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Capone Attempts to Steal Bella Away from Edward!! TWILIGHT's Kristen Stewart and Director Catherine Hardwicke!!
Hey everyone. Capone in San Diego with my brief interview with TWILIGHT's Bella, the sweet and shy Kristen Stewart, who I've been impressed with back to her time as Jodie Foster's child in PANIC ROOM. She followed that film with roles in such works as UNDERTOW, ZATHURA, THE MESSENGERS, IN THE LAND OF WOMEN, INTO THE WILD, and a strange cameo in JUMPER earlier this year. But it's in the coveted role of TWILIGHT's Bella, the young woman who falls in love with a vampire, that will undoubtedly propel her into a new level of fame and demand in film. I caught up with the diminutive 18-year-old actress shortly after a riotous Comic-Con panel for the film. When I spoke with her, it was in the middle of a chaotic gathering of the filmmaking team and a gang of reporters. I think my one-on-one interview fell between a quick shot on MTV and another for G4. Hope this gives you some sense of the woman and the film.
Capone: That was an unbelievable response the crowd gave you guys. Have you ever been to this event before?
Kristen Stewart: No.
Capone: I've been told it's not usually like that.
KS: Really?
Capone: I'm guessing the boxers or briefs question doesn't come up at every Comic-Con panel.
KS: [laughs]
Capone: What's your response the that, because you all looked a little shell shocked up there.
KS: Right. It's completely surreal. I'm sure everyone would say the same thing. Most people don't have to get up in front of thousands of people and get asked questions. The other thing is, you don't know ever what they're going to ask, but the fans of this book happen to be really respectful and nice, and they're my age. Once I got out there, I was much less intimidated.
Capone: You said you weren't familiar with the novel before Catherine Hardwicke contacted you about doing the movie and sent you the script. When you finally read it, what was it about the story and the character that made you say 'This is something I have to do.'?
KS: The love story. I know it's really simple and really basic, but I think that's what pushes humans to got to crazy limits, it's for love. If somebody ever dies for somebody, it's because they love them. And for me, this was the most epic love story and I wanted to give it a shot.
Capone: What do you think it is about the vampire mythology in film and literature that makes writers and filmmakers constantly return to it as a subject?
KS: I don't know. There are a lot of interesting themes, like immortality. What I like about it in TWILIGHT is the struggle for power, at least between my character and Edward. The dynamic is that she will give herself completely to him; she's subjecting herself to anything, and that is the most powerful thing that you can do, to give yourself over to someone rather than standing up over somebody. That push-and-pull dynamic, that I can't get to close but I have to. It's forbidden fruit. If you can't have it, you're going to want it 10 times more. Plus vampires are hot! [laughs]. [She delivers this last statement as if imitating some of the questions from the panel.]
Capone: That's pretty clear from today's panel. Thanks you so much.
KS: Thanks.
Next up the the wonderful director Catherine Hardwicke. If there's anything about TWILIGHT I have complete and utter faith in, it's that Hardwicke is absolutely the right director for this material. She made the move from being a celebrated production designer to director with her controversial 2003 work THIRTEEN and followed that up with LORDS OF DOGTOWN. Anyone who knows Heath Ledgers career, knows that before DARK KNIGHT, his best and wildest performance was in DOGTOWN. In 2006, she released the probably ill-advised but still compelling NATIVITY STORY, and she's perhaps the best director working today who understands how hormonally charged young people think and act. My reason for even entering into the TWILIGHT insanity was to talk to her, and I told her as much. Enjoy…
Capone: Hi, Catherine. How are you?
Catherine Hardwicke: Hey, how are you doing?
Capone: Good. I'll confess to you right up front that the real reason I'm at this at all is because I love your movies.
CH: That is so cool. Thanks.
[At this point, she nudges me away from a particularly crowded and noisy part of the balcony where we're standing so we can actually hear each other.]
Capone: When you adapt something that's this popular, you have more than just the responsibility of making a good movie. You have to draw in the un-indoctrinated, you have to be as faithful to the book as you can, but also make it visually interesting movie. I'm guessing you haven't dealt with some of the elements before.
