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Hollywood’s New Rebel Date: March 2011 Source: Nylon Guys Shiloh Fernandez might be able to walk around unrecognized now, but we’re betting all that’s about to change very soon. With leading roles in the big-time remake Red Riding Hood as well as the indie flick Skateland, the actor’s about to shoot into the spotlight. Nylon Guys NEditor-in-Chief Marvin Scott Jarett shot the 26-year-old in LA and Executive Editor interviewed him at the Getty Museum, where they talked about life outside of Hollywood, his favorite parts, and how he narrowly avoided being cast in Twilight. How he got cast in Skateland: “It’s always better to say ‘This is why I like this, and this is how I connect to it.’ It’s a kid right out of high school, who doesn’t have a whole lot of direction-he’s just kind of hanging out with the same kids, staying in the job he had in high school. I feel like that could have been me if I hadn’t been pushed to go to college.” On his cancelled CW series: “The CW-didn’t want me- I think I’m a little too strange” On his audition with Kristen Stewart for Twilight: “She was sitting on the kitchen counter biting her nails and kicking her feet and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ ‘Do you know how to speak?’ ‘Can we communicate about this?’ So i ended up ignoring her and talking to Catherine. What I didn’t realize of course was that she has a big say because she’s the lead girl and you have to have chemistry.” On acting: “I try as much as I can to separate my job from my life and happiness. Because if it comes together, that’s when people get crazy…I kind of like the starving artist feel. That’s who I am right now.”

Shiloh and Max Irons fight for the girl in “Red Riding Hood” Date: February 16, 2011. Source: MB Playing the two young men fighting for the heart of Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) in Warner Bros.’ new fantasy thriller “Red Riding Hood” are newcomers Shiloh Fernandez as Peter, Valerie’s true love; and Max Irons, making his feature debut as Henry, to whom she has been promised. Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter are planning to run away together when they learn that Valerie’s older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. As panic grips the town, Valerie discovers that she has a unique connection to the beast—one that inexorably draws them together, making her both suspect…and bait.. “Red Riding Hood” is the first big break for both Fernandez and Irons, but Seyfried has nothing but praise for her co-stars. “Max has never done a film before and this is Shiloh’s biggest role,” she says. “They’re both so grateful for getting the opportunity to be in a really cool project. And they’re just so focused and so present. In some ways we’re playing younger versions of ourselves so all the emotions are really close to the surface.” Fernandez read for the roles of both Peter and Henry, but was immediately drawn to the former. “I think we’d all like to see ourselves as the character that fights for the girl,” he says. “Peter’s a really good person no matter what’s happened in his past that has made people believe that maybe he’s dangerous or not very trustworthy. Henry loves the girl too, but she doesn’t want to be with him. And I realized that, yes, I may be more like Henry, but I want to be Peter. I want to be the hero.” The young actor knew director Catherine Hardwicke from having read for a role in “Twilight.” Though he ultimately didn’t appear in the film, he stayed in contact with the director and was thrilled with the opportunity to work with her on “Red Riding Hood.” “She’s awesome,” Fernandez says. “She’s just really fun and incredibly creative.” From being cast to walking on the set for the first time, the whole experience was likewise thrilling to Max Irons, the son of actors Jeremy Irons and Sinéad Cusack, making his first Hollywood movie. “It’s amazing when you walk into a set like that every day; you just count your lucky stars,” he says. “It’s like being a child. You’re asked to ride horses and carry swords and act with Gary Oldman, who’s dressed as a werewolf catcher. What’s not to like?” Seyfried and the boys got along famously, in spite of the conflicts between their characters. “Shiloh’s great,” Irons says. “He and I, in a way, are inherently very different. And all three of us get along. It’s great.” He describes the trio’s rapport with a wry smile, “It’s a lot of jokes, constant jokes. I’m usually the butt of most of them, being English and tall and skinny.” Like Shiloh’s character, Henry becomes suspected of being the werewolf. Without giving anything away, Irons says his character has just been dealt a bad hand, which is only made worse by this arranged marriage, “His mother died when he was young. Something happens to his father halfway through, debatably because of his inaction. I think he’s an intelligent guy but he often says, ‘Let’s hold back. Let’s think about this more,’ which is interpreted as being a bit of a coward in contrast to Peter. But then when things escalate, I think he decides to take control of his life, say goodbye to Valerie, and go hunt the werewolf And in doing so, I think he actually gets much closer to her.”

