June 29, 2010

Twilight Saga Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg on Fans, Frustrations and working with Bill Condon in Breaking Dawn

In many ways, Melissa Rosenberg has the Twilight franchise’s most difficult job: as screenwriter, she has to satisfy not just the original novelist Stephenie Meyer, but the actors (including Kristen Stewart, who famously won’t say a line if she doesn’t believe it), directors, and fans, too. The imminent Eclipse is her third crack at the series, and up next is the very controversial Breaking Dawn, which Rosenberg is busily splitting into two movies.
You’ve worked with three different directors on this series, and you’re about to work with a fourth. How different has the process been with each of them?
For me, coming out of television, it’s standard operating procedure for the writers to be the constant and the directors to rotate in and out. It’s actually sort of like an extended television experience, so it feels very natural to me. I’m being absolutely honest here: I’ve had really good luck with these directors. I think Summit just chooses directors really well, at least from a writer’s standpoint. They’re very different, but the one constant has been that they all respect my process and the writing. They’re all very different.

How was Catherine Hardwicke different than Chris Weitz?
With Catherine, we had a very short period to write, so there was a lot of interaction. I was hot off the presses — she’d give me notes and I’d give her pages right back. There was a lot of collaboration. With Chris, the scripts were done when he came on, so I basically handed them off and ran off to the next script while he went off and shot it and did all the production rewrites since he’s a writer as well.

And David Slade?
David is probably the most traditional collaboration in that I finished the script before he came on, and then it was about tailoring it to him. He does a lot of storyboarding, so he would have something completely boarded out — like, I would write the action sequences, he goes and storyboards what he wants to do with it, he comes back, and I adjust. There was a lot of that really fun collaboration. By the time he gets on set, the script is what he’s going to shoot. He has what he needs to shoot.

How much have you been privy to the directors that Summit wants to hire?
I get a few inside tracks, but I’m mostly out of that process. There’s a couple where I was like, “Oh no. God. Don’t choose them.”

"Really? For [movies] 4 and 5, we’re going to get people of that level?"


What did you think when you heard they were looking at Gus Van Sant and Sofia Coppola for Breaking Dawn?
Summit’s a really creative place. They reach out — I mean, they found me. Not that I’m not creative or anything, but they found me in television. They don’t have to get that guy who wrote Iron Man. They had Catherine, they had Anne Fletcher on Step Up… they’ll break new directors or writers according to their own creative tastes. But honestly, when they were talking about Sofia Coppola and Gus Van Sant, I was like, “Really? For [movies] 4 and 5, we’re going to get people of that level?” And then they got Bill Condon, and I was like, “Man, this isn’t going to be just blowing off the last two in the series. They want these to be good. Oh my gosh, I’d better step up!” [Laughs]


And Bill Condon is a writer as well. What kind of situation is it for you as a screenwriter when you’re working with a director who also writes — do they want ownership of the script, too?
You know, it could go either way. I’ve certainly worked in both situations, but the fact that Bill’s a writer, and I think a writer first…his notes have been the kind of notes you get from another writer, which are the best kind of notes. Character, theme, depth, complexity…it’s not just, “Let’s get that action set piece!” He’s really talking about the core of the story. He’s like, “I want you to write these movies.” He doesn’t want to write these movies. Rather than just taking them and doing what he would do, I think he’s really more sensitive than most would be to what I need to do to make these great. He knows exactly how to give that to me. It’s sort of like an actor directing actors — sometimes, they make the best directors. A writer directing a writer could be a disaster — “Oh my God, they took the movie from me” — or it could be absolutely perfect, and so far, it’s been perfect.

You’re in such a unique position as the steward of this series. Have you ever gotten to meet or commiserate with Steve Kloves, who does the same thing for the Harry Potter films?
I would love to meet Steve Kloves!

Send him an email, Melissa!
I keep hoping that I’ll run into him at some Writers Guild thing. To even be considered in the same category…yeah, he’s amazing.

