Movie Summary:

Last time we see saw Bella Swan she was narrowly escaping the clutches of the evil vampire James while finding love with ”vegetarian” vampire Edward Cullen. Bella and Edward’s lives have been full of nothing but love and bliss however, it all changes one fateful day. On Bella’s birthday, her new found friend and sister of Edward, Alice, decides to throw her lavish party, complete with balloons, ribbons and cake that could feed an army. All is well until Bella accidentally cuts her finger whilst opening a present. The result is that Jasper Hale, the newest addition to the Cullen clan, succumbs to his blood lust and attacks Bella. Edward decides that while he and his family are around, Bella’s life will always be at risk. So he decides to leave her for her own good. Bella feels her life is over. Enter Jacob Black, a member of the Quilite tribe who manages to bring some joy and meaning back into Bella’s life. However as the two become closer, Bella discovers Jacob has a secret of his own- he’s a werewolf. As if that wasn’t bad enough Bella can’t seem to get the love of her life, Edward out of her mind. With new dangers, new friends and new enemies, Bella finds herself choosing between holding on to the past or accepting a new future. But what and more importantly who will she choose?

Information on Taylor’s Role:

Jacob Black is of the Quileute Tribe of Native Americans in La Push, Washington. His father is Billy Black. His tribe is descended from wolves, and whenever there are vampires around their land, the younger men of the Quileute tribe begin phasing into very large wolves to defend their land and their people. Jacob feels strongly for Bella Swan, who is dating one of the friendly vampires that live near the Quileute reservation. He believes he’s in love with her, and fights for her and protects her without end, but as he finds out (in the last book of the saga) he is meant to “imprint” (something that happens to the men who turn into wolves in that tribe: they fall hopelessly in love with one person only, no matter the age. If that person is young, then the man cares for her, basically being her guardian until she is of dating age, when they then become soul mates) on Bella and Edward’s child, Renesmee.

Trivia:

Catherine Hardwicke, director of Twilight (2008/I), the first movie in the Twilight Saga, was set to be the director of ‘New Moon’ as well. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, Hardwicke had to back out.

After months of speculation and rumors, director Chris Weitz and the novel’s author, Stephenie Meyer, confirmed on her official website that Taylor Lautner would be reprising his role as Jacob Black. It was doubted as the filmmakers feared he would not be able to become fit enough in time. However, he was given the go-ahead after gaining 26 pounds of muscle.

Each member of the wolf pack had to have papers proving their Native decent. Spencer is Lakota (Sioux), Pelletier is Cree-Metis, Meraz is Purepecha (Tarasco), Gordon is Hualapai, and Houseman, who was discovered at an open casting call, is Cree.

Actors of the wolf pack went through “wolf camp” together to get buff and bond with each other.

Shares filming location of Montepulciano, Italy with Diane Lane’s romantic comedy Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) and the coming of age/study abroad documentary Di passaggio (2009), directed by James Kicklighter.

During the filming of Bella’s birthday party, Jackson Rathbone got so into character that both Peter Facinelli and Kellan Lutz had to hold him back. During one of the takes, Elizabeth Reaser was knocked to the ground.

Because it took 36 hours to turn Nikki Reed’s brown hair blond, it was reported that she would wear a wig to play Rosalie.

Noot Seear was painted completely white, in spite of not tanning for the previous two months.

Chris Weitz’s third movie based on a bestselling book.

This is the first (and to date only) time director Chris Weitz handles a movie about vampires. However his grandmother had a lead role in the Spanish vampire film Drácula (1931) and his brother Paul Weitz directed Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009) featuring vampires.

Director Chris Weitz said this was an easier process than his other film The Golden Compass (2007) as he found “a lot less interference from Summit [Entertainment] and a lot more understanding of the books than New Line had of The Golden Compass” – which Chris said ended up being “completely re-cut” by the studio. He thinks that Summit Entertainment “understands the importance of the [Twilight] books – members of which who have read the books and appreciate them – not just see them as engines of possible profit”.

This film is the first sequel Chris Weitz has directed. He was signed on to direct a sequel to his previous film, The Golden Compass (2007); like this film, the sequel was scheduled to be released in late 2009.

