Breaking Dawn Part 2 Covers EW

This Week's Cover: 'Twilight' Exclusive -- Director Bill Condon on the scandal. Plus: Fall movie preview!

It’s been — let’s just say —an eventful couple of weeks for Team Twilight. Bella and Edward may find eternal, immortal bliss in Breaking Dawn — Part 2 (out Nov. 16), but costars and (only recently confirmed) couple Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are having a much harder time since incriminating photographs of Stewart and her Snow White and the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders, surfaced late last month. “The fact is, these are actors playing parts, and maybe it’s not such a bad thing that people be reminded of that,” Bill Condon tells EW. “Both of these actors gave heart and soul to the Twilight movies, not only during shooting, but also by navigating so graciously the whole life-in-a-fishbowl aspect of the phenomenon. Above all they have always shown great respect for the fans who made these movies such a success. Now it’s time that some of that respect be returned to them.”

But beyond the intense media and public scrutiny into these young actors’ private lives, the turn of events also creates a real challenge for Summit, the studio releasing the film, as it gears up to promote the final installment. In other words: what happens during an international press tour and red carpet premiere when the two top-billed stars may or may not be speaking to each other? Nancy Kirkpatrick, the company’s head of worldwide marketing, tells EW, “While it is studio policy not to comment on the personal lives of actors, Summit is moving full steam ahead.”

In more innocent times (read: a month ago), the Twilight stars sat down for a roundtable interview and talked about the film, the ending of the series, and what they’ve learned from the Twilight experience. Pattinson marvels at Edward’s unflappable ability to stay rational. “It’s strange,” he says with a laugh. “All through the series it’s like, ‘Hey , this guy is trying to be sensible! Let’s think this thing out.’ And everyone is like ‘F— you’”.

Stewart presses him, curious to know what he learned from playing the role.  ”Don’t be pragmatic. Be an emotional idiot.”

Of course Breaking Dawn—Part 2 is just one of the season’s anticipated films. Our annual Fall Movie Preview delves into 97 more.

THE 'TWILIGHT' SAGA: Get the latest news, photos, and more

Some highlights:

• In the Wachowskis’ first print interview in about a decade, they discuss how they came to work with Tom Tykwer — and to co-direct Cloud Atlas as a trio. “We wrote every line together. We planned the shoot together, did the schedule together, and cut every single frame together. And whenever we could shoot together, we did,” says Lana Wachowski. They also discussed what it was like to work as Andy and Lana instead of Andy and Larry. “We’re brother and sister,” says Andy. “I mean, it’s different in the way people perceive it. But the set is our set, and we run it like we always run it.”

• Lincoln director Steven Spielberg dismisses reports that Daniel Day-Lewis dug so deeply into character while playing the title role that he didn’t acknowledge the modern world. “Daniel was always conscious of his contemporary surroundings,” says Spielberg, though he admits he did refer to the actor as “Mr. President” on set. “I was calling [all] the actors by their character names.”

• Ben Affleck talks about the shaggy haircut he sported in the 1970s-era real-life drama Argo, which he also directed: “That was one of those things where the leader has to go first. If I’m going to ask other people to have really humiliating ’70s hair, I had to be the first one. It was pretty chic, but I couldn’t wait to cut it off.”

For a comprehensive look at fall’s most interesting films, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands August 10.
EW
xoxo
Carrie

MTV: Which 'Breaking Dawn' Scenes Could Use A Revamp?

