Greene savors Alice's conflicts in 'Breaking Dawn'

Tim Lammers, StrictlyCinema.com  -  If any actor is lucky enough, they may in their career get to play a character twice if a film does well enough to warrant a sequel. But for Ashley Greene, whose star in Hollywood began to rise with the smashing success of the first "Twilight" film in 2008, playing Alice Cullen has not only become an exciting gig, but an exhilarating way of life.

"The thing that's been thrilling for me as an actor is having the chance to develop Alice throughout each installment and add layers to the foundation that was created," Greene said in a recent interview. "I got to add a lot of different elements to her in the first part of 'Breaking Dawn' because she's in a much darker place."

"Breaking Dawn -- Part 1," which opens in theaters nationwide Friday just after midnight, marks the fourth film in "The Twilight Saga" for Greene and her fellow stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. The first in the two-part finale of the film series, "Part 1" finally finds vampire Edward Cullen (Pattinson) meeting his human love, Bella Swan (Stewart) at the altar, despite the jealousy of Jacob Black (Lautner), a werewolf who has long-competed with Edward for Bella's love.

But things become far more complicated when Bella becomes pregnant during the couple's honeymoon, as she carries a half-vampire, half-human child who poses a threat to both the wolf pack and the vampire clan. Worse yet, the pregnancy is taking a near-fatal toll on Bella, which plunges Alice into turmoil because the presence of the unborn baby has rendered the vampire powerless to see the future of her best friend.

"That was fun to show that side of Alice because we've never really seen her frustrated, torn and have this inner battle of what she should do. She either has to support her sister-in-law or tell her that she's crazy for allowing herself to deteriorate in front of everyone's eyes," Greene said. "Plus you see Alice form an alliance with unlikely people. There's a lot more going on with her than in any of the previous 'Twilight' films."

Everyone's Best Friend
While the characters of Edward, Bella and Jacob have always been the primary focus of author Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" book series, the films have yielded some unexpected results as Alice has become a big fan favorite. The character's popularity is fine with Greene, who admits she was a big fan of Alice dating back to the books.

"This whole franchise has been full of surprises -- and fun surprises," Greene said. "I always loved Alice, even before I had seen the script or was cast in the role, because she was always this perky ray of sunshine and a little sassy sometimes. I understand how fans relate to her because she essentially is that best friend that everybody wants."

With the end of the "Twilight" film in sight, Greene is finding herself racked by mixed emotions. For all intents and purposes, Greene is done with the film series since the first and second half of "Breaking Dawn" filmed back-to-back, yet she knows she'll at least to get to gather with her cast mates a few more times about a year from now when she does press before "Breaking Dawn -- Part 2" hits theaters.

So in a way, Greene lamented, the last day of filming wasn't really a goodbye, but a pre-mourning period nonetheless.

"The last day on the set is something that's hard to describe. Definitely it was emotional, and I had no way to prepare for that. You know the end is coming but you can't ignore it," Greene said. "On one hand, you think, 'I've been shooting for seven months and now I can sleep,' but then I was like, 'Oh, wait, we're not coming back to this and I've shelved the character for good. That's tough because Alice has essentially become a piece of my life and my world."

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