'New Moon' premiere has fans (and wolves) howling

By Borys Kit

They had real wolves at the "Twilight Saga: New Moon" after-party.

Click the photo above for an image gallery.

But for many attendees of the Monday night's Westwood premiere, details like that took a backseat to the main attraction: stars Rob Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner.

Scenes ranged from a woman in her early 20s yelling to Pattinson, "Please touch me! Please touch me!" in the Mann Village Theatre lobby to a gaggle of female teen fans who burst into tears when they found out they were lucky enough to be let into the screening to fill seats.

"A lot of people say it's like the return of the Beatles," said Summit co-chairman and CEO Rob Friedman at the mob scene that was the Hammer Museum, where it felt like the actors were penned in as much as the wolves. "It's very unusual to see that kinds of enthusiasm."

While it is common for the big premieres to take over Broxton Avenue and the Mann Village Theatre and its neighbor across the street, the Mann Bruin Theatre, "New Moon" unusually extended to a third venue, the Regent, a block away.

It was the kind of affair that attracted many of the town's players thought of least likely to show up, but that just showed the power of "Twilight." Larry David, Frank Marshall, and Neal Moritz showed up in order to satiate their brood, with directors Brett Ratner and Adam Shankman making appearances, too.

Such an organic frenzy is hard to cultivate in today's tentpole environment, and everyone from Summit to the talent seemed to agree that making "New Moon" was harder than making the first entry because of the fans' microscope.

"When we were making the first one, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into," said Lautner, who plays teen werewolf Jacob. "We thought we were making a movie that a few fans would be passionate about. We had no idea it would be anything close to this. So going into 'New Moon,' you could definitely say we had more pressure."

Noted Summit Entertainment co-chairman and president Patrick Wachsberger: "The fans really control the property. They own this property. They can be very difficult, and it can be hard to satisfy them. You have to be absolutely perfect."

And you have to take care of them in ways beyond the making of the movie. "Twilight" acolytes had been camping out in Westwood since Thursday and Summit made arrangements to have the theaters open 24 hours a day so they had access to restroom facilities, shelter and water as well as security.

Summit works closely with protective author Stephenie Meyer to be as faithful as possible to the books in its adaptations. The third movie, "Eclipse," is already wrapped and will have a different director. Despite working under the fan pressure, and the watchful eye of Meyer, each movie so far has had a distinct feel.

"You work inside a box, which is the books and the fans, and you don't have the freedom of inventing scenes," said Wachsberger. "But each (director) has done something personal, I think."

"New Moon" director Chris Weitz just arrived back from a five-day European press tour that included stops in four countries, including an ear-shattering stadium appearance in Munich. He marveled at how well his stars coped with the attention.

"To me, it's 20,000 people screaming, and I find that frightening, although not without its charm," Weitz said. "But they seem to be able to identity with each individual fan's desire to identify with their characters. I have to say I am impressed with their self-possession."

But just don't ask him if he's ready to direct the fourth installment just yet. It's the demands of a special effects-heavy production, not the fan frenzy that give him pause.

"I'm not sure how many CGI pics I have in me, or fantasy epics," he says. "There is the important fact of my family and what I owe them after two big fantasy films. I have a 2 1/2-year-old boy, and I have to weigh that very carefully against whether by then the fans and the studio wouldn't rather have ("Twilight Saga: Eclipse" director) David Slade or anyone else do it. Right now, I'm riding very high on a bunch of very well-cut trailers. I must be honest, the proof is in the pudding so we'll see how that goes."

Comments

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This is an awesome gallery of the premiere.Kristen Stewart looks queen in her dress.I love to visit this gallery.Thanks for sharing such a great post here...

[Movies Twitter]

This review couldn't be more wrong! I just got done reading the books after I had already seen Twilight and New Moon. They are great. The movies are wonderful- I left the theater ecstatic because a movie hadn't left me feeling like that in a long time.

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Hi Guy's,
The movies are wonderful- I left the theater ecstatic because a movie hadn't left me feeling like that in a long time.

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movies are wonderful- I left the theater ecstatic because a movie hadn't left me feeling like that in a long time

[rent Harley Miami]

This is amazing how popular the Twilight and New Moon became. Guess most of the fans is less than 20 years old but still, half of the world love it.