'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' Set Visit - Day Two

After getting an up close view of the sets for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" on day one, this writer's second day on the sequel's set didn't seem much different at first.

As we made our way into the soundstage, the film's principals were once again seen on the video monitors acting out more scenes from the initial Volturi meeting. And like a proud mother watching her children, series author Stephenie Meyer was front and center taking in every moment.

Some quick book backstory for those who haven't read up on this yet -- the Volturi are ancient vampires who form the most powerful coven (organization) in the "Twilight" world. They are lead by Aro (Michael Sheen) and include Jane (Dakota Fanning), Alec (Cameron Bright) and Caius (Jamie Campbell Bower) among their sinister flock. They would like the Cullens, including our hero Edward (Robert Pattinson), to join them, but instead have become embroiled in a dramatic rift between Edward and Bella (Kristen Stewart) in the new movie. They enter the story at the end of the "New Moon" and will be key players in the third picture, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" and beyond. Oh, and did we mention they really want Bella to turn into a vampire?

The first shot we witness this morning finds Pattinson on camera in a long brown robe with tan accents on his sleeve. He races to the camera, looks up, braces in pain and then falls to the floor. The second take he has more agony in his voice as he falls and we can hear director Chris Weitz saying, "Much, much better." The third attempt finds the camera panning back to reveal Bell at his side before he lunges toward what must be one of the Volturi (Jane we later discover) and falling to the ground.

After a few minutes, they change the angle of the camera and we see Jane -- in the same scene -- inflicting pain on Edward. Yes, she's the cause and she does it with little gesturing and without speaking a word. A powerful vampire indeed.

The production has a lot to get through today, so the shot then changes to a close up on Bella who is being held by Alec stopping her from racing to Edward's side.

"Please stop," Stewart says, "Don't hurt him."

At first, during rehearsal as the camera operator sets up the shot, Stewart says the lines comically with deadpan effect causing some snickers from the crew. But when the take is ready for real, she says it with the expected dramatic resolve. The coverage also expands to find Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene) being allowed to race to Edward's side. She gesture's that he's "OK."

While Weitz talks to the actors on the set about the next shot, we take time to talk to newcomer Chrisopher Heyerdahl who plays Marcus, a member of the Volturi. The role is a huge break for the struggling British actor, but he seemed to be playing it cool. Intriguingly, he also revealed a flashback scene had been shot, including his character, Aro and Dr. Carlisle Cullen ("Nurse Jackie's" Peter Facinelli) that set up the "truce" between the two parties way back in the 18th Century. To the other writers on the visit, this seemed to be a scene they didn't expect would make the movie and were pretty psyched about it being included.

Then something rather odd happened. This journalist has been to more than 30 movie sets and had never experienced what occurred next. A man who I can only assume was the Assistant Director came out from the closed 360 Volturi hall and announced, "All guests clear the set." And that didn't mean Ms. Meyer, her companions or the Summit executives in front of the monitors, that meant us -- the press. So, without complaint we walked off the soundstage to be followed by an overly genial Wyck Godfrey, the film's producer we'd spoken with the day before, who, paraphrasing, remarked, "Sometimes things like that happen on a movie set."

Uh, sure they do. Not with press around.

This writer won't speculate on what caused our removal, but it certainly was odd. And yet while we were outside we had a chance to talk to the blunt Mr. Bower, who many will recognize from his role as the lovelorn Anthony in "Sweeney Todd." Bower, who also has the luck of appearing as Gellert Grindelwald in the two part"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," smoked a cigarette and was as jovial an interview subject as could be.

"As in the book, the Volturi play a small, but necessary part in this film," Bower told us. "They come much more into play in the fourth film. I’m playing Caius very angry and agitated with the world, I suppose. Just glaring looks. You’ll see as much as you read in the books."

Casius, much to Bower's chagrin, also doesn't have a power which accounts for some of his frustration. To find out more of Bower's thoughts on joining the "Twilight" franchise, click here to read a more indepth interview from our visit.

