Hollywood Crush › Girlfriend

It's been a long and winding road bringing the indie film "Girlfriend" to a national audience, but all that work has finally paid off. The flick, which stars Jackson Rathbone, Shannon Woodward and Evan Sneider, was awarded the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Audience Award at last night's Gotham Awards in New York City. The fan-voted award was the just the latest wave of support from "Girlfriend"'s ardent admirers.

The film's director, Justin Lerner, caught up with Hollywood Crush today to talk about the big win, which he called a "humbling moment." Appropriately, he thanked the fans of "Girlfriend" who voted to earn the movie its recognition.

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Tags Evan Sneider, Girlfriend, Jackson Rathbone, Justin Lerner, Shannon Woodward

Sometimes, critical acclaim, online buzz and a "Twilight" star just aren't enough for an indie film to reach a wider audience. Such is the case with the Toronto International Film Festival hit "Girlfriend," starring Shannon Woodward ("Raising Hope"), Evan Sneider (the first lead feature film actor with Down's Syndrome) and some guy you may have heard of named Jackson Rathbone.

As a way to get their film to as wide an audience as possible, the producers of "Girlfriend" created their own fundraising page on IndieGoGo.com. It's pretty simple: The adoring public spares some cash, and the producers will use that money to hold more screenings of the film in theaters, on demand and online.

Donors can receive anything from a special thanks on the "Girlfriend" website to a copy of the original screenplay. Especially deep-pocketed fans could even win a dinner for two with Evan, the star of the movie. Sounds pretty cool to us, but unfortunately we don't have an extra ten grand lying around. Maybe after we win the lottery...

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Tags Evan Sneider, Girlfriend, Jackson Rathbone, Justin Lerner, Shannon Woodward

As "Twilight Saga" vampire Jasper Hale, Jackson Rathbone is used to chomping on creatures' carotids, but being on the receiving end of a little neck nibbling is something new for the star. Especially when it involves a two-time Oscar winner.

When MTV News' Josh Horowitz caught up with Jackson at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the actor was promoting his upcoming drama "Girlfriend," talk inevitably turned to the status of "Breaking Dawn" (more on that in the coming days). Then suddenly, as if on cue, actress Hilary Swank, who was waiting in the wings for her own interview, swooped into the frame, baring her canines as she lunged for Jackson's neck! Okay, so it was just a playful bite, but it still caught the usually poised actor completely off guard!

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Tags Breaking Dawn, Girlfriend, Hilary Swank, Jackson Rathbone, Toronto International Film Festival 2010, Twilight, Video

Jackson Rathbone's film "Girlfriend," which we visited the set of last October, premiered to seemingly resounding praise at the Toronto Independent Film Festival on Sunday, and seems like it's on the fast road to being sold and distributed around the United States (I know, we can't wait to see it either!).

If you haven't already seen the trailer, you should check it out, but what we have for you is an exclusive look behind the scenes of a fight scene between Jackson's character Russ and "Girlfriend" producer/Jackson's 100 Monkeys bandmate Jerad Anderson's character Kenny. Check out the video, and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or on Twitter!

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Tags Evan Sneider, Girlfriend, Jackson Rathbone, Jerad Anderson, Shannon Woodward, Video

The dream of many "Twilight" fans is the chance to be in the presence of their favorite films beloved cast members. Well, Twihards, we offer you an opportunity even better: not only to get a chance to see Jasper Hale in real life, but to have control over whether he comes to your town.

"Aint no rest for the wicked," Jackson Rathbone told us in a recent interview on the set of his new indie, "Girlfriend," and he seems to be making that line his mantra. Filming just wrapped over the weekend for "Girlfriend," he has one week left on "Eclipse" and then he is kicking off a 100 city tour with his band 100 Monkeys.

But this isn't going to be your average band tour. Jackson and bandmates Jerad Anderson, Ben Graupner and Ben Johnson have decided to make this tour something special.

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Tags 100 Monkeys, Ben Graupner, Ben Johnson, Girlfriend, Jackson Rathbone, Jasper Hale, Jerad Anderson, Twilight

Jackson Rathbone has been working his butt off this year, though most of what he's been working on wont be seen by the public until 2010. He finished filming M. Night Shamylan's "The Last Airbender" and "New Moon" earlier this year, is completing his final two weeks of filming for "Eclipse" right now, and when we caught up with him last week, was working the dual roles of producer and actor on his indie flick, "Girlfriend." Oh yeah, and hes in the process for gearing up for a 100 city tour with his band, 100 Monkeys.

