Summit Entertainent’s Comic Con panel had segments for Push, Knowing, and Twilight. After Alex Proyas spoke for a few minutes about Knowing, Twilight was next, but even before the moderator could announce who was coming on stage, the audience erupted in the endless screams of pubescent females. It is difficult to understate the volume and ferocity of the piercing shrieks that filled the hall. Me, Vic Holtreman from Screenrant and Eve from Geeksofdoom (both sitting next to me) had to cover our ears to contain the aural damage.
The panel had Twilight’s director, Catherine Hardwicke, and the author of the book the movie was based on, Stephenie Meyer. In addition, the major members of the cast came on stage, including Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. The screaming continued, erupting over and over again whenever any question was answered, and in fact, whenever anyone on stage finished a sentence.
Early on Catherine Hardwicke introduced a clip from the film. The Twilight title card flashed on the screen and at this point, the screaming has reached a fevered pitch. You couldn’t just taste the anticipation, you could hear it (if you could hear anything over the screams).
The clip was taken from near the end of the film. Bella (Stewart) opens up a door and sees a home video playing of her and her mother, taken years ago. Suddenly, James (Cam Gigandet) grabs her by the throat and slams her into the wall. He begins taunting her and takes out a camcorder to videotape the assault, presumably to give to Edward (Robert Pattinson). James starts roughing her up, throws her into a olumn, then appears to break her leg using only his super-powered hand. As his attack is just about to reach its peak intensity, Edward comes out of nowhere (the audience goes insane at this moment of the clip) and tackles James. The two have a fight that lasts a couple minutes, but a lot of it is spent throwing each other into things, while Bella is trying to stay out of the way. The clip ends.
My thoughts on this clip alone: A lot of hullabaloo was made during the roundtable and panel about how they used wirework for the action scenes, and no CGI. I can definitely testify that this is true; the action between the vampires is depicted using a combination of wirework, motion blur, and fast-forward cuts. The result seems like a fight scene that attempts to be a cross between The Matrix and the final fight scene from Blade 2…only made-for-TV. It’s possible that this clip (not to mention the film) will be refined between now and the film’s release, but at this point, I didn’t see anything that can allow me to recommend the movie to non-fans of the series. As for the acting, while Stewart is lovely and talented in whatever she does and Pattinson didn’t have much to do, I think even Cam Giganget himself would agree that he displays the same acting prowess he brought to Never Back Down. Make of this statement what you will.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Mm…well with the budget the movie had I think will keep it at that
made for TV look. I’m okay with that as long as the story is told
well.
Thanks for describing the clip! I’m glad to read that Bella gets a
little more beat up than what we’ve seen previously. In the book
she’s nearly killed, which I am looking forward to seeing in the
movie. LoL
July 24th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Sounds like the battles in The Lost Boys./
July 24th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I am looking forward to seeing it too…good thing the film doesn’t need non-fan attendance to make it a success. All the young ladies who will go just to oogle Edward wont give 2 sh*ts about the special effects as long as their not totally rediculous.
Can’t wait to see more about Twilight!
July 24th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
This movie is like Sex in the City in the sense that 90% of it’s revenue will be generated from females.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
As long as I can oggle Rob Pattinson for 90 minutes I’ll be happy Still having seen other clips Pattinson has the character nailed. However Kristen seems a bit ropey saying her lines.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
@Alison
Can’t you just do that online? He has tons of clips and interviews and pictures, I’m sure. Why support a movie that’s obviously not going to be any good?
I never could understand why girls are so prone to watching movies/tv shows just because an actor is attractive to them. None of the guys I know do that. I mean, did ANYONE see The Eye?
July 24th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
“I think even Cam Giganget himself would agree that he displays the same acting prowess he brought to Never Back Down. Make of this statement what you will.”
I only know of his work on the O.C., which is incomparable. Make of this statement what you will.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
@Tyler J
I don’t know about all other women, but I just do the math… The character Edward Cullen alone = sexy. Robert Pattinson alone = sexy. Edward + Rob = Something I definitely need to see; even if I have no idea if he’s capable of pulling it off.
Perhaps, contrary to popular beliefs, we women are really the ones who are willing to go to extreme lengths (such as watching crappy movies) for some delectable eye candy. Maybe it’s like our equivalent of porn… hmm.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
where can the clip be seen at? please send me the link! thank you!
