Q&A: Taylor Lautner on “Twilight: New Moon”
Taylor Lautner plays Jacob Black in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”
Over the weekend, the sequel “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” turned months of buzz into big box-office numbers, making $140.7 million domestically.
Since the film and “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” Week here at BAM’s Blog are proving so popular, I’m extending my daily coverage of “New Moon” for another week. Just call it “New Moon” Week: The Sequel.
In the second film based on Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling book series, the supernatural love triangle between human Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) really starts to develop.
On Friday, I brought you features on Lautner, Pattinson and Stewart I wrote after attending the massive “New Moon” press day at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. This week, I’m going to bring you full Q&As on the three leads, plus a few other cast and crew from the film.
Today, I’m featuring a Q&A with Lautner, taken from the L.A. press conference, in which he fielded questions from several entertainment journalists, including yours truly. He talked about his physical transformation for the film, shared his technique for dealing with the “Twilight” fan and tabloid phenomenon and had a clever yet vague answer ready when asked about his rumored romance with country star Taylor Swift. (The Q&A has been slightly edited for clarity and length.)
Q: Did it ever feel like you were really in danger of not getting this role in this movie, and were you on steroids for those 30 pounds you gained?
A: Definitely not, on your second question. And honestly, I knew where my character went in New Moon and that’s all I tried to stay focused on. I couldn’t control things outside. I couldn’t control the media. But I could control what I was doing to portray Jacob Black correctly. So that’s what I stayed focused on the whole entire time.
Q: Did that start with going to the gym and gaining 30 pounds?
A: Absolutely. Jacob transforms a lot in New Moon, not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well. So it was a matter of getting to the gym and eating the right food and a lot of it. But also reading and studying the book and the character over and over and over again so I could have his character down as well because he changes in many, many different ways
Q: Can you talk about those changes?
A: When he transforms, basically my job was to continue what I started in ‘Twilight,’ which was this extremely happy, friendly, outgoing guy, best friends with Bella. I had to continue that for the first half of the film, but as soon as I transform I snap and I become a completely different person. I’m dealing with my issues and it’s really hard for me.
Q: You have a lot of opportunities in the film to show off your new physique, like when you take your T-shirt off …
A: And wipe her blood?
Q: Can you talk about that scene and any others like that?
I start laughing so hard every time I see that scene. ‘You’re bleeding? OK, let me fix it.’ It’s so embarrassing. Yeah. I mean, here’s the thing: there’s a reason that he’s not wearing clothes all the time. One, when he transforms, all his clothes get shredded. He can’t help it. And when he goes into the woods to get something to put on so he’s not naked, it’s just a ripped pair of jean shorts. He’s also hot. He’s 108 degrees. So that’s another reason. The thing is, I love this character, I love this story, and putting on the weight and not wearing much clothing was required by the role. A year from now, if I love a story and I love a character that requires me to lose 40 pounds, I’m ready to do it. …
Q: Can you be more specific on what you did to gain the weight — what did you eat, how did you exercise? Can you give a little more of a rundown?
A: Oh boy. You’re putting the pressure on me now. I was in the gym about five days a week, because it’s important to get your recovery time and not overworking yourself, because if you’re overworking yourself … I was trying to put on weight and if I was in the gym too much I’d be burning the calories I’m trying to take in.
The most important thing was the eating side. Everybody thinks it was the actual getting in the gym. That was easy—I was motivated. So getting in the gym was easy for me. But the eating was pretty hard. It was just eating a lot. I found out that I had to consume at least 3,200 calories a day just to maintain. And I’m not trying to maintain, I’m trying to gain. So I had to eat more than that, and putting something in your mouth every two hours. And I’m busy. I’m downtown L.A. I’m (going) from meeting to meeting. There’s not time for me to be eating. So I literally would have to carry a little Baggie of beef patties, raw almonds, sweet potatoes. So it’s not like every two hours I’m eating ice cream. It was difficult.
Q: Did you have a personal trainer?
A: I do. I definitely had one that helped me out.
