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Talking With ‘New Moon’s Chris Weitz, Ashley Green and Melissa Rosenberg!

We were lucky enough to chat with New Moon director Chris Weitz, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg and star Ashley Greene during New Moon‘s Comic-Con takeover. They had a lot to share about onscreen chemistry, creating the wolves, and Taylor Lautner‘s resemblance to a certain Greek god.  

Chris, what were the challenges of adapting a Twilight book?
Weitz: In terms of the visuals, just sort of combining a sense of, I mean the last film I did [The Golden Compass] was set in a parallel universe, so we could reinvent the wheel. This one’s not only set in a very specific place, and in some ways a very workaday place, but also a place that had already been established in the previous film. And then to take it to flights of fantasy, the Volturi. Really, to be honest, its hiring someone like David Brisbin who is a genius production designer and Javier Aguirresarobe the D.P. who shot things in such a beautiful way. We were able to take a world that had already been established and put it in a setting that is just incredibly rich, and I think it’s quite beautiful.

We know the characters are close to people’s hearts, but Kristen and Robert have become true superstars, what do you think is the secret of their appeal?
Rosenberg:
Personally for me, it’s how genuine they both are. They’re both very authentic people; that comes across on the screen.

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Greene: They have great chemistry.

Rosenberg: They’re chemistry is incredible together, I mean visually as well. I think that sets them apart.

Ashley,  you can Kellan, in this film you play siblings, but then you move on to the next film you’re doing together [Warrior]. Is it strange with the two different relationships you have to have with the same person?
Greene: No. Kellan and I know each other so well, it’s kind of a no brainer and again, we’ve already got this kind of chemistry. So no it wasn’t weird at all. I was kind of wondering about that in the beginning because he’s one of my very close friends and we definitely have a platonic relationship. Going and playing romantic, I was wondering if it was going to be harder or easier, but because we’re already so comfortable with each other it was actually less awkward than kissing someone I didn’t know.

How many versions of the wolf did you have, and cg wise, how long did that take to come up with?
Weitz: Well, we knew very quickly that we wanted it to look like a wolf, just a very, very big one. Once you’ve made that crucial decision you don’t have to spend much time on look with R&D [Research and Development] and the concept and the renderings you usually have to do with monsters and those type of things. Getting very tedious details stuff like fur, the muscles, the fat over the muscles, the way the light is with the fur, that stuff takes months. We have a huge advantage in that it’s Phil Tippet’s studios. Phil Tippett is one of the greatest visual effects artists in the world…They’ve turned out much more quickly than we thought they were going to be.

How important was Taylor’s transformation to make this character work in this film?
Weitz: Well, probably less important to me than it was to fans, because I felt that he had the feeling of the character anyway. It’s a bonus that he happens to look like Adonis. He really looks like a cartoon character when he takes his shirt off, in a good way. I don’t think any steroids have been employed, he’s just incredibly fit. That’s great, and that’s lovely for the girls, but to me, he was the character.

What do you think that you’re bringing to New Moon that’s different?
Weitz: I think I”m very old fashioned in terms of my films references and what appeals to me. In the way that shots are composed and the way the camera moves. The color I like to bring out of things, and so that influenced the people that I hired on the crew. I’m always more influenced by somebody like David Greene, not that I would put myself in the same breath as him, Kurosawa or somebody like that, than anything that feels at all contemporary. Because that’s already there. The characters are contemporary. The music is contemporary. The feelings are perennial.

Ashley, how are you preparing for Eclipse, and what scenes are you looking forward to shooting?
Greene: I just got the script probably three days ago, so I haven’t gotten the time too much to dig into it. But I will and I work with my coach and kind of bounce ideas off of her, but it’s kind of nice because we’re playin ghte same characters and we’re building on to them and digging deeper into their layers and so I feel like the hard part of it is over, and now we’re just having fun with it. I’m excited about filming it Eclipse. I don’t want to give anything away, but I’m excited about the things that are going to happen.

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How much of a cool toy box do you inherit with a sequel to a Twilight movie, with the previous film or from the source material?
Weitz: I inherited a wonderful cast. It was really the main appeal to me, because when I was offered the film I hadn’t read the book yet. And I read the book I realized there were these kind of deeper undercurrents, and longing and romance to it. I inherit a huge fanbase, which is incredible for a director, because you know people are going to go see your movie. That’s the whole thing you worry about when you’re making a film in the first place. It’s so expensive to make a film. You work so hard; you make other people work so hard. Knowing that people are going to go see it is tremendously refreshing.

Ashley, has the phenomenon of Twilight bonded you with the other actors in a way that’s different from the way other actors bond on other projects?
Greene: Yeah, I obviously can’t speak on anyone else’s bond because I don’t know, but I think we’re all kind of looking at each other going ‘What is going on? What do you do? Have you experienced this?’ It’s very nice to have someone right there going through the same thing as you and being able to relate to it. It’s had a tremendous effect on how close we are now.

Have you made any changes to the vampire makeup you saw in the first movie?
Weitz: There’s more consistency between shots, if I were to be just coldblooded about it.The Volturi have a slightly different look, because they’re a different breed of vampire altogether. The diamond skin we’re remaking. It’s gonna be groovy.

 

MORE: All things New Moon!

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