Video:CNN interview with Chris Weitz & Nikki Reed

First Weekend Twilight Saga: New Moon DVD Sales

Message from Summit Entertainment:

"Los Angeles, CA March 23, 2010 – Summit Entertainment announced today that the home entertainment release of the studio’s action-packed, modern day vampire love story THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON sold just over 4 million DVD units in its first weekend of release. The tally surpasses the first weekend sales of TWILIGHT in 2009 which sold 3.8 million DVD units, and went on to be the top selling DVD title of the year with 9.2 million units sold. The DVD launch of NEW MOON commenced this past Saturday morning with 7,000 retail locations nationwide taking part in events at midnight giving fans their first chance to obtain a DVD of the film.

Thousands of TWILIGHT fans across the nation participated in the “NEW MOON at Midnight” event and some were treated to surprise appearances by members of the cast as well as the film’s director. Fans saw actors Justin Chon who plays Eric, Christian Serratos who plays Angela, and Michael Welch who plays Mike in Salt Lake City; director Chris Weitz and Nikki Reed who plays Rosalie Hale in Los Angeles; Peter Facinelli who plays Dr. Carlisle Cullen in New York; Edi Gathegi who plays Laurent in Pittsburgh; and Liz Reaser who plays Esme Cullen in Phoenix. Other cast members of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON made appearances nationwide including Kiowa Gordon and Tinsel Korey in Cincinnati; Charlie Bewley in Denver; Chaske Spencer and Tyson Houseman in Atlanta; Daniel Cudmore in Houston; and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg in Seattle.

Summit Entertainment’s Co-Chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger stated, “Once again the incredibly dedicated fans of the TWILIGHT SAGA came out in massive numbers this weekend for the opportunity to be one of the first take home the second movie in the series. As we have said all along, the fans are what make this franchise and we once again thank them for their support.”

“The support that we have received from our retail partners in accommodating the incredible demand for the title has been nothing short of amazing,” said Steve Nickerson, Summit’s President of Home Entertainment. “The ground we have broken with in-store partnerships and the availability of this title has been a positive influence on the retail DVD business.”

CNN Interview:'New Moon' director gets away from frenzy

Chris Weitz was determined to get the moon right. And when you have a movie about vampires and werewolves whose fans pay attention to every detail, it's important to get the moon right.

For the director of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," though, the impetus for showing the moon phase properly in the shot that opens the film was an astrophysicist, not a Twihard.

"I went to a lecture by Neil deGrasse Tyson where he's complaining that they'd gotten the stars in 'Titanic' wrong," Weitz said. "So his voice was in the back of my head, that we had to get the phase of the moon properly."

"New Moon," which comes out on DVD Saturday, did a lot of things properly, indicated by the fans' support. Though "Twilight," the first film in the series, received respectful reviews and good box office, "New Moon" -- which continues the story of lovestruck human Bella and vampire Edward -- was the bigger blockbuster, outgrossing the first film by more than $100 million domestically and earning more than $700 million worldwide.

Weitz, who directed "American Pie" and "About a Boy," also had something to show besides moon phases. Coming off the disappointing "The Golden Compass," an experience that left a bitter taste in the director's mouth, he wanted to demonstrate he could take a popular book and make an equally popular film by being faithful to the source material.

Weitz talked to CNN about the "New Moon" frenzy, an embarrassing shot and those ungrateful actors. The following is an edited version of the interview.

CNN: For the DVD, what do you think the fans will appreciate the most?

Chris Weitz: What they'll appreciate most is certain scenes that didn't make it into the film. ... There's basically more Bella [Kristen Stewart], there's more Edward [Robert Pattinson], there's more Jacob [Taylor Lautner], and it's often sort of more extended versions of scenes where things are discussed at greater length rather than entirely new scenes. I think there's a lot of good stuff in the movie for fans, and at the same time we didn't want to get rid of any of their favorite scenes.

CNN: At the time the movie came out, you said you were hoping to do the commentary with Pattinson and Stewart. What happened?

Weitz: They blew me off! (laughs)

CNN: Those young actors.

Weitz: I have to say, they had a lot on their plates ... and there came a day when it was just me in a room, and I said, "I don't want to do this alone," so we managed to get my editor [Peter Lambert] on a satellite linkup, and we watched the movie together. And I think that it's frankly rather amusing, because we have a joshing relationship, whereas it may have been a bit more stilted had it been the kids and me, because they'd have to say nice things about me all the time.

CNN: When you watch the movie again, is it the kind of thing that you say, "Why did I make that decision?" perhaps because there was a deadline you had to hit.

Weitz: Well, there is that old saying, "A film is never finished; it's abandoned." But there's only one shot in the movie that embarrasses me, because every time I saw it in the movie, everybody laughed, even the most Twihard of them all. It's when you first see Bella has become a vampire, and she's running through the woods in this very diaphanous dress, and I guess my corny-meter was off that day. Everyone seems to find that terribly amusing.

CNN: How did a Cambridge-educated, nice, half-Jewish boy get involved with "New Moon" to start with?

Weitz: (laughs) Well, they asked. I think the first reason that I got involved was that I liked the actors very much. I think they're very good. Then I went to see the [first] movie in a little theater, and the response of the fans around me was amazing -- their degree of devotion, the delight they took in it. And you don't always get that as a director. You don't always know that there are going to be people watching and taking pleasure from what you're doing, so that's kind of a wonderful opportunity.

CNN: In the DVD commentary, you said you let the opening shot of the moon go on and on because you figured there would be 30 seconds of screaming when the titles came up. Was that true?

Weitz: The first time I saw it, there was quite a lot of screaming, just because of the buildup and anticipation were so great. People had been waiting so long to see it that it was good that they had a bit of time to calm down before you first saw Bella.

CNN: Were you reluctant to get involved in this, having come off "The Golden Compass" -- another big studio project, best-selling book series, where you had both fans who knew the books backwards and forwards and a studio that wanted a big hit?