Q: Having not read the “Twilight” books, seeing the movie I’m thinking this girl is retarded, why is she not going for Jacob? So was there any concern about overshadowing Edward? Was that something you had to temper in your own performance? Because you were very winning.
A: Thank you very much. I think it depends on what kind of girl you are, what kind of guy you like. Edward and Jacob are complete opposite guys. They’re hot and cold. Literally. So yeah, I mean it’s just, I personally love Bella and Jacob’s relationship, how they begin with best friends and it starts to grow into something more and more. Both guys are in love with Bella. Both guys are always going to be there for Bella, and they’re protective. I just think it’s what kind of guy you like.
Q: Can you talk about the stunt and wire work, how difficult was that to get used to, and also bonding with the other wolf pack guys?
A: Yeah. The physical side was really fun. Some of it was challenging. I’d never ridden a dirt bike before. And yes, I rode the dirt bike for a total of about five seconds in the film, but for those five seconds I had to look as cool as possible. So it did require a lot of practice just, for safety-wise, so they’d let me do it. And the wirework, like when I run up the side of her house, that whole thing, the wires were there so if I slipped and fell I didn’t face plant into the ground. But it was definitely challenging. That stunt was really complicated. You need to be on. I’m using a little plug in the side of the wall to take off from and jump so it’s really complicated and it required a lot of practice. Every single weekend I would practice that stunt for three hours a day. It was the last thing we filmed. The bonding with the werewolves was very fun. Those guys are characters. They’re a lot of fun too. Did they just talk to you?
Q: Yes
A: (Grins) Oh my. I’m sure this was a fun room. They’re great guys. What’s so great is that they each fit their character perfectly. So on set we just had a blast, we had a blast when we were on set. They just made that so exciting.
Q: They were talking about getting the wolf pack tattoo, are you in?
A: I don’t know, I’ll have to think about that. I’ll have to discuss it with my pack.
Q: What is the strangest thing that has ever been written about you and also how do you balance letting the public and fans know who you really are outside of Jacob but also keep your private life private?
A: Honestly I try to stay away from what has been written about me ‘cause if you let that stuff get to you and it’s not true, it can drive you crazy. One thing that I have heard recently, which is not true, I definitely didn’t say it, I was quoted as saying I will never take my shirt off for a movie again. I didn’t say that. If I have to, if the character requires it, I will. Who knows, in 10 years, I might do that. And like I said earlier, if a character requires me to lose 40 pounds, I’ll do it. It’s just what the character requires. So that was interesting to see. What was the second part?
Q: How you balance letting the fans know who you really are outside of Jacob but also keep your private life private?
A: Right. It’s difficult. It is. It’s definitely important to stay true to yourself and stay close to those people you were close to before, your family, your friends, and just not let that outside stuff get to you.
Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, Rascal Flatts among Sunday’s AMA winners
Rascal Flatts accepts the award for favorite country band, duo or group title during Sunday’s American Music Awards in Los Angeles. (Associated Press photos)
Michael Jackson won a record four posthumous awards at Sunday night’s American Music Awards, while country starlet Taylor Swift won five trophies, including the top award, entertainer of the year.
The 19-year-old country music star was named the year’s favorite artist, giving Jackson his only loss of the night, according to the Associated Press. She also was awarded favorite female pop/rock artist, favorite female country artists, favorite country album for “Fearless,” and favorite adult contemporary artist.
“Music has never been ultimately about competition,” she said as she accepted the top prize via satellite from London, where she is to perform today. “To even be mentioned in a category with Michael Jackson, who we will miss and love forever, is an unimaginable honor.”
Jackson, who died in June at age 50, was voted favorite male artist in the pop/rock and 
soul/R&B categories. His 2003 greatest-hits album, “Number Ones,” also won favorite album in both categories, bringing his career AMA total to 23, making him the most honored artist in AMA history.
Jackson’s trophies were accepted by his brother Jermaine, who paid tribute to his late brother by wearing glittery white glove.
Rascal Flatts, which includes Joe Don Rooney of Picher, again won the favorite country band, duo or group title.
