New Moon movie, the second sequel of Twilight saga, latest news and information. Updates about New Moon shooting and celebrities, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Jackson Rathbone and director Chris Weitzso. Pictures and Trailer of New Moon, New moon movie new cast, new moon poster, new moon set, new moon set pictures, new moon wolf pack and new moon were wolves.
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.
North American cumulative is now up to $188.4 million!
Monday 11/23 – $10.5 million
Tuesday 1124 – $11.5 million
Wednesday 11/25 – $14.3 million.
Thursday 11/26 – $9.2 million
International numbers will NOT be available today. We will update you when we receive them.
UPDATE 10:40AM 11/25:
There are updated details on what was an estimated $132 million opening weekend in 24 international markets. Sources at Summit give the following breakdown:
How high can the box office for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" go? After making another $14.3 million on Wednesday for a new U.S. total of $179 million, the question isn't whether it will hit the $250 million mark it's whether it can hit $300 million. Considering the first "Twilight" made only $192 million a year ago that would be a stunning achievement. The Chris Weitz blockbuster hardly skipped a beat leaving the frame's three new wide releases far behind.
The Wachowski's "Ninja Assassin" performed the best of the newcomers with $3.3 million. Following close behind was the critically lambasted "Old Dogs" which dug up $3.1 million. "Dogs" still did better than one critic's favorite, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," that found just $1.1 million on only 2,027 screens. Wes Anderson's stop motion animated endeavor will have to hope that matinee business picks up today and over the holiday weekend when more families are free.
A remarkable story that would be the buzz of Hollywood if not for "New Moon" is the fantastic coin Sandra Bullock's drama "The Blind Side" continues to rake in. In less than a week the Warner Bros. release has made $50.6 million and found $7.9 million on Wednesday alone. As one colleague noted last night, "It's making everyone forget about 'All About Steve.'" Indeed, along with "The Proposal" Sandra Bullock has reestablished herself as a box office force.
Dropping fast is Roland Emmerich's "2012." The end of the world event flick was good enough to place third with $3.6 million, but with a new cume of $116.9 million it's hard to imagine it hitting the magic $200 million mark. Sony Pictures will have to rest easy knowing the picture is making a killing overseas.
Darkness may be a visual effects artist's best friend, but his biggest enemy isn't bright sunlight -- it's the overcast day. So adding all those CG werewolves to scenes shot in cloudy Vancouver, Canada, was a particular challenge for "New Moon" visual effects supervisor Phil Tippett and his team. "On a sunny day, you get really nice contrasts, but with flat lighting and a furry thing -- the fur really soaks up the light and everything appears flat," Tippett said. "So to make it appear three-dimensional, we had to goose reality. We emphasized their shadows and used rim lights" to make the wolves stand out from the background. But that's not the only way Tippett and company played with reality. When that wolf checks out Bella, it's not a wolf's eyes, it's Jacob's. "We brought Taylor [Lautner] in and had him haul his eyelids back as far as possible and shot close-ups." They then added those eyes to the giant animated timber wolf used in the scene.
Special effects innovator Phil Tippett worked with some of the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s and 1990s - including "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Jurassic Park."
Tippett Studio animated the wolves in the hit movie "New ...Tippett Studio animated the wolves in the hit movie "New ...Special effects master Phil Tippett View More Images
But even those enormous hits didn't come close to last weekend's $142.8 million opening for the "Twilight" sequel "New Moon," with its snarling visual-effect wolves that were animated at the Berkeley-based Tippett Studio.
Tippett, whose creations include the AT-AT snow walkers from "The Empire Strikes Back" and the ED-209 robot from "RoboCop," took a break from working on the movie version of "Eclipse" (next in the "Twilight" series) for an interview in his conference room - surrounded by models, memorabilia and movie posters associated with the films he's worked on over the past three decades.
Q: Which movie had tighter security on the set, "Return of the Jedi" or "New Moon"?
A: For "Return of the Jedi," I was totally oblivious to all the fandom. I didn't notice anything, and most of the work was done on pretty secured sets. For "New Moon," it was unbelievable.
