By Mary Montserrat-Howlett
HOLLYWOOD(RushPRnews)12/02/08– Looks to RushPRnews like “Twilight”‘ stars, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, will be staying in character a little while longer, as the two have already singed on to “Twilight”’s anticipated sequel, “New Moon”. Shooting of the new film will begin in March, 2009. The film’s release could be expected as early as Summer 2010, and the sexy young duo will also be receiving a hefty pay raise, with salaries reported somewhere around $12 million each.
Stephenie Meyer’s series of vampire/romance books took the teenage world by storm and gave Summit Entertainment one of their biggest box-office successes yet. Not since James Cameron’s: “Titanic” and the “Leo-craze†have we seen the teenage girl population go completely bananas over a new young star, as they are now with Pattinson.
In fact, even before the film’s release, readers of the ultra-popular books already had very specific expectations of what Edward Cullen was supposed to look and be like. And just imagine how tough those “fangs†were to fill. Going from little-known English actor who played Cerdric Diggory in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” to brooding, sultry demigod and object of girls’ desires, was certainly no easy ride.
The book’s author admitted in an Entertainment Weekly article before Twilight’s release, that it was actually quite difficult to find the right actor to play Edward. Meyer’s had looked through thousands of pictures before making any decisions. But Pattinson had just what she was looking for. Just enough of the sexy/scary qualities that were needed to do Edward justice.
Still, you can’t please everyone and apparently when news came out about Pattinson playing the role of Edward, his mother had found some nasty comments online from some of the books outraged fans, referring to him as wretched and ugly, with the face of a gargoyle.
”I apologized to Rob,” Meyer claimed in the EW article, ”for ruining his life.”
But clearly, that ship has sailed and fans seem to have whole-heatedly accepted Pattinson as their Lord and personal… Edward Cullen.
One of the things that really helped make “Twilight” so successful among its highly critical fans was the on-screen chemistry between Edward and Bella. Stewart admits it was certainly no easy feat to play Bella, the apple of Edward’s eye. “I felt such a responsibility to the story and to the character, separate from what anybody else felt about it, and that that drove me to do what I did. I would have been playing an entirely disjointed character if I took into consideration everybody’s thoughts about her,†she said in an interview with Hollywood Today.
Stewart, has starred in three films other than Twilight this year, and already has two more features coming up for 2009. “Adventureland”, is scheduled for release in March. And currently in the making is indie film, “Welcome to the Rileys” that will be co-starring James Gandolfini from “The Sopranos”.
Both Pattinson and Stewart had undoubtedly taken on a serious challenge, by accepting a project as huge as “Twilight”. But by the impassioned reactions they’re getting from fans and the official announcement of “New Moon”, it looks like things are definitely on the right track.