Weitz: Well, no. I had something to prove, which was that if you really made a movie that was faithful to the book that it was going to succeed, and I felt that hadn't been the case on "Golden Compass." ... I knew I could do it properly if given the right kind of support. So there was a bit of redemption that I was looking for in that regard.

CNN: I don't want to get too much into "The Golden Compass," but do you think the studio was reluctant because of the atheistic themes in the original books?

Weitz: I think they were reluctant because there were any religious themes at all, actually. I still to this day really don't consider it an atheistic series of books, and in a funny way, I've bounced from a movie which, if anything, would be considered irreligious to a movie that some people consider to be a hidden advertisement for religion and chastity and all those things. But I think New Line was frightened of the source material. But that's crazy, of course, because if you're going to make a movie of a book, you should be familiar with the book's content.

CNN: Are you surprised by the Beatles-level frenzy that has surrounded the "Twilight" actors and the making of the film?

Weitz: I wasn't prepared for it, honestly. I knew it was a big deal, but it's one thing to deal with that conceptually and another to fear for their lives in the presence of thousands of teenagers. I was really astonished ... to encounter that level of devotion, and I'm very happy, I must say, to be able to lapse into complete obscurity again and never be recognized for the rest of my life.

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Video:Taylor Lautner Dirt Bike Riding Lessons in Twilight 'New Moon'

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Exclusive DVD Bonus Feature

MySpace Home Theater | MySpace Video

Access Hollywood Behind the Scenes in the New Moon DVD

Taylor Lautner Interview on set of New Moon from InStyle UK

InStyle UK interviews Taylor Lautnerfrom the set of Twilight Saga:New Moon about becoming the character Jacob Black in the movie.

'New Moon' Werewolf Chaske Spencer Takes Vacation From 'Twilight'

Eclipse" wrapped production in late October, a couple of weeks before its "Twilight" predecessor, "New Moon," opened with $143 million of tween-driven gusto at the box office. What the saga's actors chose to do next is as varied as the public's reaction to the vampire franchise.

Robert Pattinson is gearing up to shoot "Bel Ami" next month. Taylor Lautner went and became the highest-paid teen in Hollywood. And werewolf Chaske Spencer? He went on holiday.

"I keep in touch with some of the wolf guys, but mainly I just totally disconnect," he told MTV News at the red-carpet premiere of "Youth in Revolt." "I just got back from vacation, so I'm pretty refreshed."

When he says "disconnect," he really means it: no obsessive self-Googling, no clicking over to the "Twilight" fan sites to see what's shaking, no attempting to catch some early footage of the upcoming film. He hasn't seen a single frame of finished footage, nor does he have a clue when a trailer might be made public.

"I stay off the Internet," he explained. "I don't pay attention to anything. I put on my little stocking cap and I'm gone. What I like about New York City is nobody cares. If they do, they don't ever approach. They just give you a 'What's up?' and that's it.

That's a far cry from the brain-meltingly shrill squeals that greeted Spencer and his castmates as they crisscrossed the country last fall, promoting "New Moon" at suburban malls. Though, by the look of some of the photos that popped up on the Web during those PR stops, Spencer certainly seemed to be enjoying himself.

But months removed from that craziness — and months before it ramps up again in June with the release of "Eclipse" — Spencer confessed that it all seems a tad unreal.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that," he laughed. "That was a blur!"

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Vote: New Moon Movie on Z100’s Awards 2009

New Moon movie is nominated under the “Favorite Movie” category on Z100’s Awards 2009 and some Twilight Saga: New Moon movie cast members, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart, are also nominated in other categories.

To vote Click Here.

Tippett Studio: The Making of The CG New Moon Wolf Pack

As the New Moon rises, so do the stars at Tippett Studio. Charged with creating the Quileute Wolf Pack for the Twilight sequel, some of the industries leading character artists sunk their teeth into just under 60 shots ranging from three to twelve seconds that were pivotal to the storyline. And those shots are getting noticed.

"Strong concept art will save a lot of steps in the CG process;
it helps to keep the artists from meandering from the final goal." - Aharon Bourland, Technical Art Director, Look Development.

Wolf Mountain and Frankenwolf
The challenge wasn't just to build a believable wolf, but to build five unique wolves of extraordinary size and weight, to portray that mass often with little more than the surrounding trees as comparisons, create believable fur and humanesque eyes that weren't distracting. Nate Fredenburg, Art Director, helped to make sure those requirements were fulfilled, combining real-world attributes and CG magic.
"At Tippett Studio, we always look to real-life creatures for reference on how to design our characters, real or mythical. For New Moon, we had a special opportunity to travel down to wolf sanctuary in Southern California to observe wolves up close and personal. The key to looking at live reference is to form a knowledge base, study the creatures, their quirks and behaviors, the language between the pack. We looked for signs of what the creature was about and added those to the visual effects to make them believable."

In Lucerne Valley, there is a sanctuary called Wolf Mountain where a dedicated group is trying to save wolves from extinction. This is where the Tippett artists traveled to spend personal time with the wolves, many tame enough to be approached and touched by strangers. There the artist could observe behaviors, pack interactions, hierarchy behaviors, and movement, and "closely examine the fur and its different lengths over the body, the coloring variations and markings, as well as the structure of the face, eyes, teeth and so on."

The trip was extremely fruitful, but Phil Tippett, with his honed eye for perfection, added a second method to study fur under different controlled lighting and wind. "We had a bunch of photographs of wolves that we were studying but Phil was insisting that we take it to the next level and have something to touch, walk around, and actually do your own," explained Fredenburg. This resulted in the creation of what became affectionately known as the "Frankenwolf".
Tippett bought wolf pelts and cut them up with an Exacta knife and pasted it onto a taxidermy blank "so that we could do a lighting lab in two conditions? controlled lighting on our stage where we could shine very specific lights and look at how the fur responded, then we took it outside on an overcast day, which was perfect for New Moon. We came up with strategies for how to artistically make the wolves look better in flat lighting, which is what we were dealing with and is a very difficult lighting situation."

