'Twilight' fans search for magic in a small town
Here's an excerpt from a great story by Susan Carpenter on today's front page of the Los Angeles Times. She went to Forks, Wash., to write about the impact of "Twilight"-mania on the old logging community that author Stephenie Meyer used as her setting in the wildly popular books series. The film adaptation is due in theaters on Nov. 21.
When the timber economy that had sustained this wet and distant place for its first hundred years came crashing to earth like an old-growth Douglas fir, people exhausted themselves trying to figure out what the future would hold. What would happen to the little town clinging to the western slope of the rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula with its single grocery store, one traffic light and 3,100 residents?
Nobody guessed anything like this:
Sydney Conway and two of her teenage friends, on a school holiday, got into a minivan and drove four hours -- to stare at the nondescript brick building that is Forks High School. There's a weathered wooden sign announcing it as "the home of the Spartans," but otherwise it looks like most other high schools in the country.
Sydney, Alexis Miller and Rebekah Hamilton got out of their van, stood in front of the school -- oblivious to the cool mist that was frizzing their hair and chilling their pedicured, flip-flopped feet -- and screamed, "Twilight!"
The Twilight Saga, as just about any teen girl could tell you, is the name of a mega-selling series of books by Stephenie Meyer set in a mythical version of Forks. The books chronicle the complicated love triangle of a human, a vampire and a werewolf. To say they are huge is like calling Harry Potter just a boy.
Robert Pattinson on his 'Twilight' songs: 'Music is my backup plan if acting fails'
EXCLUSIVE
Heartthrob Robert Pattinson not only stars in the upcoming big-screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire romance, “Twilight,” out Nov. 21, he's contributed two songs to the film, one of which, “Never Think” will be included on the official soundtrack.
But the self-effacing Brit insists that the songs’ inclusion was wholly accidental; a mysterious third party slipped director Catherine Hardwicke a copy of his recordings without his knowledge and she opted to include them, surprising Pattinson when he turned up to see some early footage.
“When I went to see the cut,” Pattinson said during an interview Wednesday afternoon, “she’d put these two songs in. They’re old songs, but one of them specifically, it really made the scene better. It was like it was supposed to be there. It’s strange because what was supposed to be at that point in the movie was a big orchestral film climax. Instead it’s this little song with acoustic guitar. I’m singing it, maybe that makes it different, but it’s kind of overwhelming. I hope it’s overwhelming.”
Although many actors try to work in film and television while juggling careers in the pop arena, Pattinson insists he won’t be one of them. “That’s what I was scared about, it looks like I’m trying to get a music career out of it or something,” he said. “I’ve never really recorded anything -- I just played in pubs and stuff –- and I really didn’t want it to look like I was trying to cash in. I hope it doesn’t come across as that. I’m not going to be doing any music videos or anything. Music is my backup plan if acting fails. I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket.”
Judging from the level of anticipation surrounding his first major starring vehicle, he might not have too much to worry about. On the music front, though, Pattinson will be sharing the soundtrack's track listing with Linkin Park, Muse, Paramore, Iron & Wine and Perry Farrell, among others.
-- Gina McIntyre
RELATED: Stephenie Meyer on music videos and mermaids
ALSO : 'Twilight' Countdown: Exclusive Robert Pattinson pic
- All 'Twilight' coverage at 'Hero Complex'
Photo: Kristen Stewart as "Bella," left, and Robert Pattinson as "Edward" are shown in a scene from, "Twilight." Credit: Peter Sorel, via the Associated Press and courtesy of Summit Entertainment.
'Twilight' author Stephenie Meyer on music videos and mermaids
Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times caught up with "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer on the set of a music video for Jack's Mannequin, the Orange County band. Stephenie has had a rough few weeks as her fans know, but she was all smiles by the sea.
Here's what Carpenter found out:
It was 1:30 in the afternoon Thursday, and a mermaid's tail was bobbing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast at Pt. Mugu. The shimmery, blue sea creature was playing siren to Jack's Mannequin singer-keyboardist, Andrew McMahon, in an upcoming video conceptualized by bestselling "Twilight" saga author Stephenie Meyer.
Meyer is being billed as the co-director of "The Resolution" video, even though "I've never directed anything," the 34-year-old author said on set, where dozens of fully clothed music and movie folk were milling around the Ventura County beach. "Clearly I have no experience. They're just running things by me."