CH: You're absolutely right, and that was the great challenge because the book is 500 pages, and you really get inside Bella's head and her point of view. But we had the opportunity--because a picture tells a thousand words--of clearing 10 pages with a single scene. And we've got to do this in 90 or 105 minutes, so you have ask, 'What is the essence? What scenes do you love that have to be in there? How long do those take, and what else can I fit in?' But also, some stuff that's in Bella's head, I wanted to make it visual and take you out and feel the power of Edward and what he can do. When he says, 'You should be scared of me," I want you to feel that, an adrenaline rush in your bones. Did you get to see that scene today?
Capone: Yes, I was in there.
CH: So some of that stuff in the book is barely mentioned, and it's just through her eyes, but we actually got to do the scene. That was cool.
Capone: Did you ever think that you'd be part of a cultural phenomenon. Your name will forever be identified with this universe.
CH: I know, it's wild. I was kind of innocent. I read the script and I read the book, and I thought 'This is really cool. I'd love to do it.' But even since I first looking into it last January, in the last year and a half, it's gotten way bigger.
Capone: I know a lot of vampire loyalists--and I realize this goes for any movie or book that deals with vampires--but they were mad at Stephenie Meyers for changing the rules about vampires.
CH: Everybody writers their own. Stephenie made her own rules and her own world.
Capone: I asked Kristen this too, but why do you think people keep returning to the vampire world in art? It's not like it gets revisited every 20 years; some new wave comes in every year or so.
CH: It's constant. It's because they're the sexiest of all the creatures. Zombies are not sexy. Gross. Mummies are disgusting. Vampires are seductive, eternally beautiful. They bite your neck and other erogenous zones. I mean, come on. Yes! [laughs] Who wouldn't want to be bitten by a vampire? A hot chick or guy, right? I think that's it. They're just seductive. You can stay 17 and gorgeous, and you can seduce anybody.
Capone: With a film like this, casting is so important. And fans seem to rally against some of your choices initially, but clearly from today's reaction to Robert Pattinson, you've got the right guy for Edward.
CH: Oh my god, the decibel levels were off the scale. I didn't even know what half the questions were. I didn't know what I was saying or anybody else was saying. I think that's Stephenie's book inspired a lot of passion, and women of all ages are falling in love with Edward. I know guys who are doing their hair like him. I know guys who are like, 'Hey, I'm going to take a couple of tips from this guy. And the fact that Rob embodies that on screen. He's got the chiseled jaw, he's got that intensity that he can turn on.
Capone: Quite a few chiseled jaws on stage today.
CH: Oh my god, our whole cast is beautiful. Cam [Gigandet, who plays James] is drop-dead gorgeous. All the guys are ridiculously good looking. And the girls too. Kristen is like that old-time beautiful movie star. When you see her on the screen, you're like 'Wow!'
[At this point a publicist whisked Catherine away to her next interview.]
Capone: Well, thanks for talking. Good luck with this. You're clearly going to need it.
CH: Yeah, people don't seem that into this movie. I don't know why. I heard TWILIGHT is going to be good. [laughs]
-Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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The "last lecture" guy passed away today.
RIP -
but how did the author change the rules of vampirism?
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Word.
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can we get a new adjective? i'm sick of things being described as surreal. i'd even settle for "this whole experience has been dream-like."
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Each book sold a couple million copies..thats about $30-$40 million at box office total. Or a day of Dark Knight
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Essentially, she's sort of re-interpreted classic vampire myth, so they don't die in the sun, but their skin is rock-hard, like a million tiny diamonds... hence they don't go in the sun because they'd sparkle and give themselves away. They can't be killed with a stake because they're rock-hard, aren't afraid of garlic or crosses, etc. They can't hypnotize or turn into bats, but they are ridiculously beautiful and lure in prey that way. They're super fast and super strong. I think there's something in there about some of them living off animals a la Angel from Buffy. the werewolf stuff is a different mythology, too.
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I don't think you understand... the fans are bound and determined to make this movie a big hit so there will be sequels... think the avril fans who got her video watched 92 million fucking times. From what I've read. some of them are already planning to see it ten times apiece. It's like a bizarro Titantic.