In light of the news that Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are headed back to the "Breaking Dawn -- Part 2" set for a few re-shoots, this week's Twilight Tuesday posed the question: If you could have any scene in any of the previous films re-shot, which one would you revamp? (Pun intended!)
As always, the members of the knowledgeable and passionate "Twilight" fan community responded to the query with gusto. Some folks want to see extended versions of their favorite scenes, some are still displeased with the book-to-film adaptation in certain areas and some requested they re-shoot entire films altogether. But there are two scenes that a majority of fans agreed could use a makeover: the meadow scene in "Twilight" and Edward and Bella's reunion in "New Moon." Here's a sampling of our favorite responses and suggestions:
@Cycyn: The meadow scene. It was THE ONE scene they had to capture perfectly (it was Steph's dream) and it's really bad.
@Cordyq45: Eclipse- Bella getting on Jake's bike in the school parking lot. Never shoulda happened.
@dazzle715: The scene where Bella kisses Jacob in Eclipse, instead she would just push him off the mountain.
@pinkpixiechick: Edward and Bella's reunion in New Moon. Wish it was more like the book version. Too short and passively handled in the film. I'm not a fan of how Melissa Rosenberg writes Edward & Bella scenes. Their reunion in her bedroom (New Moon) felt very rushed.
@MeganC79: The meadow scene by far. It's the most important scene in Twilight and was completely botched in the movie. Huge disappointment.
@Brendaof6: The Twilight scene when the "bad" vamps crash the game and Cullens get defensive. Liked at first but now I giggle every time!
@Melly1901: Twilight's meadow scene. Wasn't how I imagined it. I wish they added the Twi lunch scenes between Ed/Bella too...
@KansasCityGypsy: "I know what you are." "Say it." "Vampire." Such bad acting.
@Mama_Cougar: Good LORD that heinous "Wolves at the lumbermill" scene from Breaking Dawn. The Eclipse Forest Frolic is a close second.
@robownsme: Bella's speech at the end of Eclipse and her riding away with Jacob on the motorcyle. Both scenes were ridiculous and horrible.
@maineemilyhoon: New Moon - the post-Italy scenes. In the book it's so swoonily romantic...in the movie it's just dull.

--mtv.com

~Robstenfan

A Production Update From Bill Condon

Hello Twihards! 

Greetings from Los Angeles, where we're hard at work on BREAKING DAWN, PART TWO. It's truly crazy to think that it's been a year since we wrapped production in Vancouver, since for those of us in the editing room the work has never stopped. 

A film is a lot like a puzzle, with each piece - each shot, no matter how brief - needing to fit exactly with the ones around it. Our Part Two puzzle is finally coming into full view, and in a few weeks we'll be heading back north to pick up some additional shots - the last tiny missing pieces. We're not shooting any new scenes or dialogue, just some technical work with some of our cast and stunt actors.

I am really looking forward to being back on set with some of the friends I've made on my Twilight journey, like the great Guillermo Navarro, our cinematographer, and his crew. And yes, Rob and Kristen will be there too, to pop in those gold contacts one last time... 

I'm excited to report that before too long we'll have another trailer for you to decode. And wait until you see the first posters -- they're unlike any "Twilight" images you've seen before. And then November 16th will be upon us and the final film will be yours!

Until then, have a very happy spring, and I'll check back in with you soon. 

Best wishes,

Bill 

Twilight
xoxo
Carrie

11 Possible Directors That Should Continue The ‘Hunger Games’

With Gary Ross officially exiting The Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire, Lionsgate and Summit will need to scramble to find out who will helm the next in the franchise. We’ve cobbled together a list of our top eleven picks and while some our clearly dream choices, if they hand it over to any of these directors, we’ll certainly be content. Check out our list below and let us know your choices.

Bill Condon

Yours truly did not see Breaking Dawn: Part 1, but reviews have credited Condon for taking a pulpy, silly work and at least doing *something* with it. Now, his reported decision to camp things up wouldn’t jibe with more serious (and generally respected) source material, but, at the very least, Breaking Dawn shows he has an understanding of said source. Condon’s already done good work with good material (Kinsey, Dreamgirls); give him another crack at it and see what happens.

Rupert Sanders

A wild card. None of us have seen his pending debut, Snow White and the Huntsman, but it looks as though he’s concocted something with scale, rousing adventure and an interesting universe all its own. As with Joe Cornish and his personal skill with characters, Sanders – again, thanks to Collins – will have these qualities ready and waiting for his own input. While I hope not to regret this choice in a couple of months’ time, so strong are the early indicators that I feel generally confident here.

thefilmstage for the rest
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Carrie

Holiday Message from Bill Condon

"Holiday greetings to all of you and yours, and also a note of thanks for your support of Breaking Dawn. Your affection for the movie has been wonderful to experience. We're hard at work on Part 2, and are already very much looking forward to bringing it to you next year. See you soon! - Bill"
FB
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Carrie

Bill Condon Talks BD part 1

source
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Carrie

Berlin Press Conference

video via RPLife
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Carrie

Berlin BD Pt1 Premiere

more after jump

Screengeek: Rob, Kristen, Taylor & Bill Condon Interview

~Robstenfan

BravoTV Bill Condon Interview From Germany

~Robstenfan

Breaking Dawn Part 1 London Premiere Photos

more after jump

LA Premiere After Party Pictures

1, 2, 3
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Carrie

LA Times BD pt1 Premiere Interviews

LATimes
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Carrie

Janelle Froehlich Photos From BD Pt 1 Premiere

@JanelleFro
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Carrie

Sky Movies : Rob, Kristen, Taylor & Bill Condon Interview

~Robstenfan

Bill Condon Interview: Kristen Stewart’s wedding dress was as much of a secret as Kate Middleton’s

Breaking Dawn director Bill Condon reveals how he kept Kristen’s dress a mystery until Robert Pattinson saw her walk down the aisle.

