These answers are paraphrased, and not exact!
Bill Condon
Feeling about closure?
The real challenge was to make it a satisfying climax, the film opens with an overture from all five movies. I don’t want to give it away, but I added something that will bring you back into the spirit of the films.
Visualization of powers?
These are mental powers, like Bella’s shield or Alec’s power, you can’t actually see them. In a visual medium, you can’t make it that subtle. I didn’t want Bella’s shield to be a Wizard of Oz bubble. For Alec’s power, it was really funky. That was the darkest power, so we really tried to go after it like a horror movie, like a really nasty power. I attribute that to the talent of the actors! They all took it so seriously, they all had complete backstories and successfully managed to make their characters pop.
Talk the arc of the Bella character, and Kristen’s performance?
I worship at the altar of Kristen Stewart, it’s no secret! It wasn’t that big an arc in the first three movies, so she’s still in the same spot in Part 1. It’s an amazing attribute to her performance that we shot part 1 and two together, she’d go from vampire Bella to ematiated Bella within hours. She has an extraordinary energy, she really is so focused. I was so worried when I saw the schedule, but she was so excited. I think she was dying to play a vampire!
Major battle sequence! Talk about the challenges making such a crazy fight sequence.
The sequence we’re not supposed to talk about! Battle sequences are hard, Normally you get horses, and big flags and banners, you don’t have any of that in this movie. You only can kill them by pulling their arms and legs off! Jeff Amada was amazing. It was back and forth between first and second unit. It was one year of solid work on that scene, with one of our editors Ian Slader. It was a huge challenge.
Part 2 seems to have a very different tone, with them shot together, was it a challenge creating that tone?
I put a clip from my favorite movie, Bride of Frankenstein, in part 1. It’s about remembing this is young adult fiction, it’s not the world of Batman. It’s got a different tone. Michael Sheen perfectly embodies that, he’s scary but there’s also something enjoyable.
I feel like the first part of this film, up until Charlie is introduced, is very much part of ‘Part 1.’ Then, it becomes an epic action movie, with so many vampires. At least some of them have to be funny!
How was this shot?
It was always shot as one movie, that big fight scene was shot two years ago. Crazy right?
You made great independent movies, can you talk about the demands and differences when walking in a big tentpole franchise?
When you’re actually making it, it’s the same experience. It’s all about making it as good as it can be, collaborating. Around the edges though, there was this awareness. I loved it, I remember the first thing we shot was on the street in Brazil. There were pictures online within twenty minutes of the first shot, and there was a big ordeal where Kristen didn’t have her wedding band on and we scrambled to fix it. But, I loved it. I’m aware on this movie, more than any other, that we’re making it for people who love it.
What can you tell fans about making the battle, different from the book, and your collaboration with Stephenie Meyer on that? Her approval?
It was her idea, along with Melissa Rosenberg! She was very involved in every aspect of this production. The creation of that idea, and the beats of the battle, it was all involved with her. That’s stuff we talked through, she was right there.
Can you talk about the CGI process and the creating Renesmee?
Over 2000 visual effects shots on BD 2. The biggest challenge was Renesmee. It’s taking the idea from the book and multiplying it, she’s growing very very fast. Everytime we see her, she grows, until she gets to the size of Mackenzie Foy who is around 8. Lola is the company behind it, it’s a big challenge because we have to take Mackenzie Foy and make her photo-real at different ages. I think the saving grace is that she’s such a special creature, she’s not entirely human. If there are things odd about it, that plays into it, because it can be things that are odd about Renesmee.
Talk about the challenge finding the locations, and weather for the final battle scene?
This obviously is a movie that goes all around the world. But, we didn’t go around the world. We created Egypt in Baton Rouge, and our little bit of London. We wanted to reflect how powerless the Cullens were against the huge army of Volturi. I hate to give this away, but we shot it on a green screen stage in Baton Rouge.
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