This interview is not exact, it was liveblogged.
Now that you’ve seen all your characters assembled, who is closest to what you see in your head?
Stephenie Meyer: Lee Pace! He was just so fun and really looked the part. Mia was really awesome, and Valorie Curry as Charlotte.
Bella’s vampire effects?
Wyck Godfrey: I really liked Bill handled her shield, I thought that was a subtle effect that visually showed what we needed it to represent in the movie. When you’re standing on a giant stage with fake white snow on the ground, it’s hard to imaging it’ll be huge battle. We were very happy with how it turned out.
Stephenie Meyer: I think it was from the moment she put the contacts in. We were doing happy dances behind the monitor!
The confrontation!
Stephenie Meyer: I don’t think it goes away from the book too much, it’s just that in the book we can only see what Bella sees. We’re just breaking away and showing what other characters can see. It’s so surprising, though! Every time I see it though, I think “Woah, we did that!” It’s shocking.
Can you talk about the comedy?
Melissa Rosenberg: The characters are fun! Lee Pace is someone you can just throw lines at and, he’s great.
Stephenie Meyer: Taylor Lautner is someone that can really do comedy, which was great. I hope I’ll be able to see him do that again!
Talk about Renesmee’s CGI process?
Melissa Rosenberg: We thought “Can we make this look good?” We looked at younger actress. You needed this person who can have meaningful conversation with her parents.
Stephenie Meyer: Didn’t take a lot to convince me, let’s age her up, to Mackenzie’s age. She was 9 and turned 10 on set. The moment we saw Mackenzie we were sold.
Wyck Godfrey: Having an actress who’s 9 play all the action from baby to 9 years old was amazing, but also the most challenging part of this movie.
How long after you had the dream until you wrote it down?
Not 15 minutes! My kids were young then, I have no memory.
Being a vampire seems pretty awesome, why was Edward so resistant?
He’s afraid he doesn’t deserve it, he’s seen examples of people who are not happy with being a vampire, and he doesn’t like it himself. In retrospect, he may have not been so resistant, but it’s permanent. Permanence is a very scary thing for me. As a metaphor, vampirism is a way to live in fantasy. It’s superpowers with a cost, having to be the villain and what do you do about that?
What was the last scene shot?
Wyck Godfrey: We finished on the beach as dawn broke, shooting the midnight swim.
Stephenie Meyer: It was a really nice ending actually, there were just a few of us, just hanging out. Being really relaxed, all movies should end in St. Thomas!
If Renesmee and Jacob have kids, they’d be vampire/wolf/human! Can you talk about that?
Stephenie Meyer:I know exactly what would happen? There are a few characters that may have a big voice in that storyline. Maybe someday I’ll write it just for myself. I don’t know if you’ll ever see one but I’m not into permanence, so,
Can you talk about seeing Rob and Kristen’s performances as parents?
Stephenie Meyer: For people who never were parents, they were impressive. Kristen and Kenzie had an amazing relationship. She’d tell Bill, I have to be looking at Renesmee in this scene. She was a big mother bear, and Rob was like the easygoing dad. Whenever you’d look over, Rob and Kenzie would be laughing about something!
Can you talk about Allistair?
Melissa: I followed the guide of the book, Allistair serves that role. You have this naysayer in the background, who is constantly reminding you that this not just a fun fight. It’s not going to end well! Especially played by Joe Anderson.