Hair Raising
One of the key observations we made at Wolf Mountain was the complexity of the fur. From nose to tail the fur quality changes, prompting the painters to create a zone chart of the animal that divided the wolf up into fur zones; on the nose and the legs the hair was short and velvet, on the neck the mane was thick and long, belly clumped and long, the back more medium length while the tail was bushy. The coloring was not only unique over the length of the body, but the hair follicle had unique color ticking from root to tip.
Image courtesy Tippett Studio.

"Even with as far as computing power has come," said Fredenburg "it still is very difficult to accurately mimic real life, so everything we do to come up with our fur look is an approximation,
a cheat. It's not about replicating a wolf hair for hair; it's about getting the feel of a wolf. Even though we pushed 4 million hairs on this show, which is
twice what we normally grow, it is still not nearly the number of hairs a real wolf has."

A real wolf would have hundreds of millions of hairs but a digital wolf will only have perhaps four million, so some interpretation is needed to achieve the same effect.

To help achieve the fullness and fur realism needed, Aharon Bourland, Technical Art Director and Look Development, helped create Tippetts' in-house tool, Furator.

New Moon was the second Tippett film where this tool was used. Similar
to Shake in that is uses a tree-based system, it allows for characteristics
of hair to be added via nodes, then merged back together for the final groom.

It was developed to be highly flexible and extensible, such as the ability to twist a group of hairs from the tip and leave the base alone.

Another very helpful addition was Scraggle, a tool that used a CV interp node that increased the number of CV's and resulted in a scraggled hair, then further adjusted so that the majority of scraggle was towards the base, creating the illusion of a thicker undercoat with smoother fur on top.


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Vote For New Moon in Moviefone’s Year-End Movies Poll

Moviefone has their end of year poll up and New Moon is in several categories:
- Best Movie
- Best Chick Flick
- Sexiest Male (Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson nominated)
- Breakout Male (Taylor Lautner)
- Breakout Female (Anna Kendrick: Up In The Air)
- Scene Stealer (Anna Kendrick: Up In the Air)
- Which movie in 2010 are you most excited for: Eclipse

Go to Moviefone and vote!

'New Moon' Exclusive: Chris Weitz Reveals 10 Secrets in the Film!

1. Hidden wolves
''Look for an upside-down engraving of a wolf in the shot of the bowl in which Carlisle burns his first-aid equipment; on Jacob's T-shirt when he meets Bella in the school parking lot for the first time; and a wolf trinket on the dream-catcher that he gives her.''

2. Vampire elevator music
''When Edward, Bella, and Alice get into the elevator on their way to see the Volturi, the music playing in the elevator is from Strauss' Die Fledermaus (a.k.a. The Bat).''

3. Emotional baggage?
''When Bella is looking for the meadow where she and Edward are seen lying down together, she carries a golden compass clipped to her backpack — part of my baggage!''

4. Speedy suitor
''We did a little trick when Edward gets out of Bella's truck and they're arguing. We wanted to show Edward moving impossibly quickly, so we put Rob right next to the camera but out of sight, and used a double dressed like Rob in the driver's seat. When Edward gets out, it's the double, and then Rob steps in front of the camera, and it looks as if he got there faster than humanly possible.''

5. Look it up
''And last but not least: If you want to know what Jacob says before he almost kisses Bella, ask a Quileute! The address of the Quileute tribal council is quileutenation.org. I can tell you this much: He says, Kwop kilawtley.''

6. Tower of glower
''You can see Volterra's tower and the red-cloaked revelers from the festival of San Marco on the cover of Bella's copy of Romeo and Juliet when she wakes up in her bedroom.''

7. Hope it was a rental...
''In the wolf-fight, we purposely knocked over the camera when the wolves tumble towards it; you can also hear the microphone thumping, as if an actual on-set animal had run into the camera and boom.''

8. Quileute culture
''When prepping to visualize Jacobs and Emily's houses, production designer David Brisbin and his team visited La Push and met the Quileute executive council. While they were there, a young Quileute girl gave David the first drum she made (this is a Quileute custom). To show appreciation, we decided to put the drum in a prominent shot — it's at the entrance of Emily's house, and you see it when Bella first enters. Also, the high pitched 'call' that Embry and Jared give when they jump out of Bella's car is a thing the Quileute kids do.''

9. Waxing romantic
''The reason the moon phases 'backwards' to reveal the title is that this is scientifically correct! I moderated an astrophysics seminar for the Science and Entertainment Exchange with noted astronomer Neil DeGrasse Tyson and he complained about the number of films that get simple science wrong. (Don't ask me to justify vampires or werewolves).''

10. That's Italian!
''In the Volturi chamber, Aro speaks Italian — 'La Tua Cantante' should be easy for readers of the books — he's referring to Bella's being Edward's 'singer,' whose blood calls out to him stronger than anyone else's. Later, when Bella tells him that he doesn't know anything about Edward's soul, he replies, 'Fore ... ne il vostro l'uno o altro' — 'Perhaps ... nor yours either.'''

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New Moon Movie Trailer is #4 Most Watched YouTube video of 2009

This year has been the biggest yet for online video, and for the first time we're sharing our official Most Watched lists and some of the fastest-rising search terms on YouTube. Some moments were big (President Obama's inauguration), some small (a Minnesota wedding party erupts into dance), some expected ("New Moon"), some surprising (Susan Boyle) — but all of them inspired, entertained and connected millions of people around the world via YouTube.

