'New Moon' Star Justin Chon Interviews Muse

'We might be able to lay something down that gets used in the film,' frontman Matthew Bellamy says of songs for 'Eclipse.'

Ever since the earliest days of Stephenie Meyer dreaming about a clumsy girl and a pale vampire spending time together in a meadow, Muse have been there to serve as the "Twilight" author's, well, muse. For proof, look no further than her acknowledgements in the "New Moon" novel: "And, finally, thank you to the talented musicians who inspire me, particularly the band Muse — there are emotions, scenes, and plot threads in this novel that were born from Muse songs and would not exist without their genius."

Several years later, the band has appeared on both massively successful soundtracks to the first two "Twilight" films and share millions of fans with the vampire franchise. This past weekend, the British band returned to Los Angeles to headline KROQ's annual Almost Acoustic Christmas festival. We snagged an all-access pass for "Twilight Saga" star Justin Chon — a huge fan of the band's — and after the show he got them to open up about backstage antics, whether it's better to be a rocker or an actor, and the song they're hoping to get on the "Eclipse" soundtrack.

Justin Chon: Oh my God, you guys were absolutely amazing, the whole show — how it was produced was amazing, the balloons and the piano and rocking on the guitar, everything was just perfect. This is my first rock show backstage experience ever.

Matthew Bellamy: So, how'd it go?

Chon: It was everything that I imagined it would be.

Dominic Howard: And more?

Chon: And more. I guess if I were to go back and do it all over again, would there be anything that you guys would have said I should have done that I maybe didn't do?

Howard: Did you see everyone today? Did you see Phoenix? I'm a big fan of that band.

Chon: I saw everyone, I saw Phoenix.

Howard: Well if you saw everyone, that's a good start.

Bellamy: Backstage, there are certain things that certain bands get up to — I'm sure you can fill in the gaps.

Howard: That might be happening a little bit later — maybe if you hang around, you can see a bit more. [Laughs.]

Chon: Awesome, man. You guys are on all the ["Twilight"] soundtracks, and I know that ["Eclipse" director] David Slade actually did some of your music videos.

Bellamy: Yeah, yeah. He did four music videos for us.

Chon: Wow, four? So is David Slade cooking something up for you guys for "Eclipse"?

Bellamy: Well, for "Eclipse," someone was asking us to write a song for it, I think. We haven't gotten around to doing that yet, because we're really busy touring. But hopefully, if we get time over the holiday break, we might be able to lay something down that gets used in the film.

Chon: Wow, perfect! Well, I'm in the movie and I'm a huge fan, so it's an absolute honor to be in your presence. There's this huge fandom with Stephenie Meyer and the books — what stuff inspires you guys?

Bellamy: We were with Stephenie last night, actually. We just saw Stephenie. She came to see us in Vegas — it was good seeing her, she's a nice lady. Lovely! And she brought her friends along. But what inspires us? Books, films, anything music and just whatever comes. Life experience is a big one for the lyrics; certain things that happen to you turn into songs.

Chon: What's next for you guys? You're doing "Saturday Night Live," and you guys are playing at Madison Square Garden, right? Wow.

Bellamy: Yeah, next March is it?

Howard: That's a great venue. We played there once before — that is going to be wicked to play back there. We've got lots of touring coming up — that's what happens, you release an album and then you tour your ass off for, like, two years. So, we're taking a little break for Christmas for a couple of weeks to go off to Australia and Asia, and then we come back here in the spring.

Bellamy: Our U.S. tour is March/April time. We're looking forward to that — it will be our biggest American tour to date.

Howard: It's fun, traveling around the world and going to strange places.

Chon: If I could go back, I think I would be a rock star instead of an actor, man. You guys get to do this — have this high 60 times a year! I shoot a movie and people don't [see it for a long time], then after, like, a month, people don't care ever again.

Howard: I'm sure they will with this new one ["New Moon"].

Bellamy: You can go to a theater and I'd imagine you get a similar buzz. Because it's live, you know? You have the crowd there.

Chon: A theater is kind of similar, but not so much. [Laughs.] Thank you guys for talking to me — awesome show, and hopefully I'm going to see you guys again.

Bellamy: Hopefully. Anytime you want to come, just come along!

Twilight Saga: New Moon's Human Casts Interview

Sure, New Moon's vampires and werewolves may get all the attention, but it's Bella's gang of high school friends who keep the movie centered in reality. Anna Kendrick, Michael Welch, Justin Chon and Christian Serratos (who play Jessica, Mike, Eric and Angela, respectively) talk about providing the franchise's comic relief and keeping it real as mortals amongst all the supernatural shenanigans.

Unlike Twilight, which was shot in Portland, you shot New Moon in Vancouver. What was that like?

Justin: The weather's actually been better here. Portland was very, very, very cold and rainy. It's a little bit nicer here.

Anna: One of the freaky things about shooting New Moon in a different location than Portland was the re-creation of things, like the high school parking lot. It was like déjà vu because we were in a different country but they completely recreated the parking lot from the school we shot at before.