Happily though, our whole crew was soon allowed back on the set where we returned to our positions to watch more shooting. At this point -- and with her crew and some of the publicists out of the way, Meyer made a point of coming over to talk to us. We couldn't interview her formally (her handlers are actually smart to limit her press breaks), but she couldn't not say hello to us. She'd also admitted she visited all or our sites except for HitFix, but hopefully that has changed in the weeks since. (Are you there Stephenie? Have you gotten your fix?). We also discovered these was one of her few visits to the filming of "New Moon" and she had not been there for all of the production. Meyer also said she was very happy with Weitz's direction and was blown away by the Volutri hall set that was being used the days we were there.

Back on camera, Stewart/Bella is once again the center of attention. With Pattinson still on the ground in "pain" as Edward, she receipts her lines, "Stop! Stop! Try it on me! Just don't hurt him!"

There is a pause and then smiling she goes, "[expletive]. I just lost myself a little bit."

The crew's laughter showed little tension on the stage considering what had happened less than an hour before. However, Stewart finally gets it to Weitz's satisfaction a few takes later and they move on to the next shot.

Showing acting isn't always a glamorous life, our next take finds Pattinson once again on the ground (where's been on and off for at least two hours) writhing in pain as Alice looks up and says, "He's O.K." take after take. Eventually, Edward's pain is accurately captured and Pattinson is allowed to walk back to his trailer with his bare chest visible for all the ladies in my party to swoon over.

With Edward gone, the crew continues filming reaction shots. This time? A close up on Jane who stares ominously where Edward is supposed to be. Notably, Fanning looks almost unrecognizable in her Volturi outfit. She's stunningly beautiful looking more and more like a ready to graduate senior in high school rather than the sophomore she really is. Notably though, at least on the days we were on set, Jane says nothing. And sadly, Fanning did not speak to us during our time there.

And as we soon discovered, any hope of talking to Pattinson was a pointless exercise. We didn't expect Stewart to say hello, but we held out hope that Edward would take a few minutes to answer questions. Ironically, there was no outlet amongst our group that would have treaded the celebrity-gossip ground he no doubt feared discussing, but, hey, it happens.

Before we left, however, we did get a chance to talk to Cameron Bright, who plays Jane's twin brother Alec. Bright, a striking looking British Columbian teenager, has made a name for himself with impressive performances in films such as "Birth," "Running Scared," X-Men: The Last Stand" and "Ultraviolet." He admits he'd never read the books, but made sure he watched the first film before arriving on set.

"A lot of people were saying like, it was half and half. All the guys were saying it was bad, and all the girls were saying it was good," Bright reveals. "I actually liked it, I didn’t mind it at all."

Having only begun shooting a few days before, Bright honestly couldn't answer a lot of our questions, but was looking forward to using Alec's special power to cut off people's senses -- an ability arguably more deadline than his sister's inclination to inflict pain. Bright admits it's a little "weird."

"I say, 'Ha! You’re blind!' all of a sudden," Bright says. "It's definitely a cool power. Especially Jane’s, right? She just kind of makes people feel pain all of a sudden? All I know is one of my friends is like, 'You’re of the strongest, and you’re one of the meanest.' I’m fine with that! Everybody likes the guy to hate!"

Bright will soon learn even the villains have fans among the "Twilight" faithful and he's in for a publicity roller coast ride he'll never forget. You can read more of our converstation with Bright here.

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New Moon Director Chris Weitz Spills Juicy Twilight Details

ON ECLIPSE AND DAVID SLADE

While Weitz works against the clock to finish New Moon (which will be released November 20, 2009), director David Slade (30 Days of Night) has already begun prepping the third film in the series, Eclipse. Slade even visited the Vancouver set of New Moon to get briefed by Weitz, who revealed that visual effects studio Tippett Studios will provide werewolf effects for both New Moon and Eclipse.

"David Slade came in while we were still shooting the end of New Moon and I showed him everything that I could to give him a sense of what direction we were going," Weitz explained. "He's going to take it in whatever way he wants to because he's his own guy and will have his own style and particular take on things, but just as I was inheriting certain things from Catherine Hardwicke, he's going to inherit certain things from me and make the choice as to whether he wants to keep them or alter them."

" We've had discussions," he continued. "Tippett is going to do the wolves for Eclipse so that there's a continuity in terms of the look of the werewolves, and obviously the cast is going to remain the same; so Dakota is Jane, and all the Volturi are the same people that we're familiar with."

