Behind The Scenes of New Moon - Twilight Saga ~ Love-sepphoras

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The article below from SunSentinel.com’s Gina McIntyre gives us a sneek peak into New Moon, as well as a few words from New Moon director, Chris Weitz and Taylor Lautner, and some very interesting information about the upcoming movie. The article is an excellent read – check it out:

New Moon Movie Poster cropped VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Robert Pattinson is having an Obi-Wan Kenobi moment. Inside a soundstage where “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” is shooting, the lanky English heartthrob stands in front of a tall, wide green screen murmuring a tender admonition, “You promised me nothing reckless.” Motion capture cameras hurtle toward him across a length of track affixed to the stage floor, while a team of technicians studies his stance and the tilt of his head.

The plan is to digitally insert Pattinson, who plays swoony good guy vampire Edward Cullen, into a scene that was filmed much earlier—one in which he appears as an apparition to his costar, Kristen Stewart, cautioning her headstrong character Bella Swan against hanging out with some unsavory-looking biker types. For the effect to work, Pattinson’s image will need to be dropped in at exactly the right position, so despite the cast and crew nearing the end of a very long early May day, perfectionism is still the standard.

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.

During post-production on “Compass,” concerns over the story’s take on organized religion and its grim ending caused studio New Line to take control of the $180 million movie.

The film earned only $70 million domestically, though it fared better overseas, and Weitz still despairs that he was unable to faithfully execute Pullman’s vision. (New Line declined to comment for this story.)

“It’s one of the great sadnesses of my life that it didn’t turn out the way I intended it,” he says.

“New Moon,” a story about surviving the ultimate heartbreak and loss, is Weitz’s chance to heal his wounds and find a new creative path. It’s a path that winds through the gloomy forests of the Pacific Northwest and the Italian village of Multipulciano. The last three days of the shoot will happen there, but before then, Weitz needs to complete the complicated camera maneuvers that will enable him to transform Pattinson’s Edward into a spectral vision.

For anyone unfamiliar with the world of “Twilight,” a primer: In author Stephenie Meyer’s first tale, 17-year-old Bella Swan moves to Forks, Wash., to live with her small-town sheriff father. She soon falls for the mysterious Edward Cullen, a vampire who, like the rest of his extended “family,” abstains from drinking human blood. In “New Moon,” Edward opts to leave town to protect Bella—whose proximity to these powerful supernatural creatures places her in almost constant danger—but his decision leaves her broken and inconsolable.

The film’s success, driven by the unrelenting support of Meyer’s fans, most of whom are teenage girls (but whose ranks also include some young men and their moms), catapulted 19-year-old Stewart and 23-year-old Pattinson to a stratospheric level of stardom that seems to make both actors deeply uncomfortable. Their reticence about fame is understandable: The nature of their off-screen relationship has become the frequent subject of tabloid speculation.

These days, they’ve taken to declining a number of interviews, politely refusing to answer questions posed even by journalists invited to visit the set. Taylor Lautner, 17, who plays Bella’s friend Jacob, hasn’t experienced exactly the same sort of frenzy, but with his character moving to the forefront of the action in “New Moon,” he soon might. There is, after all, an entire camp that argues that Bella should wind up with his character.

“I don’t know if you can get used to it,” the baby-faced Lautner says of the unbridled ardor the series inspires. “We have seen the passion and dedication in the fans. It’s fantastic. We wouldn’t be here without them, but they’re everywhere.

“You’re always experiencing the fans,” adds Lautner, who spent nearly a year in the gym training for the physical demands of his “New Moon” role. “Sometimes it does get a little overwhelming.”

Read the full article at SunSentinal.com here.

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