The show featured a eye-popping performances by Lady Gaga and “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert and a special award for Whitney Houston.
The soundtrack to the first “Twilight” movie was named favorite soundtrack, capping a big weekend for the film franchise, as the sequel “New Moon” made $140.7 million in its debut over the weekend.
The American Music Awards honor the year’s top-selling artists in eight popular genres, and fans voted for the winners online.
See the full list of winners on the jump.
Box office report for Nov. 23, 2009: “Twilight: New Moon” rises high
The vampire romance sequel “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” dominated the weekend box office, sucking in $140.7 million in its first three days, according to the Associated Press.
The second film based on Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling book series also made $258.8 million worldwide, indicating the author’s saga isn’t just supernaturally popular in the United States. Overseas, “New Moon” debuted in 25 countries and sucked up $118.1 million.
The huge opening weekend for the Summit Entertainment release not only landed the sequel at No. 1 on the box-office charts, it also was more than twice the $69.6 million haul over the same weekend last year for “Twilight,” the first film in the franchise.
“New Moon” also rose to third on the all-time domestic box-office list behind 2008’s $158.4 million opening weekend for the Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight” and 2007’s $151.1 million haul for “Spider-Man 3.”
Among the top-10 all-time openings, “New Moon” is the only one that came outside of Hollywood’s busiest time, the summer season, according to the AP. The movie adaptation of Meyer’s third “Twilight” book, “Eclipse,” has already been filmed and is due in theaters June 30, 2010.
On Friday, “New Moon” set an all-time domestic high for opening day with $72.7 million, topping the previous record of $67.2 million, again set by “The Dark Knight.
“New Moon” continues the love story between human Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen (Rpbert Pattinson) but adds a love triangle to the story with Bella’s best friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), who turns out to be a werewolf.
Overall, Hollywood had its second-biggest non-holiday weekend ever, with final numbers expected to come in slightly behind the $260 million the industry rang up over the weekend of July 18, 2008, when “The Dark Knight” opened, according to the AP. Compared to the same weekend last year, box-office business was up 59 percent.
Females made up 80 percent of the audience for “New Moon,” which makes since since Meyer’s saga is phenomenally popular among girls and women. It also proves again to the movie studios – who seem to need constant reminders – that women will flock to movie theaters if given good reason. Young men aren’t the only ones who will turn out in droves to see a movie.
The “Twilight” franchise “taps into something primal and visceral that drives women crazy, and they’re willing to pay for the privilege,” Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com, told the AP.
The Warner Bros. football drama “The Blind Side” opened at No. 2 with $34.5 million. The film stars Sandra Bullock in the fact-based story of Baltimore Ravens tackle Michael Oher, who was a homeless teen taken in by a wealthy family and enrolled in private school.
As with “New Moon,” females were the big fans of “The Blind Side,” accounting for 59 percent of the audience. That may seem unusual for a sports film, but between Bullock and the movie’s family themes, women wanted to see it, too.
“To have two movies with huge appeal for women result in the second-biggest non-holiday weekend ever is amazing,” said Dergarabedian told the AP.
Sony’s animated adventure “Planet 51,” about a NASA astronaut (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) who causes a panic when he lands on an alien planet, debuted at No. 4 with $12.6 million.
The previous weekend’s top movie, Sony’s disaster tale “2012,” came in at No. 3 with $26.5 million, raising its domestic total to $108.2 million. Worldwide, “2012″ has taken in $449.8 million, despite some fairly disastrous reviews.
With the Thanksgiving, Hollywood is preparing for one of the busiest periods of the year at theaters. Several movies are opening Wednesday, including the Robin Williams-John Travolta comedy “Old Dogs,” the post-apocalypse drama “The Road,” George Clooney’s animated comedy “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and the kung fu actioner “Ninja Assassin.”
Here are the top 10 films for the weekend, according to the AP:
1. “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” $140.7 million.
2. “The Blind Side,” $34.5 million.
3. “2012,” $26.5 million.
4. “Planet 51,” $12.6 million.
5. “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” $12.2 million.
6. “Precious: Based on the Novel `Push’ by Sapphire,” $11 million.