THE BIG QUESTION: WOULD WEITZ COME BACK FOR BREAKING DAWN?

Despite the fact that only a handful of stills and a teaser trailer have debuted for New Moon, fans are already speculating on whether or not Weitz would return to direct the fourth film, Breaking Dawn. Will he consider taking the reins again?

"I think it's really charming that, not having seen New Moon, people would be enthusiastic about me wanting to do Breaking Dawn," Weitz said, partly humble, and perhaps partly remembering the tumultuous experience he had when his last would-be franchise, Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass, didn't make it to subsequent sequels. "I think the proof is in the pudding, and they should see New Moon before they decide if they want me to do anything else to do with their series. But I would hope to earn that kind of rumor."

While he passed on directing the third Twilight film out of sheer pragmatism, the possibility of Weitz directing Breaking Dawn remains open. "I haven't really spoken with Summit about that; all I knew was that I was going to be too tired to do Eclipse, and that it was better that somebody else take it over as well so that they could put their own imprint on it. Also, the way the films are being shot [in rapid succession] would have precluded it anyway."

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THE BIGGER QUESTION: IS BREAKING DAWN EVEN FILMABLE?

It's unsurprising that Breaking Dawn -- the fourth and final book in Meyer's Twilight series -- is still without a director. Although producers insist it's still in the works, Breaking Dawn is unconfirmed by the studio, and it's not difficult to guess why: with more than a few mature and controversial storylines and a potentially large dependency on expensive computer graphics, Breaking Dawn might be the most difficult Twilight installment to film and market. But Weitz is optimistic.

"It's a tough one," he admitted, mulling the thought of directing Breaking Dawn. "It's a hard one, because the series gets more and more ambitious as it goes along." Some might wonder if it could be pulled off altogether. Weitz paused for thought. "Yes, it's doable; anything is doable."

So, would he go on the record with his official interest in Breaking Dawn? "I'd certainly consider it," he confirmed.
Then again, Weitz knows that fan sentiment could easily turn against him and newer director Slade could become a popular front runner, quipping, "by the time [Eclipse] comes out they'll probably want him to direct Breaking Dawn, not me."

CHRIS WEITZ'S FAVORITE SCENE TO FILM

Like a Twilight mecca of sorts, fans visited Vancouver in droves during production to glimpse external sets like Jacob Black's house, sometimes encountering cast members still in costume. Paparazzi even followed New Moon's stars after hours and on weekends, feeding the frenzy. But North American fans stalking sidewalks and hotels in Vancouver were nothing compared to what awaited Weitz and his cast in Italy, where fans from all over Europe decamped in a fashion that Weitz compares to Beatlemania; surprisingly, he names the scenes shot in Montepulciano -- under the watchful eyes of hundreds of Twilight fans, observing (and blogging) Bella's climactic dash to stop Edward from exposing himself at high noon -- as his favorites to film.

"There were a lot of fun scenes to film, frankly," Weitz recalls. "I really did enjoy the scenes in the Volturi headquarters [filmed on Vancouver soundstages], although it was a tremendous logistical headache. In a way, it's the scenes that you dread the most, because they are so time consuming and you have to get them just right, which is like the stuff in the Volturi headquarters, or the stuff that was shot in Montepulciano."

"I suppose that has to be my favorite scene, because it is the high point of the movie, when Bella goes to try to stop Edward from killing himself. We had a thousand extras in this medieval town square in a hill town in Tuscany, in the most beautiful country on earth, and it was such an extraordinary opportunity to get to work there. It was also kind of surreal, because every Twilight fan who could make it from all over continental Europe and further, had gone by hook or by crook to Montepulciano and booked a hotel room -- sometimes at the very hotel which the cast and crew were staying."

"So there was this kind of weird Beatlemania sort of thing going on in this very small, beautiful, hill town. For five days it was this kind of bizarre festival atmosphere, and it really wasn't bothersome at all; it was incredibly gratifying. All these people would applaud after every single take, whether or not we had screwed it up - they had no idea because they weren't close enough to hear. But if you looked down any alley down which the camera wasn't pointing, you'd see hundreds of these young girls who had come to just touch a piece of what they really loved."

