New Face Friday: Angela Sarafyan talks 'Breaking Dawn - Part 2'

This week's "New Face Friday" interview is of Angela Sarafyan, who portrays Tia of the Egyptian Coven!

Check out the interview below!

Q; With Stephenie Meyer being on the set did you get a chance to talk with her and get any new insight about your character Tia?
Angela: I did. I did get a chance to talk to her. We actually spoke briefly about how she cam up with the character. And I don’t even know if it’s really coming up with but there’s just a little bit of a talk about how Benjamin and Tia came from poverty and kind of struggled until they met Amun and Kebi. It was interesting to hear her perspective on the character.

Q: Was it nice having her there?
Angela: Yeah, of course, it was kind of cool. It was like having a legend on set in a way. Because she wrote all those books and she came up with those stories. And then to actually meet the person that did that, that was kind of surreal. It was kind of surreal to be on that set in general.

Q: How did you prepare for your role once you got cast? Had you read the series before hand?
Angela: No, I hadn’t read the series beforehand. Actually, how I got ready initially was I saw the third film before my audition and was readying all your sites actually about everything twilight. Because I had a short time to get ready for the audition so basically it all started from you guys. There is so much information that you put out there. I felt fortunate to have all the sites available. After I heard I got the part, I had briefly read summaries of the books before the audition, then after that I read it. I read the full book and completely saw all the movies, and got a sense of the world I was coming into.

Q: I was wondering if you could tell us what it was like seeing yourself in full out vampire gear the first time.
Angela: I didn’t know what it was going to look like. It was trippy. It was, I don’t look anything like that. I was really cool because I don’t look anything like my character in the movie at all. From my hair to my makeup, to the clothes that I wear, I don’t look anything like it. I even think I look, there’s this picture out now of all the vampires, and I don’t even think it looks like me. That picture, she looks Egyptian. It’s crazy that this transformation happened. It was cool to finally play a character that didn’t look anything like me.

Q: I was wondering, since you are Egyptian do you use an accent or how you make your voice a little different?
Angela: Nothing was different. There’s a slight accent, but everything was just really subtle and real. Also with our looks we’re really different from the other vampires. Just so you know. We are all golden. We are not white. Being Egyptian, that is one of the things that stood out. We look really good. So there wasn’t anything too extreme about it. Which I liked. I think it kept it real. As real as a vampire is.

Q: What was it like coming into such an established set? What was it like to feel like the new kid?
Angela: I think that I had that experience initially, but what’s interesting is that there was so many of us that we became the people that everyone else was gonna try to fit into. There were so many vampires and so many actors there. Initially it was… I am trying to think of the correct word because the very first scene that we shot was at the Casbah, and I remember just going on that set and seeing Elisabeth Reaser and their faces that I’d seen posters of and these faces that I’d seen in the films. I couldn’t digest it. I couldn’t look at it and go oh whatever, who cares, they are just actors, it was surreal. The whole thing was completely surreal. I remember I came on set the day before we were shooting, or two days before, and I saw Kristen sitting there, and I was like that’s the girl. There’s the face that I’ve been seeing and hearing everywhere. There’s that little head. It was interesting to finally see them in the flesh. It was not as intimidating as you think. Just a very crazy thing to see these things for real.

Q: When you came into this, who were you most excited to work with?
Angela: I was looking forward to meeting Rami [Malek] because he was going to play my man. I know technically I should be excited to meet Kristen [Stewart] and Rob[ert Pattinson] and all those cats and I was happy to meet them, I really was, but I think that most excited about it was meeting Rami because we were going to be mates, as vampires can be. We were mates. I didn’t know who he was and it was a lovely surprise. It was just a great surprise. I think when you see the film, you will think that we are a couple, which is cool. We really found what was special between us.

Q: Whose idea was the photo pose for the EW Comic Con photo booth?
Angela: It just happened. Nobody had an idea. I went and I stood there and we didn’t know what to do. It just happened.

Q: It was really good.
Angela: Thanks, I love that picture too.

Q: What was the most challenging part of playing this role?
Angela: I don’t think it was challenging actually. I didn’t find it to be very challenging. I kinda just took everything from one moment to the next. I don’t know, I would think that the right answer was that it wasn’t really challenging, it was fun. It was interesting and fun to approach based on the world that was being created. If that makes any sense. Because I didn’t know really what I was walking into, so everything was kind of created in the moment. I had ideas, but those ideas can be thrown out the window once you walk on a set, and you see what’s really going on. So then you create in the moment, which makes it more exciting. It wasn’t a challenge, so it was more fun than difficult in any way working on this part. Creating real relationships and building the characters from there. I guess, ultimately. And there were pleasant surprises along the way. There are pleasant surprises because you don’t know who you are going to meet. So when you have connections with other actors, like Kristen and I and Rob and Rami and Omar [Metwally] and a lot of us had real connections. People had real chemistry. It was surprising that those things happened and I was happy for them. And you create friends as well.

New Face Friday: Rami Malek talks 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2'

Twilight Moms got to interview Rami Malek for this week’s “New Face Friday”. He plays Benjamin of the Egyptian coven in Breaking Dawn Part 2. 

Check out his interview below!

Have you gotten to see any of your scenes on film yet- and if so what you thought  of the special effects?

“Great question I had an ADR* session, I’m sure you guys are familiar with that right?? (ADR stands for Automated Dialog Replacement)  So I got to see some of the temporary effects they weren’t quite done but as far as I was concerned they were good enough for me- they really looked brilliant-vibrant and felt very real- I was happy to see that because there were points that I was concerned about- I’m always concerned watching a movie- when something looks as if it was developed from a computer and you can see when it looks generated by a computer it really takes one out of the film so I was happy to see that it really just looks as if I was doing these in reality”

Stephenine has recently released the “The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide” which had a huge backstory between the Egyptian coven and I know we’ve already sampled a little bit of what we are going to see from you-did we get any of that feud with the Volturi history from you guys?