7. “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” $2.8 million.
8. “Couples Retreat,” $2 million.
9. “The Fourth Kind,” $1.7 million.
10. “Law Abiding Citizen,” $1.6 million.
-BAM
“Twilight: New Moon” stars and filmmakers talk shirtless scenes
Taylor Lautner plays Jacob Black in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”
LOS ANGELES – “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” Week continues today on BAM’s Blog, with the filmmakers and stars commenting on the frequent shirtless-young-man moments in the sequel.
Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) werewolf BFF, and the rest of his pack spend most of the film shirtless. Vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) takes off his shirt to reveal himself to the sunlight in one of the film’s most dramatic moments. Even bad vamp Laurent (Edi Gathegi) shows up with his shirt open.
“I wish I could take credit for the moments of Jacob pulling off his shirt and Edward pulling off his shirt. They are in the book and it seemed unwise to leave them out,” said screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg at the recent “New Moon” press day at the Four Seasons Hotel, referring to Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling second “Twilight” novel, “New Moon.”
“That would be a cut that you would regret,” added director Chris Weitz. “I like to say it’s all essentially economics. You see, the Quileutes don’t have very high average income and they can’t afford the T-shirts they would need, given the amount of times they turn into wolves on short notice and their clothes burst. So, really, they’d have to go to Walmart every 10 minutes. They just go around in shorts for that reason.”
Jacob and his fellow werewolves are all part of the Quileute Indian tribe. Some tribe members have the genetic ability to transform to wolves with lightning-quick speed, shredding their clothes in the process. They also have a body temperature of 108.9 degrees, so clothes aren’t a priority despite the chilly weather in Forks, Wash.
Lautner, 17, famously packed on 30 pounds of muscle to play Jacob, and he spends much of the movie showing off his well-toned abs. But one scene in particular was embarrassing for him: Stripping off his shirt to dab at a head wound Bella sustains in a minor motorcycle mishap.
“I start laughing so hard every time I see that scene. ‘You’re bleeding? OK, let me fix it.’ It’s so embarrassing,” he said with a laugh.
But he denied tabloid reports that he said he would never take another role that requires him to remove his shirt.
“I didn’t say that. If I have to, if the character requires it, I will. Who knows, in 10 years, I might do that,” Lautner said. “If a character requires me to lose 40 pounds, I’ll do it. It’s just what the character requires.”
For Pattinson, pulling of his shirt in the dramatic scenes in Italy had a strong effect on his connection to the character and the series.
“It was one of the closest moments I really felt to people’s emotional attachment to the character because there were so many extras there who were just ‘Twilight’ fans,” he said. “Just taking that one step into the light, it’s been the one moment, since the first Comic-Con, where I’ve felt the whole weight of anticipation and responsibility to all the people who are so obsessed with the stories. It was a good moment. It was very nerve-wracking, but I probably felt the most in character that I’ve ever felt, throughout the whole series, at that moment.”
-BAM
Q&A: The Cullen family of “Twilight: New Moon”
Elizabeth Reaser plays Esme Cullen in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.” (Associated Press photos)
LOS ANGELES – At the recent “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” press day at the Four Seasons Hotel, Kellan Lutz (Emmett); Ashley Greene (Alice); Nikki Reed (Rosalie); and Elizabeth Reaser (Esme) were on hand to represent the benevolent vampire family the Cullens.
The four actors talked during a press conference about vampire makeup, their obsessions and the celebrity spotlight. This is an edited transcript from the press conference.
Q: How was it this time with a new director and a new story with a whole different kind of emphasis?
Greene: I think this go-around we were all a little bit more prepared, which was nice. In the first film, we were kind of all going, ‘What’s going on? What’s happening?’ And you know we had the support of the fans behind us. In the first one, again, we were going, ‘Oh, God, we hope they don’t hate us.’ And they completely embraced us, so going into the second one, I think it was a much more fun, relaxed experience, at least for me.
