Bauhauser

‘Romeo and Juliet’ with bite: Popular ‘Twilight’ book hits the big screen

It’s just another one of those typical high school romance movies. You know: Lonely boy meets lonely girl, each falls hard for the other, boy turns out to be a vampire.     OK, so maybe it’s not all that typical. Then there’s the source material: a four-part series of books that’s taking on aspects of “Harry Potter” popularity among adolescent girls and, in many cases, their moms.     Fledgling author Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight,” the first in the series, has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for 66 weeks. It’s the story of shy 17-year-old Bella Swan, who shuttles between her divorced parents, and mysterious 17-year-old Edward Cullen (or is he really 109?), who keeps to himself and his notoriously private and pale-skinned family. A forbidden romance ensues, something along the lines of “Romeo and Juliet.”     Bringing it to the screen, and knowing full well that each of the books has become more outrageously popular than the previous one, is director Catherine Hardwicke, who has shown off her expertise on tales of teens in her sharp, insightful, entertaining films “13” and “Lords of Dogtown.”     She knew, from the moment she jumped onboard, that with hordes of young fans out there, she had to get the casting just right. She opted for faces and names that might be slightly familiar but still would be fairly anonymous: Kristen Stewart as Bella, and Rob Pattinson as Edward.“I would say that Kristen was by far easier to cast,” says the enthusiastic, almost childlike Hardwicke. “I saw her in ‘Into the Wild,’ and I’m friends with her boyfriend [Michael Angarano], who was one of the stars of ‘Dogtown.’ So I had connections to her.”Hardwicke was able to totally relax about her choice once she saw Stewart onscreen.“I felt that her longing, her desire, was so palpable, so expressive, but not over the top,” she says. “You could not pick some cute little TV actress — that would not be Bella. And that would not satisfy the fans that deeply feel connected to this material.”She had a great deal more difficulty casting Edward.“It was like, oh, no, how do you find the most handsome man in the whole world, that looks like he’s in high school — so it cannot be Brad Pitt — and he has to have pale skin, so that rules out half the world right there,” she says. “Like, who could this creature be? A lot of great-looking kids came in that were just adorable, but you felt like they could just be the cute kid in your high school or the prom king or the football player. They weren’t special or unique or otherworldly or dangerous, like Robert is. Robert has an appetite for interesting, eclectic, strange literature, for music, for movies. He’s also this incredible artist and musician. I think all of those things made it believable that he could be this 109-year-old soul-searching vampire.”Oddly, neither of the young actors had even heard of the book series. They were likely too busy in their movie careers. Stewart had already been in “Panic Room,” “Zathura” and “Jumper,” and Pattinson had twice played Cedric Diggory in the “Harry Potter” series.Stewart, 18, initially didn’t want anything to do with “Twilight.”“I was sent a synopsis,” she says. “It was like forced on me. I read this thing that summed up the movie, and I was like, ‘Wow, I don’t want to be a part of something that’s presenting this ideological idea of what love is to such young girls.’ I just didn’t like that. It was very shallow and vain to me. She’s in love with this guy because he’s the hottest thing she’s ever seen. That’s not what I’m into.”But then she read the script, and quickly changed her mind.“I’m interested in unhealthy, neurotic people,” she explains. “That’s what I found in both of the characters. The power balance is interesting because you have this one perfect guy, but he’s the one who’s really afraid and tortured and not confident. And she’s the surefooted, strong woman who at the same time is willing to subject herself and give up power, which is the most powerful, strong thing you can do. So I just found it interesting, and then I begged for the audition.”Pattinson, 22, had his …

Related posts: Army probes 5 slayings linked to brigade, Tankard, Australia nicole kidman, Wofford university, Ultralight aircraft