Melissa Rosenberg Talks About Robward's Presence in New Moon

Rotten Tomatoes visited the set of New Moon. They had the opportunity to watch some scenes being filmed and interview Director Chris Weitz and Screen Writer Melissa Rosenberg. You can read the whole thing at the source including some spoilers.

Robert Pattinson stood patiently against a green screen as Weitz rehearsed camera movements to film Bella's hallucinations. A long camera track ran the length of the stage, perhaps to use film speed techniques to create Edward's disorienting "appearance." A remote-controlled camera set on a mini crane moved fluidly to capture Pattinson, murmuring lines of stern warning.

At a nearby computer station, techs called up a previously-filmed scene: Bella on a darkened street, hopping on the back of a motorcycle. The Edward apparition was transposed into the background of the shot; computer generated effects would be added later to enhance the scene. What exactly the effect will look like is still up in the air.

"We are still in the late R&D phases of what Edward looks like when he's hit by sunlight, what the vampires look like when they're hit with sunlight, the diamond effect," Weitz told us by phone. "And also the hallucinatory effect that Bella has when she hears Edward's voice and she imagines him there." (Read our full interview with Chris Weitz here.)

The Edward-as-hallucination is a particularly good solution to the severe (some might say, tragic) lack of Edward in Meyer's source novel. When a distraught Bella finds herself in jeopardy in the book, she merely hears Edward's voice. When it will happen in the film, we'll actually get to see Edward -- an almost necessary fix, considering how Pattinson-less New Moon might be otherwise.

"New Moon is very internal," Rosenberg explained. "There's been a lot of talk about how Edward and the Cullens are not a part of the middle of New Moon, but actually they really are. Certainly, Edward's very much alive in Bella's mind throughout New Moon. As a reader, you feel his presence; he's helping drive that story."

She continued: "It's harder to do on film; you have to somehow find his presence and bring it there without having thought bubbles, constantly. And I think the solution that we found is going to satisfy fans. It's very much in keeping with the tone of the book, so it will be interesting...I think fans will feel pretty satisfied with what we're doing. One, because it's true to the book, and two, because we'll see more Edward! Can't be bad."

As with the first film, certain changes are necessary to fit the medium of film. Rosenberg's philosophy is that as long as the viewer's experience is the same, Meyer's book has been faithfully adapted.

"Things have to move out of an internal place and into an external, visual reality," she began, "so there are many things I changed. But as long as we hit the emotional experience, I think, it will resonate the same way. Twilight was that same thing. There were a lot of things that were in the book that weren't in the movie, but because we hit the emotional stepping stone all the way throughout, you took the same journey that you took with the characters in the book, and that's what's really most important about an adaptation; you have to take your audience on the same emotional journey, take your characters on the same emotional journey, as they do in the book and then everyone will have the same experience." (Gozde: Well Melissa, I sure hope you did a better job this time...I am still not over the lack of "I Love You" in Twilight)

We asked you if you would see twilight multiple times had Rob not been in it and here is the result:



Thanks to SagaFan for sending me the Chris-Rob picture. I would be forced to use my beautifully photoshopped picture otherwise :))