For these lists, we looked at view counts of YouTube's most popular videos this year (in some instances we aggregated views across multiple versions of the same video):

Most Watched YouTube videos (Global):
1. Susan Boyle - Britain's Got Talent (120+ million views)
2. David After Dentist (37+ million views)
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)
4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+ million views)
5. Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)

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New Moon Movie trailer #1 Viral Video this year

'New Moon' costume designer Tish Monaghan on Edward's suit and Jacob's cut-offs

Tish Monaghan, who took over styling duties for The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Eclipse, talks about how Edward ended up in a suit, why Jacob’s muscles are bulging through his shirt (when he actually wears one), what department mandated that the wolf pack’s jean shorts be extra tight, and more.

TISH MONAGHAN: He wasn’t a fan of the pea coat. He wore it in virtually every scene, and I think maybe he just got tired of it. I’m guessing. [Laughs] He just wanted a more mature look. That was part of Edward’s Grade 11 year, and now he’s getting into his graduation year, he’s in a relationship. He had worn hoodies and jeans and sneakers, and Robert, the director [Chris Weitz], and I all wanted to portray him more as a gentleman, more elegant and classic. With our vampire characters, I always went back to the time period in which they were turned to see if there’s any element I could try to simulate in contemporary clothing. He came out of the Edwardian period, around 1910. Of course, most of the gentleman from that time would be wearing suits, coats, hats, etc. We had to pick something that was iconic for the character that would suffice to be used throughout the whole film. At the very beginning of the film, he has one school outfit, and then there’s Bella’s birthday party and disaster strikes. So Edward ends up in that same costume for the remainder of the film. I was thinking of just putting him in a dress shirt and a pair of pants, but Robert wanted to be in a suit.

So I found a modern contemporary look that would be appealing to him and to the massive fan base, a very slim cut, and a fabric that to me was a bit Old World — this beautiful tweed fabric that we got out of England. It had the gray base, which is kind of essential for the Cullen characters in their cool tones, but also had little interesting flecks of blue, which is also Cullen, and a tiny little bit of rust, which I liked because Bella wears earth tones and that kinda linked her into the picture. The general texture of the suit would hold up well no matter what setting he was in: Inside the house for the party, or in the forest, or in the Volturi chamber. We had to show wear on the suit, and it’s much easier to rough up something that has texture to it than just a flat piece of wool. His pants are worn at the knees, they’re rumpled.

I don’t know if anyone’s looking at his pants when he removes his shirt in Italy.
The fans were very excited to see that, I don’t know if Robert was particularly excited to perform that in front of 1,500 people. I think it was quite hard for him to do. We originally tested Edward in a plain white shirt, as a forlorn-looking option. That is also what Robert wanted — he wanted something that would wash him out. But you need to have a color that makes you pop, and so we actually dyed the fabric this beautiful ink blue ourselves. It highlighted his vampire white skin really well. I think it’s a great moment when we see him in these clothes that he’s worn from September to May. When he goes to sacrifice himself, he’s in disrepair. Robert and Chris wanted his shirt to have a rip across the chest, so that’s what we gave him. It’s really kind of tragic to watch him take off his shirt, because he really is sacrificing himself. It looks like he’s just giving up. He’s exposing himself and he’s completely vulnerable, and he just takes his shirt off and he drops it at his feet with his eyes downcast. Then he gets attacked by Bella, who shoves him inside the doors. [Laughs] I don’t find it like a beefcake moment. It really is a moving moment, and I think Robert did a really amazing job for that scene.

The tear across the chest was to symbolize that his heart was torn out when he thought he lost Bella?
Maybe. [Laughs] They just said, “Rip it across the chest.” I said, “Are you sure? No shirt’s gonna rip like this.” And they said, “Yes.” So I did it.

Why couldn’t he remain shirtless for the indoor fight scene? Why put on the robe?
Originally, the guards who grab him were supposed to be coming from the outside — that’s why they give him the robe. But the setting was changed, and they grab him on the inside. So why do they hand him this robe? Because, quite honestly, it looks very cool fighting with this long, flowing garment, and it does hide pads, protect him.

Moving on to the wolf pack, was it easier to dress them since they were shirtless?
We still had to have a lot of fittings with them. You had to be very careful with where the shorts fall on the hip bone, we had to make sure everything sits at the same place when they run. Each individual actor had their own request, but we also had requests from the visual effects department, because if we had big, loose shredded shorts on when they morphed into wolves, it’s too much work and too many hours to magically get rid of that clothing on camera. They wanted the shorts as close-fitting to the leg as possible, whereas the natural tendency of the guys would be to have something baggier so that they didn’t look like they were wearing hot pants. [Laughs] So if I knew they were going to morph, then they had tighter-fitting shorts, and if they didn’t have to morph, then we would give them something a little bit looser and longer. There were lots of Levi’s, American Eagle, Old Navy. Quite honestly, I tried to shop where I figured the wolves would shop. [Laughs] So we went to Wal-Mart. The general concept was that anytime they went off to hunt, those shorts got destroyed because they’d change into a wolf. So they all had a secret little stash, buried in a hole somewhere in the forest, where they went running naked. [Laughs] That’s what we imagined. They had an unlimited selection of cut-off pants.

And did you or did you not pay special attention to where the sleeves of Jacob’s T-shirts fell on his biceps? Because job well done.
Absolutely. Everything was geared towards making sure that his arm muscles really showed. There’s a scene where he’s working on a motorcycle, and his muscles are really pulling against this plaid shirt he’s wearing. He looks very strong and very built, and we tried to do the same with this T-shirts. There was no way since it was the same actor that we could show somebody that had grown like six inches. So it was Chris Weitz’s genius idea to tailor his clothes, to make the sleeves a little bit shorter, a little bit tighter — make it look as if he’d grown out of his clothes in a couple of months and hadn’t had time to go get new ones. We found T-shirt brands that fit him well with hardly any adjustments and just stuck with those in earth tones — The Gap, Banana Republic, American Apparel, Levi’s. We tried more expensive T-shirts, but he looked too pretty.