Date: February 2011. Source: Interview. Shiloh Fernandez was primed for the Catherine Hardwicke star machine years before the Thirteen (2003), Lords of Dogtown (2005), and original Twilight (2008) director cast him as the romantic lead alongside Amanda Seyfried in next month’s Red Riding Hood, Hardwicke’s latest gothic adolescent dream. The 25-year-old actor from Ukiah, California, possessed a suitably angular melancholy that almost won him the Edward Cullen part made famous by Robert Pattinson, a peculiar distinction that is now an inevitable talking point in his young Hollywood career (perhaps less inevitable is his now-not-so-peculiar name, which he shares with the first result of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s blended DNA). But Fernandez’s ascent has been less direct than other up-and-comers, a trajectory that has included turns as a dishwasher, a teenage American Apparel model (and—later—stock boy) hand-picked by the company’s CEO, Dov Charney, and an almost-familiar face on shows like Cold Case, Jericho, United States of Tara, and Gossip Girl and in films like the thriller Red (2008) and the musical Cadillac Records (2008). In addition to Red Riding Hood, Fernandez stars in the coming-of-age-in-the-’80s independent Skateland; and he just lined up his first film role that requires an accent, a British drama called The Beloved. He is also rumored to be playing the lead in a new, young Hollywood remake of 21 Jump Street, the ’80s high school–cop show that launched Johnny Depp. And then there is “Mr. DiCaprio,” as Fernandez refers to him, who is a producer on Red Riding Hood and made himself available to Fernandez as a sounding board. In other words, the transformation has begun. MARK JACOBS: You’re not the clean-cut heartthrob. SHILOH FERNANDEZ: Thank you. [laughs] JACOBS: That’s a good thing, wouldn’t you say? I think of you as a little better and a little greasier. FERNANDEZ: Yeah, I’m definitely shocked that people are saying, “You’re the romantic lead in this film.” That’s surprising to me. I don’t see myself that way at all. JACOBS: How would you describe your character, Peter, in Red Riding Hood? FERNANDEZ: They were having every boy audition for both roles, for Peter and Henry. Henry’s wealthier, the son of the blacksmith, who Red Riding Hood’s parents arrange her engagement to. He’s a really good guy but just doesn’t get the girl. Peter is more of the mysterious hero. I had to think about why I was attracted to Peter and not Henry, when I’m probably more like Henry. I’m not the guy who always gets the girl. I’m not the hero. But the role that appealed to me the whole time was Peter. He’s a migrant worker who works hard and has love for this girl that’s never-ending. He tries to do the right thing throughout the whole film. Somebody who works that hard to be a good person, who’s maybe not innately that way, fascinated me. JACOBS: What’s your take on the film itself? FERNANDEZ: It started with the fact that I’d known Catherine. I auditioned for a couple of her movies and I like her. I liked how she connects with youth and how she picks really great young actors. Reading it, I was thinking it might be something like Twilight, but this is not as much of a love story. It’s really a whodunit thriller. It was a very exciting script, and you really don’t know who’s at the center of it all until the end. To be able to play up certain aspects that are going to lead the audience away from the final reveal was something that I was into. JACOBS: How close were you to getting the role of Edward Cullen in Twilight? FERNANDEZ: You’ll have to ask Catherine. It appears that I was closer than I maybe remember. I did have a screen test and signed contracts and all that. But the thing that came out of it, whether I was second runner-up or not, was that Catherine and I liked each other, and she was gracious enough to keep me in mind for other things. I really don’t know how close I was to getting the part in Twilight. Did I want the part? I did. But I don’t think I was right or ready for it. And I don’t think anybody knew that it was going to be what it’s turned out to be. When Riding Hood came along, I thought it was a much better fit. JACOBS: Is it strange to consider Robert Pattinson’s life? How that madness could have been yours? FERNANDEZ: I don’t think it ever could have been mine. I think it would have been really, really bad for me. He seems like a really neat guy who’s handled himself amazingly well. I’m very grateful at this point that I didn’t get it. I remember when my agent called to tell me I didn’t get it. And then the next day I had an audition for something else. [laughs] When it came out, I was doing a movie with Ashley Greene, who’s in Twilight, and we went to the movies and watched it. It is a funny experience but I can’t say that it was one of the movies I was heartbroken over not getting. JACOBS: After this film your life is going to be a bit different. FERNANDEZ: I haven’t thought a whole lot about the change. I might have had some thoughts, and maybe that was the reason I wanted to come back to Ukiah and not really think about it for the time being, you know? JACOBS: There’s a rumor that you’re a lock for the Johnny Depp part in the 21 Jump Street remake. It’s become a part of your rising-star story. FERNANDEZ: I’ll be honest: I’ve been in Ukiah, completely checked out of