Mythical folklore. Catherine Hardwicke. A steamy, young love triangle involving a pretty girl and two cute guys, one of whom may be a wolf.
There was no doubt that when the formula used to create the revamped fairy tale "Red Riding Hood" was revealed, "Twilight" comparisons were bound to be made. It's a roadblock that Amanda Seyfried, who plays the film's scarlet-caped protagonist, is entirely aware of.
MTV News caught up with Seyfried to discuss the film, which opens in theaters this Friday, and why moviegoers shouldn't go in expecting another "Twilight."
"It's a bummer that that's what's happening," Seyfried said of the inevitable "Twilight" association. The 25-year-old actress, who admitted she doesn't like when "an audience has [certain] expectations," recognized that a lot of it certainly has to do with "Red Riding Hood" director Catherine Hardwicke, who was at the helm of the first "Twilight Saga" movie. "That's her movie," Seyfried acknowledged.
Adding even more fuel to the "Twilight" fire is Seyfried's "Red Riding Hood" co-star Billy Burke, who plays her father in the film and who is known to Twi-hards as Bella Swan's dad. "Can't forget about that," she said with a smile, regarding Burke's involvement with both projects.
Still, she and her castmates, including her onscreen love interests Max Irons and Shiloh Fernandez, couldn't help but poke fun at the situation on set. "We'd make jokes about [Hardwicke] calling us Kristen [Stewart] and Rob [Pattinson] and Taylor [Lautner]," Seyfried told MTV. Interestingly enough, Fernandez was one of the actors originally considered for the role of brooding vampire Edward Cullen in "Twilight."
But Seyfried remains adamant about audiences being able to distinguish the difference between this film and the "Twilight Saga." "Red Riding Hood" is a new take on the classic fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" that follows a young woman named Valerie, who is torn between choosing from two men, all while her small village is terrorized by a mysterious wolf.
"Yeah, I mean it does surround a girl coming of age in a love triangle, but that's a lot of movies," Seyfried said. "The truth is, it's an entirely different story.
"I think audiences are going to be really surprised when they end up seeing this movie because ... there's so many elements and there's so much going on," she assured, giving her own synopsis of the PG-13 chiller: "It's a murder mystery as well as a coming-of-age movie, and there's a lot of tension and it's scary. All those elements combine to be thrilling, I think."
Do you think "Red Riding Hood" will be able to set itself apart from "Twilight"? Tell us in the comments.
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