Lutz: Yeah, and it’s nice to have that weight off your shoulders. I mean, we all are stepping in and giving a face to our characters, which fans already have celebrities, actors, who they envisioned as Emmett or Alice or Bella. And it’s nice to have their support, so it’s a huge weight off our shoulders shooting ‘New Moon’ and then ‘Eclipse.’ And then also with having Chris Weitz who’s such a laidback, easygoing director who really had everything so organized. And it trickles down. When we feel at ease, you know, with knowing what the scene (is) and what he wants out of us and then allowing ourselves to go then to Chris and be like ‘I want to try it this way’ or ‘what do you think of this?’ And he’s so open to all our actors’ decisions. It’s nice to feel like an actor and not a robot. So it felt so easy.
Q: Does that mean Hardwicke was …
Lutz: Hardwicke was, I loved her. I’m not saying it like that.
Reaser: There’s a big difference.
Reed: They all have a different approach.
Greene: And I think Catherine was thrown into it just as much as the rest of us. So I think, you know, as the rest of us, she was kind of going ‘Oh, my gosh, what’s happening?’
Ashley Greene
Q: I wanted to ask Ashley about your wardrobe: Did you have any input into it because she’s so stylish? And was that you driving that car and how did that go?
Greene: It was me driving the car, I think which scared all of the producers. (laughs) Two takes and it was over.
Yeah, they definitely ask our input. We have a little bit of input in it. I don’t think it’s any secret that I really adore Audrey Hepburn, and so I asked that maybe they throw that in there a little bit. That and I think Jackie O was thrown in there a little bit. I loved it. I wanted to take my wardrobe home with me each day.
Q: Did you notice that you were reading, watching or listening to anything differently to get into your characters at all? And as your characters, do you think that since they’re so eternal, do they listen to new music. Do they change with the times or they are who they were?
Reaser: I think they do. I mean, I personally think that, you know, they’re trying to fit in to the human world. … (pause as problem with microphone)
So, I think it’s important to them, I mean in every way, that they look normal, that they have normal clothes and that they listen to music. I mean, they have a lot of time on their hands, too. They’re up all night, you know, so we work on our hairdos a lot.
Reed: We’ve found a way to like justify why we’re wearing like a lot of Nike and also why our hair is like totally flawless and our makeup. I mean, we always find a way to justify, like we’re up all night, so we have time for that. They want to be like contemporary and cool; we wear a lot of Nike. (laughing) Sometimes head to toe in Nike. We just love Nike.
Q: Following up on that, I’m just wondering since they don’t sleep, what do you guys do at night? What do you think about your characters about what they do at night?
Greene: Alice plans parties. Alice plans lots of parties.
Reed: I look at myself all night. (lots of laughter among them)
Reaser: I think Esme goes out and like tears apart a mountain lion every other night …
Reed: Yeah, we’ve actually discussed this.
Reaser: Yeah, and bears …
Lutz: Hey, that’s mine.
Reed: What does that Emmett do?
Reaser: You like bears?
Lutz: I do.
Reaser: I like mountain lions.
Reed: It’s funny because we’ve all become friends, and so it does in a sense like change your approach here, your character and the dynamic between all of our characters onset and stuff. And so Elizabeth and I became very close while shooting ‘Eclipse.’ We were housed right next to each other, and we were very isolated this time in Vancouver. I felt very isolated. So we decided that we’d tear apart mountain lions together. And we somehow found a way to like stand next to each other in certain scenes; I mean, a lot of it’s like left, you know, up to the actors, and it’s eenie, meanie, miney, moe.
Reaser: Why wouldn’t I?
Greene: Where we place ourselves it’s like a dance.
Reaser: At one point you were saying like you didn’t dig Esme.
Reed: No, no, no. I’m feeling at little bit funny about Carlisle.
Reaser: Carlisle. You have issues with Carlisle, and Esme you didn’t totally, you weren’t feeling her so much.
Reed: I just didn’t really understand. Yeah, she’s trying to crack the whip and I really didn’t understand why she thought she could do that. But we’ve come to an understanding.
Reaser: Yeah, we’ve found that we hunt together.
Reed: We hunt together. We don’t speak. We hunt.