Tell me about dressing the Volturi.
I knew that one scene involved the painting somewhere in the 1700s coming to life and them walking into their chamber to don their robes. It was really important to get the right shape and to ensure the audience that they were judicial robes because they are sitting in judgment. I did a lot of research into judicial gowns, I looked at a lot of religious paintings from the 1300s and 1400s. For each of the three prime Volturi — Aro [Michael Sheen], Caius [Jamie Campbell Bower], and Marcus [Christopher Heyerdahl] — we made the gowns the same shape in a black wool bouclé, but with different trims.

Is there any significance to Caius’ scarf?
It looked pretty. [Laughs] It was described in the script that Aro was wearing a suit and it was the blackest of blacks because there’s a color palette power structure and the most powerful is the blackest. So I wanted to still have elements of black on Caius, but break them up a bit so Aro would appear blackest of all. There was so much gray and pale stone in that Volturi chamber that I wanted to bring some of the red element from the religious festival outside into play in the interior. But it was also just a beautiful texture, a paisley wool pashmina-type shawl that I grabbed in Little India.

Let’s talk about the ladies. Rosalie and Alice?
There wasn’t much chance in New Moon to go into the backstory of Rosalie, but she has graduated from high school. You only see her at home, and at home, she can dress exactly how she wants. Harking back to the era that she came from, one of the icons that [Nikki Reed] and I discussed was Veronica Lake. Sensual, glamorous, tieing in with the blond hair. Alice, of course, is still a high school student and she had a very successful fashion-y look from Twilight, so we wanted to continue with that. We wanted things that looked cute and feminine on her, paying more attention to detail with the little swing coat, arm warmers, and a scarf at her neck. To me, all of this was an aide of covering up parts of her body that could potentially sparkle. When she was going to Italy, I just had in my mind Audrey Hepburn. You have this woman driving this Porsche, which was originally supposed to be a convertible, so I wanted a beautiful scarf around her head, big sunglasses, little capris. When I mentioned this whole Audrey Hepburn look to Ashley [Greene], she said, “Ohmygod, she’s my icon!” The funniest thing I saw was Ashley standing next to her stunt double on the cobbled streets of Montepulciano, in Italy, both dressed identically. She looking beautiful, pale and pixie-like, wearing her headscarf, red gloves and Michael Kors jacket, and the stunt double the same, but with a generous Roman nose, and a heavy 5 o’clock shadow. Too funny.

What was your vision for Bella’s look?
I think that the previous designer really successfully captured the essence of this girl who was a little bit misplaced and ill-prepared coming from Arizona to the Pacific Northwest. I wanted to continue the look that she was a very practical girl. She didn’t dress to entice, she threw on a jacket if the weather was cold, she layered up because she probably gets colder than the average girl from that area. In discussions with Kristen [Stewart], she also wanted to look a little bit more mature and put together. At the beginning of the film, when she’s happy and in love with Edward, she wanted to be linked colorwise to his world, the cool tones. When he leaves her, she kinda falls into disarray and gets sloppy and just throws on any old thing. But the any old things that we threw on her were in the earth tones [of Jacob's world]. We didn’t bring back her cool color palette until she was encountering Edward again.

What piece of Bella’s New Moon clothing do you expect everyone to want?
There’s a green shirt from Boy by Band of Outsiders that she wears at the end of the film in Italy that a lot of people seem to like.

In the end, which character did you take the biggest risk with?
Laurent. Chris wanted both Lauren and Victoria more elegant, less rock ‘n roll. Laurent had a leather jacket and really cool pants and was barefoot, and I put him in a suit and cool shoes. [Laughs] We made the suit, but I would say my inspiration for Laurent would have been Alexander McQueen. And I didn’t go as far as I wanted to go. There was this incredible mohair long plaid coat down to the ground, but it was too risky. It was going to end up looking too campy. The point with these bad vamps is that they are scavengers, so they will just put on their most recent acquisition. So he just found somebody with a really cool suit in downtown Seattle. [Laughs]

Last question: What can you tease about the costumes in Eclipse?
We go back to the 1700s and do a complete Quileute tribe. I had to go to museums and pour over clothing that was dug up from burial sites, and I went into diaries of sailors to read what their first encounters were with the Indians on the Pacific Northwest coast. Then we did vampires from the Civil War era, then we did the 1930s, then we did our contemporary world, then we did fantasy Volturi flying over on a jet to Forks, Washington. Then we did an army of vampire newborns. It’s pretty cool stuff.

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Twilight Saga:'New Moon' Costumes of Edward Cullen and Bella Bella Swan

We knew how much you loved Edward's grey pea coat in "Twilight" (it was a custom design). And we bet you already own a version Bella's blue hooded jacket (made by BB Dakota) — but with "New Moon" comes a whole new shopping list. So, starting today, we'll look back at the making of the movie's wardrobe with costume designer Tish Monaghan. First up: Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart).

BEGINNING THE PROCESS
“There was already a particular look in place, so the first thing I did was find out from the studio and the director, Chris Weitz, if they were happy with the looks of the characters,” recalled costume designer Tish Monaghan. “Were there things they wanted changed? Once I got those instructions — there were only minor adjustments to be made.” Bella's presentation from “Twilight” was kept consistent. “[The studio and Chris] liked that she was a tomboy and that she was in earth tones and was a little bit out of place. So I picked up on all of those comments, and when I did all of my purchasing for her, I stayed more or less in that world unless there was something specific that was required in the script.”

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN
During a interesting (to say the least!) double “date” with Mike (Michael Welch, left) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner, right) Bella wore the “Signe Smocked top” by Joie and American Eagle jeans. But the most notable part of her outfit is her token accessories — the turquoise bracelet and moonstone ring, which, according to Tish, were the very same trinkets Kristen wore in “Twilight.”
Get the look: "Cute Options Embroidered Smocked Peasant Top" from Target ($27)

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN (part 2)
One Bella takes a leap of faith (a.k.a. a cliff dive) she puts on Jacob’s big shearling jacket. The costumer found that coat, which was manufactured by Split, in old stock from the “Twilight” wardrobe closet.


