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The third film in the franchise, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, is currently in theatres.
About the TWILIGHT SAGA film series
The TWILIGHT SAGA film series stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson and tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward Cullen, a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away. But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together…even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires. The action-packed, modern day vampire love story TWILIGHT, the first film in the series, was released in theatres on November 21, 2008 to a blockbuster reception. The second installment of the film franchise, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON was released November 20, 2009. The franchise has grossed over $1.4 billion in worldwide box office ticket sales to date.
About Summit Entertainment, LLC
Summit Entertainment, LLC is a worldwide theatrical motion picture development, financing, production and distribution studio. The studio handles all aspects of marketing and distribution for both its own internally developed motion pictures as well as acquired pictures. Summit Entertainment, LLC also represents international sales for both its own slate and third party product. Summit Entertainment, LLC releases on average 10 to 12 films annually.
In June, Summit Entertainment announced that “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn” will be released as two separate films, with the first part arriving on November 18, 2011. Though no release date for the second part has been announced, the conventional wisdom has been that the second part would follow in the summer of 2012.
Not so fast. Summit distribution chief Richie Fay told MTV News that no such decision has been made and that the studio is still exploring multiple release dates, not just ones in the summer.
“We’ve targeted a number of dates, and we have yet to determine when it will happen,” Fay said. “We haven’t even determined that it will be the summer. It’s still the source of discussions.”
Of course, studios always explore various release dates for pictures, especially established blockbusters, and the fact that Summit hasn’t committed the second “Breaking Dawn” to the summer season shouldn’t be mistaken for confusion or indecision within studio headquarters.
But the 2012 summer movie calendar is rapidly filling up, not necessarily with films that widely share an audience with “Breaking Dawn,” but with established franchises or properties in their own right. That May will offer “The Avengers,” “Madagascar 3? and “Men in Black 3,” while June delivers a “Star Trek” sequel. The rebooted “Spider-Man” has already nabbed the July 4th slot (occupied this year by “Eclipse”), followed closely by another “Ice Age” and a third “Batman.”
Surely there’s room here for “Breaking Dawn,” but Summit now has experience releasing “Twilight” movies both in the summer and the fall. And, as Fay says, the studio might not be ready to pick a season for “Breaking Dawn” until “Eclipse” finishes up its theatrical run.
“We might have a preference when we see where ‘Eclipse’ ends up,” he said of choosing one season over another. “It certainly might color our thinking, but we’re comfortable with either place. Right now, it’s a bit early in that stage of planning.”
We’ll admit, we were one of many who jumped in on the bashing-of-Kristen-Stewart’s-wig-in-”Ecl
After rounds and rounds and rounds of interviews, someone (very unlikely, might we add) finally asked her about WigGate: George Lopez. We’re guessing Kristen’s dad, who works for the show, prompted the question, but still, we’re glad someone had the guts to speak up.
“Is it widely known that, in ‘Eclipse,’ that you were wearing a wig?” George innocently asked Kristen, and she laughingly answered “yeah” just as the audience members started yelling out, “Yesssss!”
We all know she needed to wear the wig because she cut her hair for “The Runaways” (Bella’s hair in “Twilight” and “New Moon” was au natural), but what we didn’t know was just how badly Summit wanted her to not shop her locks.
Kristen Stewart”They’re going to hate me for this, but they offered me lots of ridiculous… many ridiculous things to not do that,” she said.
“Besides money?” George asked, a little astonished. “Uh, no,” Kristen answered with a laugh.
She continued, “I completely understand, I just thought we’d have a better… wig, and, uh, it’s OK, we worked it out, and hopefully, hopefully, hopefully it’s OK now.”
So maybe we weren’t completely off when we suggested that she wore the same wig Taylor Lautner wore in “Twilight”?
Still, rest easy, because Kristen was quick to announce that “I’m not going to have a wig in the next one [we think she means both parts of 'Breaking Dawn'], I’m just going to have my own [hair].”
