Before Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and the rest of the gang head over to San Diego Comic-Con’s infamous Hall H to introduce The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 to a thounsand screaming Twihards, they sat down with an equally rapid group of press people to discuss the franchise’s legacy and what to expect from this new movie. Here are some of highlights (and you can check out even more details at Movieline and HitFix’s live blogs):
First up at the press conference were Elizabeth Reaser, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Julia Jones, and Boo Boo Stewart who recounted stories of finding out they were cast in the movies. Greene called her parents, Reaser had no idea what to do, saying, I hadn’t read the books, so I didn’t really know the scope of what I was getting into,” and Nikki Reed agreed. Apparently Julia Jones had some foresight—she was pumped!
When the topic of more Twilight movies came up, Reaser summed up the general look on everyone’s face: “I think Stephenie [Meyer]’s done with us.”
Of course, the wedding scene was a top priority for questioners and the cast remained fairly mum on the saga’s pivotal moment. Greene told the journalists she thought the wedding was a fun scene to shoot, mostly because everyone was hanging out together and that it “reminded [her] of the baseball scene.” Boo Boo chimed in on the wedding too: “I just thought it was really cold outside.”
After wrapping up and snapping a few photos for the crowd, the co-star gang filed out to make way for Stewart, Lautner, Pattinson and director Bill Condon. With only a few minutes before their big footage presentation, the leads took the stage and started fielding questions.
First up: Brazil. The South American country was home to the anticipated honeymoon scenes in Breaking Dawn and the movie strove to shoot in real locations. “It was nice being able to shoot on the actual streets and see the people,” said Stewart. Apparently the fans in Brazil are even bigger Twihards than here in the States, with onlookers trying to grab Pattinson as he went to and from set. Thankfully he and Lautner both survived, although if Taylor had kicked the bucket, there was apparently a carbon copy lookalike standing by in Brazil—and it freaked Lautner out. Stewart elaborated: “He looked like an Eclipse poster.”
Unlike Ashley Greene, Pattinson gave hope for future Twilight installments, saying, “There are so many characters, I suspect [Stephenie Meyer] will want to revisit them at some time.”
When topic of how the sex scene and the pregnancy affected her, Stewart delivered an elegant response: ““It’s hard for me to take myself out of it. I’ve been building up to these moments for 4 years, I was 17 when we started. This one is loaded with those huge cathartic moments, and they’re rooted in a reality that I can see myself in. Shooting these scenes, I had to realize that these moments would happen naturally and I couldn’t punch myself in the face with the book every morning.”
Next, the cast and Condon picked their favorite moments from Breaking Dawn. Lautner’s danced around the question, noting, “I’ve always been able to choose one… But this one I can’t. I don’t know. There’s so much going on in this movie and all of the characters are dealing with their own little things.” Stewart thought her favorite might be the wedding scene with Charlie, while Pattinson chooses the soon-to-be-infamous birth scene.
Bill Condon teased the audience about the footage they were about to see, telling the folks that they were about to see the topless scene. Collective jaws assumably dropped in the room.
Stewart and Pattinson talked about shooting with a real life baby and its animatronic counterpart. Pattinson compared the robot doll to Chucky from Child’s Play. Stewart was a little more kind: “It had hair and it’s a newborn baby. I know that’s in the book and you can imagine how cool that would be.”
Finally, on the subject of older women hitting on the gentlemen, Pattinson swiftly ended the conference with “Different strokes for different folks, I guess!”
And that’s a wrap. Keep an eye on our Comic-Con page and our Twilight: Breaking Dawn section for more info (the panel is up next!).
