A note to fans from Bill Condon

Greetings Twihards, Twifans, Twilight Moms, Team Edward, Team Jacob and Team Switzerland,

I just want to say hello to all of you and let you know that I'm stoked to be getting underway on the adventure of making BREAKING DAWN. As you've probably heard, I've been given a very warm welcome by Stephenie and Team Summit - who are super-focused, as you know, on getting these movies right.

I'm pretty busy bringing myself up to speed on what you already know by heart: I've read BREAKING DAWN twice, rewatched Catherine's and Chris's movies 2-3 times each, have all four CDs playing in my car, and have Catherine's notebook, Mark Cotta Vaz's companion books, and even Volume 1 of the graphic novel here on my desk - a corner of my office is starting to look like Hot Topic. I realize that this barely qualifies me for "newborn" status in the universe you've been living inside for a few years now, but a guy's gotta start somewhere.

Like many of you, I've always been slightly obsessed with vampires, dating back to the prime-time series DARK SHADOWS, which I followed avidly as a kid. But that alone hadn't been enough to get me interested in making a vampire movie, even though my early screenwriting and directing efforts grew out of a great love for horror movies and thrillers. Since making GODS AND MONSTERS thirteen years ago, however, I've been yearning for a return to a story with Gothic overtones.

The wonderful world that Stephenie has created has obviously struck a chord with you, and I don't think it's difficult to see why. For me, her characters are simultaneously timeless, yet very modern. Rooted in a beautiful, real landscape with a great sense of place, Bella, Edward, Jacob, and the rest of the Forks/La Push menagerie, experience emotions that are primal, and universal: desire, despair, jealousy - and it all comes to fruition in BREAKING DAWN. This is a final chapter in the best sense; not just wide in scope and scale, but emotionally charged and intense throughout.

I'm a huge admirer of the already-iconic Kristen, Robert, and Taylor, and wanted to be the one to work with them as they face the challenges of bringing your beloved characters to the end of their journeys. Really, what could be more fun than that?

Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section below, and I'll do my best to answer them. I hope that this will be the first of many occasions I'll get to check in with you as we set to work bringing BREAKING DAWN to the screen. I am excited and grateful to have all of you alongside me for my TWILIGHT journey.

All best,

Bill Condon

P.S. Answer #1: No, there won't be any musical numbers

source

Ok, now I'm excited. Bill sounds like a wonderful person. I have good feelings about the future of Breaking Dawn. :0)

Breaking Dawn Director Announced

Los Angeles, CA April 28, 2010 – Summit Entertainment has confirmed that Academy Award® winner Bill Condon (see his IMDB profile here) will direct THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN, based on the fourth novel in author Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN, is currently being written by Melissa Rosenberg, and will star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. Wyck Godfrey, Karen Rosenfelt, and Stephenie Meyer will produce the project.

"Bringing Stephenie Meyer's BREAKING DAWN to the screen requires a graceful and intelligent hand and we believe Bill Condon is exactly the right steward, having shown equal and abundant talents of immense creativity and subtle sensitivity,” said Erik Feig, President of Production and Acquisitions, for Summit Entertainment.

Added author Stephenie Meyer, "I'm so thrilled that Bill wants to work with us. I think he's going to be a great fit, and I'm excited to see what he does with the material."

“I'm very excited to get the chance to bring the climax of this saga to life on-screen. As fans of the series know, this is a one-of-a-kind book - and we're hoping to create an equally unique cinematic experience," said Bill Condon.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions.

Condon is well known for writing and directing DREAMGIRLS, KINSEY, and GODS AND MONSTERS, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1999. He was nominated for a second Oscar for his screenplay for the movie musical CHICAGO in 2003. Most recently the multi-hyphenate directed the pilot episode for the Showtime series “The Big C” and produced the 81st Annual Academy Awards telecast, hosted by Hugh Jackman.

The third film in the franchise, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE is due in theaters on June 30, 2010.

source

What I want to know is when and where they're filming because I want to be there and set stalk visit the local tourist attractions near-by. =D

Update 4/29: The LA Times wrote an article "What kind of Breaking Dawn will Bill Condon make?"

Bella's Engagement Ring

So the Examiner has a nifty article taking on the much talked about engagement ring from the Eclipse trailer #2:

Today on Yahoo!'s main page we have this screen shot of their main page with the top story of "'Twilight' engagement ring for sale":

(click to enlarge)

We all know about prop reproductions, shoot we buy them. The engagement ring is another piece of merchandise to own. This site, infinite jewelry co, is selling three types of "Bella's engagement ring". There's the Fashion Ring for $35, Fine Ring for $480, and Genuine Ring for $1,980. The thing with this site is that Stephenie Meyer has a say in the ring's design. 

