New Moon News

Woot! Gregory Ellwood has just posted HitFix.com ‘s DAY 2 of their visit to the Twilight Saga: New Moon set.

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. (AawWWWWW)

…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 Bella at his side before he lunges toward what must be one of the Volturi (Jane we later discover) and falling to the ground.

“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.”

…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.”

… 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.

Read the rest of the article at Hitfix.com!

 Here’s a little something about Noot Seear who plays the beautiful vampire Heidi.

Noot Seear is Heidi in The Twilight Saga:New Moon

 “We wanted someone who had an unearthly and unlikely beauty, but could also convey humor and menace,” explains Weitz, who reportedly also considered AnnaLynne McCord of “90210” before eventually settling on Seear. “It’s rare to find a stunningly attractive person who also happens to have the ability to act.”

…But when the opportunity to be part of the “Twilight” juggernaut came about, she knew it was her time. “I started reading the books, and I couldn’t put them down,” she says.

She admits she was worried her modeling years would hinder her acting chops. “I was really scared because you’re not allowed to look in the camera [when filming a movie], but in the modeling world, you’re supposed to,” recalls Seear, whose problem was solved by the heavy-duty violet contacts she had to wear on-screen. “I literally couldn’t see 2 feet in front of me. They would tell me, ‘Look at Kristen [Stewart],’ and I was like, ‘OK. Where is she?’”

…And the model, who’s already signed up for two more “Twilight” installments, shows no signs of slowing down. “Modeling was great to me. I made a lot of money doing it,” says Seear, who plans to move to Los Angeles later this year to focus on acting. “[But] what makes acting different is that you get a voice. You’re not just a picture.”

Read Amanda Fitzsimons’ article at WWD here. 

NewMoonMovie.org has this great photo from the filming set of New Moon. Looks like they’re likely discussing the scene where Alice comes back to check on Bella… or it could be the scene before Bella leaves for Italy!!! Ohh Soo EXCITING!!! Thanks to lion&lamb at LiveJournal for the pic!

YAY!! Xavier Samuel has spoken about getting the role of Riley for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Thanks to emiliexoxx for this!!

Gina McIntyre of LA Times wrote ‘On The Set : ‘New Moon’ on the rise’

The team working on this sequel to last year’s Catherine Hardwicke-directed “Twilight,” which brought in an unexpected $365 million worldwide for Summit Entertainment, is moving quickly to sustain the momentum of the sexy, youth-oriented franchise.
…Between takes, Pattinson chats with the crew while director Chris Weitz stands several feet away, his arms folded behind his head. Visual effects, “that’s not my thing,” he concedes with a wry smile.

What does interest him is literature. Due in theaters Nov. 20, “New Moon” will mark his third consecutive literary adaptation after having directed “About a Boy,” from the Nick Hornby novel, and “The Golden Compass,” the big-budget fantasy based on the first chapter in author Philip Pullman’s award-winning “His Dark Materials” series. It was his experience making that film — which should have been a dream project really, given Weitz’s reverence for the source material — that made the idea of taking the reins on the second “Twilight” film so appealing.

…”I promised the actors that no matter what, we would have time to discuss every single line,” Weitz explains. “There was a line that he felt was repetitive and Rob wasn’t feeling where he was in the scene. We worked it out and came up with some alternate dialogue. I can work on the fly a bit because I’m a writer-director, which is helpful. I don’t feel stuck or panicky when an actor is not down with a particular piece of dialogue.”

….”It’s a rare and wonderful feeling to know that people are going to want to see what you’re making,” he says. “The fear sometimes when you’re making a film is that you’ve gotten everybody all dressed up with nowhere to go. Certainly, there is the possibility that I can drop the ball . . . . But at least people are going to go and see it.”

For the full version of the article, click here.

THE GREAT BOOK BLOCKADE 2009

 Was watching CNN this afternoon and this report caught my attention. Mainly cos Twilight was mentioned (hehe..) Anyway, there are plans to increase the taxes on imported ’non educational’ books by 5% in the Philippines and this was partly fuelled by the popularity of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga Series as well as JK Rowlings’ Harry Potter series.

According to Hemley, the situation developed this way. Stephenie Meyer’s novel “Twilight” apparently did so well in the bookstores that the number of copies being imported attracted the attention of a Customs official. Examiner Rene Agulan decreed that duties be paid. It seems that the importer of the book reacted in a manner familiar to most book lovers in the country: to eliminate the hassle, the importer complied with the Customs levy on the title.

Hmmm its pretty dodgy seeing that this may curb people’s freedom in reading ‘non-educational’ books ie fiction work. Their argument being to protect local publishers. I’ll let you guys be the judge of it. Read here.