Move over Kate and Wills. For Twilight fans, there was only ever going to be one wedding of the year: the marriage of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.
Breaking Dawn director Bill Condon has revealed the incredible lengths he went to to keep the wedding dress Kristen Stewart wears under wraps.
Just like Kate Middleton’s Alexander McQueen gown, Bill wanted to ensure no-one saw the dress until the moment the actress walked down the aisle.
Speaking on Friday November 18, the day Breaking Dawn went on general release, the director explained: “It’s Friday night now but up until today, nobody had seen that wedding dress and I can’t tell you how hard that is to keep a secret like that in the world we live in.
“It was kind of weird cause when Kristen first walked down the aisle, suddenly we heard this stuff and there was a helicopter high up, but it was paparazzi so we had this thing where we covered everything, we stopped it, I don’t know how we convinced them to move on.
“No one on set, on the location saw her till she took that walk down that aisle.
We had her in this room that was covered. It was this super secret thing.
STV’s showbiz guru Grant Lauchlan questioned whether Bill was nervous at taking on the role of directing such a huge film, with one of the biggest, and most dedicated, fanbases in movie history.
Bill said: “Early on I was in touch with the fanbase and that was incredibly helpful to me cause they’re so much a presence online.
“This is the most interactive movie fanbase relationship I think I’ve seen.
“One of the first messages I got was don’t water this book down. The book is crazy and it goes to incredibly wild places and I think people were worried it would turn into a bland version of that and I hope they don’t feel that when they see it.
Bill’s interview features as part of STV’s Moviejuice: Breaking Dawn Special. Missed it? You can watch it now on the STV Player.
 
-- cupidscloud

~Robstenfan

'Breaking Dawn': Rob Pattinson cheers Bill Condon

Reviews for "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1" might have been, well, mixed, to put it kindly -- as of Sunday evening, the movie had a 29% fresh rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes. But the film's director, Bill Condon, has at least one very prominent supporter: the movie's star Robert Pattinson.
The 25-year-old English actor, who plays Edward Cullen in the series, had nothing but kind words for Condon, the fourth director to sign on for a "Twilight" film and the man who will conclude the saga next year when "Breaking Dawn -- Part 2" is released. He said he appreciated what the filmmaker was up against: a tonally challenging narrative, a special-effects-intensive production and pressure to meet outsize fan expectations for the first half of the finale of the franchise adapted from author Stephenie Meyer's bestselling vampire romance novels.
"It was a massive undertaking, much bigger budgets and huge expectations, since it was the last one in the series," Pattinson said of the production. "There was much more pressure than the last one."
Pattinson said he felt that Condon had a point of view with the film -- Condon told The Times that he wanted to marry melodrama and horror in telling the story of Edward's marriage to Bella (Kristen Stewart) and the fallout from the unplanned pregnancy that happens soon after. The actor also enjoyed Condon's humor, which showed up both on-screen and off. 
"It's very easy to become cynical about stuff, especially where you are doing five movies in the series," Pattinson said. "It's a very sentimental story in a lot of ways, and I'm an incredibly cynical person. Bill would always have a great explanation for why it's not ridiculous and it's not corny. It was great to have someone on set who could convince me of those things."
Pattinson said that from the beginning, the shoot was a challenge. The six-month filming schedule for both parts of "Breaking Dawn" kicked off in Brazil, where Pattinson said "everything went wrong."
"Just the fact that he didn't get overwhelmed within two seconds was a big deal," Pattinson said of Condon. "We were in Rio [de Janeiro] for one day. Two cameras broke down, a crane broke down and everything was crazy. There was no crowd control, and he stayed perfectly calm. Bill was really thrown in the deep end, and we came up with really nice stuff. It was really pretty and nice."