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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BOOK AND THE FILM

Those paying close attention to Stephenie Meyer's source novels might remember the "three-way date" that Bella goes on with friends Mike Newton and Jacob Black. While the scene was shot for New Moon, the filmmakers had to be creative with details in order to avoid potential lawsuits. Hence, the film will show Bella going to see a movie-within-a-movie entitled, simply, Face Punch. Unfortunately for fans, Face Punch will not be filmed at all.

Weitz explains how he came up with the title and concept for Face Punch: "The funny thing is, I had to come up with the name of a movie-within-a-movie, and the first one, which I think was named Cross-Hairs in the book, couldn't be cleared because it had already been used. You'd be shocked at the number of stupid action movie names that have been turned into movies. So I eventually submitted a list of ten to Summit's lawyers and they had to see which ones they could go and clear, and Face Punch was one of two out of ten that could actually be cleared. And I chose that over Kill Hunt, so now somebody can actually go make Kill Hunt, but Face Punch is ours. [Laughs] It was always a joke between me and my brother [filmmaker Paul Weitz] that there should be a movie called Face Punch, which was just about people punching each other in the face. But it's the kind of movie-within-a-movie, it's the least romantic thing that Bella can think of to go to, because her friend asks her, essentially, on a date and she wants nothing romantic to happen at all."

Weitz continued, landing upon a brilliant idea for the next wave of Twilight fan videos. "Sadly, there is no Face Punch, although maybe it should be something that the fans are left to make. You'll hear the sounds of Face Punch, which will be a lot of people being shot and hacking each other to bits. There are a few other movies that are referred to, imaginary movies, within this movie, and the way that it satirizes other genre films in a very brief and lighthearted way. And this is example of the stupidest kind of action movie imaginable."

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OK, BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT ROTTEN TOMATOES LINE?

Alas, we confirmed that Meyer's mention of Rotten Tomatoes had to be omitted for legal reasons.

"I'm afraid we didn't [include the Rotten Tomatoes line], and the reason would not be because of Rotten Tomatoes, but because Summit Entertainment [is] very careful about not quoting any existing property. And probably, if we had actually bothered to go and ask, then you guys would have said, 'Yeah that'd be really cool,' but then some lawyer would have said, 'It doesn't matter, somebody else could complain about it,' and all that sort of stuff."

"It might be because of the Tomatometer response to The Golden Compass, as well," he joked, "which lowered my overall Tomatometer quite severely."

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THE "PROPOSAL" SCENE

Speaking of changes, let's address the big fan question: The Proposal Scene. While Melissa Rosenberg's script for Twilight deviated slightly from Meyer's source novel, most agree that it remained generally faithful in story and (perhaps to a fault) in dialogue. So will New Moon's conclusion stay faithful to Meyer's "proposal scene," in which Edward makes a very specific ultimatum in response to a life-changing request from Bella?

"It hasn't been cut out, I can tell you that much," Weitz carefully shared. He paused to compose his answer, making sure not to reveal too much. "It's not going to hit them in exactly the way that they think it's going to, but I will say that -- how can I put it? --it's going to be quite special. I kind of saved all of my gusto for that moment. I don't think it will disappoint.

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Exclusive: 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' Director Chris Weitz reveals all

Having spoken with the always kind and professional Weitz about his previous film "The Golden Compass" and having worked with him way back when on the online campaign for "Down to Earth," I knew he was seriously busy if he couldn't stop to chat. And considering how frantic the shooting schedule for "New Moon" was, we took the production at their word that he'd speak to us down the road. This week, that promise came to fruition and Weitz was relaxed and open as he took a break from editing the "Twilight" sequel. The entire transcript of the interview is below, but here are some newsworthy items he revealed.

