New Moon the Movie: differs from the book?

Just read that there definitely will be at least a few detours from the book in New Moon the movie. So far, it's nothing to ruffle your feathers over. So, settle down Twilighters.

Life & Style magazine states that in New Moon, when Bella plays the dare devil to conjure up the sweet voice of beloved Edward, the actual image of Edward will appear. This of course allows for more Edward screen time. Which apparently Summit and Chris Weitz believe is the key to continued success in the movie adaptation of the saga. Maybe it's just me, but I would enjoy the movie even if Edward was a 'no show' for the whole middle of the movie. Not that I won't LOVE seeing him in phantom-ish visions throughout. But just like in the book, we all anguished over his absence, and it made his return all the sweeter.

Whatever though. Either way I'm stoked to see it.

Lautner Returns as Jacob: CG to Provide Male Enhancement

Well, this is likely to be a pessimistic post. One, because my plans to go see Twilight again in the theater tonight were thwarted by old man winter. Enough already! Bring on spring.

But mainly because it's confirmed that Taylor Lautner will indeed be back as Jacob Black in New Moon. I feel like this was a selfish and stupid decision, in part made by Summit, but also by Chris Weitz. Chris Weitz, in case you don't already know, is the guy who took over the reigns of directing the Twilight saga from Catherine Hardwicke.

This gives me another reason to doubt Summit's ability to make rational decisions. It's like they want future Twilight films to fail. They've repeatedly done stupid things:

1. Fired Catherine Hardwicke
2. Decided to only bump up production moneys for New Moon to $50 million, just barely more than the shoe string budget they allotted for Twilight. Even though New Moon will require extensive CG effects for werewolf transitions, site shoots (in Italy, no less!), cast additions (Volturi, anyone? HELLO.), more spectacular vampire stuff and lastly the freaking cost of digitally turning Taylor Lautner into something he clearly IS NOT; a feasible Jacob Black. Which brings me to the last dumb thing:
3. Brought Taylor Lautner back as Jacob. Fans are familiar with his face already. SO WHAT. If you remember right, A LOT of fans didn't want Robert Pattinson to play Edward. So, fans don't always know best and can be fickle. I mean, the same fans that said Robert had a gargoyle's face are now adoringly sighing his name on message boards.

Since Summit is throwing away most of the budget on uber sizing Taylor to pretend that he has any assemblance with the maturing Jacob Black, they might as well throw some money into making Kristen Stewart's acting believable. Let's face it, it's kind of uncomfortable watching all her twitching, eye rolling and stuttering.

One thing you can bet on, since Summit is being stingy with the cash to make New Moon, somewhere quality is going to suffer. Especially since a goodly amount of money will be allotted to correcting the glaring mismatch of Lautner as Jacob. They plan to resize him in every scene (ala Hagrid in the Harry Potter films). Let's remember just what a big part Jacob plays in New Moon. That's a lot of male enhancement!

One thing that will be in the forefront of my mind while I'm watching New Moon is that Taylor is not real. That he's just a little guy trying to fill the shoes of my big old Jacob. I hate it! I want a real man to step into the role.

Perhaps the crappiest thing of all is that when New Moon doesn't do as well, Summit will blame it on Edward not being present through a large part of the story. When the truth is if they'd went about making the movie smartly New Moon would be even greater than Twilight is.

Jacob Black Role

Just a quick update. I read in Entertainment Weekly this week that Summit Entertainment is seriously considering recasting the role of Jacob Black. Taylor Lautner's manager is pressing hard core for them to use CG (computer generated) special effects to enhance Lautner's size and look so that he can continue in the role.

Hopefully Summit is smart enough to figure out it would be a lot cheaper (and wiser) to recast rather than dump a crap load of money into unnecessary special effects to make Lautner fit the part physically. It'd be a shame to keep Lautner and use money to enhance his physical appearance that would otherwise be better spent on legitimate needed special effects, like the werewolf transitions or vampire beautification and talents.

I am looking for viable contact information for Steven Strait so that we Twilighters (who are pro Steven) can bombard him/his people with requests and suggestions that he try for the part. The only hopeful lead I've found is a website that boasts having celebrity contact info. The catch is that it isn't a free site. However, for $1 you can find information immediately. I plan on looking into it further. If I find any solid information, I'll let you know. The site is 'contact any celebrity' and below is link directly to the Steven Strait page. Let me reiterate that there is no contact info listed on the link, unless you pay the dollar to see it. If I check it out and it seems legit, I'll post it immediately!

http://www.contactanycelebrity.com/trial/do/celebrityView?name=Steven-Strait&id=57881

If anyone else has Steven's contact info or can find it, let me know and I'll post it for everyone else so we can encourage him to audition!