It was like a CIA operation. Some of the locations we would go to, the production would be so concerned about fooling the paparazzi, they would take the arrows pointing to the location and turn them the other way. We were actually getting lost.
Q: Did you do much wolf-related research for the movie?
A: We nailed it down early that these were not going to be traditional beast-y horror movie things. ... We watched a lot of documentaries and looked at every single picture book out there on wolves.
My co-supervisor, Matt Jacobs, took a bunch of the art department and animators to a wolf preserve outside of Los Angeles. They got into a pen about the size of this room with about 10 wolves and just spent the afternoon with them. Q: This sequel was made in less than a year. Was your workload insane?
A: It was actually kind of fun. ... It kind of harked back a little bit to the Roger Corman days. With the vast amount of money these things make, we don't get paid much - and the speed with which you work, you have to rely on your skill and just get it done.
That's actually a lot more of a creative kind of milieu to work in as opposed to these hundred-million-dollar movies, where there are 50 executives worried about everything.
Q: What's your favorite Roger Corman memory?
A: I was working on "Piranha" and we were shooting all this mayhem, with all these swimmers. Dailies would go back to Los Angeles and Roger would call.
Joe Dante, the director, would be on the phone saying, (sounds exasperated) "OK ... OK ... OK, Roger ... fine, Roger ... OK, fine, thanks." After the conversation was over, we would immediately ask what Roger wanted. Joe would say "He just said 'more blood.' " He wanted more blood on everything.
Q: What's the last movie you've seen with no special effects or visual effects in it?
A: I don't think they make them anymore. Probably "The Informant," although I bet you there were visual effects and I just didn't notice it. I thought that movie was terrific.
Q: Is there a movie that you did good work on that no one talks about?
A: Probably "RoboCop 2," which was a terrible movie doomed from the very beginning, but I look back fondly now because it was the biggest stop-motion (film) since "Mighty Joe Young" in terms of number of shots and complexity. And Craig Hayes' design was so cool.
Q: You have the full-size ED-209 in one of your warehouses. Has anyone offered to buy it?
A: Some British group came by and wanted to buy a bunch of stuff. And I actually thought about it for 20 minutes. It was a lot of money.
Q: And you didn't do it?
A: No. It's my junk. Plus, if it's worth that much now ...
Twilight New Moon Volturi Caius T-Shirt $19.00 to $21.00 $19.00 Aw, pretty please? This black T-shirt features a front screen of Caius of the Volturi Guard and the words "Volturi" and "We do not offer second chances." The Twilight Saga: New Moon logo appears on the back.
Twilight New Moon Wolf Pack Embry T-Shirt
$19.00 to $21.00 $19.00
It's no secret how hot these boys are. This black T-shirt features a front screen of Embry and the words "Well, the wolf's out of the bag now." The Twilight Saga: New Moon logo appears below
Chaske Spencer, the actor who plays wolfpack leader Sam Uley, talked to EW about getting cast, meeting randy Twilight fans, and playing the leader of the pack.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When did all this start for you, and when is it done? CHASKE SPENCER: It started for me March 5 when I got cast in New Moon, and I don’t know when it’s going to be done. It’s been like a wild ride. We got cast and there was already sort of a buzz about us. As it got closer, you kept feeling the buildup and the buildup, and all of a sudden at the premiere, it just exploded. It was like a rock star moment. This is what we’ve been waiting for. People are telling us our lives are going to change. And they have.
What has been the most memorable fan encounter? Let me think of PG one. [Laughs] Probably, a fainter. I had a girl faint on me. And then the criers. And then the cougars—the Twi-Moms—always come after us. That’s been very surreal, because we’ve had phone numbers slipped in our back pockets. It’s like we’re The Beatles.
Did you have a sense of what part you wanted when you auditioned? They had me going out for Jared at first. Any part was fine. I knew it was going to be a huge movie. Next thing I know, they told me I had Sam. When I read the book, I thought more about his character. He’s tragic; he never wanted this—to be the leader of the wolfpack—but that was what he was thrown into.