*Even Weitz was surprised with how quickly Phil Tippet's company turned around the Jacob wolf shot at the end of the first teaser trailer. The shot has gone through numerous iterations and is much more photorealistic than that version.
*He'll be submitting a director's cut of the film to Summit within the next two weeks.
*Alexandre Desplat is currently working on the movie's score. It may include hints at Carter Burwell's original "Twilight" theme, but will sound different.
*Thom Yorke and Kings of Leon are interested in contributing to the film's soundtrack.
*A couple of new scenes from the film will be shown during the "New Moon" Comic-Con panel on Thursday, July 23.
*The movie within a movie, "Facepunch," will only be heard -- not seen.
*Shooting in Italy with all of the fans that trekked across Europe to see the production was like Beatlemania.
*His vision of the Volturi is very much like the book and unlike a number of fan inspirations that have hit the web. He also sees them as having gone slightly insane after living for 2,000 years.
*He's met with David Slade and expects the filmmaker's vision for "Eclipse" to be different than what he's doing with "New Moon," but with the same actors and visual effects team.
*He's flattered that fans want him to direct "Breaking Dawn" without seeing "New Moon," but thinks the fans will want Slade to do it by the time "Eclipse" comes out.
*Weitz needs to turn the film in by Oct. 30 to strike prints or if not, they are in "big trouble" to make the release date.

Look for Day One of HitFix's journey to "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" set tomorrow and Day Two on Saturday. Additional interviews with cast members will also be posted tomorrow morning.

Thank you for being interested or pretending to be at least.

Q: The day we were on set you shooting in the headquarters of the Italian vampires.

Yes, that's a gigantic sets.

Q: Just so you know, I purposely don't read the books because I want to enjoy the franchise as a moviegoer...

Many people purposely don't read the books. They are called men. (Laughs.)

Q: Can you talk about that then? What was your interest in coming on board a franchise that predominately been more popular with women then men?

Actually, in that regard my brother and I often end up doing movies whose audiences are predominantly women or tipping point of success relies on a female audience. Even 'American Pie.' I think the thing that distinguishes it more than the gross-out humor, because there is a lot of that going on. The way we tooled it was so that girls could be interested in it as well. And, in as much as the 'Twilight' series has a great appeal to women, I think it really concentrates on the emotions of the central character and romance and I think that unfortunately that the studio system has not been very good at getting boys to be interested in. They think and maybe incorrectly, that the male gender is interested in just thing blowing up. And I don't think that's true. I certainly didn't make this movie towards only girls or women being interested in seeing it. There is a lot for diverse audiences including older audiences than the first one drew. Really, we are drawn to the cast. I thought the central cast were great and I wanted to work with them and it also employed some skills that I picked up along the way including working with special effects and working with younger actors and working on emotionally structured stories.

Q: 'Twilight' is very emotional at its core, but it also has a lot of CG elements. Would you say you are in a comfort zone? Is this familiar ground?

Right, I'm never really in a comfort zone making a movie which is a discomfort zone, because you're always working under pressured circumstances, because you don't have an unlimited amount of time or money to do these things. There were a number of things I was familiar with -- familiar enough so that I could do what I think is really important which is not to foreground the special effects for the action elements, but to make those kind of settle into the story. You never really want someone to watch a movie and go, 'Wow, those were great special effects.' You hope they won't notice the majority of what you are doing. Obviously, people are going to notice horse-sized wolves and realize on some level they are special effects, but they are photorealistic and they should be as expressive as a good actor if possible. So, in terms of kind of wrangling that sort of process it is something I am used to.

Q: In terms of the effects, I think everyone on this call was probably stunned after we'd been on set and we'd talked to the producer and he was like 'We're still working on some of the designs for the wolfpack' and I think it was like two or three weeks later we saw the first trailer and that great shot at the end. Have you ever worked in such a quick process from beginning to end?

It is. I myself was surprised Phil Tippet's company was able to turn out that wolf shot and I think they kind of did that as a matter of institutional pride that they could. Even that shot that was in the trailer has gone through 20-30 iterations since then, but they have done a really extraordinary job and Phil Tippet is a complete genius. He's responsible for the walkers in 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back' and he's kind of one of the legends of the visual effects community and it pretty amazing what they have been able to do on such short notice. We are working at kind of breakneck speed at the same time as trying to achieve something really quite elegant as well. It's not just Tippet, it's Frantic/CBS (LOOK UP) which is headed up by Mike Fink who is my old friend who was the visual effects supervisor on 'Golden Compass' which won the Oscar the year it came out. So, yeah, working very fast, but we're also trying to work as beautifully as possible to make these effect kind of settle into the amazing cinematography that Javier Aguirresarobe brought us. We are kind of moving at light speed,but trying to deliver something that's really elegant and beautiful.