When the first film was coming out, I read an interview with you where you said Eclipse was your favorite of the books, but it would be hard to adapt since Bella was the most passive in it. How do you crack that while still remaining faithful enough that the fans won’t come after you?
They’re coming after me a little bit already! [Laughs]


Do you keep track of that?
I tried. I can’t.

"My husband tries to protect me from it. It doesn’t always work."

So how do you hear about it?
Every once in a while, it seeps through. My husband tries to protect me from it. It doesn’t always work. But you know, it’s subtle changes [in the Eclipse adaptation]. It’s taking scenes where she’s reactive and making her the one who’s driving it. One of the scenes that’s controversial a little bit because it’s in the trailer is this scene in the book where Jacob almost taunts Bella to play hooky and get on his bike and blow off Edward. It’s really Jacob who’s driving that scene in the book, and for me in the movie, the character that the movies have created and that Kristen has embodied, that girl is not going to be taunted into doing something. That girl is driving that scene. If she wants to talk to Jacob and she’s pissed off at Edward, that girl is getting on the back of that bike by her own choosing. That’s a subtle change, but it shifts things. You make these choices throughout and have her be the one driving things, and it doesn’t take much. It doesn’t violate the story.

You’re working now on Breaking Dawn, which will be split into two movies. Do you treat each of those parts like they’re their own film, or like it’s one film split in two?
There’s absolutely a difference. Each one has to be approached as a separate movie, and each story has to stand alone.


How do they feel different to you?
Well, one is Bella as a human — first a newlywed, and then pregnant. It’s about Bella surviving that, but also staying true to her choices. The other one is completely different. The world has totally changed from her. She’s now this strong, unbreakable vampire who finds out that she has some extraordinary gifts. They’re actually really different stories in a lot of ways.

Source

June 28, 2010

'Twilight' Breaking Dawn Bella's Bloody Birth Scene from Melissa Rosenberg

The Twilight Saga scriptwriter Melissa Rosenberg answered some rumors about Breaking Dawn sex scenes and bloody birth scene via her Facebook Page.
"Hi y’all! Not sure where some of you got the impression I intended to leave birth scene out of Breaking Dawn, but it’s inaccurate. Of course the birth scene will be in there! And the sex scenes! And the feathers! And the blood! Perhaps you misinterpreted what I said about not needing to see BUCKETS of blood in order to convey the terror of the birth scene. But rest easy all! xoxo Mel"
Source

June 17, 2010

Twilight Script writer Melissa Rosenberg on 'Eclipse,' 'Breaking Dawn,' and Feathers

The same writer who gave Dexter its shocking season finale is also the one responsible for the swoons you'll hear coming from theaters on June 30, the day that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse opens across the globe. That's right -- serial killers and sparkly vampires both live in the mind of Melissa Rosenberg, who's scripted all three Twilight films to date (and is currently writing the two-part Breaking Dawn films to close out the franchise).

Rosenberg worked closely with novel author Stephenie Meyer to adapt the third book, Eclipse, in which Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) finds herself torn between Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) as a vicious army of vampires led by Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) comes to kill her. With the threat of Victoria and her protégé, Riley (Xavier Samuel) looming overhead, plus horrific flashbacks to Jasper and Rosalie's origins and a number of head-ripping fight sequences, Eclipse is by far the darkest film in the saga thus far.

I caught up with Rosenberg to discuss her work on Eclipse and the impact that critics, fans, and Stephenie Meyer herself had on the ways the film differs from the book. She also shared her thoughts on where to split Breaking Dawn into two films, how she intends to stay true to the novel's gory details, and -- oh yes -- I made sure to champion the grassroots Twi-hard campaign to see lots and lots of feathers. (Read my previous New Moon chat with Rosenberg here.

One of the additions to the movie that wasn't necessarily in the book was Bella's big "I'm confident!" speech at the end. How important was it to include a scene like that in the film?

You're the first person to notice that! The character of Bella in the movies, and as portrayed by Kristen, has taken on a life of her own in certain ways. She's a strong character, so it was about really being true to the character as it developed in the movies. She just struck me as someone for whom that would be true. It goes to the bigger theme of the movie; it's not just a choice between Jacob and Edward, it's about her choosing who she is, what kind of life she wants to lead. So it was really about addressing the bigger themes and staying true to the character of Bella as she has evolved in these films.