Reaser: Yeah, like we don’t have all this chitchat. Like I think Alice and I hang out and we maybe go shopping and do all this girly stuff. This one and I, we just hunt.
Lutz: Am I a loner? Is that what you’re trying to say?
Reed: Yep, pretty much.
Reaser: No, sometimes you get to come.
Greene: You and Jazz can spar.
Lutz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jasper and I.
Reaser: Yeah, you and Jasper and I are always hunting.
Reed: Remember that this is not a metaphor for anything. (laughing)
Nikki Reed
Q: In the last year and a half, all of you have been thrust into this celebrity spotlight. I’m curious you guys have such an avid fan base. Where do you think the public and fans’ right to know about your private life start and stop? It’s just a really blurry line nowadays.
Reed: I had like a really interesting start because the first film I did was marketed as being autobiographical. So there weren’t ever boundaries set, I feel, between me and the public or like between journalists and interviewers and myself. And so I’m still trying to find that honestly like, you know, the balance. I mean, I don’t know how these guys feel about that.
Greene: I mean, it’s a fine line definitely. I think it’s hard because the reason that we are here is because of our fans, and they want to know everything about us because they adore us and they support us. And so you do want to give them a little, but there is, you know, a certain point to where it’s normal for everyone to go everything about you. I mean, not all of my friends know every single thing about me; there’s different people that know different things. And so it gets a little tough there. And then on the flip side, you never, ever know what someone’s going to write about you. Like maybe an interviewer likes you and maybe they don’t, and so that’s where it becomes kind of tough because you do want to be open and honest but then you still have to protect yourself.
Lutz: I think it’s great to adopt a pet — a dog that bites. I mean, that’s where the paparazzi will stop. She has a lovely dog Marlow, which is kind of small but hurts. My dog, Kola, does not like anyone that she’s not friendly with.
Greene: Kola’s mean.
Lutz: Yeah, so the paparazzi stops at my front gate. And it’s usually kind of crazy have paparazzi step outside your house. And the coolest thing with the Vancouver guys are they’re respectable, and they will just ask for a signature or photo and let us go about and go and, you know, have a cast dinner away from set where we can feel human and we’re out of the white makeup and the contacts. And you know, it’s a double-edged sword. I mean, we’re blessed to be actors and have such a loving fan base. And the fans are always so great, and they’re giving us presents, which is so crazy ‘cause we’re allowed to work because of them. And the time they put into making dolls or buying gummi bears or anything like that, it’s very humbling. So it’s really nice to just have everyone who is respectful just understand that it’s a job at the end of the day. We aren’t really these characters in life. And just thank them for everything.
Reed: Also — like I don’t want to go on with this for too long — but it’s something that it’s really upsetting and also something that I’m fascinated with as well. It’s weird to be a part of this new wave, it’s kind of like a cultural phenomenon on its own, like this whole like online gossip situation. I mean, people have always been obsessed with celebrity, but there was a disconnect, there was a separation. People were on a screen, there were like even filters. Even like shooting like high-def and stuff, I feel like your success is almost determined a little bit now recently by like how exposed you are to the world, but yet you’re recycled really fast, especially women. Like you’re hot while you’re literally hot. (indicating her face and laughing) And then you’re out.
And so I think, I don’t know, like an ideal career for me would be to sort of slide under the radar so that I know that I’ll always work and people will always wonder. There’s like mystery still. There’s just no mystery anymore.
But then again, like producers actually cast like based on this. Like if you’re not known like in a small town like in, you know, Italy or wherever, they don’t want to cast you because they need to finance their films. We’re trying to figure it out. There’s a new system of law right now.
Lutz: I think that’s what’s really cool. Like we didn’t know what this would become in a way. We were just actors who fell in love with a script and within doing that, it’s not like a Marvel hero where you know Green Lantern or Captain America, whoever is that is gonna be famous right off the block. And with us, you know, we fell in love with our characters and kind of looked at this as just another job. I know for myself I didn’t know it was a book series. And you know, it’s just great to be a part of something for the reasons that we are a part of it.
