As thousands of thrilled New Moon fans filed out of Comic-Con’s Hall H after being treated to new film footage and a Robert Pattinson appearance, we talked with the film’s stars Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart. The duo discussed the saga’s different directors, werewolf workouts, and how they passed their on-set downtime.
What did you think of his [Lautner’s] physical transformation?
Stewart: It’s pretty impressive. I don’t know how he did it. The cool thing is that it’s not just physical. You can read it all over him, just in his entire attitude. The difference the kid that did Twilight and this guy now is pretty astounding.
Can you talk about the regimen to get where you got and how hard it was?
Lautner: Yeah. As soon as I started filming Twilight I knew what I had to do and I knew I couldn’t wait to do it. I had to start right then because to put on thirty pounds, I mean that takes a long time. I had to tell myself, ‘I want to portray this character correctly so I have to start now.’ Once I made that decision, and that decision wasn’t hard to make, it wasn’t hard to get into the gym. The hardest part was actually eating and eating a lot, a lot of good foods and cutting out all the bad foods and always putting something in your mouth. Every two hours I have to have something. That was the most challenging part for sure.
There was all that controversy about possibly recasting the role. What was going on with that?
Lautner: Well, I knew what I had to do and that’s what I did. I stayed focused and it all worked out well.
This year at Comic-Con it’s all even bigger than it was last year. How are you dealing with all of this and how has it changed from last year to this year?
Stewart: It’s a funny thing, I knew what to expect going into this and so I was much less surprised. I mean, I would expect, just judging from past experiences that when I show up at these sort of places I’m sort of blown away and in this case I was ready for it. I think I was over compensating. I was really tired. I was so nervous that I was overproducing some thing. I don’t know. So it was okay.
Lautner: Yeah, we’ve seen like everything possible from these fans during the last year and so we expect anything. It was just awesome to get out there and be with them again and show them the two clips.
Stewart: Showing them a part of the movie was really fun.
KEEP READING: Starting Eclipse and throwing grapes! [PAGEBREAK]
You guys have already started on Eclipse?
Stewart: Not yet.
Lautner: We start soon.
What are you doing to prepare?
Stewart: Just rehearsal.
Have you met David Slade the director?
Lautner: Yeah. I’ve only met him twice while I was actually filming New Moon. I know he’s actually been up there for a while scouting new stuff. I’m excited to get up there and meet and talk to him and pick his brain. It’s really awesome to have an opportunity to work with so many different directors and working with their styles. I’m looking forward to getting to know David’s.
Catherine Hardwicke‘s style was more sort of art house compared to New Moon. Can you talk about the differences between her style and Chris Weitz?
Stewart: Catherine was really spontaneous. Whatever we had to go through we had to really go through it. We didn’t have a whole lot of time to think about it and whatever we felt we had to sort of go for it. We had a lot more time…I don’t even think we had a lot more time. I just think that for this one it wasn’t necessary to pre-consider why we’re saying the things that we’re saying and what it means for them because it’s not about discovery and just unabashed devotion. It’s about getting to know yourself and being okay with yourself and being okay with yourself while you’re alone. So it was just different. It was much calmer. He’s the nicest person that I’ve ever met. He’s the type of guy that makes you feel you’re not very. I mean, he’s just so compassionate and so considerate and so concerned with how you’re feeling all the time. The movie is a heavy place, where I have to go and the film is crazy dark.
Can you compare the chemistry that you have with Taylor in this movie to the chemistry you had with Rob [Pattinson] in the first movie?
Stewart: Well, Bella and Edward’s relationship is so strange. I always say that she’s content after ‘New Moon’, that ‘New Moon’ is the struggle and then in ‘Eclipse’ the rest of her life is planned out and it’s not always such a big question as to what’s going to happen. They are going to stay together. The only thing that could bring this girl out of the deep, I mean it’s a much more heightened depression than you’d think. Like, in this movie you don’t just get sad. You die. It’s the closest emotion to death that there is. So we needed something really light to bring her out of that. I don’t know how to describe how he did that but he just has that in him. I mean, Taylor has that in him, to be Jacob.
And that’s different from what you have with Rob, obviously, right?
Stewart: Yeah, completely. We can barely stand to be next to each other and when she’s around Jacob she’s like bouncing around the room.
There’s a lot of heartache in the movie. How do you cheer yourself up?
Lautner: This is so random. I like to carry a football with me and as soon as I’m done filming I’ll play catch with anybody that will play catch with me.
Stewart: We played catch.
Lautner: Kristen and I played catch all the time and she has a really good arm. She’s extremely accurate. I don’t know how I got on this. She’s extremely accurate. The grapes.
Stewart: Oh, yeah. I can throw a grape from across the room and he’ll catch it in his mouth.
Lautner: So maybe a little bit talented at opening my mouth and aiming it at a falling grape, but she places it in like the perfect spot. It’s so weird. So we keep ourselves busy.
