The most anticipated film to be released in December, Twilight is a vampire love story that is based on the current #1 NY Times Bestselling series of the same title. This past Thursday, the Twilight cast, book author/series creator, and director were in San Diego, CA at Comic-Con ‘08 to meet with the press and the fans. We were able to be invited to the Twilight press roundtables and the panel discussion. A special thanks goes out to Kari Lane for reporting for us from Comic-Con ‘08 and to Brian Truitt who provided us with the transcripts of the roundtables.
The following is the Q&A session with Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke and book author/series creator Stephenie Meyer. Coverage of the other Q&A roundtable sessions to come over the next couple of days.
Hardwicke (H): Oh I love this world. I fell in love with Stephenie’s book right when I started reading it. I was like, “I want to be there, I want to live it, I want to see it, I want to bring things alive.” Fans… “I didn’t know it’d be this crazy. I don’t think she did either.”
Meyer (M): I was really surprised. I knew I had my little group of fans, but the way they responded to the movie and how it took offline, I was surprised. I know how passionate the fans can get, but that there was so many of them was like, wow.
H: It’s cool that it’s so creative for people, that they’re making their own trailers and songs and writing their own things. It’s kind of like creative explosion. I think it’s really exciting that you’ve inspired by that.
M: I love their YouTube videos. I’m on there all the time looking at new stuff, and there’s always something new. [you can waste a lot of time on there] I don’t get a lot of work done.
Meyer on somebody taking on her universe:
M: It’s risky. When I first started being approached about the movie, Twilight wasn’t even out yet. So this is before it has any fans, before I have any sense of how it’s going to do. And my agent explained to me, ‘They can do anything with this. For me, it came down to protecting it or getting to see it on the screen. And we had some close calls. We learned that it could be a bad thing. But then luckily we ended up with Summit and they wanted to do it right, which is amazing.
H: I read one of those close calls, a draft of another script. They had make Bella like a track star and they just totally changed everything.
M: I liked the night-vision goggles.
H: And FBI guys on jet skis, too. It was so different from the book that I was like, Man, we gotta get it back to the book. And that was our goal: Let’s make it like the book and get all the cool stuff in.
Muse song is on the soundtrack. This is new to Stephenie.
Did Hardwicke take anything from her experience directing Thirteen?
H: Oh yeah, because on Thirteen, I worked with all teenagers - really, all my movies are all kids. So this one, we had all these high school kids - humans and vampires - and how do you get kids to be comfortable on camera? You need to be natural, have fun, be able to be loose and respect that they know what they’re talking about more than we do - how to be a kid. That’s direct learning.
Did Meyer have any role in casting?
M: A little bit, not contractually. But one of the great things about Summit is that they’ve been very cooperative. They want me to be a part of things. They did let me have some input and if there was a situation where I was like, “Oh I really would want to see a change here,” they actually listened to me, which is amazing and not something you can count on by any means. That was really great of them, and they put together such a cast.
Is Hardwicke signed on to do the rest of the movies?
H: Well, no, no decision has been made yet. That will all get figured out, I guess. We all hope and have our fingers crossed.
With the whole Buffy and Angel thing and vampire chick lit, what is the appeal of this? Whether it’s Dracula and his long lost love or Buffy and Angel…
H: Vampires are sexy. They’re not like creepy old zombies and mummies. They’re sexy, they’re hot.
M: I think that really is it. I mean, I’m not exactly the right person to ask that question because I never have seen an episode of Buffy and I haven’t read any vampire books. People ask that a lot. So what I think is that we love to be scared - the horror industry is doing great. But most of the monsters that you see are disgusting. They’re oozing or [makes "eaugh" sound] but vampires are the only ones who are dangerous and scary. But at the same time, they’re hot. That’s why they’re so popular - there’s both sides to that.
H: It’s subjective. I WANT a vampire to bite my neck. Hello?
Based on the vampire lore of this movie, would you guys date a vampire?
M: Oh, it would totally depend. I mean, guys, right? And well, I am married. I were single…
H: Maybe her husband can convert.
So which team are you both on?
M: I’m Team Switzerland.
H: I kinda was more Team Jacob before I started doing the movie, and then of course when I met Rob [Pattinson] I kinda got converted.
Did Meyer spend much time on the set and if she did, what was it like seeing these characters that came from your head inhabiting this reality?
M: I did get to spend some time on the set and it was so cool. But it was really surreal. The first night I was there, I went to dinner and it was the first time I had met any of the cast. They came straight from a photo shoot so they were in costume. And there is nothing in the world like sitting down at a table with a bunch of people who are people you made up. It was just bizarre, and they looked amazing. You’re just trying to talk to people, and I kept wanting to call Peter Carlisle. “So, C- Peter.” It was really really weird but exciting. I don’t think I ate the whole time I was there because I was so keyed up and nervous.
Why did Meyer decide to write this for a teen audience?
M: I didn’t. I did not write this for any audience at all. It was for me, so really the core audience would be 29-year-old stay-at-home moms. It was just something that, I think I naturally went back to that time - the first time you fall in love - and to re-experience that for writing. And when they told me it was for teenagers, I was like, OK, cool, it works for me.
How does Meyer react when you see a cover of Entertainment Weekly that asks, “Is she the next JK Rowling?”
M: You know, I get that a lot. A whole lot. And on one hand, it’s so completely flattering. She is historically the most important author that’s ever been, I think, just numbers-wise. But then at the same time, there’s no way to ever really compare with that. And what I do is so different. The only thing we really have in common is that our fans are equally fanatical. She just has a billion more of them. It’s flattering, but still there’s no comparison.
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
jessie
awesome interview. i cant wait for the movie, and Breaking Dawn, omg! i already picked out what i am going to wear to the BD release party…
http://twilightshirts.com/shirt/cullen-swan-08
Jul 28th, 2008
Reply to “Twilight @ Comic-Con: Q&A With Hardwicke & Meyer”