Summit Entertainment Dumps Director Catherine Hardwicke

In a revealing article on Nikki Frinke's Deadline Hollywood Daily website (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/index.php?s=catherine+hardwicke) Summit Entertainment announced that Catherine Hardwicke will not be asked to direct the second installment in the Twilight saga movies, New Moon. They said basically that there was a schedule clash between her time frame and theirs. But it really sounds like a load of bull to me. Read the article and decide for yourself.

I personally enjoyed the earthy feel Hardwicke's direction gave to Twilight. I imagine whoever they choose will make it a point to give the movie a 'polished' feel. What ever vision the new director has, s/he better live up to what Hardwicke has done so far. I think it's crappy to dump Hardwicke, especially since Twilight has the distinction of grossing more money opening weekend than any other female directed movie in history!

Take heart Twilighters. I'm not completely opposed to seeing someone else at the helm for New Moon. This isn't a totally bad thing. Although I'd rather Catherine be given the chance to direct New Moon, especially with more cash available the second time around. I'm somewhat curious how another director will envision the book in movie form. I have only two requests (and by requests, I mean demands).

1. That they choose a female director. Because, after all, the Twilight saga was written by a woman, mainly for woman, from the viewpoint of a woman. And so it should be directed by a woman!

And 2. the director must be a passionate fan of the saga. No one else can do it justice. It was Catherine's passion for the story that drove her to work so hard when creating a vision true to the book.

Whether that is Summit's intent or not, I hope they have their hearts in the right place when shopping around for a new director. Otherwise, there's no wrath quite like that of a scorned Twilighter!

Twilight pulls in $70.6 Million!

Hi there you crazy Twilight fans, you! Just wanted to put this out there so you'll be aware. Twilight made $70.6 million dollars opening weekend! That's quite a haul! AND Twilight's director Catherine Hardwicke snagged the distinction of highest grossing opening weekend for a female directed movie! She blew away the last person to hold that spot, Mimi Leder who directed Deep Impact in 1998 (it made $41 million). Go Catherine!

Summit Entertainment has already announced the green-light for New Moon. So, expect to see it in 2010 (hopefully early 2010). They have pretty much committed to adapting the who saga for the silver screen!

I'm really stoked about all this. The only down side is that I've read in several different articles that Taylor Lautner will reprise the role of Jacob Black. I can't deny that I'm bummed by this. I've read that maybe they'll just ignore the fact that Jacob sprouted up so quickly into a big ole boy. That would suck. His unintentionally imposing stature played a major part in his description in New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Guess they'll just work around it (to my consternation!)

New Moon is almost my favorite in the saga. I can't put it above Twilight, so I'll call it a draw. But the book is largely a dialog between Bella and Jacob. It's going to be imperative that Kristen Stewart not be so dramatic. And Taylor Lautner will just have to grow a whole foot and ...be more engaging! Yeah he was cute and nice in Twilight. But that was because he was there in small doses, just as a supportive character. In New Moon he'll be front and center, main character all the way. I just don't know if he will pull it off. I guess we'll see, we have no choice. :)

I will expound on this subject another time friends! I only intended to give you the straight (subtle reference to my wishes that Steven Strait would be cast as Jacob? Yep.) facts on how Twilight did over the opening weekend. But in true form, I blathered on! Believe me, I'll have more on this topic later.

Oh, by the way, Happy Thanksgiving!!

3 DAYS, people!!

Let me just take this opportunity to say ARGGGGGGG!!!! YAY, WOO HOO!!!

Ok, that is basically it. Just to let you Twilight lovers out there know, my friends and I are going to see the 12:01 showing of Twilight. I've never been to a midnight showing of a movie before and I'm extremely excited about it.

I know that Twilight is going to live up to my expectations. I can hardly wait to see it and fill in all the gaps in my mind created by the teaser trailers. I love Catherine Hardwicke (director of Twilight) by now. She is just so amped and excited about the Twilight saga as the rest of us and I believe that she put her heart and soul into creating a vision true to all of our imaginations. I hope that she is signed to direct the rest of them, as I am sure the sequels will be made. I read that Summit Entertainment claimed that in order to merit making New Moon, Twilight would have to make at least $20 million the opening weekend and at least $160 million all together.

Well, let me be the first to go out on a limb here and say I'd be surprised if Twilight doesn't haul in $60 million this coming weekend, and that's my conservative estimation. They just don't want to underestimate us Twilighters, Twi-hards - whatever you want to call the masses out here who clung to every written word spoken by Bella, Edward, Alice and the rest of the gang. I can foresee us out in hoards seeing the movie 2, 3, 4+ times in theaters.

We romantics at heart aren't going to be able to get enough of our star crossed lovers, Edward & Bella. I feel like they are old friends and it'll be wonderful to hear (and see) the words that are so dear to me spoken aloud on the big screen.

And just to think, Rob Pattinson said in an interview that when he read Twilight, he knew a few pages in that he'd never get casted as Edward Cullen after reading how heavenly beautiful he was describe. Silly boy. We can't wait to pine for your softly brooding angel's face. You'll do Edward justice, I just know it.