Q: Just to follow that up, can you tell us how far along you are to completion right now?

I am about two weeks away from showing the director's cut to the studio. I've got some wolves with fur. Some wolves are still invisible basically and some wolves are like -- you've all probably seen the claymation versions. We are still in the light RD phases of what Edward looks like when he's hit -- what the vampires look like when he's hit with light and the diamond effect. Also, the kind of hallucinatory effect Bella has when she hears Edward's voice and she imagines him there. And then we are Alexandre Desplat has just started working on his music for the film. And we are just starting to put together what acts will be on the soundtrack, so it's kind of like keeping ten plates spinning at once, but it's all good because we've got Alexander Desplat who I think is one of the greatest film composers living and because of the kind of the strength of the franchise that I inherited, a lot of bands are really interested in working on the soundtrack and we got visual effects people. And that just leaves me hopefully not dropping the ball in terms of editing together the story.

Q: Sounds like a lot.

It is a lot, and with Comic-Con on the 24th were we are going to show a couple of scenes to whoever can get in that auditorium. And yeah, it's a lot to be getting on with, but it's fun at the same time.

Q: In regards to the music, will Alexander Desplat be using Carter Burwell's theme at all?

I think, y'know, yes, because like any franchise there are certain themes that become familiar. I suspect he's going to transpose it in some manner and most of the music will be entirely new to the franchise, because his style is somewhat different from Carter Burwell's, but I think there is some value to having a familiar -- I believe the words are 'light motifs' -- running through the entire series.

Q: Really quickly on the music. The first movie probably made Paramore as a band. Were you surprised by the number of acts wanting to be on the sequel and have you had to turn anybody down?

Well, fortunately I'm not at the stage where I have to turn anybody down yet, because everything is still kind of up in the air, but I am surprised by some of the bands that have said they are interested. It's kind of great. The criteria will still be what's right for the movie at that given moment, but y'know, Thom Yorke is interested. We might, if we're very lucky, get Kings of Leon to do something. So, it's exciting to have access to this kind of talent.

Q: Can you talk about the mini-movie 'Facepunch' that plays on the three-way date?

Yeah, well, actually nobody is starring in that. The funny thing is I had to come up wit h the name of the movie, within the movie. In the first one I think was named in the book -- I think it's 'Crossfire' -- or 'Crosshairs' or something like that couldn't be cleared because it had already been used. And you'd be shocked at the number of stupid action movie names that have been turned into movies. So, I eventually turned in a list of ten to Summit's lawyers and they had to see which ones they could go and clear. "Facepunch" was actually one of two of ten they cleared. And I chose that over "Kill Hunt." I can actually go and make 'Kill Hunt'.' And it was always the joke between me and my brother that there should be a movie called 'Facepunch' which is just about people punching each other in the face. It's kind of a movie within the movie. It's the least romantic thing Bella can go to because her friend essentially asks her on a date and she wants nothing romantic to happen at all.

Q: Did Stephenie give you any thoughts on that?

Well, she gave me a T-shirt with the 'Facepunch' logo on it. She's kind of a fan of popular culture as well or the absurdity of popular culture, so I think she was kind of tickled by the name of the movie.

Q: Will it be on the DVD?

The movie itself? (Laughs.) Sadly, there is no 'Facepunch' although maybe that's something the fans should be left to make. You'll hear the sounds of 'Facepunch' which will be a lot of people being shot and hacking each other to bits. In a way there are a few other imaginary movies that are referred to within this movie in the way that is satirizes other genre films in a very brief and lighthearted way. And this is the example of the stupidest possible action movie imaginable.

Q: Chris, there is a Rotten Tomatoes mention in the book for this scene. Do you know if it stayed in the movie?

