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New Moon Rising
Chris Weitz takes a bite out of Twilight
(Page 2)
CW: To some degree, but the problem with storyboards is that they very rarely represent 3-D space accurately, or camera angles or camera lenses. If you really want to nail your shots down accurately, you need to pre-viz them in 3-D, and we didn’t have the resources—or the time—to do that extensively. So you have to adapt accordingly.
If you have a scene with a werewolf and a human character, the human actor is going to have opinions and is not going to necessarily act and move in a way that corresponds to even the most accurate pre-viz; you have to be ready for happy accidents and even actual accidents.
CW: Definitely. I think the supernatural things are bells and whistles, which allow for the playing out of these kind of wish fulfillments. In the case of this movie, the universal experience of being left by someone who you think is your life is not played out as in real life, where they simply don’t call you back.
In New Moon, Bella has been left for her own protection and she actually can—by an act of extraordinary bravery and heroism—save the life of the person she loves, who actually loves her. Now that is the fantasy that one concocts in one’s mind when one is dumped, but it rarely gets to be played out. It’s that kind of supernatural skeleton of the movie that allows this to work.
MM: Were there aspects of other genres that you were referencing?
CW: Yes. I love David Lean and I love Kurosawa. Every time I refer to those guys, I feel a bit sheepish because they are gods and I am mortal.
MM: They were mortals, too, though.
CW: They were, but what they achieved is titanic. I think of the way Kurosawa is able to manipulate crowds, or the widescreen composition of David Lean; I’m kind of a symmetry addict, like Kubrick… Those are the guys who I aspire to evoke in this kind of movie. Having said that, I don’t consider myself worth mentioning in the same breath.
MM: I could see how David Lean, as a master of romance, could be an inspiration.
CW: He wasn’t afraid of romanticism, he wasn’t afraid of symbolism and he wasn’t afraid of being extraordinarily expressive with the camera. There are certain shots in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago that are so loaded with meaning that you couldn’t make them today without people snickering. Yet somehow he got away with them because of the sheer mastery of his technique.
MM: Some elements appear consistently in your career, including working with young actors and adapting novels to the screen. Is that an unplanned coincidence, where people see what you’ve done and offer you more of the same, or does part of it come from you?
CW: I do like working with young people but, weirdly, the young people here are experienced actors, so it was like working with adults. I can’t find any intentionality in my career other than hoping to get the chance to do another film, wanting to do something different from the previous one and trying to accumulate a set of skills. I still feel as though I’m learning.
When it came to The Golden Compass, I really wanted that to be my masterpiece. And by that I don’t mean work of genius, but rather the piece that you do that says to your peers that you’re ready to stop being a journeyman and start being an actual craftsman. Unfortunately, the edit was taken from me and whatever chance I had at that was also taken from me, which is kind of sad.
I still feel that I’m learning, and yet I also feel that the number of aspects that go into making a film of the sort that I’m making now have become so multifold that it’s really exhausting. Every time I make a movie I’m pretty much convinced it’s the last time I’m going to be able to do it and that really it’s a rather silly occupation to undertake. But I think I have maybe one more film in me. (laughs)
MM: Only one? Are you serious?
CW: Yes, I think so. I know this is for MovieMaker, but I don’t think that people have to do the same thing for all their lives. Giuseppe di Lampedusa wrote one great novel, The Leopard, and he didn’t have to write anymore.
To read the rest of this exclusive interview, pick up a copy of the Fall 2009—on newsstands now–or sign up for an entire year for just $8.95: http://www.moviemaker.com/subscribe/fall_09
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Sassy on 11/20/09 at 5:51 am
i just saw the movie and i personally think it was horrible. it was super cheesy and to me it made a joke out of a book i love when it should be serious and romantic. I would say that if you make Eclipse please make it more like twilight and less like the joke of New Moon
- Comment by Judith on 1/08/10 at 11:15 am
Despite the focus on young, shirtless werewolves and well coiffed vampires, the second installment of Stephanie Meyer’s immensely popular series comes off as a tepid adventure in Zombieland.
Iberostar Grand Paraiso Hotel- Comment by Kaya on 1/12/10 at 1:20 pm
i honestly think Twilight is one of the best films made :)
- Comment by Kamyanets on 1/18/10 at 7:41 am
WOW!!!
just with exclamation I can give hearing Twilight!!!
I’m in love with the main hero, with film and plot///
in my opinion it’s the best film of the year about pure, true and beautiful love. And different “monsters” in the film, just make it crisp…- Comment by Interior Design Ideas on 1/27/10 at 9:44 pm
Personally i didn’t like the movie, I enjoyed the book more than the movie, the script is not up to the mark. But some of my friends had mixed reactions regarding this.
- Comment by Online Banking and Financing on 2/09/10 at 11:08 am
Around about here, Pattinson gets to bare his own chest—a bad idea in a movie that also features Taylor Lautner- and we notice that while his face is heavily pancaked, his torso is of a normal human hue. Whatever, I suppose.
- Comment by event planning on 2/12/10 at 4:31 pm
I agree. The book was better.
- Comment by Used Bus for Sale on 2/17/10 at 8:59 am
Bella could go down in literature as one of the dullest, most self-obsessed geeks of all time. Pick a wolf, pick a vampire, pick someone in the animal kingdom, and get on with it.The first film was tolerable. “New Moon” just needs to go away quickly.
- Comment by Bus Sales on 3/09/10 at 5:16 am
I agree, but I believe that Catherine Hardwicke would have been the better directer based on Twilight.
- Comment by security+ notes on 3/15/10 at 4:53 pm
I think book and movie both are good.
- Comment by Make a Promise on 3/29/10 at 9:03 am
I do agree that books and movie are both nice but I think book is also better because it makes you work out your imagination and design your own character.
- Comment by kami on 8/20/11 at 3:00 pm
I agree, but I believe that Catherine Hardwicke would have been the better directer based on Twilight
- Comment by cricket equipment on 10/28/11 at 4:10 am
Iam a fan of the series, a super set of films and am looking forward to the last two , however bit miffed that I have to wait a whole twelve months between the split films.
- Comment by cricket equipment on 10/28/11 at 4:11 am
Iam a fan of the series, a super set of films and am looking forward to the last two , however bit miffed that I have to wait a whole twelve months between the split films.
- Comment by Helga on 12/25/11 at 10:46 am
More like twilight and less like the joke of New Moon
This story was published in the Fall 2009 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
New Moon Rising/Chris Weitz takes a bite out of Twilight
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