July 24th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Haha, ho ho, aha, ahee, aheh, ho, hee hee, hoo, ah, aha…and i thought the covenant was bad.
July 24th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
“I think even Cam Giganget himself would agree that he displays the same acting prowess he brought to Never Back Down.”
lol
July 24th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
@Tyler.
Well, I’ve had plenty of guy friends who will watch a movie to oggle
a girl, so why can’t girls do the same?
July 25th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Once again, I kind of expected this from /film. I’m not going to comment on another page because really…I never have anything nice to say after reading the article. I know QUITE A FEW DUDES who read Twilight and to be honest so do a lot of my friends. Now, this IS IN FACT about the movie and realistically I don’t think there is anything anyone can do about Twilight not becoming big. It’s going to be a hit at the Theatres, so until the movie if you don’t want to make fans angry just lay off it a bit because I personally was a fan of Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter, but I was never this excited about either films/books.
We aren’t just all for the film because Robert Pattinson is sexy…I am going because I like the BOOK and I want to see how well the film measures up to the book. The characters and the story captivates readers…Not the ‘hottness’ of them. If it was about their sexiness then I would have bought some stupid fabio-romance novel. Seems TV to you, but does it matter? Quality of the film is better, and I guess we’ll all see if the movie is good or not. Byt really..Just saying girls want to watch it because of a hot guy is just messed up. :/ That’s crossing one of many Twilight lines, man.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:55 am
i am going to say i agree with hm on this one i got into harry potter and myself was a fan of cedric but it was another friend who got me into Twilight and i cant stop i am hooked, the books are amazing and it is just like harry potter so much in the book you can fit in the movie…. not to meantion it does take alot to make a amazing book into a movie, sometimes you have to work around it. And yes i admit at first i was upset with the choice for edward. but who are you to tell us we can’t watch it or the only reason we want to is a hot guy? no we are going to watch it because we love the books, and you crossed a line there i agree. i love the book and i dont care if the movie was the worst in the world i would still watch it, buy it and love it. who cares what you think. watch the film will make alot of money and guess what. YOU CANT STOP OR DO ANYTHING TO STOP THE FANS FROM WATCHING JUST BECAUSE YOU DONT LIKE IT. Who the hell cares what you think anyway.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:01 am
TYPING every OTHER word IN caps WILL enable ME to WIN many ARGUMENTS, because EVERYONE knows WRITING a WORD in CAPS means IT is REALLY, really TRUE.
BTW, ladies (HM and rolledeyes), if you read the article carefully, you would have realized DC said, “I didn’t see anything that can allow me to recommend the movie to *non-fans* of the series.” Unless you two are *non-fans*, stop bitching.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:44 am
“then appears to break her leg using only his super-powered hand”
Hahaha.
I might actually rent this.
July 25th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Amen, evanz.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:00 am
Wow, rolledeyes has clearly no love for herself.
July 25th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I just seen the clip on youtube that someone had recorded off the screen at comic con. I can’t really hear what is said for the idiots who won’t stop screaming, but it looks little better than the last clip we seen. I still don’t like the flying though, because THERE IS NO FLYING IN THE BOOKS! So WTF is up with that? Here is the link for it…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aio1bgkSDKI
I am sure the movie won’t be no where near as good as the books, but I will more than likely still go see it just because I love the books so much. I was the same way with Harry Potter. The books are almost always better….
July 27th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Hmm. Thanks for posting up what the clip was about. I wish i could have seen it myself. and you are so right about Cam Gigandet. haha. He’s exactly the same as in Never Back Down except the fight sequences in that movie i think were more exciting. I do however adore Kristen Stewart and im glad they casted her and I’m still stoked for the movie.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
The clip was pretty good, and I agree with CrazyCat (thanks for the link*), that there should have been no flying…and I was waiting for Jasper and Emmett to show up and do off James, not Edward,( just like in the book).
Bella-”What happened to James?”
Edward-”After I pulled him off you, Emmett and Jasper took care of him.”
Bella-”I didn’t see Emmett and Jasper there”
Edward-”They had to leave the room…there was a lot of blood”.
Again, the book is always going to be better..but I’m still very excited to see the movie! I’ll always stay a true Twilight fan!