You also got a new director. What was it like working with Chris Weisz?

Michael: Chris was really great. Catherine [Hardwicke] was wonderful too, but they're just totally different in terms of their style and their process. And I think that as a result, you're going to end up with a film that just feels very different. I think that Chris made more of a conscious effort to have a visual cohesiveness in terms of how the film is going to look and feel with the vampires, the werewolves and the humans. Visually, it's more stylistic. And as far as the way he likes to work on set, he's just very calm and very clear-headed and intelligent. He knows what he wants and puts a lot into the preparation so by the time we get to the set it's all sort of mapped out for us.

Christian: He's really awesome. He's very well-organized, well-spoken, fun and carefree - simultaneously. It's incredible.

If you weren't playing humans, which would you prefer to play: a vampire or a werewolf?

Anna: I would personally rather be a werewolf since they seem to get to have a lot more fun. The vampires are very cool, but they have to be very calm and collected all the time. The werewolves get to let loose a little bit more.

Michael: I'd much rather play a vampire. Being a vampire would be cool, I think, for the first 100 years or so. It'd be fun to be able to play because vampires are just too cool; they're just sexy and interesting and complicated.

Christian: I'd play a wolf. I'd play Leah, 'cause she's sassy.

The mood for New Moon is pretty bleak for a lot of the film. You guys represent the normal world for Bella, but you also provide a lot of comic relief.

Justin: Bella's really depressed throughout the movie so we really have to bring light to it, otherwise it's just too dark the whole time.

Michael: Our job is to add a little humour, add a little levity, and just come across as realistic kids in a small town in Washington.

Anna: And I think that there's an inherent comedy in our blissful ignorance of everything that Bella is going through in the supernatural world.

Have any of your characters changed since Twilight?

Anna: Jessica's still pretty self-involved. I would definitely say she hasn't done a lot of personal growth between Twilight and New Moon. She does provide a level of silliness at a point where Bella is feeling pretty hopeless. I don't know that she necessarily cheers up Bella, but hopefully it ends up providing a little bit of a break for the audience.

One of the funniest scenes in the book is Mike's "date" with Bella, when he takes her to a horror film and ends up getting sick. What was that like to shoot?

Michael: That was a lot of fun to shoot. That's one of those moments that I think pretty much anyone can relate to. I've certainly had moments in my life that are almost unbearable at the time but as you're watching it, I think the audience will find it very sad and funny. I think that's what's so great about playing Mike: I get to relive all of these horrible high school moments and it's almost given all of that a purpose; it allows me to connect to that very easily.

Everyone always talks about Team Edward and Team Jacob. Don't you think it's time to start Team Mike and Team Eric?

Michael: Ya, I do! Actually, I've had friends who've jokingly made up some Team Mike t-shirts.

Justin: I would love to do that. I think you'd have to campaign. It's political. I'd need lobbyists and stuff.

There's a lot of new cast members in New Moon, including Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning and all of the new werewolves. Who haven't you shared a scene with that you'd really like to work with in the upcoming films?

Michael: It's funny because I worked with Dakota Fanning years ago in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle. She played my younger sister; she didn't have any lines and all she did was run around trying to bite the Reese character. And then like three months later she got I Am Sam and became a superstar. So I would be really curious to catch up with her again. And Michael Sheen is also just amazing.

Justin: I'd like to be in a scene with the Volturi, but it doesn't happen in the books so it's never going to happen.

Christian: There are so many great people on this project now. I can't even believe how large and massive this cast is.

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Q&A with Twilight's Justin Chon

J-14 caught up with Justin Chon who plays Eric Yorkie in The Twilight Saga movies -- and he spilled about awkward moments with Kristen Stewart, being stalked by paparazzi, and the musical cast of Twilight!

J-14: In Twilight, did you draw from your own high school experience to flirt with Bella Swan in the cafeteria?
Justin Chon: Of course. As an actor you're always trying to draw from real stuff to make it real, but I would say in acting terms, you use like substitutions and you think back to the moment. I just tried to make him as awkward as possible and just overly excited about everything.

J-14: What was it like flirting with Kristen Stewart?
Justin: Her character is just really awkward. So you put two really awkward people together and it's just a really funny thing to see them try and have a fluid conversation.

J-14: What was your reaction to all of the paparazzi at the airport when you landed in Vancouver?
Justin: The paparazzi were a total surprise. I think there's a picture of me with my mouth open. It's really pretty funny because I just had no idea what was going on. And I asked Anna [Kendrick], "Wait are they taking pictures of us?" We just had no idea and then we realized they were taking pictures of us and we were just like, "Whoa!"

J-14: You're a musician -- and so are Rob Pattinson, Jackson Rathbone, and Nikki Reed... what was it like working with such a musical cast?
Justin: It's kind of weird because everyone is like, "Oh yeah! I play guitar!" And then for me, I just didn't even tell anybody. I was just like, "Yeah, I guess everyone plays the guitar so maybe I shouldn't say anything because it doesn't make me special."

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