You've now written three full films in the franchise; how much has each script responded to critiques, from fans and/or critics, of the previous films?

I'm not sure; everybody who's involved in them, we really try to do our best to stay true to the book. There are going to be some people who don't like that and some people who do, and if you start responding to the people who don't like it you start pissing off the people who did. So you have to be true to your own creative instincts for what works and what doesn't. If people ignored the movie and boycotted it coming in and it didn't do well, then I think we would be listening. But the movies have done tremendously, so obviously somebody likes them! So we keep going with our gut.

Eclipse really ramps up the action from the previous two films -- it's darker, what with all these vampires going a-killin' and coming after Bella. When you were writing the script, how much did elements of horror factor into your vision?

They factor in a lot. The books have horror elements in them, so a lot of time for me it was threading those through from the beginning. The book lends itself to really building a suspenseful situation, keeping the threat hanging over the entire time. So it was kind of fun going down that path.

How early on did Stephenie share with you the events and character details that made it into her new Twilight novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner?

It would have been in the outline stage. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to introduce Riley; that was one of my first ideas: let's open on Riley and how he was created. Coming up with a back story for him and all of that. I think I had probably finished a draft of the outline, it was somewhere around then, and I was asking [Stephenie] about what the newborns were up to -- what was going on for them while Bella's living her life, because they're living it simultaneously? And that's when she shared it with me and I was really able to fill out some of their activities and how Riley was directing them. So it was right there in the beginning.

I read it the other weekend, because I'm a nerd --

[Laughs] You and me both!

In reading the novella, I learned so many new things about vampire science in Twilight, like how vampires re-attach their limbs -- who knew?

Exactly! I didn't until I read that. And the underwater stuff -- in the movie, there's this great sequence where the newborns come out of the water; that was her visual, absolutely. I was trying to figure out, okay so these vampires are coming after the Cullens -- how do they get there, do they take a boat, or they fly? And she's like, 'No, man…' That was her visual right from the beginning.

It struck me that perhaps because of the timing of your writing the script and Stephenie finishing the novella, that you included events from Bree Tanner but tweaked them a bit -- for example, in the movie Riley is more present, but Victoria and the Volturi's motivations aren't explained as clearly. How does that change the idea of authorship, where you're writing scenes that didn't necessarily happen in Stephenie's books?

I guess I'm more attuned to Stephenie's mythology as we go through, so I feel more confident to invent in her world. I'm always very cautious about not violating her mythology, and I think that's the most important thing; when you're talking about sci-fi/fantasy stories, the rules of that world have to be very solid and very intricate and very well designed, and Stephenie has done that. That is her genius. I now have a much better sense of what the boundaries of that world are, so within that world I can be let loose. She gave me permission, and I think I gave myself permission, to do that, moreso in this book than any of the others. That said, it was always very important to me to stay true to the book, so there was a little bit of give and take, but it just sort of lent itself to a little more expansion. It was very much a dance between her and I.

You two seem so collaborative at this point.

You know, it's a blessing. She could be one of those writers who's like, 'It has to be this way, this is the way I saw it,' and she's not at all. She's not precious about it. As long as it's not violating the franchise, violating the characters and the mythology, she's really open. She's just a really great creative partner. It's great having another writer to bounce stuff around with.

Jumping forward to Breaking Dawn, where are you in the scripting stage now?

Deep in the center. Kind of right in the first draft mode, dead center in the middle I'd say. Of both [parts]. I'm kind of writing them simultaneously -- writing both outlines and then writing both first drafts because we're shooting them together. [The producers] need things to prep off of, because they have to find locations, so in some ways I've been treating it as one film, but on two different pieces of paper. It's a huge challenge. It's a lot of pages!

Where exactly do you envision splitting Breaking Dawn into two parts?