What’s next for you? I have my own production company called Urban Dreams. I want to get scripts for movies I want to do or vehicles to star in or direct. Things are rolling. Something hit me last week—we were doing some promos at a Nordstrom. Me and Bronson [Pelletier, a fellow wolf] were riding in a limo, going through Laurel Canyon, on Mulholland Drive. The sun was setting and a really cool song was playing on the radio. We rolled down the window and were like, ‘Wow, this is a good life. I can’t believe we’re in f—ing New Moon.’”
After spending two years snowboarding in Whistler, Canada, newcomer Charlie Bewley is launching his acting career in a big way. A British expat—he was raised close to Sherwood Forest in Nottingham—Bewley plays the evil Volturi lieutenant Demetri in New Moon.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Have you been recognized more often? CHARLIE BEWLEY: I don’t think so. Nothing’s really changed for me—I think it’s more of an online buzz right now. I expect maybe before Christmas that everyone would see this movie and if they keep their eyes peeled, they’ll notice me in it. I don’t expect the same adulation as people like, even Kellan [Lutz] or Ashley [Greene]. I think they got the second wave of everything after Taylor, Rob, and Kristen. But it’s still wonderful to be part of. It’s opened many doors for me.
How did you get the part? I was auditioning in Vancouver. You know like any actor is before they hit something, I was waiting tables, bartending, hoping something great would come around. Sure enough, New Moon pops up. Back in the end of January, they came to town because they switched the production from Oregon to Vancouver, so luckily enough they were casting the roles up there.
What did you bring to the role of Demetri? Certainly based on all the information that I dragged out of the books and certain websites, I went in [to the audition] with my best interpretation of what I though Demetri was. I’m actually quite far removed from the character in terms of his physical attributes in the book. But I think the essence I brought to the audition was what got me the role: I brought the charm and at the same time, the sinister aspect of the character.
What was it like wearing the red contacts? Well the more angelic you look, the more unnerving you are as someone wearing those red contact lenses. They really do bring you into that evil character.
I read you were a snowboarder for awhile? I really did enjoy snowboarding. I played rugby most of my life and then I switched to snowboarding, which provided me a lot of inspiration. I think in some respects, spending time in the mountains was something that prompted me to stay away from England and take up a path less trodden. Various aspects of my life came together and dictated the fact that I wasn’t going to go home. So I took up acting in Vancouver and L.A. at the same time. I never looked back once I knew what I wanted to do.
What was your most interesting fan encounter? Italy was something, my favorite fan encounter. We were shooting in a very small space, and we had a film set in this rustic little Tuscan village. Then you brought 5,000 fans into the fold. When they saw us, they were rabid. I was running through the streets. If I didn’t have security, I’d have to run away before I got engulfed. I almost had the shirt pulled off my back and this is someone who hasn’t done anything yet. Rob Pattinson didn’t put his head out all week, because it would’ve got torn off. These guys are just feverish. I don’t think I’ll ever quite parallel that again. It was quite amazing.
Compared to most of her Twilight: New Moon co-stars, 15-year-old Dakota Fanning — who plays the powerful Volturi Jane — is already an old hand at movie-making. But behind the star of hits like War of the Worlds (2005) and I Am Sam (2001) is a surprisingly normal student at an L.A. high school. On the Monday after New Moon’s record-breaking bow, Fanning made time for a quick pre-class chat with EW about the Twilight phenomenon and the joys of playing a villain.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Where are you right now? DAKOTA FANNING: I’m at school. I’m hiding from any teacher that would see me on my phone right now. But technically it’s allowed because it’s before school has started.
What’s it like to come back to high school now that the move is out? That’s my life. That’s what’s normal to me. I don’t really know anything different. I’m really lucky that I get to go to school and have that normal life, whatever that is, and then also get to do what I love to do and be a part of really great projects.
How do you think your classmates will react to the movie? Most of them have already seen the movie, so they’re very excited about it. I’ll definitely be talking to some people about it today, I’m sure.
What was your reaction when you started hearing the box-office numbers? I mean, I think that there are so many fans of the book and the movie, and it’s just sort of exciting that so many people went to see it on the first weekend. I know so many people were camping out for days to wait for it. And I think that it’s great that everyone got to see it right when it came out.