--latimes.com

~Robstenfan

Bill Condon & Melissa Rosenberg on 'Breaking Dawn'

Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in author Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series of vampire novels, was far and away the most controversial. Bella, played by Kristen Stewart in the films, is no longer the shy teen with a vampire crush but a young woman dealing with some serious adult issues. [SPOILER ALERT!]

Bella marries her vampire love Edward (Robert Pattinson) in a lavish ceremony—shattering the love triangle between them and werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), and the two embark on their honeymoon in Brazil where they—gasp!—finally have sex. In the book, however, the sex scene simply fades to black, and Bella wakes up to find bruises on her body, ripped pillowcases, and a broken headboard. Bella then discovers she’s pregnant with a vampire baby, and spends a long time struggling through a torturous pregnancy. She’s determined, however, to deliver the baby at any cost—even her own life. In the book, the birth scene is particularly gruesome, as Edward rips open Bella’s stomach with his teeth. And then, when Renesmee—yes, that’s the baby’s name—is delivered, Jacob “imprints” on her, falling in love with her at first sight. In a review of the book, The Washington Post wrote, “Breaking Dawn has a childbirth sequence that may promote lifelong abstinence in sensitive types. And it becomes downright surreal when the lovelorn lycanthrope Jacob gets romantically imprinted on Bella’s newborn daughter, Renesmee...Reader, I hurled.”

In its opening weekend, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, grossed a whopping $139.5 million in North America—one of the biggest opening weekends of all time. The director of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, Bill Condon (Dreamgirls), and the screenwriter of all the Twilight films, Melissa Rosenberg (Showtime’s Dexter), explain how they created the film’s key moments—the wedding, the sex scene, the bloody birth scene, “imprinting” on a baby, and why they don’t believe the film has the “pro-life” message many critics say it does.

SPOILER ALERT: If you don’t want to learn crucial plot points about Breaking Dawn, Part 1, stop reading now or forever hold your peace.

Condon: Because it’s filled with touchstones in this woman’s life—a wedding, a honeymoon night, a pregnancy, a birth scene, and then a death and transformation scene, those are all huge markers in this story, so it felt like a heightened approach seemed right. It needed to have a sweep and not be too ultra-realistic in the approach.

Rosenberg: Stephenie took a very dramatic turn with her storytelling in this book, which was controversial in some ways. This is a very grown-up, adult story. It’s about a marriage and having children. It’s a far cry from the teenage new girl’s first day in school. Then, with Bill Condon coming onboard, I worked very closely with him, and what attracted him to the fourth one was that it’s very much a character drama about examining the complexities of marriage and having a child. He was very interested in the internal workings and peeling back the layers.

Condon: But you’ve got to have humor in these movies just because that’s the thing that makes you feel you can connect to it. Whether it’s the first time you have sex or cringe-worthy wedding toasts, those make you relate to it. With the self-referential thing [like in Eclipse], I thought it was cool in that movie but I think if you push that too far, it can become not corrupted, but not innocent anymore.

Filming a Real-Life Couple (Pattinson and Stewart)

Condon: It was entirely a relief. I can’t imagine doing those scenes with two people who don’t like each other. But did I have to adjust the way they make love to each other? No, it was really good.

Rosenberg: I created the sex scene and then Bill let the actors go, and I don’t think Rob and Kris needed any help with how to perform. [Laughs.]

The Wedding Scene

Rosenberg: For me, what was great about the wedding was that in the book, it’s so dreamy for Bella and she doesn’t actually go into specifics about what actually goes on in this wedding, so I got to fill that out a little bit by adding the wedding toasts, which was fun.

--thedailybeast.com

~Robstenfan

Bill Condon on Rob & Kristen's Chemistry

~Robstenfan

Honeymoon with 'Twilight' director Bill Condon

Each film has had a different director. For the two-part finale, a veteran of wide experience opts for the unexpected when depicting a certain honeymoon.

Sequestered inside a Hollywood studio in late September, director Bill Condon, putting the finishing touches on the latest film in the blockbuster "Twilight" franchise "Breaking Dawn — Part 1," asked a technician to reduce the heavy beats thundering across the soundtrack. On a screen, terror dawns on the face of a Brazilian housekeeper as she realizes that the young woman standing in front of her, newly married 19-year-old Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), is carrying the child of her vampire husband Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson).

"Too melodramatic," Condon said of the drums.

