just jam out as much. We have a little more time this time and I think we can make something happen and it’d be pretty fun, no doubt.

TFL: Have you made any push to get either your own music or Touche’s music on the Breaking Dawn soundtrack?

KG: No, no pushes just yet because you don’t want to jump ahead. Plus, we don’t have a song that would fit in Breaking Dawn right now. We’re more of progressive thrash, more underground.

TFL: I was listening to some of your music online today and I was thinking it would be good for a fight scene.

KG: Yeah that would be cool!

TFL: Just watching you perform with your band, it just seems like you totally lose yourself the second you start performing.

KG: As soon as they start playing the music and I hear it, something just clicks inside of me that just comes out naturally and I just go into the music and I just flow with it and get really into it. It’s such a great release too, such a different way to express yourself than anything else other than acting. I just love them both.

TFL: Do you get the same kind of nervous feeling or go into yourself when it comes to acting or is your creative process different?

KG: There was a time in New Moon, because I was so new to everything I just came in like, ‘Uhh what do I do? Should I do it this way?’ Then the first time when I said a line I was just like, ‘Oh wow, this is really easy. I can do this.’ I could just be myself and just put a little bit of character in it and it just came out as Embry. It just came out quite naturally the first time and I just kept going with it. Now I’m not so nervous to act anymore.

TFL: So there’s a little bit of you or maybe a lot of you in the character of Embry, you think?

KG: Yes, definitely a lot of me in there.

TFL: You’re working with James Moseley, the Bone Man, on a musical. Is that right?

KG: Yeah definitely. It’s called The Pied Piper Meets The Bone Man and Touche will be featured. We actually go off into the mountains and play our music so loud that the Bone Man is resurrected from the ground. He just comes up and we’re like ‘whoa this guy just comes out of nowhere.’

TFL: Has he been helpful in supporting your music career?

KG: Yeah definitely, he’s been pushing for us.

TFL: Are you stressed out about going to Comic-Con this weekend? I know you’re going to be there Saturday night and signing autographs on Sunday.

KG: Oh man, I just wish I were there everyday. No, I’m not really stressed. I’m looking forward to it actually. I want to be there. I’m actually a little comic nerd myself. I like reading the Star Wars stuff and stuff like Green Lantern and Batman.

TFL: Does that drain you having to sign autographs and having to deal with people all the time or is it really fun to meet fans?

KG: It’s really fun meeting all the different fans, but sometimes it does get really tiring. because you go to this place, you fly out [for the next place], you get there late and you can’t sleep sometimes. You go to sleep at like two in the morning, wake up at eight in the morning…You have to sign for hours, and it does get annoying just sitting there signing your name over and over.

TFL: So you named some of your musical influences, is there anything you nerd out about the same way people like me nerd out about Twilight?

KG: I’d have to say Circa Survive. I just go completely nuts over them. I try to catch every show that comes through my town or any place close to me that I can drive out to.

TFL: So you get the camping out [for the Eclipse premiere] and wearing Team Edward and Jacob sweatshirts?

KG: Yeah, I get it. I think the girls either want a white, pasty old vampire or a fresh, young hot brown guy.

TFL: Your alliance is very clear. We can start a made up feud between you and Robert Pattinson where you call him a white pasty vampire.

KG: Haha, yeah alright.

TFL: Does your girlfriend ever get overwhelmed by the attention you receive from female fans?

KG: Yeah like the first couple of times I brought her out to a Twilight convention, she got a little weirded out like, ‘why do you do this?’ Now she’s starting to get over it and she’s starting to realize it’s just me going out and meeting my fans and meeting the people who made me into who I am and why I get up in the morning and what’s progressing my future, you know? She knows that I love her more than anything so there’s really no problem.

TFL: Aww, you sound like a nice boyfriend [Ed. Note: Swoon, right?]. Have you read Breaking Dawn?

KG: I have not actually. My girlfriend is actually about to read it right now and she’s going to tell me what happens.

TFL: That’s awesome. Are you making your girlfriend read it so you don’t have to or is she just volunteering?

KG: No she wants to. People already told me what goes on in it and I’m just like, ugh they ruined the book for me. Now I just think I’m going to wait for the script and then I can read the script.

TFL: So you haven’t gotten the Breaking Dawn script yet?

KG: No not yet. I don’t think anybody has actually.

TFL: You’re going to head out to Vancouver [to shoot Breaking Dawn] and are you heading to Louisiana as well?

KG: I think so. I heard a couple things, but I wont know for sure until about a month before they start filming.

TFL: I feel like you guys should party really hard in Louisiana [Ed. Note: this is me trying to get invited to a Breaking Dawn Bayou Bash]. It would be a little easier to hide down there, too. Do you find that the paparazzi is all over you these days?

KG: No, not as much. They are really more focused on Rob and Taylor and Kristen sightings that they can just let me go past.

TFL: Watching Rob and Kristen live with that attention, does it stress you out at all or scare you?

KG: No, not really, because I have encountered them sometimes but they’re not too aggressive with me and they seem to be trying to be nice at what they can be. I don’t care too much if they’re not complete dicks to me then I’m not going to be a dick to them.

TFL: Here’s a question from one of our Twitter followers: Was it hard having to film all of those scenes running around barefoot. Does that ever get annoying and cold?

KG: Yeah actually, they gave us some of these moleskin protectors. They glue it on your feet so your feet don’t get cut up or dirty. They kind of keep them warm because it is cold out there and we have no shirts on and you could get sick. You could step on a stick or something and it would hurt. Jumping out of Emily’s steps in Eclipse, jumping out to meet Bella, that kind of hurt because I kept having to jump and land on some rocks so that didn’t feel so good.

TFL: Did you have to do a ton of takes of that too?

KG: Yeah I did like ten of takes for that.

TFL: Are you ready physically for Breaking Dawn? Are you working out yet?

KG: Yeah but I’ve been a little lazy, because I’ve been so busy and not enough time to get to the gym. Any physical activity I can get my hands on I do, like mountain climbing, swimming, and running. So yeah, I think I’m ready for Breaking Dawn, definitely.

TFL: If you had to pick one of the female characters in the Twilight series as a girlfriend, who’s most your type: Bella, Leah Clearwater, or Emily? You’ve got the kind of insecure girl, the tough bad ass and the mother figure.

KG: If there was a character that was all of them in one, I think that would be it, but I would have to say Bella.

TFL: Any reason why you like Bella the best?

KG: She’s my kind of girl, but my girlfriend is actually more my kind of girl.