We're still talking about specifically where, but I think there's kind of a natural break. You have the first half about Bella being human and a newlywed and pregnant, and the second half is about her being a vampire and a parent. I think somewhere in that transition is where it breaks. We've tried a couple of things and I think we're settling on one, [but] we're not sure.

You and I spoke before about how you stay true to the gory events of Breaking Dawn without going beyond a PG-13 rating. Is that any more of an issue, now that you're writing it?

You know, I just don't find that to be a challenge at all, honestly. I worked on Dexter, and I've said that pint for pint, there's more blood on CSI than there is on Dexter, and yet Dexter is far more disturbing. So I think it's not about how much gore you see on screen, it's more about, are you conveying the terror of the scene, the physical pain of the scene? The tension of the scene? I don't think you need to see gore to know what's going on, and in some ways I think that's actually more interesting. And I think that's true for sex as well. I think the hottest sex scenes I've ever seen are more suggestive than they are graphic. So I don't have an issue with it; I think we can do absolutely everything without having to see specific things.

Just so you know, certain fans of age would like to see lots of pillow-biting and feathers…

[Laughs] Okay! I think they may see some feathers. They may, indeed, see a few feathers.

Source

Twilight Saga:Eclipse Producer Wyck Godfrey on 3D, 'Breaking Dawn,' and More

I like to picture the two-part Breaking Dawn movie as a NC-17 gynecology horror flick packed with pillow-biting sex and bellies ripped open, and guess what? I'm not alone. In fact, Twilight Saga producer Wyck Godfrey is the one who brought up David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers when we met to discuss this month's Eclipse, in which Twilight heroine Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) finds herself torn between her vampire and werewolf beaus as an army of bloodsuckers threatens to kill everyone she loves. (He also told us he'd love to cast Stewart in his remake of the brutal French-language pic Martyrs. More on that here.)

But Godfrey knows his Twilight audience, so I asked him to set the record straight on rumors that the two-part final installment, Breaking Dawn, could go for an R-rating. Over the course of a highly entertaining discussion, he explained why 30 Days of Night director David Slade was chosen to helm Eclipse, what made Dreamgirls razzle-dazzler Bill Condon right for Breaking Dawn, and how elements of horror filmmaking factor into the vampire romance franchise.

We discussed Bella's newfound confidence in Eclipse, and how her infamous upcoming childbirth scene could possibly go down with a PG-13 rating. He mused on how 3D might be used to film part of Breaking Dawn, which begins shooting this November. He gave a compelling defense of Bella Swan's problematic attractions to both Edward and Jacob, a love triangle that reaches a boiling point in Eclipse but develops new complexity as we move into Breaking Dawn. Most importantly, Twi-hards, Wyck Godfrey promised plenty of feathers.

Dive in for the full interview!

Why was David Slade the right choice to direct Eclipse?

Honestly, I loved Hard Candy. Ever since I saw that movie I was sending him everything I had. I loved the performances he got from Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page, I loved the filmmaking and the way he kept one small house, and many times one small room, alive and tense and exciting for an entire movie. And then, I saw 30 Days of Night and liked the genre elements of that, and how he had a real vision for how he wanted that world to look. That was kind of the perfect combination: his ability to tell a story and elicit amazing performances in Hard Candy, and to create a world in 30 Days of Night, which were sort of the combined qualities we were looking for in a director. So, coming off of Chris [Weitz], who is a really classic filmmaker and creates beautiful imagery, but very romantic imagery, we wanted to go in a little bit of a different direction and create something that had a little bit more anxiety and edge to it, as Bella really struggled with her choices, between Jacob and Edward, between becoming a vampire and staying human… we thought [David's] style would bring a lot to all of that stuff.

Along those lines, what makes Bill Condon right for Breaking Dawn?

The themes and the story of Breaking Dawn are very mature; Bella and Edward are going through very adult things, from marriage to childbirth, motherhood, parenthood, and the evolution of their relationship into something that is a partnership, which is not the way Edward has viewed this relationship with her before. Bill's a very mature filmmaker; he's dealt with very difficult themes and stories in his career. He's also gotten Academy Award nominations for actors in the last three films that he's done. And from a performance standpoint, Kristen's going to be diving into stuff that she hasn't been through. It's one thing that she can remember first love and falling in love and being torn between two guys, probably, but the idea of dealing with some of these issues and having a filmmaker that can really help them as actors was vital to Breaking Dawn. Also, the visual nature of Dreamgirls made us feel like he could create something with a real scope and grandeur to it.