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Vampires are so sexy!
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there arent any set in stone rules that you HAVE to follow. sure there's a little list of rules that have become part of pop culture or whatever that everybody knows but there arent any actual rules that everyone who makes vampire books/movies has to follow. many movies change or create their own so i dont understand why some made a big deal about this story. but the book is 500 pages? wow...thats a lot of tween reading, thank god for movies.
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kristen stewart is fucking yum...and now she's legal so i dont have to pretend to feel bad anymore..woohoo.
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last Saturday. She finished it Sunday afternoon. This is gonna make a billion dollars.
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it is unbelievably retarded. the books were written by a mormon so there is no real violence or sex in them AT ALL. there is no real re-interpretation of the vampire myth either because the author has stated repeatedly she never read any vampire books (including dracula!) or seeing any movies before writing hers - it's just her own made-up romance story. the source material is really weak and childish, so, therefore, despite hardwick's skill with the gritty stories she's tackled before, this one not only looks like an episode of 'smallville', but it'll play like one. there's just nothing there.
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i don't understand why this has turned into such a big deal, but whoever wrote above about fans watching avril lavigne's dumb video 92 million times nailed it. NEVER underestimate the power of teenage girls when they decide to mobilize.
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unless you also mean wild but brokeback and dark knight are his best, hell some of the best work any actor has done.
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How do you kill them? Or is the book more about fucking vampires than killing them?
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does this movie have Clark Kent fighting Bizarro and then dispersing a water damn with heat vision? Please don't insult smallville. There's more action in 10 mins than the entirity of Superman Returns.
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Not in quality, cause the trailer looks like hot buttered shit. But as far as box office, this could get the teenage girls, although this probably still wouldn't reach 100 mil, just based on nobody else will touch a romantic teenager vampire movie with a 20 foot pole. It's like Underworld, and those only made 50 mil.
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I know that they aren't following conventional vamp rules or anything, but seriously? That is just stupid.
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But then I realized that I am not part of this series' demographic. I am not 13 years old. Or a Girl. Or mentally retarded.
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Honestly, the books aren't that bad if you can muscule your way through the mushy love story stuff. they ARE pretty violent, because the only way to kill a vampire in the books is to rip them to pieces and light them on fire. and they do, especially in the third one. oh, and OCCULA? no mormon-bashing. respect other people's religion, please.
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She's a pretty damned smart chick, doing a double degree and already has had her honours thesis published at Oxford, yet she's nutso for this Twilight stuff. I don't know. It doesn't really grab me personally, but the author must have hit the jackpot of female wish-fulfillment. Apparently her characters are really well developed for a tween novel and the sex thing is conveniently sidelined by the whole if Edward (the vampire dude) "loses control" he'll kill the girl whilst fucking her. Judging by totally subjective anecdotal standards, this movie will make a bajillion dollars.
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and release the 5 guys being charged with Statutory Rape as a result of that polygamist ranch round-up.
cuz thats a religion and all. Just because they impregnate 14 year old girls is no reason to hate. -
From the 2 trailers I've seen, the movie looks like AIDS
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doesn't have an age limit. Of course everyone has their own idea of good literature, but I myself loved these books. Occula, it actually does get pretty violent towards the end, and if you've read the third one there's even more with the addition of the issues of sex.
Oh, and probably the biggest change in the whole vampire rules thing is that these vamps don't have fangs, but their teeth are super sharp and the vamps carry a venom that can spread through the blood stream thus creating another. It's supposed to take about three days I believe, and it hurts like a bitch. Lots of screaming involved. -
Kristen is gorgeous! So is the girl playing Alice
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...they make a movie of "gone". "gone" RULES.
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Just really good looking (how exactly does becoming a vampire make you attractive?), diamond skinned, cannibals.
No stakes
No sunlight
No fangs
No garlic
No crosses
I understand changing the rules. But these things sound like completely different creatures that author just called vampires. -
OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!
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that opens "big" (50-60 mil) and then drops like a stone.