HIGHWAY TO THE DANGER ZONE
When Bella decides to go for an adrenaline fix — in hopes of summoning the image of a disapproving Edward — she hops on her newly minted (thanks, Jacob!) motorcycle for an unsuccessful joy ride. Thankfully her fall was padded, uh, somewhat by her Burkman Bros plaid jacket, which Tish picked up in the Men’s Department at Barney’s Co-Op.Get the look: Roxy "First Love" Bomber Jacket from Dillard's ($80)


DASHING EDWARD
“This is the most important costume [for Edward] because it’s the last thing Bella remembers him in,” the costumer said of Robert Pattinson’s suit. “We had to be very careful about choosing something that was absolutely right because he has to spend almost the whole film in it.” So, instead of buying one, Tish created her own suit out of a grey tweed with blue and orange flecks in it. “I wanted old world fabric to match with his heritage. I also wanted something that had texture and that would be able to age.” That’s right, there were six copies of this ensemble made in order for Robert to wear it continuously and in many different elements (i.e. in the ocean during Bella’s cliff dive!). Kristen is wearing a custom made jacket that was replicated from the one she wore in “Twilight.”

THE GREEN MILE
“Putting Bella in hunter green was a request from Chris [Weitz],” Tish said of Kristen’s button up shirt, which was a design from Boy by Band of Outsiders paired with J Brand jeans and Keds. “We knew that Bella was going to be running through a crowd who were all going to be in red, so we had to choose a color that would make her stand out and still transition easily to that forest scene at the beginning of the film.” FYI, Edward's grey peacoat on the right was homemade by Tish and her crew!
Get the look: The "Essential Stretch Military Shirt" in "Cacti" from Express ($50).

ROBED AND DANGEROUS
If you're wondering where the black shirt went that Robert was slowly unbuttoning to reveal his six-pack vampire self to the crowd in Italy (in the movie, we see him put on a red robe after his attempts are thwarted by Bella, but, uh, did he just dump his acutal shirt on the ground?), it's in the black hole pf movie making. "When the script was originally set, Edward was supposed to be captured outside by Demetri and Felix — that’s why he is thrown a red robe," Tish explains. "[But], by the time they decided he was instead going to be captured inside, we had already filmed the inside scenes."

THE ENCHANTED FOREST
“These were the first costumes that I designed,” Tish recalls of the sequence in which we see future Bella as a vampire running with Edward in the woods. “The fantasy was this sort of post-wedding feeling where they were hunting in these light-colored outfits through the dark forest. I didn’t want them in anything practical.” So, she put Robert in some pretty high-end threads: a vest from Loden Dager, a Club Monaco linen shirt, Orme in Portofino khakis and Magnanni shoes (the same ones he wears with the grey suit throughout the movie). For Bella, Tish aimed for sweet and girly, while Chris Weitz envisioned a look from Greek mythology: Diana the Huntress. The result? “We made that silk chiffon over silk organza dress. It was nice to see her in something feminine.”

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART
Tish is one lucky lady — she also got to put her costumer designing gene to work on the next film in the Saga, “Eclipse.” But does that mean she’d give us any details on that closet? Well, sort of: “’Eclipse’ is just one week later,” she hinted. “Bella graduates, and color wise, that she is linked more to the Cullen’s — she gets out of her earth tones, and she dresses a little more grown up.”

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'New Moon' Director Chris Weitz Reveals DVD Details

'New Moon' Director Chris Weitz plans to include at least 20 minutes of deleted material from the blockbuster.

After this weekend's record-shattering opening, "New Moon" is now officially the biggest film of 2009. In a few months, it will inevitably become one of the biggest DVD releases of 2010.

So what can we expect from the "New Moon" DVD? Recently, we caught up with director Chris Weitz and got the scoop on the disc you'll soon want sitting next to "Twilight" on your shelf.

"There will be a commentary track," Weitz revealed, saying that he'll soon head into the recording booth with his three big stars, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. "It'll just be us riffing off each other in our intimate way," he grinned. "We kind of like each other, so that should be fun."

In addition, fans can look forward to picking up a copy of "Twilight in Forks," the independently made documentary that teased fans with brief glimpses of its exploration into the real-life town that inspired Stephenie Meyer, only to be snatched up by Summit in September. An insider told MTV recently that the film will not be re-edited but will hit DVD alongside "New Moon" with all-new packaging and artwork.

Judging by the insatiable appetite of Twilighters, they'll be filling DVD stores in the first quarter of 2010, eager to glimpse the deleted scenes Weitz plans to unveil for the first time.

"There will be probably about 20 minutes of deleted material," he explained, promising some meaty footage. "It really is good stuff and a bonus for the fans."

Among this bonus footage could be several moments MTV knows were shot but did not make the final "New Moon" cut, including:

» A scene with Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria driving to Forks in a car, snacking on a dead human. It was one of the final moments the actress filmed as the nomadic vampire.

» A scene with the human characters eating Burger King.

» Another scene with the humans, this time with Justin Chon and Michael Welch expressing jealousy over Edward's car.

» More scenes with the Volturi in Italy.

» An extended cut of the scene where Mike Newton quotes Shakespeare to Bella in the Forks High parking lot; in it, he does a Marlon Brando impersonation.

» Scenes alluding to the ongoing breakup between Newton and Anna Kendrick's Jessica.

"When I made the film, I wanted it to arrive at a certain kind of flow and cadence," Weitz said of why he had to leave so many scenes on the cutting-room floor but hopes to restore many for the DVD. "[They would have affected] how the movie worked, and they didn't completely fit. But there'll be some groovy stuff in [the DVD]."