You knew that it was going to be big. But the biggest opening day ever? I don’t know if I realized it would be the biggest, but I certainly knew it would be big because of all the fans you encounter at the premiere. Everyone is a Twilight fan in some way, I think.
Did you do anything special to celebrate how well the movie did? I’m such a little part of the film. It’s really Kristen, Rob, and Taylor and everyone who should be doing the celebrating. It’s all of their hard work. For me, I was just there for a week and a half and got to have so much fun. I was really excited to be a part of it.
Were you a fan of the series before you were cast? Of course I was a fan. I had read the books and everything.
Your character, the Volturi member Jane, is terrifying. Was it fun to play evil? Yeah. It’s one of the first times that I’ve done that. And this is a character that really takes pleasure in causing people pain. And that’s kind of a fascinating character to get to play. So that was definitely one of the reasons that I wanted to do it.
Are people reacting to you differently now that they’ve seen you play a villain? I guess people and fans of the series that have seen me in the movie will see me in a different way, but I think that’s what being an actor is. It’s getting to manipulate yourself to fit characters. I think your job is to be a blank canvas and take on your characters, so that’s what I love doing. And I love getting to play all different kinds of people. And, yeah, surprise people with my red eyes, I guess.
Those were creepy. Were they actual contacts? They’re hand-painted contacts. I’ve never worn anything in my eyes before, so it was definitely a feeling I’d never experienced. But they have someone to put them in and take them out. You can kind of feel them. But you get used to it after a while.
Did they help you get in character? Yeah, I think you automatically have kind of a creepy look to you no matter what you’re doing or saying, so it definitely helps.
How many more Twilight movies will you do? The third one is already done. I already filmed.
And after that it’s up in the air? Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know about the fourth one.
Do you have other projects lined up too? Well, I have The Runaways next spring, which is also with Kristen [Stewart], and I’ll probably be working next year, too, on something or other.
"New Moon" costume designer Tish Monaghan continues a sartorial magnifying glass to the wardrobes of the Cullen family and boy wonder Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).
THE ENRICHED CULLENS We know those Cullens are basically perfect, but one modification was made to the family’s closet for "New Moon." "Chris wanted to stay away from them looking as pastel as they did in the first film," Tish explained. “He thought they stood out too much. So he wanted them more of the world, but set apart within the color palette — so, just in cool colors.” Here, Alice (Ashley Greene, left) wears a blue dress by Rebecca Taylor and Rosalie (Nikki Reed, right) wears an Eli Tahari design. MODERN HISTORY One part of Tish’s design aesthetic for “New Moon” was making sure characters dressed in clothes that suited their back-story. For instance, you will always see Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) in cowboy boots — at Jackson’s request. “Jackson’s from Texas and so is Jasper,” she noted. “He was a major in the civil war, so that’s the thing he always holds on to.” Here, Jasper (center) wears a John Varvatos sweater, a Hugo Boss shirt and J.Lindeberg jeans. Emmet (Kellan Lutz, far left) is in a custom made vest, Hugo Boss shirt, Diesel Jeans and flaunts a Cullen Crest cuff. Esme (Elizabeth Reaser) wears a pale purple dress from Club Monaco. Get the look (Esme): "Two Way Crinkle Chiffon Runway Dress" by Rebecca Taylor ($228) DADDY DEAREST “Peter [Facinelli] himself likes to think of his character as inspired by Paul Newman or Robert Redford,” Tish noted. “So he’s always dressed casual, yet put together.” Here, after Bella's birthday turns bloody, Carlisle wears a Theory suit and a Paul Smith shirt. Bella wears a dress made by Tish, which has since been replicated by Hot Topic for $98. ALICE IN WONDERLAND “She’s like this pixie-ish character, whimsical and fashion conscious,” Tish said of Alice’s style. “She’s a girly girl, and wherever you can add details to her clothing it really helps cement her character — like when she’s in school I gave her the pretty neck scarf and the hand warmers and long sleeves. The blue jacket was from Zara.” On the right, in the scene when the Cullens vote on Bella’s vampire fate, Alice wears a blouse from Teenflo