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This sounds about as entertaining as a commerical for the Ronco Electric Food Dehydrator. Come to think of it, those spots are pretty snappy.
flemmingonfilms.blogspot.com -
Their attractiveness is explained as another way for them to lure their prey. They also apparently smell really good too... unless you're a werewolf. As far as the whole rules thing, the biggest vamp rule is drinking blood. Other than that a lot of authors take liberties with the concept.
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ya, and kring never heard of watchmen, and rowling never heard of books of magic, and hardwicke never saw kids...amazing how these people all live in a bubble...near dark, lestadt, lost boys...themes from all these works can be found in twighlight, just watered down for the teen crowd...and dogtown was not a good movie....go watch the documentary, which truly captured the essence of the times...
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He wasn't good-looking enough as Cedric Diggory, and (according to my wife who has read the books, I haven't) he's nowhere near good-looking enough to play Edward. I tend to agree, based solely on his appearance on the cover of EW a few weeks ago as Edward. LOL! He looks like a fucking douche!
These books are emotional porn, and nothing more. The film will be the sisterhood of the travelling pants. It'll make $40 mill opening weekend, and then never be heard from again. -
It is unbelievable how the fans of the book are buying the tottal crapstatics of the movie in a so blind way! BTW, WHY AICN id giving so much spotlight to this idiotic looking movie, full of idiotic teen fans?
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One could make a case for the "vampires" actually being really smart zombies. I mean, they are dead people, they eat their victims, and they can spread their "infection". These "vampires" have the same number of shared characteristics with Zombies as they do with "classic" vampires.
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because the fan base, full of teens enchanted with the teen porn of the stories are so vocal about it. But by no means that reflects at the box office.
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Jul 25, 2008 3:28:49 PM CDT
"...best director working today who understands how hormonally c
by remcycle
Um, no. CH is a complete Larry Clark wannabe hack at a subterranean level the likes of which Rob Zombie and Uwe Boll will never drop. Please stop trying to be a starfucker with these interviews!
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How long I have waited for her to be of legal spoogeing age.
Ahhhh... there you go. -
They are the scariest thing about Twilight..the millions of older fans. You guys have no idea how big this thing is.
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at least. I wouldn't be shocked if it did $110 million opening weekend.
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It will beat Batman. We are already seeing it... sure.fine.whatever. This things smells "Sisterhood of Travelling Pants" or "Eragon" all over again. Maybe a bit more, as the tweens will likely watch it twice.
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I just have to reiterate that the fanbase for this goes far beyond teen girls. Adults, men, women, all types are gearing up for Twilight. It's fantastic. Get used to it because it's not going away anytime soon.
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My 17 year old niece worships the books and was furious at the casting choices. She bitched so hard she would have done you guys proud.
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Jul 25, 2008 6:34:25 PM CDT
Jugs...it was a twighlight mom that asked the boxers or briefs q
by bacci40
so ya, ive heard of them...still dont think this movie will have mass appeal, or make anywhere near what you guys are predicting...will gross close to 90 mil domestic but will die on the overseas market as they dont dig neutered vamps...and hardwicke relates to teens cuz she thinks she still is one...nothing more irritating than a grown woman who talks like a little girl...
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You "twilighters" have no idea about how big is the world. people overseas never heard about it. It looks like a poor episode of Smallville crossed with Underworld (not in a good way). I feel sad thinking grow up women could like those type of poor written vampire tales. You don't know what is a good vampire story. The fanbase if based in tweens who worship Lindsay Lohan and Hannah Montana. Enough for me to avoit it at all costs!
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Since there are fansites spanning from South America to Czech Republic, I'd say it's a bit more popular than you think. Besides, if you haven't read it then how do you know if it's good or not? What constitutes as a good vampire story to you?
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and no one knows about it the way you are saying.No. No. Or no one is interested. Cheesy stories about American tweens - vampires or not -aren't liked outside America. That's the truth. When I was a teen I was an X-Phile. At the time it was the coolest show on TV. Lot's of fansites, shippers, non-shippers, fan-fictions and all. people were all the time on the web discussing M&S potential "romance". It seemed the movie would be the best thing on Earth, plus, make blockbusterish money. It didn't. I know what is to be a fan of something and get blind about the appeal of it. In the last years, aside Harry Potter, no book mania became a movie mania. It takes MUCH more than a story that works on a book to become a good movie and for what I saw about Twilight until now, it seems the tweens are buying the crappyness too easy (as always). The Historian is a good vampire book. Dracula is a good book. Some fron Anne Rice. Tween angst full of soft porn doesn't make good vampire tales.