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Entertainment Weekly sat down with Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner for a feature interview running in this week’s magazine to discuss the world they inhabit within the Twilight universe — both on screen and off. The three young stars opened up about coping under the glare of intense media spotlight, how they rely on one another to pull through, what they think of the upcoming final movie, Breaking Dawn, what lies ahead once the franchise wraps, and much more. In this preview, the three stars talk about gearing up for the final chapter of the saga that has changed each of their lives forever.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You guys are about to start shooting the two Breaking Dawn movies back to back. You signed on to this franchise before Breaking Dawn was written. When you read it, were you thinking, How is this going to be turned into a movie?
KRISTEN STEWART: Yeah, definitely. What is Renesmee going to look like? Is it going to be this little teeth-baby running around? It’s going to be weird.
ROBERT PATTINSON: [Laughs] “Little teeth-baby.”
STEWART: Yeah, but I think it’s going to be cool. One of the main objectives of the series is to get Bella to a point where she’s mature enough to make such a hefty decision, and she goes through a lot. In the fourth one, she is going to become a wife. She is going to become a mom. She is going to become an adult and a vampire. To do it so young, it needs to be believable. So I’m really excited about playing that.Some people read Breaking Dawn as very pro-life and Mormon because Bella decides to have her baby even though it’s endangering her life. Did any of that bother you when you read the book?
STEWART: No, because it made sense. Not wanting to give up the baby is about her holding onto that last thing that she would have to give up if she was not human anymore. Right after she and Edward sleep with each other for the first time, she says, “Oh, f***, I might want to be human for a little bit longer.” The baby is just an even more intense version of that.
PATTINSON: I think people make up all these Mormon references just so they can publish Twilight articles in respectable publications like the New York Times. Even Stephenie [Meyer, author of the Twilight novels] said it doesn’t mean any of that. It is based on a dream.The Breaking Dawn movies are the last in the series. How do you feel about all of this coming to a conclusion soon?
STEWART: In terms of shooting them, they’re almost done. We’re going to be done by March.
TAYLOR LAUTNER: It will be so weird, the last day of filming that last movie.
STEWART: It will be sad, too. It’s been one of the most crazy, indulgent experiences as an actor, to be able to follow a character for this long.
LAUTNER: I think stopping will be very weird.
STEWART: It will just feel like a chapter has been closed.
LAUTNER: A big chapter.
STEWART: I’m going to be like, “But wait, there’s this scene…”
Last week, official word came from Summit Entertainment that “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn” will come to the big screen as two films. Now what? Major cast deals are signed, Bill Condon has set his directorial wheels in motion, and the world has “Eclipse” to snack on while massive preparation gets underway for “Dawn” Parts 1 and 2.
We got to chat with the woman at the eye of the vampire storm, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, midway through her adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s final book. While she’ll break from the job at hand to receive honors from Prevention magazine Tuesday in Los Angeles for her charitable work with the Writer’s Guild Foundation, the scribe admits she’s all “Twi,” all the time.
Does she think Condon is up to the task? Will we see the sex, violence and graphic childbirth the book promises? Is Kristen Stewart ready for the epic journey in store for Bella Swan?
Ministry of Gossip: ‘Breaking Dawn’ is no small undertaking. How’s adaptation going?
Melissa Rosenberg: It’s going really well — it’s a very big challenge. It’s just thick with mythology and characters and choosing which stories to bring forward. It’s a beast, but I think it’s going well.
MoG: Stephenie Meyer has been consulting on the films from the start. Given this is the final chapter, what are her major priorities for the fans?MR: She has always only demanded one thing, and that is that we adapt the book. All of her really big boundaries have to do with just adapting the book. That said, she isn’t terribly precious about things. She’s supportive of my bringing invention to it.
MoG: Speaking of which, [spoiler alert!] fans are crazy over Bella losing her virginity, the graphic birth of her and Edward’s child, and her vampire transformation. Any idea how you’ll handle such serious imagery?
MR: On the fan site, on Facebook, all the comments are “It has to be R rated! You have to show the childbirth! Gore and guts and sex!” For me it’s actually more interesting to not see it. You know, you can do childbirth without seeing childbirth … it doesn’t mean it’s any less evocative of an experience.
MoG: Kristen Stewart arguably has the most work to do in the final films. Is she up to the challenge?
MR: Kristen Stewart is really, I think, tremendous. And one of the reasons why we got Bill Condon. And Chris Weitz, for that matter; they all want to work with her.
