Chris Weitz talks about New Moon, touring Europe, what he thinks of the Paparazzi and Robert Pattinson

From EW.com

'New Moon' director Chris Weitz: 'This was made for the fans, and if you don’t get it, then you don’t get it'

A lot of fans say they like the movie more than the book, that New Moon was their least favorite book in the series.
New Moon takes a lot of time to read and you have a lot of time without Edward in the picture. And here in the compressed scenario of the movie, there is less time without RPatz. And the fact that Taylor [Lautner] does such a great job, to the reading audience who’s been very skeptical of him, here he is in the flesh, and it’s quite something.

It’s interesting then that you went forward with another book adaptation with another studio, considering how badly it went the last time.
I really liked the actors. I saw the first movie and I thought there was something special about Kristen [Stewart] , Rob [Pattinson], and Taylor. I liked the emotional tones to the book. It was stuff I knew how to do. I had this theory that if you stay true to the book, you would win. You would not only win with the fans, but other people will get what the fans care about. If the box office tells us anything, then it’s a win. It’s made more in its first day then the entire domestic run of Golden Compass. It’s extraordinary.

What were the high­est and low­est points of mak­ing New Moon?
The lows had to be shoot­ing at 5 a.m. in a for­est and strug­gling to get cer­tain shots so a sequence would string together prop­erly. It was a very cold for­est in British Colum­bia, and we knew we’d have another night shoot just like it the next day. The highs were the moments of real iden­ti­fi­ca­tion with the actors. With Tay­lor, the moments early on when he real­ized he was going to do it. That was very grat­i­fy­ing to me.

You’ve been around the world promoting this movie. Have you ever been part of something like this?
Never. It’s like being Ringo Starr. There are the big three and then there’s Ringo. It’s probably what he faced a lot. Hey Ringo, Can I meet Paul? When I meet the fans there’s a lot of enthusiasm for me, if one of the kids is nearby or, if they think I can arrange some tryst.

What about dealing with the paparazzi? Did you have any run-ins?
I did a bit of a Sean Penn at LAX. When we were leaving for the European tour. We had left from our L.A. press junket to go to LAX and someone nearly ran us off the road trying to get to one of the cars. We were followed by eight different vans and there was some really dangerous driving. And I understood for the first time how things happened to Princess Diana (I don’t think I’m Princess Diana), and I understood for the first time why celebrities lash out and what’s that about. My first thought upon getting out of the car was, “Who was that driver of the car?” I never found him, but I did lift someone by the hood. A photographer. He was in my way. They have a legal right to be there but they don’t have an ethical right, and he was obstructing my path, and there was someone else I threatened to knock their teeth out. It’s not like me but I felt very protective at that moment and very attacked. There is a huge difference between the attention of the paparazzi and the attention of the fans. The fans have been lovely. The paparazzi in my opinion are a very low form of primate.

Do you think you’re going to get some boys into the theater for New Moon?
I think so. I just hope it’s not just guys who were dragged there. And if they were dragged there, I hope some part of them is enjoying it. And I hope they can admit it if that’s the case. But if not, I hope they have a nice night with their girlfriend. I had an imaginary ad campaign saying “Will your girlfriend go in thinking of Edward, Jacob, or you.” I thought that would force men to go.

To read the full interview head over to EW.com