I'm afraid it didn't. I don't think the reason would be because of Rotten Tomatoes, but Summit Entertainment got in trouble for using some cards from a casino in the first movie and they are very careful about not quoting any existing property. Probably if we had bothered to go and ask you guys would have said, 'Yeah, that's really cool.' And some lawyer would have said, 'Oh, it doesn't matter' and all that sort of stuff. So, I'm afraid not. It might have been because of the Tomatometer response to 'Golden Compass' as well. (Laughs.) It lowered my overall Tomatometer score.

Q: Was there a lot of pressure in taking on a project that's become a huge cultural phenomenon?

Yeah, definitely there is. It's largely self-imposed because the fans are tremendously supportive and very kind. One of the things thats interesting about the 'Twilight' fans is that they are not like fans boys who start cynical. They actually begin from the point-of-view of being enthusiastic and wanting things to be good and done well. I do feel a tremendous amount of responsibility to the readership than to the movie franchise in a way, because I think that's the core experience you are trying to get at. Someone reading the books for the first time, but just galloping through it for the first time when one reads books when you're younger and you are completely absorbed in it. To try and provide an experience that kind of compliments that. That means keeping in very good touch with Stephenie without trying to second guess ones self. Thinking about things to a degree of loyalty to the fans.

Q: What was your favorite scene to shoot?

There were a lot of fun scenes to film frankly. I really did enjoy the sequence in the Volturi headquarters, although it's a tremendous logistical headache. In a way, it's the scenes that you dread the most because they are so time consuming and you have to get it just right which is like the stuff in the Volturi headquarters, that has to be my favorite sequence because it is kind of the high point of the movie when Bella goes to try and stop Edward from killing himself. We had 1,000 extras in this medieval town square in this little town in Tuscany in the most beautiful country on earth and it's just an extraordinary opportunity to work there. It was also kind of surreal, because every 'Twilight' fan could make it from all over continental Europe and even further and had gotten by hook or by crook to Montepulciano, [Italy] and booked a hotel room. Sometimes in the very hotel room in which the cast and crew were staying. So, there was this weird Beatlemania thing sort of going on in this very small, beautiful hill town. So, for five days it was this bizarre festival atmosphere. And it really wasn't bothersome at all. It was incredible gratifying that all these people would applaud after every take whether or not we'd screwed it up. They had no idea because they weren't close enough to hear. If you looked down any alley in which the camera wasn't pointing you'd see hundreds of these young girls who had come to touch a piece of what they really loved.

Q: Can you talk about what it was like to work with the cast after they'd already played these parts before?

Well I always go into any movie that a competent actor is going to know about as much or more about what their character is about than I will even if it isn't a franchise, because that's their job. But that's especially the case when they have already played these characters falling in love. They have kind of lived with the characters and the franchise for quite awhile. I'm mean you'd have to ask the actors if what I say is true, but my first job is to talk to them and listen to them about what they thought about the script and what they thought their characters would be up to. And to kind of work along with them. Obviously, it was going to be a different experience for them. It was going to be a different kind of movie, because in a way I'm a lot more old fashioned than Catherine Hardwicke in terms of my film tastes and in terms of the way the film was going to turn out. So, it was sort of just a balancing act between respecting everything they brought to the table and the characters and what they did and what I thought I could bring. Also, it was kind of great to be with Taylor as he went from a character that had three small scenes in the first movie and only worked three days on the first movie or something to one of the dominant characters in the movie. That was a really fun process because he's a really great guy. Actually, all of the kids as I like to call them because I'm 39 and that sort of makes me twice their age were fun to work with and clever and smart and thoughtful about it.

Q: Can you tell us about the proposal scene at the end of the book? Fans are worried that it's either been altered or cut out of the film. Can you address those concerns?

They haven't been cut out. I can tell you that much. It's not going to hit them the exact way they think it's going to, but I will say -- how can I put it? It's going to be quite special. I could have saved all of my gusto for that moment. I don't think it will disappoint.

Q: Can you tell us about your vision for the Volturi?

