Twilight Pattinson, Heartthrob Vampire
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in Twilight
Robert Pattinson offers aloof charm as heartthrob vampire in Twilight
By Robin Rowe
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/22/2008 – “It’s always an added pressure when you’ve got a lot of people with their own opinions of something,” says Twilight star Robert Pattinson. “And, everyone who’s read the book is going to have an idea of what they expect the film to be like. It makes you a little bit more cautious about maintaining your own take on a character.”
Twilight author Stephanie Meyer says that casting the role of Edward with Pattinson was the most difficult task. “He has to be everything,” says Meyer. “He has to be beautiful and dangerous and angst-ridden and intelligent. A lot of guys were pretty, but they weren’t dangerous. Other guys were dangerous but not pretty enough. Rob Pattinson has both sides.” Pattinson was Cedric Diggory in two of the Harry Potter films.
Twilight was the first published work of Stephenie Meyer, who has gone on to create three additional books in the series. “. I was first approached about the movie before the book had even come out. I didn’t expect to hear anything about it until it was on the shelves, if then. As a first-time author, I had no expectations.”
Meyer says the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream. “When I woke up, I wanted to know happened next,” says Meyer. “That first day I wrote then pages. When I finished it, no one was more shocked than me that I had actually finished a book. I was surprised that people responded to it so well.”
Stephenie Meyer’s books have sold 17 million copies worldwide and spent a combined total of 91 weeks at No. 1 on The New York Times best seller list. There are more than 350 fan sites devoted to the series.
In Twilight, 17-yearold Bella leaves her mother’s home in Phoenix and returns to live with her father in rustic Forks, Washington. Bella is fascinated by one of her new classmates, the impossibly good-looking and extremely private, Edward Cullen. The Cullen family is living as quiet a life as possible under the cloudy skies of the Olympic Peninsula because they’re vampires. Edward reveals the secret that he’s a vampire to Bella, hoping it will discourage her, but she only becomes more infatuated.
Maverick Films producer Greg Mooradian read Twilight before the young adult novel had even been published. “Part of my job as a producer is to scour the world for new material,” says Mooradian. “I read a lot of manuscripts prior to their being published. When this one came across my desk, I just couldn’t put it down.”
“There have been thousands of vampire films made,” says Mooradian. “What sets this apart is the love story. Vampirism in this story is simply a metaphor for teenage lust, for that feeling of ‘I want you, but I can’t have you’. The premise of a girl falling in love with a vampire just hit me like a ton of bricks. And the book delivered on every level.”
Executive producer Karen Rosenfelt says she was immediately intrigued by the book’s Romeo and Juliet story and sustained sexual tension. “I think we all think we’re Bella,” says Rosenfelt. “As a character she’s very accessible and identifiable. We all feel outside of the in-group and want to feel we’re marching to the beat of our own drummer.”
Twilight
Distributors: Summit Entertainment
Duration: 120 min.
Release Date: November 21st, 2008 (USA)
Rated PG-13 for some violence and a scene of sensuality
Filming Locations:
Forks, Washington, United States
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Portland, Oregon, United States