in Vancouver and J Brand Jeans. Get the look (blue jacket) "Tullette Drawstring Jacket with Pockets" from Tulle ($27). VIVA ITALIA! Tish says her inspiration for Alice’s ensemble on her adventure to Italy with Bella was Audrey Hepburn. “I was thinking, how can we cover her up fashionably?” the costumer recalls. “I wanted to get her long gloves because I knew she was going to be driving in this Porsche, which initially we thought might be a convertible.” After finding the “perfect” coat (by Michael Kors), Tish decided on Theory pants, red leather gloves from the Italian fashion label Gala, a Banana Republic scarf and “Jackie O” Ray Ban sunglasses (which you catch a glimpse of when she first enters the Volturi lair). Get the look (red gloves): Preston & York Ruched-Cuff Leather Gloves from Dillard's ($48). JACKED UP JACOB When the werewolf wasn’t shirtless, Tish says she outfitted him in Banana Republic and GAP t-shirts because “they fit really well and they had a little bit of stretch to them.” And if the site of Taylor’s bulging biceps had your hearts pumping, that was intentional. “We tailored his t-shirts so they showed off his muscles,” she explained. “We specifically made his shirts a little tighter, a little shorter and the sleeves a little bit too short, like he was growing out of them.” A HIDDEN WOLF That forest scene on Jacob’s tee (a graphic the “New Moon” costume department custom designed) was meant to be a tad literal, according to Tish. “The director said, ‘Why don’t you give him something that has a wolf on it?’” she remembered with a laugh. “It was as something that symbolized what was to come but didn’t hit the nail on the head. We tried not to make it so obvious but it did have a moon, a tree a very small image of a wolf.”
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.”
'New Moon' Volturi Dakota Fanning, Michael Sheen and Jamie Campbell Bower discuss the obsession surrounding the 'Twilight Saga' and its impact on their lives. Jamie Campbell Bower talk about how comfortable he is with nude scenes.
'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]."
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. Source
'It gets a lot more tricky to make them digital, yet photographically representational,' visual-effects master Phil Tippett says.
From "Star Wars" to "Indiana Jones" to "Jurassic Park," visual-effects maestro Phil Tippett has had a hand in some of the greatest movies of the past 30 years. This past weekend, if the wolves of the record-setting blockbuster "New Moon" thrilled you, then you have him to thank.
In an exclusive interview with MTV, the owner of Tippett Studio was eager to chat about making the wolf pack come to life, the intensive research that had his computer artists hanging out with the real thing, and why trips to the "New Moon" set often became a hairy proposition.
MTV: Congratulations, Phil, the fans seem pretty pleased with the movie so far.
Phil Tippett: I suppose so; I'm not quite one of that ilk.
MTV: You're not a teenage girl?
Tippett: Nooo. [Laughs.] I've been through it — I've been through the teenage-girl thing not that long ago with my daughters. But I'm on a break from it now.
MTV: You worked on Chris Weitz's "The Golden Compass." So, did he just call you up and ask you to do "New Moon" as well?
Tippett: No, actually we didn't deal with Chris that much. We were involved in "The Golden Compass," then everything came our way right at the very end [of the "New Moon" production] in a 911 call [from a producer]. She realized that she had a bunch of wolves to do, so she gave us a call and said, "Hey, this is right up your alley, what do you think?" And we said, "Yeah, we're onboard."
MTV: What were the greatest challenges on "New Moon"?
Tippett: With the werewolves, the big deal from Chris and from Stephenie Meyer's books was that these things are horse-sized wolves, not traditional beastly, werewolf-y, quasi-human type things. They are, for all intents and purposes, timberwolves. And so, that's the trick; you get into that uncanny valley — the land usually occupied by computer-generated canines and cats, which are so much a part of our world that when you're trying to do a duplication of the character that's not fantasy, it's so common to everybody's observation that it gets a lot more tricky to make them digital, yet photographically representational.
MTV: So, real things are harder to make than made-up things?
Tippett: Very much. If you have a bug from another planet, or a giant robot, or something like that, you can get away with murder — but when it's something recognizable, then the onus is on you.
MTV: Did you do a lot of research into wolves?