No matter how strange one of the characters is in a work of fantasy, I think you have to approach them as people and then so you start to think, 'Oh they've been around for 2,000 years. How would they interact with one another?' The conclusion was that after 2,000 years you'd probably be more than mildly insane. No matter how cultured or gracious you appear on the surface. And I think that's what Michael Sheen managed to portray in portraying Aro, the head of the Volturi, in that on the surface he's terribly gracious, warm, a wonderful host and at the same time he's absolutely lethal and frightening. It's also what Dakota [Fanning] conveys as Jane. She's sort of this in appearance innocent looking, harmless looking almost teenager, but she's absolutely deadly. The first thing I wanted to do was put them in a setting that wasn't Dracula's castle. I feel like that's been done. There have been so many vampire movies and werewolf movies and horror movies where everything has been dark and dreary and everything is blue or green or something like that. Instead, their headquarters is surprisingly light and crisp. And the characters that they play have a kind of a tactile reality to them in spite of how bizarre their situation is really. The whole point is not to leave kind of Forks, Washington where everything has really been quite realistic and then suddenly go to a location that completely throws you out of the movie. So, that's the difficult balance to achieve. And the set although it's huge and grand and magnificent actually kind of feels like a real place. One always has the option in these kind of situations of shooting everything in green screen and adding everything later. I've done that before, but in this case it felt really important to actually build something that surrounded the characters that they could interact with and had a real sense of existing in a real space.

Q: There is a lot of fan speculation about what the Volturi will actually look like and from what I've read or seen from photoshop manipulations people have done, they are really off the mark. Curious, will we see the Volturi in any of the upcoming trailer or publicity stills or is that secret until the movie comes out?

I think there will be some publicity stills about them coming out eventually and I'm not sure whether they will be in the trailers or not. I think essentially our aim was to make them look like what they look like in the book and not to be too fancy. I think that y'know it was very important to [Stephenie] that the werewolves transform very quickly, they look like wolves and we not have this kind of magical Lon Chaney-esque long transformations and I think the reason behind that is to give a sense of their reality. I think that was important to the Volturi as well. They are not levitating off the ground, they are not surrounded by mystical auroras, they are creatures that actually exist and they are very specific. They are very stylish, they are very elegant, they are very dangerous, but essentially it's very faithful to the book.

Q: Would you talk about these rumors or fan speculation or hopes that you might come back to direct 'Breaking Dawn'? And is there any carryover between 'New Moon,' 'Eclipse' and 'Breaking Dawn' in terms of planning?

Let me see, I think it's really charming that having not seen 'New Moon' people would be enthusiastic about me wanting to do 'Breaking Dawn.' That's really -- y'know I think the proof is in the pudding and they should see it before they decide there is anything else they want me to do. But I would hope to earn that kind of rumor. We haven't really spoken with Summit about that. All I knew is that I would be too tired to do 'Eclipse' and that somebody else take it over as well so that they could put their own imprint on it. Also, the way the films are being shot would have precluded it anyway. In terms of the planning. David Slade came in while we were still shooting 'New Moon' and I showed him everything I could to sort of give him a sense of what direction we were going. He is going to take it into whatever way he wants to, because he's his own guy and will have his own style and particular take on things. But, just as I was inheriting certain things from Catherine Hardwicke, he's going to inherit certain things from me and make the choice whether he's going to keep them or alter them. So, we have had discussions about -- Tippet is going to do the wolves for 'Eclipse' so there is a continuity for the look of the werewolves and obviously the cast is going to remain the same. Dakota is Jane and all the Volturi are the same people who you are familiar with, but other than that it's sort of David Slade's show to run on 'Eclipse' and by the time that comes out they will probably want him to do 'Breaking Dawn,' not me. I would certainly consider it, but it's funny. I find all my time avoiding the internet, because I end up getting into arguments with 15-year-olds in Germany and I have to concentrate on making the movie, so I don't even know the positive rumors out there. I don't know the negative rumors, I don't know the positive rumors. I"m just trying to do the best job I can, but it's really sweet that people would like me to do that. I think that's very cool.

Q: Do you think 'Breaking Dawn' would be very doable?

No, it a tough one. I mean, yes it's doable. Anything is doable, but it's a hard one, because the series gets more and more ambitious as it goes along. Yes, it's doable. Anything is doable.

Q: Chris, real quick, what's your drop dead due date that you have to turn the film in to make the release date?

Ironically, I think it's the day before Halloween. I believe Oct. 30 is our drop dead date. It's our time to start striking the prints or we're in big trouble.

New Moon: Behind The Scenes

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