New Moon producer Wyck Godfrey has an excellent new interview with HitFlix where he details some of the finer points of making the Twilight Saga happen, including the logic behind casting in the film–

Q: Some franchises like the ‘Star Trek’ movies, for example, are notorious for inserting celebrity cameos. Now that ‘Twilight’ is so big and now that you have so many Hollywood fans, do you think that will happen in any of the future movies?

Well you were on-set earlier right? You noticed Julia Roberts? (Laughs.) She’s just an extra standing out there. I always liked to feel like people want to immerse themselves in a world and not be distracted by gimmick casting. I kind of in general like…we’ve always just wanted to put the best actors in the role, not the biggest reality TV stars or whatever. We want to put great actors in the roles and let them become the character that people have read in these books and fallen in love with. And I sometimes think like if you try to like stunt-cast things, people notice and for that split second in the movie it pulls them out of the movie and they whisper to their friend ‘Oh, that’s so-and-so’ to me you don’t immerse yourself in the world of the movie. So, I don’t know. We’re not ever going to consciously try to put extra surprising stars in the movie.

Q: Well to that point, when Dakota Fanning was cast it seemed a little surprising because she was such a big name especially at her age. So was there any trepidation that she might be almost too distracting because she is so well known in such a smaller role?

Well, the finding is that for a lot of websites you’d see like who’s your favorite Jane and she’d almost be at the top of the list. So, as long as you feel like it’s the right casting, it doesn’t matter how big or small a person’s name is. I mean, I think if Jane were written as a 35-year-old transvestite you’d be like that’s kind of weird they’re putting Dakota Fanning in it, but it really felt like the right call. We’re just glad that she was…and again, she was a fan of it. She was interested and that made it easy to get someone of her stature.

Later in the interview, Godfrey gives 100% confirmation from the horse’s mouth that Breaking Dawn will not be rated R. He also confirms that Breaking Dawn is not even official yet.

Read the interview at HitFlix.

[thanks, LMCullen!]

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Katie Bain from Hollywood.com was on the set of New Moon in Vancouver a while back, and gives a detailed glimpse of one day of filming on a New Moon soundstage, including interviews with Michael Sheen, Melissa Rosenberg and others. Of the Volturi set she says–(spoilers!)–

The lair is a high-ceiling, cathedral-like room composed of marble pillars and porticos. My Latin is a little rusty, but the script on the wall translates to “no one is above law” (full disclosure: I Googled it). The words “death” and “life” are also engraved in the marble.

5:40PM A crewmember walks by me with a Sprite. He holds up the can. “There’s blood in here,” he says with a wink.

5:42PM There is a raised credenza at the front of the room on which four ornate black and gold chairs sit. Each chair has a gold lion’s head on the armrest and a different design above the headrest. Behind the chairs, there is a brightly lit window that suggests an outdoor balcony.

The door “outside” opens to a loggia decorated with fountains and stucco animal (pigs, horses, lions) statues. I touch the pig (don’t tell!) and realize the whole structure, fake fountains and all, is made of Styrofoam. Impressive.

New Moon bad vamp Victoria, played by Rachelle LeFevre, says of the action sequences–

It’s so much wirework. It’s so much actual doing-it. In terms of the look of it … I think Chris has approached things as it should be, a little rawer and a little more literally grounded.

I think it was very flighty in the first one, so when we were running fast it was almost like you weren’t touching the ground … I think he’s factored gravity in a little more than they did in the first film, so that might have a different look as a result.

Read the rest at Hollywood.com.

[New Moon Poster by exsplosive]

[thanks LMCullen, Monica, Spunkie, wolfnat, cclore and & everyone else!]

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Some of you may know that I’m working on setting up the website EclipseMovie.org, and if you haven’t visited the (very rough, unfinished) site yet, you may have missed a big news story: Riley has been cast!

Check out all the details at–

Riley Will be Played by Aussie Newcomer Xavier Samuel

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Jimmy Fallon did a pretty funny skit where he plays both Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen and Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter.

Robert Pattinson and Daniel Radcliffe both have a chance to explain why the should reign supreme. Hilarity ensues.

Those outside the US can watch the vid at the Jimmy Fallon website.

[thanks,Alana, LMCullen, Cheyenne, jerry, Anna, ashlee, cclore & Greg!]

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