"I just want to work. I don't sleep," Jackson admitted with a laugh.

That was literally the case when we met up with him last week. Both he and bandmate/co-"Girlfriend" star and producer Jerad Anderson had hopped a plane from Vancouver the night before and started working when they landed. He said when he wrapped filming on "Girlfriend," he would jump on a plane back to Vancouver and pick up filming on "Eclipse" again.

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Tags 100 Monkeys, Eclipse, Girlfriend, Jackson Rathbone, Jerad Anderson, The Last Airbender, Twilight

In addition to finishing filming “Eclipse” and having wrapped “The Last Airbender” earlier this year, Jackson Rathbone has had his hands full working on the indie film, “Girlfriend.” Not only is he acting in and producing the film, but he scooped to Larry Carroll in September that his band 100 Monkeys would also be handling the soundtrack and composition work for “Girlfriend” as well. (Plus, the group is also offering up some tracks for consideration on the "Eclipse" soundtrack.)

When we caught up with him recently on the set of “Girlfriend,” we asked him to give us a little more information on what he and the band would be doing for the soundtrack. “We’re going to be doing some soundscapes and a couple of our songs and some bands that we like,” Jackson said.

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Tags 100 Monkeys, Eclipse, Girlfriend, Jackson Rathbone, Twilight

In previous interviews with the director and cast of “Girlfriend,” the creators of the film were hesitant about revealing too many plot points. What was known was the plot involved a romance between "New Moon" star Jackson Rathbone and Shannon Woodward as ex-high school sweethearts, but a love triangle was also mentioned with the third angle not disclosed.

Earlier this week, on a visit to the set of “Girlfriend,” director Justin Lerner and his crew decided to share exclusively with MTV the large portion of plot they have been hiding secret: the film’s main character, Evan Grey.

Evan Grey (played by Evan Sneider, pictured, also inspired the character) is a man in his twenties with down syndrome who wants to find love from a woman, and the film (appropriately titled) is about his journey to find a girlfriend. During the course of the tale, Evan comes into some sort of means — which we assume to be money — that he uses to help the girl he's loved since high school (Shannon), who is currently a single mom.

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Tags Evan Sneider, Girlfriend, Jackson Rathbone, Justin Lerner, Shannon Woodward

If there are two things “Twilight” fans love, it’s Jackson Rathbone and his band, 100 Monkeys. Now, the fan favorite is excited about uniting his two passions in an upcoming film — and giving the Twilight Nation the chance to experience the whole package.

“You bet,” he revealed with a smile when we caught up with him recently and asked if his band would be on the soundtrack to his soon-to-shoot indie film “Girlfriend.” “100 Monkeys are going to do a lot of composition work as well. One thing all of us are really interested in doing is not just putting our songs in soundtracks, but actually composing soundtracks like Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead did for 'There Will Be Blood.' We’re all very much film oriented — three of us are actors, and all of us are composers — we love film, we think it’s an amazing medium. And music and film go so well together.” Read more...

Tags 100 Monkeys, Eclipse, Girlfriend, Jackson Rathbone, New Moon, Twilight

With 13 weeks until "New Moon" hits theaters, Jackson Rathbone has plenty to keep him busy. Beyond work on "Eclipse" and "Avatar: The Last Airbender," Jackson is starring in and producing the 2010 film "Girlfriend." Hollywood Crush was lucky enough to speak with Shannon Woodward, who was just cast as the film's titular girlfriend. Shannon will be playing Candy, the former high school sweetheart of Jackson's character.

Below, check out our exclusive Q&A with the actress, 24, who you probably know best from last year's horror flick "The Haunting of Molly Hartley" and the 2007-08 F/X series "The Riches" (she played Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard's expert pick-pocketing daughter). Don't worry, we asked her the most important question: Is she ready to take on some of that "Twilight" fan base that already follows her costar? Keep reading to find out! Read more...

Tags Girlfriend, Jackson Rathbone, Shannon Woodward, Twilight