Tippett: Yes, they're required to do very specific things, to move certain ways, and to that end we do an incredible amount of research — the co-supervisor on the show, Matt Jacobs, led an exposition down to a wolf preserve in Los Angeles. He brought a bunch of the animators and art department guys, and they observed a bunch of timberwolves to commune with them and their behavior and get their vibe.
MTV: This is one of the most eagerly anticipated movies of 2009. Were there a lot of top-secret measures you had to take as you worked on the effects?
Tippett: There were things that were amusingly irritating. Like, the paparazzi got so bad following the stars everywhere that in some instances we were going to these godforsaken locations out in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes the production would put up signs pointing to a different location to confuse the paparazzi. Of course, that would totally confuse us as well, which would make us show up late to the set. [Laughs.]
MTV: That's hilarious. Tell us about the wolves themselves.
Tippett: Well, we put a good amount of time into studying the behavior and the physical actions of timberwolves, and then multiplied that up to a 1,200-pound character, so that the weight and mass appear to fit properly into earth-specific gravity and all that stuff. Sam Uley is the big-kahuna wolf, definitely the biggest one. Each wolf is between 1,200 and 800 pounds, and a lot of that is on a shot-for-shot basis — Embry and Jared are the smallest. Sam is the biggest one, then Paul and Jacob are roughly the same size — Jacob is maybe a little bit bigger.
MTV: In one key scene, Jacob's wolf makes eye contact with Bella. Tell us about that shot.
Tippett: One of the things Chris was very insistent on was that all the wolves have human eyes, as opposed to normal wolves who have these golden, very piercing classic wolf eyes. The way he had laid out a number of scenes was there were some extreme close-ups of wolf eyes, with Bella reflected in them, like that Jacob scene. Chris wanted to make sure that Taylor Lautner's eyes would be the right choice, emotionally, for those scenes.
MTV: How did you achieve that?
Tippett: We got Taylor to peel his eyelids way back, and we got in really close with a camera and shot his eyes.
MTV: Wow. Was it like "A Clockwork Orange" thing?
Tippett: Yeah. [Laughs.] No, we had him do it with his own hands, so he could find his own comfort level. We didn't use any instruments of torture.
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.
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.
The sun has barely set on “New Moon’s” record-breaking opening weekend, but director Chris Weitz already has his next gig lined up.
Weitz will reteam with Summit Entertainment – the studio behind the “Twilight” film franchise – to direct “The Gardener,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film, which is scheduled to begin shooting in Spring 2010, follows a hard-working Mexican gardener in Los Angeles and his efforts to protect his son.
“There are no werewolves or vampires, just a Mexican gardener in Los Angeles,” Weitz told the Reporter.
Weitz’s other directing credits include “The Golden Compass,” “About a Boy” and “Down to Earth.”
“New Moon” brought in an impressive $258.8 million worldwide in its opening weekend, including $72.7 million on its opening day, beating “The Dark Knight” for biggest opening day in box office history.
Its $142 million domestically was also the biggest November opening to date.
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."
“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.”
World Premiere of New Moon last Monday in Los Angeles and Video interviews with the wolf pack cast Chaske Spencer (Sam Uley), Bronson Pelletier (Jared), Kiowa Gordon (Embry Call), Tinsel Korey (Emily), and Boo Boo Stewart (Seth Clearwater).
Watch the interview with the New Moon stars during Premiere of Twiligjht Saga: Newmoon Cameron Bright (Alec), Gil Birmingham (Billy Black), and Justine Wachsberger (Gianna).
It’s not every day that you get an opportunity to speak with an Academy Award nominee, let alone one who recently was the recipient of two World Soundtrack Awards. But for all his accolades, French film music composer Alexandre Desplat is a true artist, devoted wholly to his craft. If he is publicly acknowledged for his work, so be it. He accepts it humbly, and keeps his head buried in whatever project he undertakes.
With the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, however, Desplat may find himself unintentionally metamorphosing from workhorse to rock star. Having delivered a score that ignites imagination and passion from its listeners, surely many more honors are in the cards.