Her impression midway through the shoot, which, in reality, was being shot by director Noble Jones: "It looks good. It looks the way I imagined it, so that's really cool."
What Meyer had imagined for the video was a mermaid who's also a stalker. Everywhere McMahon goes, the mermaid follows, flooding the landscape as the 26-year-old singer moves from ocean to desert to mountaintop, hauling his upright piano in the bed of an ancient Ford pickup. (Any similarities to the vintage red Chevy that heroine Bella drives in the “Twilight” books are purely coincidental, said director Jones; Meyer had written the video with a U-Haul in mind.)
Never mind that "The Resolution" has absolutely nothing to do with old trucks or with mermaids. When the band's frontman wrote the song last year, "it was sort of about my experience dealing with the cancer thing," said McMahon, who was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005 and later received a bone-marrow transplant from his sister. "It was me coming to some place of acceptance with the past and deciding maybe I haven't figured out what I'm trying to accomplish, but I know I'm looking for some kind of resolve."
Meyer wasn't aware of that story when she wrote the video's treatment. Mermaids, she said, are "a subject I've always been fascinated with. When I was letting my imagination run wild for this [video], there were several different story lines I came up with and this one I thought had the most visual impact."
As for the longstanding rumor that Meyer will pen an upcoming book involving such a creature, "I don't know if I will or not," she said.
You can read the rest of Carpenter's very intriguing piece over at our sister blog, the righteously rocking Soundboard.
-- Geoff Boucher
Photo of Jack's Mannequin singer Andrew McMahon and author Stephenie Meyer courtesy of Warner Bros. Records
'Twilight': Stephenie Meyer puts 'Midnight Sun' on back burner 'indefinitely'
What a way to kick off the Labor Day weekend for "Twilight" fans.
In a note posted to her official website Thursday, author Stephenie Meyer tells her readers she has decided to discontinue "Midnight Sun," her planned retelling of "Twilight" from the teenage vampire Edward's perspective, after an unfinished draft was illegally posted and distributed on the Internet without her knowledge or permission.
If I tried to write "Midnight Sun" now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on "Midnight Sun," and so it is on hold indefinitely.
Meyer had originally made the only first chapter available on her site. Because the project is now virtually killed, she's made the incomplete draft available as well, but cautions that "the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes."
I rather my fans not read this version.... It was only an incomplete draft.... But to end the confusion, I've decided to make the draft available.... I hope this fragment gives you further insight into Edward's head and adds a new dimension to the Twilight story. That's what inspired me to write it in the first place.
This has been a roller-coaster year for Meyer, who just completed a successful concert book series but has also had to answer for some of the backlash directed at "Breaking Dawn," the fourth and final installment of the "Twilight" saga.
But fans shouldn't fret: There's only three months until "Twilight" hits movie theaters.
As for Meyer, she's about to step behind the camera to direct a new music video for Jack's Mannequin's "The Resolution." The band is a favorite of the author's and appears on her online playlists.
-- Denise Martin
Related:
Good news "Twilight" fans: Santa's coming early this year
"Twilight": What does the "Breaking Dawn" backlash bode for the movie?
'Twilight': Stephenie Meyer lets her inner fangirl loose at the 'Breaking Dawn' concert series
Well, it's no wonder that Edward and Bella got their happily ever after. Turns out Stephenie Meyer is the biggest of the "Twilight" fangirls.
And with ear-piercing screams from the crowd punctuating the night -- seriously, after every sentence, throughout the whole show, as if Meyer was a Jonas Brother -- that's saying something.
The 34-year-old author was giddier than most of the "Twilight" tweens that packed UCLA's Royce Hall Thursday night for the 'Breaking Dawn' concert, a sort-of mini book tour set to the acoustic sounds of alt rock band Blue October, one of the author's favorite bands. The Los Angeles appearance was the third in a four-stop journey for Meyer and Blue October front man Justin Furstenfeld.
"The music is a part of (my writing process)," Meyer said later in the evening. "I could not do without it."
Before she took the stage, Furstenfeld, dressed in all black, eyes circled in black eyeliner, opened with three songs, "Fairy Tale," "Ugly Side" and "Blue Skies," the last a new track from his band's forthcoming album "Approaching Normal." Shrieks pierced through each of the performances, but the singer didn't seem to mind, even playfully whispering to himself between numbers, "Please don't mess up." He seemed content to get lost in his own music, even while understanding that these girls who'd been listening to him for years (thanks to the play lists Meyer provides to each of her books on her official site) were probably reading meanings about tortured vampires and perfect teen love into each song.
