New Moon

Setting the scene:
“I’d like to think the vibe on set was relatively calm. I was very careful to try to show the actors diagrams of the sets, so they didn’t turn up without knowing what it was like first. It was fun once we got there, but very, very tiring.”

Body Beautiful:
“It’s impossible to take a bad picture of Rob, even with these motion picture spots all over him! I think the hysteria over him is greater than for any of the other guys because the character he’s playing is unattainable and perfect. Thankfully, Rob has a highly developed sense of the absurd, so he doesn’t suffer as much as he otherwise would. However, when we were in Vancouver, there were days when he would just stay indoors and read or watch movies. If he went to his window, people would scream! He was kind of a hermit, really. It’s hard for me to judge how he’s changed because I didn’t know him in the last movie.”

Fan Frenzy:
“I tried not to check what fans were saying on the internet until the film finished, as I knew I’d be influenced by them. We had a lot of crazy fans show up during filming, especially in Italy. I mean crazy only in a nice way! More and more fans showed up every day until the entire town was just awash with young people. They didn’t even sneak around – they were just there. I’d say 90% were what you’d think of as typical Twilight fans – young girls – and then there were the parents, the Twilight Mums… even the occasional heterosexual male! The only difficulty is when you have a camera, all the lighting gear and you’re in a little city with small alleyways and there are thousands of fans there, it’s actually hard to move from one place to another. That posed a practical problem.”

Kristen’s Character:
“Kristen is one of those actors who inhabits the role she’s playing. She was in Joan Jett mode [from filming The Runaways], and then was thrown into promoting New Moon. I think she addresses the questions put to her seriously, and that’s not always what the fans are looking for. They want something fun and cute, but she’s a serious character. Anyone would be uncomfortable in front of 7,000 screaming fans, it’s just a question of how well you hide it.”

Robsten’s Snog Secrets:
“I was surprised at how clever Rob and Kristen are. That’s not to say that I thought they were dummies before, but they had such a strong sense of their own characters and they’re very serious about what they might say at any given moment. In a way, you expect people to coast a bit in the sequel or to think, ‘This is not a realistic situation because I’m playing a girl who’s in love with a vampire, so I have no responsibility to convey realistic emotions.’ But they both want to put some kind of truth into everything, even when the scenes they’re playing are just bizzare.”