He completed seven scores this year (Chéri, Coco avant Chanel, Un prophète, L'armée du crime, Julie & Julia, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and the aforementioned New Moon) and he’s already got three in production for 2010…so far. How can someone possibly concentrate on such a work load when he is consistently offered awards?
It is here where our conversation begins…
It’s funny; I thought I would get better at it when I go up on stage to grab whatever award it is. But as I look out into the audience, I see people like Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Robert DeNiro, and Charlize Theron, I get so impressed and I ask myself, “What am I doing here???” I’m very humbled by it and very happy at the same time.
Do they affect you as a creative energy and the projects you take on?
The main thing there is to be inspired by film. That’s what drives me; that’s what I like; that’s my life. The rest is just an accident. You get an award or you don’t get an award, who cares? But if you make a great film, it’s fantastic, and it’s the best thing you could do if you find a great relationship with a director. Of course, the great thing about awards is that your name becomes more exposed. But I think the body of work that’s behind you is most important. Because if I did bad work and provided bad music for movies, I’m not sure I would get another call.
Have you ever been confused or concerned about receiving accolades for certain projects, when there might be another project you feel stronger about and SHOULD be recognized?
Honestly, it’s really out of my hands. Each project I commit my entirety to. I spend my life doing it, with long hours every day and night. So I don’t really see any difference, whether it be a movie with an hour and a half of music, like New Moon , or a French movie like L'armée du crime, where there is only 40 minutes of music with an orchestra. To me, both have the same level of difficulty and challenge.
One of the truly remarkable traits of your soundtracks is that when listening to it, the audience participant easily loses himself/herself within the atmosphere you created. And I think that is due to your seemingly innate ability to find the “voice” of the movie. What is your process for becoming so connected to your projects? Do you receive a copy of the movie that you watch over and over until the pattern emerges?
Yes, that’s exactly it. I have copies of each movie. I write movie soundtracks because I want to write movie soundtracks. It is no accident or a business that I wanted to have. I could be selling soap if I wanted a business. I do it because I am fascinated by the process of creating music for films. I never wanted to be a concert composer, either. When I watch a movie, I have a strange intuitive chemistry that drives me along. So it is great to actually have the movie to watch again and again. Sometimes I find the right path right away, but even if I do, I choose not to get excited about it and explore other pathways. I circle around the movie for a long time, so I can be sure that what I am throwing at the picture definitely belongs with it.
It’s funny; sometimes when I am offered a movie to score, I receive a copy with my music from previous scores on the temp track. And the directors say, “Oh, it works so well!” But I don’t see it at all; it definitely doesn’t work at all. It’s the wrong pitch, the wrong color. It’s a new body of work I have to invent; it’s a new challenge. It’s not just the melodies; it’s the sound, the texture…it’s like a new fabric I have to design.
Which leads me to ask; many times you will have multiple films being released in the same year, so how do you give each film its proper attention, so there is no crossover in sound design? Most composers who take on mass quantities of begin to sound similar or unintentionally repeat stylistic elements. How do you avoid that trap?
Well, there are two keys to that. Key #1 is not to do the same type of movie over and over. If I was to do only love stories or dramas or just thrillers, I would be doing the same music, because I would be in a niche. And there is only so much you can do in a niche. If you look at my body of work for any given year, you will see that there are no two types of movies that are the same in that year. And the second one is to just use your brain three times more than you did before – push every cell in your brain during the day and during the night to find ideas and working with an obsessed passion.
So, how did come to get the New Moon score project? Was this something you actively sought out, or did it fall into your lap?
I was actually very lucky to know Chris Weitz, with whom I worked on The Golden Compass. He called me and offered the film, and I said, “Sure Chris, I would love to work with you again.” It was a great experience working with Chris. He loves music, speaks French, and we have a nice relationship.
Did you listen to Carter Burwell’s score for the first Twilight film when you accepted New Moon?
No, not only did I not listen to it, but I didn’t even watch the movie. I didn’t want to be influenced by it. Carter is a great composer and I loved his scores for the Coen Brothers. And I knew that if I went there, I would be in danger, because I knew that I would enjoy it and then be influenced by it. So I just passed and avoided it altogether.