There's also his earlier work: Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, Sister, Sister…

He's a genre guy! That's really exciting, that in some ways he'll be coming full circle and utilizing his early roots with the stuff he's been doing recently. I think that'll be fun for him.

The whole idea of balancing horror and fantasy elements with a greater love story also comes up in Eclipse, which ramps up the genre elements considerably from the first two Twilight films. Was there ever an impulse to go even darker, to tip the balance more towards horror with this installment?

I think it's not as mathematical as that. The core of the story is character based, and you have to nail that first -- that's why people love the franchise, but they also love the mythology and the genre elements of it. You want to make sure that you're tracking Bella's internal struggle along with the external conflicts of the movie, which is what's happening in Seattle, what dangers are descending upon Forks and threatening both families she loves, the wolves and the Cullens. I think that's something that we, Melissa Rosenberg, and Stephenie Meyer worked very hard on in the treatment stage and at the script stage to feel like we had a screenplay that represented both sides of that story.

The production notes quote you talking about the Eclipse production as a sort of summer camp, not without "the squabbles that families have." Can you elaborate on that?

This is the first kind of true series I've been involved in, but usually you become a really tight knit family over the course of making a movie, and then you never see each other again, and that reminded me of summer camp as a kid, where I'd make these intense friendships and wouldn't see some people ever again, and some people until the following summer. On Eclipse, having done two films together we all know each other really well; we know each others' instincts, who's in a good mood in the morning and who's in a bad mood [laughs], but with that comes the ability to communicate more openly about things that you're really pissed off about or things you want. You get that sense that we're all back together, we're all diving into it, but it is like a family in that you'll have those moments where you're not getting along. The good news is that you know, even out of that, you can sort of be back together afterwards and re-bond in different ways.

On the first film, when you're first getting to know people, you're guarded in a way that you're not when you've known someone for two years. You're guarded in that you may not say something you want to say to someone for fear of their repercussions, and now it's just like, 'You know what, you really pissed me off when you did that!' And you just get through it.

Eclipse, very importantly, features a speech by Bella in which she asserts her confidence and her newfound maturity. Was that a response in any way to criticisms of Bella's passiveness in the first two films?

No, I think it was a response to her journey in this movie, where you felt like if she starts the movie with the decision 'I'm going to become a vampire, this is what I want,' and you take her through a series of conflicts and obstacles that force her to call that choice into question, at the end of it she needs to have come to a place where she not only goes, 'Okay, I'm going to become a vampire' but also that she has a heightened understanding of what that means. We all felt that we needed to articulate that and make it clear, not only to Edward, but also to the audience.

Do you think non-fans who may not know and love the characters as well may reject both Edward and Jacob as unhealthy romantic choices for Bella, both not good for her in different ways?

I don't know -- what do you think? Is one of them a really bad boyfriend option?

Let me first say that I am firmly on Team Edward… but I think some might see him as being very controlling, while Jacob is emotionally manipulative in what he does, specifically in Eclipse.

I think the thing that is very relatable whether or not you've read the books is that men are completely flawed, one way or the other, and women have to choose the best qualities out of one man knowing they've got deficiencies in other areas. [Laughs] So Bella's going through what every girl goes through.

Well, I can't argue with that. Now, you and I have talked before about Breaking Dawn and how it would never go beyond a PG-13 rating, but recently rumors of an R-rating have sprung back up. Would you care to set the record straight again?

NC-17. We're going full on X. [Laughs] Do they have triple-X anymore? I believe fully, I'm unwavering in my belief that these will be PG-13 movies. And really, I say that not because I know what we're shooting but because I feel that they should be. I feel like the audience of the books and the movies, many of them are under 18; my ten-year-old son goes to these movies, I can't make an R-rated conclusion to the franchise.