L.A., and my buddy called and he’s like, “Dude, are you doing 21 Jump Street?” I never auditioned. I never saw a script. Nobody even told me that they were making a movie. I called my manager and he said that just happens. People make up rumors and put them on the Internet. So, no, I have no interest in doing that movie. I’m sorry to disappoint anybody, but I wouldn’t choose that for myself. [laughs] I mean, unless it was a comedy. If it was a comedy, that’d be awesome. JACOBS: What’s your role in Skateland? FERNANDEZ: I really like that movie. That was the last movie I did before Red Riding Hood. It really spoke to me because it’s about this kid from a small town who’s not ready to make any decisions about life. And I think that that’s probably where I was, and if I hadn’t been forced to go to college, I might have stayed in Ukiah as a dishwasher at this Italian restaurant, Mario’s, where I worked all through high school, and not really made a whole lot of decisions for myself. It’s about a kid who goes through that exact same thing, you know? He’s kind of settled in his routine when a series of events takes place and he has the power to move on. It’s worth it for him to go out in the world and try to succeed outside of what’s comfortable for him. JACOBS: Do you have a new car, a new dog, or a new girlfriend? FERNANDEZ: I have none of the above. When I get back to Los Angeles, I plan on moving out of my place, putting my stuff in storage, and kind of bumming it for a bit. JACOBS: What does that mean? FERNANDEZ: I just don’t want to be tied down to a place right now, to a home where I have to pay rent. I want to be able to travel. My mom has a house down in Mexico, so maybe I’ll spend time there. I just feel like it’s a much more interesting way to live than the way I have been for six years, which is kind of trapped in L.A., waiting for the phone to ring, running to an audition. It just feels much better to lead an interesting life and, when opportunities come up, be much more prepared for them. JACOBS: So you’re not interested in the part of Hollywood where you’re photographed by paparazzi coming out of a gym with Amanda Seyfried? FERNANDEZ: Oh, my god, that was terrible! I couldn’t believe it. I mean, she obviously deals with it all the time. But it was shocking to look across the street and see somebody in a van being creepy. That’s not a happy thing for me. [laughs] JACOBS: Do you know Shiloh Jolie-Pitt? FERNANDEZ: Do I know her personally? No, I haven’t met the little darling.

New Teen Idol Date: February 2011 Source: VMan For many burgeoning young actors, narrowly missing a role in one of history’s most highly watched movie franchises might cause the kind of trauma that only years of therapy or a lifetime of drug abuse might be able to erase. But for 25-year-old Shiloh Fernandez, missing out on the role of the twinkly lead vampire in Twilight proved to be something of a blessing in disguise. “No one had any idea what Twilight would become,” says Fernandez. “At the time, it was just another audition. I didn’t realize I was missing out on stardom and giant paychecks. Now, looking back on it, I certainly wouldn’t have been mentally stable enough to deal with all that. Lucky for me, not getting that part led to other work that was a much better fit for me.” He might not have landed the life-altering lead in Twilight, but director Catherine Hardwicke was enamored enough with Fernandez to cast him opposite Amanda Seyfried in Red Riding Hood, the director’s goth-tastic take on the classic childhood tale, in theaters this March 11th. (Just after that, on March 25th, Fernandez appears in Skateland, an ’80s period piece set in small town Texas and starring Twilight alum Ashley Greene.) Fernandez has only the best things to say about his experience on Red Riding Hood, a role that has suddenly made him a hot commodity in movieland. “To be given this great part with this very complicated backstory is such a learning experience,” he says. “And Catherine has created this world that’s so detailed and so beautiful. I loved being a part of it.” In a town built on raw ambition and desperate attention grabbing, Fernandez is refreshingly low-key. Rather than follow his big Hollywood movie breakthrough with a slate of expected high-profile cute-guy parts, the actor opted instead to spend a few weeks in Northern California performing in a small play (“I’m out here in the woods, driving around in my mom’s old leaky Mazda Miata with water sloshing around in the floorboard”) before diving back into the mad hustle of L.A. Having done an array of television shows (Jericho, The United States of Tara), as well as the requisite number of low-budget horror films and failed pilots, Fernandez is remarkably blithe about what the future holds. While he is certainly eager to work, the lure of interesting personalities and learning experiences are still more appealing than an empty payday. “I want to work and I want to become the best actor that I can be,” says Fernandez. “But I also want to be a happy, interesting person. It’s hard to be an interesting person if you spend all your time on a set. That isn’t the real world. You’ve got to have a good life outside of all that. You’ve got to spend time in places where there’s not always someone on standby to bring you a glass of water.”

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