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Hollywood lore is filled with tales of actors on top of the world helming iconic franchises, only to find themselves typecast into oblivion, reliving the glory days over and over again

James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart, the biggest names in two of the past decade’s pop cultural phenomena — “The Sopranos” and “Twilight,” respectively — have taken concrete steps to avoid that fate.

Their latest departure: co-starring in “Welcome to the Rileys,” a deeply personal film about the platonic friendship between a married man and a teenage stripper.

amNewYork spoke with a grumpy Gandolfini — who, honestly, seemed like he’d rather be doing anything but talking with us — and Stewart about the movie, which opens in theaters Friday.


 
 
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“What the hell is happening now?” James Gandolfini asked, not quite smiling, at the start of an interview last week. Mr. Gandolfini is not big on interviews; journalists who mention his most famous role, playing the mob boss Tony Soprano, get swatted away. “I never think about him, ever,” Mr. Gandolfini, 49, said.


 
Foulmouthed and feral, the kohl-eyed stripper-prostitute portrayed by Kristen Stewart in Welcome to the Rileys is a battery of neurotic tics: she nibbles her fingers, scratches her undefined lips, and shakes one foot mechanically. There are bruises on her calves from pole-dancing. Her hair is unkempt, her skin waxy. In her willful self-neglect, she is pitiful.

This 17-year-old apparition could, in a different life, be Bella Swan's sister -- the promiscuous one who acted out and vanished, leaving Bella uncertain, unsmiling, and ill-equipped to deal with rejection. There's no such sister, of course, in the Twilight movies to rationalize Bella's depressiveness, alienation and her attraction to the undead and the vulpine -- though part of it stems from her parents' split. But Stewart makes Mallory, the girl in Rileys, so defensive and evasive, so willing to offer a lap-dance or oral sex in lieu of explanations, that we know she has a history fraught with traumas, desertions, and betrayals.

 
 
 
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It’s quite obvious that a key element of a family drama is the family aspect. Some actors are talented enough to make that dynamic seem real even though it might be far from it, but why put yourself through all the work when you can just develop a real life family-like relationship with your co-cast? It certainly worked for the cast of Jake Scott’s Welcome to the Rileys.

The film stars James Gandolfini as Doug, a man who hasn’t been the same since the passing of his daughter. The same goes for his wife Lois (Melissa Leo) and in her case, the pain is rather debilitating. She’s agoraphobic and refuses to step foot out of their house. While on a business trip to New Orleans, Doug winds up meeting a young stripper named Mallory (Kristen Stewart). Rather than leaving their business at the strip club, even though Doug had no intentions of getting on to any real business to begin with, he winds up driving her home and leaving with her for a bit. He takes it upon himself to try and help her disheveled house and her act, too.

In honor of the film’s October 29th release, Gandolfini, Leo, Stewart and Scott attended a press conference to remember their time working on the production in New Orleans. Not only do they look back on the gig fondly, particularly when it came to working with one another, but they still maintain the relationships they built on the set today. Check out all the details on the prep process, their characters and experience working with one another in the interview below.


 
 
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With the fourth Twilight movie in production and all three of the films so far showing on Sky this November and December, we find out exclusively from the franchise’s young stars whether three really is a crowd.


 
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It may surprise some that the progeny of Ridley Scott (and nephew of Tony Scott) might direct something with no aliens, gladiators, jets or explosions, but rather a low-key, character-driven piece like Welcome to the Rileys, but Jake Scott's second feature benefits first and foremost from the terrific trio of actors he assembled to bring life to the film.


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