Wow, that’s very rare for a movie score to completely deviate from its predecessor in such a way. Usually movies that become franchise series’ employ recurrent motifs throughout each film to carry that thread of familiarity, regardless of how many different composers might be involved.
Well, there were no requests from the Production Company or Chris to reuse any of the themes. I would have done it with pleasure, because again, Carter is a composer I really respect. And since I didn’t have to, I didn’t.
Carter’s score was a brooding, coming-of-age, romance kind of score. But yours took on a much grander role, creating this forbidden romance sound fused with homage to classic vampire and horror films from the past.
Chris and I are both cinephiles, and we like The Bride of Frankenstein and Polanski’s movies. I love Coppola’s Dracula; it’s a masterpiece in all aspects – visually and the score, which is fabulous. Our primary decision was about the longing love story, and the epic that these characters go through. Maurice Jarre was the only reference Chris and I used for this film. And I actually dedicated the score to Maurice.
I loved that even the tenderest moments in the score have a sense of danger and uneasiness, like each turn plunges you deeper into the unknown. Even the track “Marry Me, Bella” has a great sense of apprehension to it.
Yes, definitely. There are many moments in the film where you have to feel unsettled emotions. She has to choose between two men and doesn’t know how to make the choice. I actually used that element to blur the two love themes – the one for Edward and the one for Jacob. But they are of the same vein, so as you are watching and listening, are you hearing Edward’s or Jacob’s? I love to put these subliminal tricks into the score just for the fun of it.
How did you come to decide to use an Asian element to represent the tribal aesthetic?
Well, as you know, Native Americans descended from Asia, so it only made sense to me. I used Japanese taiko as a wide Asian element – strong and organic, because it’s wood.
Another track that instantly jumped out at me was “Wolves v. Vampire,” because it was a wild ride of a cut. It had a very Old Hollywood, Max Steiner bombast mixed with big boldness of John Williams. It really reminded me of King Kong vs. Jurassic Park.
Nice! I can live with that. I’ll just keep that as a compliment. What can I say? You just named the best composers of that kind. From Waxman to Williams going through Goldsmith and Herrmann – they are all the masters of the craft, and I hope to one day follow their path. If you hear those things in the score, it means that I did learn well and shows my passion for movie soundtracks as well as these composers who I admire so much.
I met John Williams once at the Golden Globes when he won for Memoirs of a Geisha. I had a nomination myself [for Syriana], and I was embarrassed to be there. How could I be nominated at the same time as John Williams? I went to introduce myself very humbly to him, and I felt like a child – I could barely speak. So you really just paid me a great compliment.
My pleasure; I really was blown away by your work on this score. Now, on the New Moon soundtrack, you submitted a song called “The Meadow.” Was that actually a demo track for what would become the New Moon score?
No, not at all. It’s actually the original version of the love theme that I wrote for the film. It’s the love theme in its most basic, simplified state. The score was actually recorded about a month later. And I just thought the solo piano would be the best option to match with the other songs that were on the soundtrack. I think an orchestral piece at the end would have been a bit strange or inappropriate. I wanted the music to have a real sense of movement and emotion.
Obviously, you had to be aware of how massive the fan base is for the Twilight saga, with the films, books, and chart-topping soundtracks. Did that add any pressure to you when writing the score?
There was absolutely no pressure at all. I was working with a good friend, Chris Weitz, who was very protective and enthusiastic of the work. And I simply took it as another film project. I didn’t think for one second that this was a huge deal. I’d actually made that mistake before, thinking that what I was doing was going to turn into something massive, and it really derails your train of thought and puts too much pressure on you. I think I’ve grown up a little bit.
I was only asking, because Twilight’s fan base is so strong, it pretty much single-handedly caused Carter’s score for the first film to actually chart in the Billboard Top 100. And it is so rare for a score to even chart, let alone sell so many copies.
Yes, it is very rare. And I really hope that my score and Carter’s will help to bring more of this kind of instrumental music to the audience, because radio is way too song-focused. There was a time (when I was not around) when radio was not only about songs; they played instrumental pieces, be they classical or jazz. And I think this is a great chance we have to bring music full circle again.
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