Personally, I think I like this one better:

emitations Inspired by Twilight Engagement Ring: Bella's Wedding Ring $35 - $44

I wonder what they're going to do with the "Bella's Cullen Crest Ring". What that for fun? Why did they even mass create such a horrible thing like that? Wouldn't "Bella's Moonstone Ring" be better?

Thoughts? Other rings for contention? Let me know =)

psst... check out this old article from The Twilight Guy. This dude proposed with Bella's ring. Read it here.

Eclipse Trailer #2

Oprah debuted the second, and final (?), trailer for Eclipse that start playing in theaters on June 30 (see countdown on the right --->)

If you haven't seen it yet, watch it in High Definition here.

So what did you think? I was kinda speechless and had goosebumps the first few times I watched it. Now I'm really really excited for June!

Let's deconstruct the trailer shall we?

First, we've got Jacob at Forks High warning Edward and saying Bella has a "right to know". I think this is about warning Edward about keeping his family off Quileute land (Emmett crosses the line chasing Victoria and has a standoff with Paul).

Love the arial night shot of Seattle.

Carlisle's wig is epic fail, so is his accent... why does he have an accent? Maybe it's his emotions over powering him in the moment... let's hope.

The next clips looks like they're from the graduation party. There are colored lights and people are dressed nicely (except for Bella but she could have changed into one of Edward's shirts ^_-).

The groups shot of the wolves coming over some logs in the forest; I count 8 wolves. They could be Sam, Jacob, Paul, Embry, Quil, Jared, Leah and Seth.

Newborns are looking menacing... why couldn't I have been casted?! There's a ton of 'em.

Hello Volturi. Alec is looking all emo... I bet he's wearing skinny jeans underneath his tailored coat. Demetri is looking all scrumptious with his matching doublet and coat lining. And Felix has a cape =D

Since this movie is dealing with newborns, I hope we get more Jasper! He's looking fierce and he deserves some screen time after Kellan hit him in the head during rehearsal and had to be sent to the hospital.

OK, I'm really really looking forward to the "Marry Me" scene. The ring, the charm bracelet, the scar and The LOOK that Edward gives Bella... Holy Crap! If I had Rob looking at me like that I would forget my own name, what I'm doing and crap fist fulls of his hair and smash his face into mine as I kiss him senseless. You would too!!

Jacob acting all mad... I bet that's when Bella lets him know that she won't be transforming in years, but in weeks (hello heartbreak).

The Volturi in the meadow, there's a fire going in the bottom right corner. Guess they're not needed after all.

Victoria in the tree with Edward knocking it down. If you look closely, you can see Wolf Seth and a twice dead Riley on the ground in the snow. ^_^

Watching the last action sequence of the fight scene between the newborn(NB) army vs. wolves and Cullens you notice a few things. You can see Alice, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett in the shots... well their stunt doubles at least. Alice is easy to spot, she's jumping over a wolf (Jacob I think) as it bites a NB. You can also see her in the background on the left tugging on one as a wolf (Paul?) is jumping in the air in a "hero" shot. Also in that shot is Esme fighting a NB in front of the rock in the middle. Rosalie can be seen through the wolf's legs in the background (her blonde head at least) and Emmett looks like he's picking up a NB under the arms. Carlisle is seen all in black with this blonde afro in the far right of the shots surrounded by NBs that are trying to tackle and over power him.

Did you see anything else? Have an opinion? What are you looking forward to in Eclipse? Let me know =)

Happy Birthday Kristen

I made this which pretty much sums up her day for her.

:0)

ECLIPSE PREMIERE

ARRRG! There be premiere rumors and drams! See this post.


Date: June 24, 2010
City: Hollywood
Theater: TBA 
but... it might be:
Grauman's Chinese Theatre (6925 Hollywood Blvd.)

It looks like Hollywood is preparing road closures on Hollywood Blvd between Highland and Orange; which is right in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre for the Eclipse premiere as stated here.

Does this make if official? If the city is going to schedule city workers and police to set up barricades and close off streets, not to mention re-route bus lines, garbage trucks, and other public services... they're going to need time to prepare and plan. We're less than 80 days away from the premiere. How long does Summit plan to wait to make it "official"? And why? They're just making it harder on the fandom by prolonging the announcement.