“Well after reading the novel I came to the conclusion that there was going to be a lot of work I had to do because there wasn’t that much said in her novel- so I came up with a lot of ideas and Angela who plays Tia came up with a lot of ideas and we shared them over the course of filming- and when we met Stephenie she was able to give us a real concrete backstory which wasn’t far off from the things that we had created on our own. It was a very special feeling to have that acknowledgement from her that we were on the right track with her story from things that we were coming up with from our own crazy imagination”

Some of us had the opportunity to interview Bill Condon and when we were talking to him he mentioned talking with you about developing your power and you brining ideas to the table and where it emanated from. Can you talk about collaborating with Bill Condon- about the power or just your character in general

“I don’t know if you’ve been told this from anyone else-but when I first met Bill he allowed us to talk with him for a great period of length which is not always the case with every director so we were able to talk about the character just one on one for quite awhile- it really felt like a collaborative effort- whatever I was coming up with he felt like he could trust and what he was saying I wanted to trust as well-because I knew I was in the hands of one of the best of the best so in that regard it was very much a shared effort and then once we were on set- we were really able to come to the conclusion that Benjamin would use his powers- it would be a physical movement rather than the way that Dakota (Jane) might use her powers for instance. We just tried out an number of different physical movements and started to get a feel for what was right. I just kept trying to give him different options so he would be able to use what he wanted and I think he was happy with it.”

We saw in the trailer the water effect- are we going to get to see Benjamin use all his powers?

“That remains to be seen- I know we shot quite a bit of stuff using different powers so I don’t know what will make it into the end of the cut –the final cut- but-I think there should be some pretty cool surprises in store in regards to manipulating the elements.  At least I hope they’re there!”

Rami you have a lot of other cool projects going on one of them being The Master- have you done your work on that yet and if so what has that been like for you?

“I would say The Master was one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever got to work on- I’m very fortunate to have the privilege of working with directors like Bill Condon and Paul Thomas Anderson who I think is one of the greatest filmmakers of our time. And working with Joaquin Phoenix and alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams I just feel privileged to be able to get to work with them on a daily basis.  I’m honored and floored by all of that- this experience was really something special for an actor to get to work with people at the top of their game- creatively and as dedicated as they are was something I will cherish for a long time-  I think it’s gonna be one hell of a movie- they both are.

Thank you for asking me- and you know what else I really respect that on the websites I know that people have been telling me that people post pictures of the other projects that we are working on – and to see that there is that care that goes across the board- once you’re in a Twilight movie it feels like someone out there has your back through the course of my entire career so thank you guys for all of that- I really appreciate it – and a big thank you to the fans who have been following everything as well”

Speaking of fans- and being obsessed what is something that you are a big fan of or obsessed with right now? Be it TV or film or music or whatever?

“Let me think what will or will not get me into trouble…. What do I like? You have to give me a second- you didn’t stump me I’m just trying to be creative and not give a traditional answer-

Is there any artist you discovered on the Twilight soundtracks that you’ve come to love?

“I do like the Twilight soundtrack- they play them on KTRW every once in a while –which is a Los Angeles radio station – I’ve always liked Iron and Wine – I grew up in Los Angeles but for some reason I’ve always been drawn to Bluesy folky music things that kind of rip into your heart a little bit- I’m the guy that can sometimes play a little too much slit your wrists music – but it excites me- it really does.  I like Johnny Flynn he’s a young British guy with a folk sensibility to him- so of you know him already I know that

I like discovering new works of art too- I don’t want to sound goofy but- I like going to art shows. For TV I just started watching “Breaking Bad” and I’m having trouble pulling myself away from that-  with the music thing the “slit your wrist type stuff” it doesn’t depress me it actually makes me happier in a weird way- as crazy and sadistic as that sounds- sad music makes me happy”

You were cast early on… a lot of people were really happy right away because we all remember Ahkmenrah- can you tell us if there are any similarities between that character and Benjamin?

“Well they don’t share the same eye color so that’s a good start- they both have a little bit of a nice tan going on in both movies- in Stephenine’s book it says that the Egyptian coven has an olive pallor so it was nice while we were working not to get a lot of that white make up that everyone was wearing because- it’s just not pleasant and I don’t think it made anybody look any better than they did in real life.- but it worked their vampires and its kind of odd being a tan vampire. I loved both experiences but their two entirely different people- they’re both yes Egyptian but… I had a British accent in the Night at the Museum movies and this one I do not – and they come from two entirely different worlds the thing that they do have in common is you can trace them back to ancient times Ahkmenrah was a very old soul and so is Benjamin- I’ll put it that way”

What were some of your favorite moments during filming?- Do you want to talk about the end where they had a dancing scene?

“Yes I’m not the best dancer- so I can’t throw that one down as one of my top moments though it was fun to see Bill’s face light up when we surprised him like that- I don’t know what I’m allowed to talk about in that sense- Favorite moments I would say meeting a lot of this new cast and the old cast and establishing some great friendships. I’m going to see one of the actors right now I’m on my way driving to see one of them-I won’t tell you who it is. I’ve established some great relationships and it’s not often through work that you really hang on to people.  It’s funny on a movie set people are always telling one another “I can’t wait to see you and talk to you and keep up this relationship” and I’ve had great experiences- after doing the Pacific I still hang out with all of the boys that we make believe fought a war with- And with this group- I’m not going to say I hang out with everybody but there’s a lot of phone numbers that get used in my little call log and vice versa which is nice I think I will know these people for a long time- most of them.”