MoG: A lot of the fans credit you with giving Bella more backbone in the films than she has in the books. Was that something you did actively?MR: That’s something I did very consciously. What’s interesting is that it’s all there — the strength was there, it was just kind of tearing away some things. You know, she’s human. She doesn’t have the physical strength of Edward and all of them. So how do you make the character strong when she’s physically vulnerable? There really is a goal to give her stamina and other strengths. She really is a role model.
MoG: Your prior credits ["Dexter," "Ally McBeal"] definitely incorporate strong females. Is that a place you’ll return to after “Twilight” is done?
MR: Absolutely. What I really want to do is create great roles for women. And I’m not talking Nicholas Sparks romance. I think women’s roles have gotten ghettoized in these sort of places. … I’m thinking women in action, comic books, or like the Tony Soprano of women. We need some complex roles.
MoG: Back to “Twilight”; this franchise has dozens of characters. Anyone in particular you love writing for?
MR: I love Charlie, Billy Burke’s character [Bella's father]. Writing for him is so spectacular, he’s so funny and wry and every scene he’s in he just takes. There’s a scene in “Eclipse” where Bella tells him she’s a virgin, and it’s the funniest, most awkward scene I’ve ever seen on film.
Rosenberg says pre-production will begin July 1, with both films slated to film back to back at the start of October.
What do you think of her plans for “Breaking Dawn”? Tell us in comments.
Kristen Stewart has come a long way from the nervous and little known indie star on the verge of stardom promoting the first “Twilight” film. It took the 18-year-old quite awhile to adjust to being the central figure in the vampire movie phenomenon, but since last November’s “New Moon” she’s seemed more confident and at ease with not only discussing her work, but her life and opinions.
After having to portray a heartbroken Bella Swan in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” the third installment of the series finds our heroine also more at peace, but having to juggle competing interests from her true love Edward (Robert Pattinson) and non-vampire admirer Jacob (Taylor Lautner). Speaking about “Eclipse” this past weekend, Stewart told HitFix Bella basically had to experience enough life lessons to really justify the choice she makes in the movie.
“This is the point where she should actually become equipped enough to make all these decisions,” Stewart say. “And I know she’s done that in every movie she’s been like, ‘No, I know what I want,’ but I dunno I feel like she has to go through the things she’s gone through to sound like she knows what she’s talking about. She needs to grow up a bit. The fog, the haze that Edward creates around her [in 'New Moon'] fades in ‘Eclipse’ and I think it’s really important for her to realize she’s choosing to be with him and that she doesn’t have to be with him.”
But, Stewart adds, “It was exciting to play with Taylor, just because she finally sees Jacob, she finally sees what the audience sees. So there was like a lot of new things to play.”
While universal reaction to “Eclipse” seems much more positive than the critically derided “New Moon,” fans are already anticipating the final chapter in the series being broken out in a two-part “Breaking Dawn” picture. HitFix asked Stewart what she thought filmmaker Bill Condon (“Dreamgirls,” “Gods and Monsters”) would bring to the final two installments.
“I don’t know yet. I had one meeting with him and it was awesome, so cool,” Stewart volunteers. “He was talking a lot about — because we’ve had to cram so much story into one time, you miss a lot of nuanced stuff for fans and readers of the book. Just the little things have to go. Those are the first things skimmed off the top and this one. And I think he’s going to put it back in Bella’s head [for 'Breaking Dawn'].”
What concerns Stewart most, it seems, is getting more of Stephenie Meyers’ writing onto the screen. Stewart is hoping the Oscar-winning screenwriter can assist Melissa Rosenberg in making that happen in the last two films.
“A lot of people thought they felt that, like, from ‘Eclipse’ they thought it was a little bit more first person, like it was a little more character driven or whatever, but I think he’s gonna do a really good job of letting the story filter out without slamming you over the head with it,” Stewart says. “Not that we’ve done that, but I feel like some of my expositional lines which are not in the book because we are telling the story, we’re not gonna have to do any of that because we have more time. I can’t wait to get some of the details back in, y’know what I mean?
You can watch the video of our interview embedded above the copy on this page. Stewart also talks about her first LA “Twilight” convention, working with Billy Burke and goes into intricate detail on how blonde her hair will really be for Walter Sales’ “On the Road.” And yes fans, it will be blonde.
source: hitfix.com