Since the very first TWILIGHT panel a few years ago, I've diligently been covering the TWILIGHT SAGA films, and I've someone managed to get into three Comic-Con panels, done a few interviews with cast members, reviewed the films, etc. This year's Comic-Con experience was a little different, beginning with the fact that Hall H wasn't even close to capacity for the BREAKING DAWN, PART 1 event. The screaming was still constant, if a little less deafening, and passion for both these stories and these actors has not waned on the part of the fan base.
In the couple hours leading up to the Hall H panel—as they did last year—Summit Entertainment held a pre-Con press conference for a packed ballroom of journalists and fan sites representatives. They brought on a lot more actors than usual, as well as BREAKING DAWN's latest director Bill Condon. Summit divided up the film press conference film portion into two parts; the first features supporing players Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Nikke Reed (Rosalie Hale), Elizabeth Reaser (Esme Cullen), Julia Jones (Leah Clearwater) and Boo Boo Stewart (Seth Clearwater), and I have to admit, as much as I enjoyed watching the bevy of gorgeous women on this panel, the real reportable information was almost non-existent, partly because of the fan-based questions and partly because of the actors giggling too much to be understood. Of this bunch, Reaser seemed to be the most mature and articulate.
Inquiries about getting the call from casting about receiving the job to play their characters, their reactions to their last day of shooting, how the characters have changed during the course of the series, favorite lines, were you fans of fantasy/horror/vampires before working on these movies. You get the drift, and you won't get the details because there literally are none. If I hear the work "amazing" one more time in these panels, I will bite clean through my tongue. The one fun thing this group of actors did prior to the press conference was visit the first 1,000 fans in line and feed them breakfast. Not sure what that consisted of, but it's the gesture that counts.
Next up at the press conference were Condon, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, who were a little more composed and professional. During the panel, two extended clips were shown. The first was a more dramatic moment in which Jacob is talking to Cullen elders Reaser and Peter Facinelli about protecting Bella, although the immediately following sequence involved Jacob talking to his estranged wolfpack family about dealing with Bella's problem, which is interpreted as killing Bella or her baby.
The second, far more entertaining clip is Bella and Edward's honeymoon in Brazil, complete with a music montage while Bella prepares for sex (picking out right underwear, shaving her legs, and eventually dropping her towel and joining Edward in the water for some skinny dipping.
I've included some of the highlights of both the press conference and the panel below. Oh, and enjoy the photos of all the pretty people:
Kristen Stewart talked about the top secret wedding scene as something she's been preparing for in her mind for more than four years, and director Condon decided to have it be the last thing they shot for the two-part story. There was also a great deal of talk about how graphic, unusual, and startling the birth sequence is, and how impressed everyone was with the way Condon shot it.
Kristen Stewart: The wedding scene was handled like secret service style security. The crew was grumbling that they couldn't use cell phones. I was like, "You don't know what this means to us. If [photos of] this dress get out on the internet, I'll die." I had a Volturi cloak on [to cover the wedding dress from helicopter photographers].
Shooting in Brazil…
Robert Pattinson: One of the interesting things about having an international fan base is that there's a totally different reaction to you and the films in every country. Shooting on the streets of Brazil, compared to someone trying to sneak a picture of you [while shooting in North America], people would actually come up and just grab out on the set, in shot.
Apparently there was an extra in Brazil (where only Stewart and Pattinson went to shoot) that looked and acted exactly like Lautner, so much so that they had to hide him in the background, so audiences wouldn't think Jacob was stalking Bella and Edward on their honeymoon.
In both the press conference and panel, the question was asked as to whether the cast truly believed BREAKING DAWN was the end of THE TWILIGHT SAGA.
Taylor Lautner: What's left? BREAKFAST TIME? BRUNCH?
Bill Condon: I think Stephenie Meyer always said it was the end of Bella's story. But in the second BREAKING DAWN movie, there are so many new characters that I'm sure she'll want to revisit some of them.
Pattinston: You sound like you have some sort of secret knowledge.
Stewart talked about the intense emotional journey that Bella goes through in the BREAKING DAWN story…
Stewart: I can't draw a line between myself and the stuff I do. I don't want to make it sound like it's just about this [character], but it's hard for me to take myself out of it. I've been building up to these moments since I was 17, when I started doing these movies. This story has these really cathartic, impactful moments, and they aren't all fantasy. They are very rooted in a reality that I can completely see myself in. Shooting scenes, I had to let myself realize that these moments would find myself naturally and I couldn't let the book punch me in the face every morning. You have to let the moments happen, and they did. I do feel what we've done is very close to the book and is a really sincere telling of the story, but at the same time we added bits and moments.
Condon: There is no bigger fan of TWILIGHT than Kristen. She's approaching it as an actress like she described it, but she's always there saying, "I know what it felt like when I read this for the first time." And she was always pushing, pushing, pushing to make sure we captured that.
Pattinson said the notorious birth scene was his favorite one to shoot in BREAKING DAWN, PART 1…
Pattinston: For a fantasy series that has kind of a youngish audience, it goes quite far, it's quite graphic. There's no other way to do it. It was fun. Bill Condon: [Adding to why he loves the horror genre, which stems from his love as a kid of the "Dark Shadow" TV series]. When I was a kid, I used to run home to watch that show because I was drawn to all types of fantasy creatures--mostly vampires and Barnabas Collins. I think it has to do with growing up in this very Catholic household. It may be a little twisted. Whenever new vampire stories came out, I was always interested, including TWILIGHT.
Lautner said he was most apprehensive about shooting the sequences in which he imprints with Bella's child and how that would play to an audience.
Lautner: I was most nervous about that imprinting scene. I don't think there was any ideal scenario here. There was an X on a wall, and I had to walk into the room on the verge of killing this baby, then stop, twist, and imprint on it, whatever that means. [laughs] I was challenging. I spent a lot of time talking to Bill and Stephenie about it. "What exactly does imprinting look like?" I sure hope it comes across alright.
Pattinston: I'm embarrassed to admit that I was most nervous about taking my shirt off. Where so much of the books were about Edward's body, I've managed to avoid taking my shirt off for the whole series, whereas in the book, he's doing it every three pages. We were trying to figure out if I could go swimming in a t-shirt or a onesie [laughs].
Stewart talked about working with an animatronic newborn in one crucial scene where Bella is introduced to her daughter for the first time.
Stewart: In the book, that moment is raw. It's one of my favorite parts, and then to know that you're not going to be looking at a child. [Pattinson adds that that the animatronic baby reminded him of Chucky from CHILD'S PLAY] And the [operator] is sweating right below you, and then the hand reaches up to touch your face and it gets in your hair and pulls a little bit, and you're like, "Ah, get that thing off me." And it had hair but it's a newborn baby, and I know that's in the book, and you can imagine how cool that could be. [Pattinson adds, "I don't know if you can imagine a baby with a wig on.]
All in all, I have to say this is certainly the most relaxed these three have seemed in front of a crowd since TWILIGHT panels began three years ago, and maybe the joking and laughing got in the way of some more in-depth answers, but it was nice seeing them just having fun. Let the mocking begin!