In the "Twilight" universe, melodrama isn't a bad word. It's an innate part of the expansive saga of high school student Bella, who becomes caught up in a supernatural love triangle with vampire Edward and her best friend, the werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Adapted from the bestselling novels from author Stephenie Meyer, the first three films in the franchise earned close to $800 million in North America — millions more around the world — and the series' popularity doesn't seem to be on the wane.

Leading up to the premiere of "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1," fans held a four-day-long vigil at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, and weekend screenings for the film, which opens in theaters Friday, have been sold out for weeks.

Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the films, has doubled down on the finale, breaking Meyer's book into two installments — just as Warner Bros. did with the last chapter in its "Harry Potter" franchise — upping the production budgets and paying the film's three leads $25 million each for the "Breaking Dawn" movies.

For Condon, the Oscar-winning writer-director whose résumé includes low-budget horror ("Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh"), offbeat biopics ("Gods and Monsters," "Kinsey") and high-profile musicals ("Dreamgirls"), tackling "Twilight" seemed an appealing challenge. He was attracted to the idea of making a movie that was "part melodrama, part horror film," and he was fascinated by the movies' massive following, though "Breaking Dawn" required him to navigate some outlandish story beats — an ecstatic sex scene, a grotesque birth and a telepathic conversation among CG werewolves among them.

Directing a "Twilight" movie can be a risky proposition. Each of the films so far has featured a different name on the director's chair — Catherine Hardwicke directed 2008's "Twilight," Chris Weitz, 2009's "New Moon," David Slade, 2010's "Eclipse" — and none has yet to garner glowing reviews across the board. All, however, have been scrutinized by a reverential fan community devoted to the source material and typically less than receptive to even minor recalibrations to Meyer's texts.

Condon, who also is directing the second half of "Breaking Dawn," due out next year, says he was aware of the career risks inherent in taking on such a populist, often critically maligned series.

"In some ways that was part of the fun of it," Condon said. "There is something liberating about it. Plus, I really liked the story."

The story, this time around, centers on Bella's nuptials to Edward — she wants to be a vampire like him, his condition is that they get married first — and the life-threatening pregnancy that unexpectedly results from their first bed-splintering honeymoon encounter.

To bring such heightened material to the screen, Condon said he looked to both Vincente Minnelli andAlfred Hitchcock, hewing to tradition for Bella and Edward's wedding and honeymoon, skewing more graphic when depicting Bella's pregnancy, which is destroying her from the inside out. Through a combination of prosthetics and CG, Condon transforms his dewy brunet into a gaunt, skeletal version of herself.

"She needed to look like she's dying or the story doesn't make sense," Pattinson said. "It was great that he went there."

Pattinson says he felt a kinship with Condon from the moment the director came to visit the 25-year-old actor while he was shooting the period love story "Water for Elephants" in Los Angeles.

"I had my hair cut really short, and he said, 'Oh, you should have your hair like this in the 'Twilight' movies.' I thought, 'OK, I already like you," Pattinson said with a laugh. "Especially since so many people worried about my hair. It was all they cared about. The hair and a six-pack."

Stewart too praised Condon.

"I wanted a director that I could trust enough that I could completely clear my head and know that all my preparation was going to find its way into my body," Stewart said. "I didn't feel that I was always looking over his shoulder making sure he was capturing it, or looking over his shoulder making sure he wasn't missing some aspect of the book that I knew about and he didn't. I already knew that we were on the same page."

Condon had a particularly unique approach to Bella and Edward's big love scene, which for fans is a culmination of years of repressed desire. Rather than do a straight-away shot of the young couple's first night in bed together, he opted to show the majority of the scene in flashback through Bella's memory of the encounter.

"It's the reason I'm directing the movie," Condon said of the sequence. "To me the memory of first sex — savoring the smell, the taste and the touch was more interesting. And it plays with people's expectations. You don't get much in the beginning and [people may think], 'Oh, that was it?' To set up a disappointment and then give them more seemed like fun."

His decision seemed to go over well with the 7,000 people in the audience at the Nokia Theatre Monday night, where that soundtrack that Condon had been so carefully fine-tuning two months ago was often drowned out by the sounds of teen girls' screams. It was a moment Condon says he won't soon forget.

"It was so exciting to see," he said by phone the following morning. "The way those fans anticipated the controversy [of the story] even before the characters know what's happening was amazing. That was a relief."

LATimes
xoxo
Carrie