Ashley Greene wore a different wig than the one she wore in Twilight, to portray Alice Cullen. She also cut her hair quite short so that it could fit under the wig.

Jamie Campbell Bower, who stars as Volturi member Caius, originally auditioned for the role of Edward Cullen in Twilight (2008/I).

“New Moon” is Robert Pattinson’s favorite book in the Twilight series.

Peter Lambert edited a portion of the film during his daily commute. This may be the first major motion picture in which the biggest portion of the first assembly of the film was edited in the backseat of a car.

Summit Entertainment greenlit this sequel one day after Twilight (2008/I) had opened in theaters.

The film’s American premiere was held on 16 November 2009, which, in the lunar cycle, is a new moon.

WILHELM SCREAM: resounds twice during the movie FacePunch that Mike, Bella, and Jacob are attending together.

Broke the record for the biggest one-day gross in the US with $72.7 million. Former record holder was The Dark Knight (2008).

The ring Bella wears on her index finger the whole movie is set with a large moonstone.

Robert Pattinson refused to have his eyebrows waxed as extensively as he had in the first movie, resulting in a slightly bushier look on Edward.

A vampire’s diet is revealed by the color of the eyes – the Cullens feast only on animal blood and therefore have topaz eyes, whereas the Nomads and the Volturi have red eyes indicating they feast upon human blood.

When Jacob is fixing Bella’s motorbike in his garage, a wolf print is shown on the rear back of his t-shirt.

When Bella first awakens, she has the stage-play of “Romeo and Juliet” next to her face. Romeo and Juliet was, according to Stephanie Meyer, a major influence for her writing of New Moon.

In the scene where Charlie is giving Bella her birthday presents, there is a picture of Bella and Edward from the first movie stuck in the corner of a wall decoration behind her bed.

‘Diego Luna’ was offered the role of Aro.

Just before Jacob Black almost kisses Belle Swan , he says “Kwop kilawtley” which means “stay with me forever” in Quileute.

The 35mm print sent to theaters was titled “The Woods”.

In the school parking lot scene it’s Bella 18th birthday. That scene was shot on April 9 which was ‘Kristen Stewart”s 19th birthday.

Dakota Fanning took the small role of Jane in order to prepare for her role as Cherrie Currie in The Runaways (2010) biopic, with her co-star Kristen Stewart. She later said that the role helped her to establish the relationship between the two in real-life and characters Cherrie and Joan Jett, in which Fanning and Stewart plays respectively.

Throughout the first movie, Kristen Stewart wears brown contact lenses in order to match Bella’s eyes. The same is true of New Moon, except for one scene. In the Jacob/Bella “break-up” scene outside of Jacob’s house. In this scene, Stewart did not wear lenses due, instead her brown eyes are actually CG applied during post-production. This was because the large amounts of rain kept affecting her lenses.

At the entrance of Emily’s house, a Quileute drum is visible there. According to the production designer, David Brisbin, this was done as an appreciation to a young Quileute girl who gave Brisbin the drum that she made (as a custom) during meeting with the La Push Quileute executive council – Brisbin was with the design team meeting them at that time while preparing to design Jacob and Emily’s house.

During an argument between Bella and Edward in the truck outside her house, the Edward that got out of the truck was actually a double dressed like Robert Pattinson in the seat. Pattinson was actually positioned next to the camera but out of sight. After the double moved out, Pattinson stepped in front the camera. Chris Weitz pointed out that this was trick deliberately done to simulate how Edward moved in and out of the truck in an inhuman manner.

In the music notes, Alexandre Desplat said that the romanticism nature of the music score that Chris Weitz and him envisioned was referenced to the works Desplat’s mentor, Maurice Jarre. The music note credits has a special dedication line to Jarre.

The scene where a near-death Bella is sinking into the depths was achieved by putting weights in the actress’s pockets and letting her sink in a swimming pool. ‘Kristen Stewart’ was apprehensive about this, so director Chris Weitz demonstrated, to show that there was nothing to be afraid of. As soon as he hit the bottom, he panicked, pulled the weights out of his pockets, and resurfaced, saying “We can’t do that to Kristen!” They filmed her from the side and moved the camera backwards to achieve the effect of sinking.

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