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They turn Necroscope into a movie, instead of this crap?
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one, i did not insult mormons. i pointed out that the author is a mormon and therefore there is no sex or violence in the books. when asked by a rabid fan what the main vampire character does when his mortal girlfriend has her period, the author's response was 'gross. i don't know.' she will not read books or see films involving sex or violence BECAUSE she is a mormon. i have read all the books because i am working on my own YA project and wanted to know what the fuss was all about, and i am one hundred percent confident in my judgment that her writing is poor; but her management team is stellar. i also stand by my comparison to 'smallville.' i would also compare the TV-quality of the film to any number of TV shows that are on network with limited budgets. i'm sure 'smallville' has some great writing, because it's quite successful, but i specifically meant the TV-ness of what we've seen versus the more aggressive filmic qualities we would expect from a well-made fantasy film.
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if anybody has read the books, then they should be aware of the morality at play which dictates the main character get married directly out of high school so she can sleep with her boyfriend. her grasp of what constitutes a strong female character is so pathetically backwards overall that it appalls me that so many young women worship the character and everything she stands for; spinelessness, letting your man control you and take care of everything, and spending every waking second obsessing over when your boyfriend may or may not control you. blegh.
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I think one thing you're overlooking in your point about the morality play of the book is that Bella is obsessed with Edward because he's made out to be the PERFECT man in almost every way imaginable. Plus, the guy is from the 1800's, IIRC, and has kind-of old fashioned morals. He's not a super sexed-up teenager. Plus, in the books they do break up and she dates someone else and falls for him too, though, obviously not as much as she had for Edward.
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out of whole cloth? trust me, take the story lines from near dark, lost boys and the lestadt stuff (with a bit of 30 days of night blended in) take out the sex and violence and cast everyone from dawsons creek, and you have twilight...she may not have read or seen any of it, but she sure as shit looked at synopsis and the wiki's on all of them
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in her own words...I woke up (on that June 2nd) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately. For what is essentially a transcript of my dream, please see Chapter 13 ("Confessions") of the book...shades of jk rowling on a train...and total bs
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she wrote a sci fi novel called host, and please tell me that this doesnt sound familiar...(Melanie Stryder is one of few "wild" humans - rebels who avoid the alien souls that have taken over the Earth. With her younger brother Jamie and the man she loves, Jared Howe, Mel is on the run from Seekers - souls whose Calling is to hunt down host bodies for use. When she is finally captured, Mel is certain that it is the end.
Souls are creatures that rely upon host bodies to survive. Inserted into the back of the neck of their host bodies, the soul extends antennae throughout the body, erasing the mental presence of the being there before and establishing a claim over the body and mind.) so she may not read other secular books, but she knows how to google...
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Gawd I love that movie.
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...using images of a teenaged Feldhaim and that other kid, who stake the bloodsuckers.
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..they could save the Dixie Chick future husband with a transfusion but they couldn't save the other vampires? Of course, Bill Paxton, Lance Henrickson, Vasquez, that kid vampire and Jenny Wright were too cool to need saving.
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Actually, it is in fact quite popular overseas. I've met people from the UK, Brazil, Australia, India, South Africa, and China that are all fans. Also, it does not only appeal to "Tweens". There are websites and message boards dedicated to older Twilight fans. I for one am 30 years old and happen to extremely enjoy the books.
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Actually, that description of the Host isn't really accurate. The story is not about Melanie. The story is actually from the point of view of the soul living inside of Melanie. While you do get get some insight to Melanie, the story is about Wanderer's journey and her struggle. She is conflicted between her loyalty to her own race and her new found emotions for her new human friends. Throughout the trials that she goes through, she discovers what it truly means to be human.
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