Rotten Tomatoes has written a great three-page article summarizing all that is out there about New Moon so far. I found the section about director Chris Weitz particularly interesting–

With the conspicuous exit of Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke, we’ve got a new helmer at the reins of New Moon: Chris Weitz, who got his start by co-writing Antz (95 percent on the Tomatometer) – and then wrote The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (26 percent). Weitz then wrote and directed About a Boy (93 percent)…and followed it with The Golden Compass (42 percent). (He also produced the American Pie movies, for what it’s worth.)

That said, on paper it’s easy to see the potential Weitz brings to New Moon: he’s proven deft at tackling relationships, teenage audiences, and working with lots of computer generated special effects — the latter of which will come in handy for showing Twilight readers how the Quileutes “phase” from human to wolf form and back (hint for Jacob fans: it involves shredding their clothes to bits and emerging stark naked). Familiarity with CG technology will also be crucial for New Moon’s pivotal scene in Volterra, Italy, in which Edward Cullen’s difficult “sparkling” effect will be on display – an effect proven extremely hard to pull off in Catherine Hardwicke’s film. Then again, Hardwicke was working with a $37 million budget; after Twilight’s $370 million worldwide gross, Weitz will have a blockbuster budget.  

We’re also curious to see how director Weitz handles Bella’s hallucinations; in the book, she discovers that her deep depression over losing Edward has created a psychological tic in which she can hear his voice when in dangerous situations. This leads to a handful of scenes in which Bella stupidly endangers herself on purpose — essential plot events which are quite likely to draw criticism, being that it’s an incredibly unhealthy way for a girl to nurse a broken heart. We’d like to see Rosenberg’s script find a stronger way for Bella to move on with her life, in the same way that Stewart played an emboldened version of Bella in the first Twilight film.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon – Start Obsessing Now! [fan poster by jessdcma]

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Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn won the “Oscars of the book world” Galaxy Award for Best Children’s Book. The award was announced Friday night, and Breaking Dawn beat out J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard to reach the #1 spot. Congrats, Queen Bee! Check out the rest of the winners at the British Book Awards website. [thanks, Heather and Emma!]

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Unfortunately, Robert Pattinson won’t be hosting Saturday Night Live anytime soon, despite rumors that he might–

However, SNL’s head honcho, Lorne Michaels, tells OK! that the show won’t be getting an infusion of vampire blood just yet.

“Not this season,” he said at Natural Resources Defense Council 11th annual Forces For Nature benefit in NYC. “We’re all locked in with the hosts for this year.”

But is there hope that Rob will be palling around with cast members Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig in the future?

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” he said.

No SNL for Robert Pattinson [thanks, Andrea!]

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Amanda Bell over at the Examiner covers two odd little video portraits of Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene by videographer Tyler Shields. Of the Kellan Lutz video, which features the composition Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky, made famous by Fantasia, she says–

Dressed to the nines, of course, Lutz takes off his jacket and slowly maims it with a chainsaw. The video was posted by Tyler Shields, a photographer and director, who labels the vid “portrait,” with his commentators saying they can’t wait to see what he could do with Lutz’s co-stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner, amongst others.

More somber and contemplative in mood is the video featuring Ashley Greene, where she wrestles with getting out of the way of an oncoming train while at the same time putting herself in front of it, set to the song “No Surprises” by Radiohead.

There are quite a few other celebrity video portraits on his channel, but be sure to check out the one of Matt Dallas! Wowzers!

[thanks for the tip, Emma!]

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New Moon author Stepehenie Meyer takes a few Italian fans on a tour of on of the locations in Volterra, Italy most important to New Moon in this old video clip shot on location in Italy. [thanks, Jacqueline!]

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