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20 Differences (That Work) Between ‘New Moon' and the Book

Twilight scribe Melissa Rosenberg faced an enormous challenge adapting Stephenie Meyer's 500+ page novel for the screen, but it's clear that the filmmakers chose to remain steadfastly faithful to Meyer's book. (Perhaps to a fault, considering the reviews.) Still, for fans, New Moon should feel just authentic enough to drive it toward an enormous opening weekend. So how do Rosenberg's additions, changes, and omissions from the text affect New Moon on film, and which ones work the best?

Way more shirtless boys!

We all hoped to get a glimpse of Edward's alabaster chest in Volterra, but who knew we'd get to see so much hot werewolf skin? Thankfully, the Wolf Pack run such high temperatures and explode away their clothes so frequently that cut-off jeans and no shirt are their shared ensemble of choice.

We get more fights, including an awesome Volturi throw down.

New Moon the book is infamous for its slow pacing, thanks to Bella's crippling depression (see below). So it's a good thing that the film throws in fistfights, wolf skirmishes, and chase scenes to liven things up a bit more. Our favorite: watching Volturi guard Felix put the smack down on our precious Edward, a scene crafted for the film.

Instead of talking to herself, Bella sends emails to Alice.

New Moon, like all of the Twilight books, makes frequent use of Bella's internal voice-overs to tell us what's going on in that angsty head of hers. In New Moon, Bella writes emails to her lost BFF, Alice, to work through her issues. We still get the voice-overs, but they're cleverly disguised as Bella's messages to Alice, and therefore much less "Vampire Diaries." (Also, creating a movie email address for Alice was a clever way to sneak in product placement for Apple's MobileMe email application.)

Bella's (a little) less mopey than she is in the books.

Much of the book is devoted to Bella's heartbreaking, months-long break-up depression, so it's a good thing that the film condenses her lost period a bit for the sake of storytelling. Critics complain already that Bella spends so much time staring into space, pining over Edward; if only they knew how much more we/she suffer in the books! Thankfully, Rosenberg's script snaps Bella out of her funk and moves on, sort of, in a relatively short span of time.

Bella's months-long depression, in the blink of an eye.

Fans were wondering how Chris Weitz would treat the infamous "lost" months of Bella's depression, which are depicted by blank pages in the book. After all, October, November, December, and January fly by as voids of nothingness to the girl. Weitz and Rosenberg's solution? A clever scene where Bella sits listless in front of her window as the camera moves around her to show the changing seasons outside. The trick captures her melancholia and is perfectly punctuated by Lykke Li's haunting, wistful track, "Possibility."

Edward doesn't hide Bella's photos.

In the book, when Edward decides to break up with Bella and leave town, he also sneaks into her room and hides her photos of him so that she'll have no reminders at all that he existed – a complete and total abandonment. (Can you imagine a world without pictures of RPattz? It would be horrible, indeed.) In the film, we see him in her room, but there's no messing with photographs, which would have been an unnecessary minor plot point anyway. Plus, those folks who think Edward's a little stalker-like might have been even more creeped out by him rifling through her stuff. Instead, we get the full impact of Edward's absence in Bella's misery.*

Jacob gives Bella a dream catcher.

One new scene in the film has Jacob giving Bella a dream catcher for her birthday, killing two birds with one stone in the process: giving her a present when Edward feels he cannot and putting the mack on her with a big bear hug right in front of Edward. Bella hangs the dream catcher above her pillow, but unfortunately for her, it doesn't help keep the nightmares away.

Bella goes for a bike ride at One Eyed Pete's.

Bella's attempt to put herself out there by going to Port Angeles with Jessica takes a dangerous (and hilarious) turn when she accepts a ride with a burly, beefy biker in order to hang on to her visions of Edward. In the book, she stops short of hopping on the chopper, but in the film she takes a full-on joyride with a stranger. How boring would it have been if she'd just turned around and walked back to safety?

More snarky Anna Kendrick!

Besides giving Bella her very first brush with danger, the biker scene serves another purpose: letting Anna Kendrick shine. As Jessica, Kendrick once again steals every scene she's in, and Bella's foolish biker episode gives her some of her very best frenemy lines of dialogue. Bonus: Kendrick's blissfully ignorant snark attack on zombie movies.

Two words: Face Punch!

In addition to the zombie genre, New Moon has a little something to say about stupid action flicks. One of the best additions to the script involves Bella, Mike Newton, Jacob, and a popular (fake) blockbuster movie entitled Face Punch. (Tagline: "Let's DO this!")

Visions of RPattz dance in Bella's head.

While Bella's hallucinations of Edward in the books are purely auditory, there's no way that would fly in the film. So Weitz injects plenty of pretty Rob Pattinson shots throughout the entire duration of Edward's absence, scrumptious visions that come and go like wisps of smoke. And really, there's tons of RPattz bookmarking New Moon, so we don't miss him all that much. (What am I saying? There's always room for more RPattz!)

Victoria is definitely in the water.

When Bella is drowning after cliff-diving in New Moon, we clearly see Victoria swimming toward her in the water right before Jacob pulls her out of the water – something that was hinted at, but kept ambiguous, in the books. We like it better this way, as it makes Bella's danger more present and, let's be real, gives Rachelle Lefevre a little more to do, considering that she has exactly zero lines in the whole movie.

Bella hits Paul in the face!

In a film packed with phasing wolves and marble-cracking vampire fights, it's nice to see Bella get a little action. Angry that they've brainwashed her beloved Jacob, Bella confronts the Wolf Pack, shoves Sam Uley, and smacks Paul right in the kisser! Sure, it seems a little out of character, but at least in this moment, Bella is an agent of action and not merely reacting to the people around her. Plus, it leads into Paul's transformation and Jacob's mid-air phase, and the huge revelation of the Quileute secret.

Carlisle's Volturi painting comes to life.