Read more after the break.
Friday Featured Track for Nov. 20, 2009: “New Moon” newcomer Hurricane Bells
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “Monsters,” Hurricane Bells, from “The Twilight Saga: New Moon Soundtrack.”
When the lineup for “New Moon” soundtrack was announced, the inclusion of indie-rock stars such as The Killers, Thom Yorke, Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver and St. Vincent drew tons of attention. One of the names that few recognized: Hurricane Bells.
But Brooklyn musician Steve Schiltz, the sole member of Hurricane Bells, has contributed my absolute favorite song on the soundtrack, the rollicking, fuzzy-guitar-filled “Monsters.”
For better or worse, the “New Moon” soundtrack fits the plot of the sequel, which centers on the breakup of human heroine Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). As a result, many of the songs are pretty downbeat. But not the blessedly bouncy “Monsters.”
According to EW.com’s Music Mix, Schiltz only got around to creating a MySpace page (www.myspace.com/hurricanebells) for Hurricane Bells about three weeks before the soundtrack listing was announced.
“Monsters” is one of several leftover songs he recorded under the Hurricane Bells name when they didn’t work for his main band, Longwave. His said his manager quietly got the song placed on the soundtrack, keeping it a secret even from the artist himself.
“I made a record myself without telling anybody. It’s a complete stroke of luck that one of the songs ended up being on the soundtrack,” he told Music Mix.
After Schiltz got an e-mail from Chris Weitz that the ”New Moon” director wanted to put the song in the film, Schiltz’s first move was to borrow a copy of the book “Twilight.”
Although Schiltz recorded his Hurricane Bells album without “Monsters,” I’m willing to bet he will be adding that song to the track listing. And I’m interested to see how far the “Twilight” phenomenon can take the obviously talented Hurricane Bells.
Check out this YouTube video of Hurricane Bells performing “Monsters” live:
-BAM
“Twilight: New Moon” sets midnight screening record with $26.3 million
“The Twilight Saga: New Moon” has set a box-office record for midnight screenings, according to the Associated Press.
Summit Entertainment estimated today that the sequel earned $26.3 million after opening in the wee hours of the morning, the AP reports.
If the estimate proves on-target, it would break the previous midnight record, held by “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which earned $22.2 million in its early-morning screenings this summer.
The 2008 sequel “The Dark Knight” comes in third on the midnight screenings list with $18.5 million.
“New Moon,” the second film in the supernaturally popular “Twilight” franchise, opened at midnight in 3,514 theaters with a per-theater average of $7,476.
Paul Dergarabedian, a box-office analyst for Hollywood.com., says the record-setting midnight start “portends an opening weekend that could be one of the biggest of the year.”
-BAM
Spirituality in the “Twilight” saga
There are spiritual lessons to be gleaned from the fictional “Twilight” saga that has lots of folks abuzz these days.
The premiere of the feature film “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” again brings to reel-life the love story of Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend Edward.
Beliefnet.com has a new posting offering Claudia Mair Burney’s perspective on the spirituality one can find in the popular tale of teen love and angst.
“I’m also a junkie for the Twilight Saga’s completely unrealistic love story. “Who acts like that?”, I ask myself, but I keep coming back. Deep down inside I knew who acted that way. Edward’s inhumanly perfect love and Bella’s passionate attachment to him echoed —don’t laugh—the sacred romance between God and me,” Burney wrote.
Check it out at “Spiritual Lessons of Twilight.”
Saturday, Beliefnet.com will feature a movie review of the new film by Movie Mom Nell Minow.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Video: Twinprov’s “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” rap
Twinprov, AKA Oklahoma City comedians Buck and Clint Vrazel returned to the NewsOK studios this week with another of their humorous film-related raps. Since the hotly anticipated sequel “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” opens today, the Brothers Vrazel could only be paying hilarious tribute to Stephenie Meyer’s vampire-romance epic.
Admire both the fast-talking fun and the amusing choreography in Buck and Clint’s latest rhyming comic masterpiece.