Afterward, Meyer, truly one of the most eager girls in the room, appeared for some Q&A (all sent in by fans online and all of which the author had screened). Here are the highlights:
- Even though "Breaking Dawn" was billed as the last in the "Twilight" saga, Meyer may revisit its world in future works. "I don't know if I'm done with the Cullens universe. We'll have to just wait and see," she said. There are other stories and characters "waiting in the wings" that she'll write about first. (She later mentioned that Leah is a character that she'd like to continue to follow.)
- Meyer has known where Bella and Edward's story would go and end since the fall of 2003. In other words, disappointed or not, the ending of had been in the works for years. What's more, there are hints scattered throughout "New Moon" and "Eclipse" that spell out Bella's future pregnancy. "Oh it's all in there," she said with a laugh.
- Her favorite Bella and Edward moment happens in the last two pages of "Breaking Dawn." "It's the culmination of 2000 pages of getting there," she said. "The finally see eye to eye."
- She'll try to post extras and/or outtakes for "Breaking Dawn" on her website, as she's done with the other three books, but the truth is there just weren't that many this time. She does plan to put up bits of the book's original manuscript, "Forever Dawn," just so you can see how different it is.
- The chess-themed cover of the last book has special meaning: It's supposed to show Bella's progression from being just a pawn to "the most powerful player on the board."
- In Meyer's mind, Jacob and Renesmee get their happily ever after too, because as long as Jacob continues to phase into a werewolf he won't age. "They're both set up for immortality," she explained. (Charlie and Billy, however, still aren't speaking. "But I'm sure they'll get over it," she reassured.)
- Bella's "before car" in "Breaking Dawn," a Mercedes Guardian, does not actually exist. A Mercedes Guard does, but Meyer wanted to imagine an even more sturdy vehicle to protect fragile Bella.
- The author "burst into tears" when writing the moment when Edward calls Jacob "my son."
- The Volturi's human receptionist Gianna "didn't make the cut." Awwwww.
- Meyer has seen a rough cut of the "Twilight" movie -- and she's thrilled. "If I'd seen that in a theater, I would have bought another ticket and ran back in," she said.
Furstenfeld joined Meyer onstage for more music. Before he played the next song, Blue October's "Hate Me," Meyer told the audience that whenever she listens to it, "I can see Edward walking away from Bella in the meadow ... Watch! You're going to hear him walk way." A performance of another new track off of "Approaching Normal" called "My Never" chokes Stephenie up. Apparently, not for the first time. It's a Jacob song -- best enjoyed to page 355 of "Breaking Dawn," she said -- and "it's just going to make you cry." Here's footage from the Aug. 1 concert in New York's Nokia Theatre at Times Square stop:
"You totally need a happy ending after that song," a breathless Meyer said. "The good news is that this next one is one of my favorite Edward songs." The audience screams. "Sound of Pulling Heaven Down" is what she imagines the soundtrack for the moment at the end of "New Moon" when Edward recommits to his relationship with Bella no matter the cost.
And then the night was over -- and the stampede of hundreds began, racing to be first in line to get Meyer's autograph.
(The entire event was streamed live at iClips.net and EW.com, and that footage will eventually be available to view, but one crafty attendee happens to already have clips up from the L.A. show. But you didn't get it from me.)
-- Denise Martin
Related:
Staring into the 'Twilight'
Can't get enough "Twilight"? Well, get in line.
"Breaking Dawn," the fourth novel in the Stephenie Meyer series, is the hottest property at bookstores this weekend, and the anticipation for the December film adaptation of the first book is intense. America, clearly, is bloodthirsty when it comes to romance.
If you're a major fan, you'll want to check out David Strick's exclusive photos from the set. They're part of David's Hollywood Backlot, the amazing (and hugely popular) behind-the-scenes photo collection of Hollywood on the job.
If you're not a major fan but want to get a bead on all of the hoopla, check out Denise Martin's primer on all things "Twilight," which you can find here. If you are newblood, though, beware, there are spoilers a-plenty.
Most of all, bookmark Hero Complex and keep checking back in. Denise will be covering "Twilight" for us in a big way and we have some very special and very exclusive surprises in the works. To see all of our "Twilight" coverage so far, click here.
Last night, Denise was at one of the many release parties for the fourth book. For fun interviews and video, check out her fan-centric report here.
Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment.