Instead of waiting ‘til the end to meet the Volturi, we get an early peek at them when Carlisle's painting comes to life as Edward explains their history to Bella. Thank goodness! It would be such a waste to have even less of Aro & Co. in New Moon than the brief sequence we already get.

Victoria attacks Harry Clearwater.

While tracking the Wolf Pack – and slyly covering their footprints – Harry Clearwater suffers a fatal heart attack in the woods. But in the film, we see that Harry's heart attack comes from the shock of being attacked by Victoria, who is seen stalking Charlie's hunting party from up in the trees. The change here allows plot points to converge, as the ensuing wolf pursuit of Victoria runs parallel to Bella's fateful cliff-jump into the ocean. And again, it gives Rachelle Lefevre something to do.

New Moon has way more funnies.

Credit Rosenberg for injecting more sly humor into New Moon, which was especially necessary in this installment. Supporting humans like Jessica, Mike, and Charlie add levity to their scenes with the somber Bella, while more subtle winks, like the comparison of werewolfiness to a "lifestyle choice" and Bella's transatlantic ride aboard a Virgin Atlantic airplane, display a self-aware sense of humor.

Jacob and Bella almost kiss. Twice!

New Moon is Jacob's movie, so Rosenberg rewards him with not one, but two almost-kisses. If you look closely, their lips ACTUALLY TOUCH the second time!

Jacob and Edward face off in the woods – just not when you expect.

If you've read New Moon, you're already expecting the tense "treaty" discussion between Jacob and Edward. Rosenberg wisely juggles the timeline a bit, placing it before the key conclusion (see #19), and adds one last phase for the furious Jacob. (It's the closest Bella's two men come to blows in New Moon.)

Edward proposes!

Rosenberg saves the best for last, leaving Bella (and us) with the biggest possible cliffhanger. Again, the re-jiggered placement of the scene works better cinematically, and leads into the next film, Eclipse!

Alice's vision. OMG, spoilers! (Seriously, MAJOR spoiler here concerning future installments of the Twilight Saga.)

When Aro "sees" Alice's vision of the future, he lets her, Edward, and Bella go with the knowledge that sometime soon, Bella will become a vampire. As a special treat, the film shows us Alice's vision of Edward and Bella running through the woods (alas, in giggle-worthy outfits and slow motion). But after the snickers die down, think about exactly what you are seeing and you'll realize that it's essentially a preview of sorts… of something with the initials B and D!

That said, there are a couple of changes that don't work so well. Jacob's mood swing in the theater and subsequent threat of physical violence to poor Mike Newton seems incredibly out of character. Later in the film when the phone rings in Bella's kitchen, Jacob definitely knows it's Edward on the phone (as opposed to thinking it's Carlisle as in the book), which makes him more of a jerk.

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Twilight Saga: New Moon Behind-The-Scenes Footage And Interviews

Behind-The-Scenes Look At Scene Where Jacob Transforms
You've seen the movie clip, but check out what it takes to create the scene where Jacob protects Bella from the wolf pack.

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Behind The Scenes At Bella's Birthday

You've seen the completed scene, but now check out what it took for Kristen Stewart to get that paper cut.

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Exclusive 'New Moon' Clip: Bella's Paper Cut
An innocent birthday present nearly turns tragic in this exclusive "Twilight: New Moon" clip.

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Behind The Scenes At The Volturi Fight
Check out what it was like to shoot the Volturi fighting with Robert Pattinson.

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The Volturi Vs. Edward And Alice Cullen
"She knows too much. She's a liability," Caius (Jamie Campbell Bower) tells Aro (Michael Sheen) before the fight breaks out.

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Robert Pattinson's Take On The Volturi
The "New Moon" actor describes what the vampire lords' roles are in the "Twilight" universe.

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Dakota Fanning Plays A Bad Girl

The "New Moon" newbie talks about her character, Jane, and her bad powers.

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Dakota Fanning Talks About Working With Kristen, Rob, Ashley And More

Plus, she talks about the wide appeal of the "Twilight" sequel.

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'New Moon' Has Fans Jumping From Team Edward To Team Jacob

With even Kirsten Stewart questioning Bella's alliance to Edward and with Taylor Lautner looking particularly beefy these days, it's no wonder die-hard Team Edward members are questioning their allegiance to the brooding vampire.

Some fans are switching teams altogether — so does that mean no one is on Team Edward anymore?

"I'm still Team Edward," Stephanie told MTV News early Friday after catching a midnight screening of "New Moon" in New York. "Die-hard."

The majority of Twi-Hards agreed that no matter how hot Lautner gets, Edward will always have their hearts. But, obviously, Jacob has his supporters too, many of whom were always behind the werewolf, along with some newcomers.

"I was definitely Team Edward, and I'm kind of leaning toward Jacob now," Alyssa said. Another fan added: "Team Jacob. I like the underdog."

At a Thursday "New Moon" screening in New York, Stewart elaborated on Bella's relationship with Edward in the forthcoming films. "I've always backed her up in her devotion to Edward," she said. "And to see that falter will be interesting. ... I'm looking forward to seeing the love triangle actually becoming a problem. We sort of innocently touch on it in 'New Moon,' but it actually becomes something that is very, very real."

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‘New Moon’ Cast Reveals Their Favorite Scenes

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“I liked when Jacob transforms into the werewolf,” Peter Facinelli revealed to MTV News. “When I was reading the book — I mean, your imagination goes so far, and I was like, ‘I can’t wait to see that in the film,’ and it didn’t disappoint.”

Fellow Cullen Ashley Greene flew her Team Jacob flag by highlighting the wolf fights. “I think that I like the wolf fight. You never know how those are going to turn out with the CGI. I think it turned out very well,” she said, adding that evil vamps Jane and Aro are also cool.

“I was obviously there filming it and kind of saw the way Michael Sheen commanded the room, and he’s so fantastic to watch and be across from,” she added. “So I wanted to see how they came across on film, and I thought that it was a very cool scene.”

Read the whole article HERE!