Is your ten-year-old son going to understand pillow-biting and feathers strewn everywhere?

By the time it comes out, he'll be 11 and a half, and I think that's all that was on my mind!

Fans around the world seem to have one big request, and that is: Feathers. Lots of feathers.

We have feathers currently being grown on geese around the world so that we can steal them for our pillow-biting feather eruption!

And then, there's the birthing scene, which some of us horror fans fantasize about going down like a scene in a Cronenbergian horror movie…

Yeah! Dead Ringers. We should go full on! My wife's an OB-GYN so we should bring her on set to make sure that if Edward is going to do an oral Cesarean, he really needs to make the proper incision with his teeth.

Needless to say I know that a gory Breaking Dawn isn't going to happen quite like I envision it, but how close do you think it can come to evoking the sort of visceral goriness of what's written in the novel?

I think the one thing that we've done that we've really done in all the films is keep them very subjective and keep them from Bella's point of view. So the conversations we've had with Bill, is that we'll try to do something similar here; you're with Bella's perspective and her point of view of what's taking place in the rush around her, as she's in intense pain. Not so focused, objectively, on her body and his body and that. So I think it'll be something like that, in terms of trying to make the audience experience and feel the confusion, almost, of what's happening to her.

Earlier today, Kristen said Breaking Dawn will start shooting in October -- is that right?

November. She starts training in October. And we'll probably shoot [the two parts] together, as one long story.

And how might you use 3D in either part of Breaking Dawn?

We have considered it, and everything's being discussed, but I know that part of a way to differentiate the two movies would be to have one be in 2D, and when she becomes a vampire we move into 3D. But we haven't really gotten far enough to decide what we're going to do. I'm of two minds of it, frankly, and I think everyone is; I don't want to chase the format if it's not organic and appropriate. If we think it is, we will.

Lastly, how are you juggling the Twilight Saga with all of the other titles on your slate?

Well, my company has two partners -- myself and Marty Bowen. The way we've always run things is we work on things together up until one's going, and either I oversee a movie or he oversees a movie during production and we give each other our other points of view while we're in post. So while I was doing Twilight and New Moon he was doing Dear John. While I was doing Eclipse he was doing Everything Must Go. During Breaking Dawn we have a couple of films that'll probably go that he'll be overseeing; one's a Fernando Meirelles Janis Joplin movie with Amy Adams playing Janis Joplin. The other is a ten-year high school reunion movie that Jamie Linden, who wrote Dear John, is writing and directing, and hopefully Channing Tatum and a bunch of his buddies are going to do it.

Source

Will Robert Pattinson Cut His Luscious Locks In ‘Breaking Dawn’? (Video Clip)

Robert Pattinson sits down with Access’ Shaun Robinson to talk about his new movie, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” but will he chop his famous coif? Also, why can’t Robert stop laughing as he recalls working with co-star Taylor Lautner?

June 1, 2010

Video: Jackson Rathbone Excited to Work With Breaking Dawn Director Bill Condon

Cast of Cullen Family Returns for Twilight Saga:Breaking Dawn

From Summit Entertainment:
THE CULLEN FAMILY CAST RETURNS FOR SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT’S
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN
Los Angeles, CA May 19, 2010 – Summit Entertainment has confirmed that Peter Facinelli, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone, Elizabeth Reaser, and Nikki Reed will all return as members of the Cullen Family in THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN. These cast members join Billy Burke as Charlie Swan.
Academy Award® winner Bill Condon will direct THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN based on the fourth novel in author Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. The project is currently being written by Melissa Rosenberg with Wyck Godfrey, Karen Rosenfelt, and Stephenie Meyer producing. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN is slated to be released November 18, 2011.
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions.
The family of vampires, to which the leading male character Edward Cullen belongs, is comprised of Facinelli as Carlisle, Greene as Alice, Lutz as Emmett, Rathbone as Jasper, Reaser as Esme, and Reed as Rosalie.
The third film in the franchise, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE is due in theaters on June 30, 2010.