As a bonus, Twinprov manager Eric Webb and the guys put together a behind-the-scenes preview video to go along with their big NewsOK debut performance:
The guys also performed their rap at five midnight “New Moon” screenings today/last night at Harkins Bricktown Cinema 16.
Thanks to Twinprov for again paying us a visit. It’s always a fun time.
-BAM
Kristen Stewart finds breaking up hard to do in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon”
Kristen Stewart plays Bella Swan in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Kristen Stewart grows with ‘Twilight’ series, role in ‘New Moon’
LOS ANGELES — Breaking up is always hard to do, but Kristen Stewart learned on the set of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” that acting out an “iconic” split from a book adored by millions of fervent fans presents a special set of challenges.
“I know what’s it like to get broken up with, but I don’t know what it’s like to get broken up with by a vampire who I’ve now been physically and chemically altered by. Suddenly you take an addict, you take whatever they’re addicted to away from them and there’s withdrawal. So that was the most intimidating scene in the entire movie,” Stewart said in a press conference from the classy Four Seasons Hotel.
In “New Moon,” the sequel to last year’s blockbuster “Twilight,” human Bella Swan (Stewart) is heartbroken when her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) ends their romance over concerns for her safety. The depressed Bella finds a new chance for love through her burgeoning friendship with Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), only to discover he is a werewolf.
While she called the actual break-up an “iconic” moment in the books, Stewart was even more anxious about the moment Edward leaves, in which the painful reality sets in for Bella.
“I was like, ‘How am I going to, by myself in the woods with a hundred guys standing around me, filming me, die?’ Basically, literally having the equivalent of like a death scene but stay alive and get up and keep walking. It was hard,” she said.
“I really like the movie but I don’t know if anyone ever really would’ve been able to bring that to life the way that Stephenie (Meyer) writes it.”
Based on Meyer’s best-selling four-book series, the “Twilight” franchise has made movie stars out of its young cast. But Stewart’s film career started at age 8, when an agent spotted her performing in a holiday play at her California elementary school. After a few non-speaking roles, she broke out at 11, when she played Jodie Foster’s daughter in David Fincher’s 2002 thriller “Panic Room.”
But the success of the “Twilight” series has catapulted the Stewart, 19, into A-list fame, and all the tabloid gossip, particularly about a rumored romance between her and Pattinson, and paparazzi photography that goes with it. She likened the tabloid situation to a “ridiculous show,” like an obviously false soap opera with her name in it.
“I totally understand why people have a hard time separating ourselves from our characters,” she said. “It’s also just sort of the way our world is going. People are obsessed. There’s an incredibly large group of people that spend most of their time considering other people’s lives. It’s strange to me.”
But the nonstop media circus surrounding the franchise has helped the teen actress become more self-assured in some ways. At last year’s “Twilight” press day, she came across as shy, awkward and a little moody.
“I think I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with talking about myself and knowing that what you say people are really going to take into consideration. And that always intimidated me so much that I minced every word that came out of my mouth. I couldn’t finish a sentence because I was so concerned about how it was going to sound,” said Stewart, dressed in her trademark grungy-cool style with a black T-shirt and jacket, dark eyeliner and her black hair casually pulled back.
In between playing Bella in “New Moon” and the third installment, “Eclipse,” which wrapped filming in October, Stewart portrayed Joan Jett in “The Runaways,” the upcoming biopic of the seminal all-girl rock band. She got to know Jett personally and studied footage of the ’70 band.
“I can only play characters that I feel like are real people and in a complete way and in such a whole way that if I fake any aspect of it I will have failed them,” she said. “I really wanted to do a good impersonation, but I also didn’t want it to be imitation. I wanted it to be natural.”
Although filming “New Moon” was an intense process, Stewart said she is at ease playing an ordinary teen who finds herself in paranormal circumstances. She is looking forward to taking Bella through to the series’ end with “Breaking Dawn.”
“I’m very protective of her. I feel a shared ownership. It’s weird. If you were talk about the character in a way that was not at all thought out or flippant I would be right there to say that you didn’t know what you were talking about. I’m so defensive of her,” she said.
-BAM
