About The Casting

Twilight made international superstars out of its young leads: Kristen Stewart, who plays Bella Swan, the innocent mortal at the tale's heart, and Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward, Twilight's seductive and conflicted vampire heartthrob. Now, The Twilight Saga: New Moon positions Taylor Lautner to join them as he reprises his role as Jacob Black, who has literally become an unstoppable force of nature.

Director Chris Weitz came to the project in the unusual situation of knowing who his leading actors would be. "I usually get quite aggressive about casting," he says. "In this case, I had the good fortune of inheriting this great group of actors that Catherine Hardwicke cast in the first place. The chance to work with them was one of the most exciting parts of the experience."

But not all of the cast members were in place when Weitz sat down in the director's chair. "There are a few new characters who are on screen for a relatively short time but have incredible impact and punch, and lead into the mythology of the rest of the series," says Weitz. "I always try to get just the right people no matter what size the role is."

At the beginning of filming, Weitz did something he'd never done before: He distributed a 20-page pamphlet outlining his ideas for the film and the characters. "I called it an orientation guide," he explains. "The information I gave them was meant to acquaint them with the settings and the style of the movie, so that they knew as much as possible beforehand. That gave us the freedom to improvise on the day. I never want to lock young actors and creative people into decisions that I've made, but I like to give them as much to go on as possible."

Bella, Edward and Jacob: An Eternal Triangle

The film's opening moments are spent with Bella, who is becoming more aware of her age and mortality. "It's weighing on her very heavily," says Kristen Stewart. "Her biggest nightmare is that Edward will leave her. And he does. Anybody who's ever been broken up with or had their heart stepped on knows that you question everything. It's like, I was so sure of this, and now is anything that I thought about real? Because nothing could be more real than that, and I was wrong."

Stewart wants to be clear: Bella is not the damsel in distress. "She's very much in control of her own situation. She gave herself to someone, and in return expected the same from him."

Bella has developed two strong, but different relationships with the men in her life. "Edward is something she needs," says the actress. "He balances her, but that doesn't mean that he's the best person for her. He's difficult, he's cold, he reserved. But without his restraint, they could never be together.

"Jacob is the polar opposite," Stewart continues. "He's light. He's fun and warm, and brings the best things out of her. Basically he's her best friend, and if you could date your best friend it would be a beautiful thing, but you're not always in love with them."

Weitz's level of preparation won big points with Stewart. "Chris has very organized thoughts and he's really collaborative," she says. "It was good to know he was as committed to the project as we are, not just jumping on the next big thing."

Robert Pattinson was also impressed by the director's grasp of the world of Twilight. "Twilight had a happy ending," the actor says. "Bella and Edward were together and they'd vanquished their enemies. In The Twilight Saga: New Moon, reality sets in. They are dealing with the progression of their relationship and commitment to each other, as well as the very real threats coming out of it. When Edward leaves Bella, he basically takes her life from her, and he kills himself by being away from her, because they've become so dependent on each other.

"Because Kristen and I have played the parts before, we have a very specific idea of how we think the characters develop throughout the whole series," Pattinson continues. "Chris was very understanding of that. But he also came prepared with a lot of great ideas and he had a lot of research to back them up."

Pattinson refers to his character as a "reluctant vampire," in contrast to the Volturi. "They see themselves as monsters, but they're comfortable with that," he says. "But when they see a human who says she loves Edward, they want to believe that can happen, and that's essentially what saves him."

The Twilight Saga: New Moon signals the rise of Jacob Black, a character that plays a more peripheral role in the first film. Jacob is a member of the Quileute tribe, the traditional people of Forks, Washington. A childhood friend of Bella's, Jacob was not initially meant to be as integral to the story as he became, according to Meyer. "Jacob came out of nowhere. He wasn't supposed to exist in the way that he does, but his personality was so there and so strong. I could see how he would shape the events of the book."

During The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Jacob learns he has been chosen to become a protector of his people-a werewolf who defends them against the predations of the vampires. "Jacob's been going through a transformation," Lautner says. "You'll see a different physicality in Jacob's character. And as he becomes different physically, he changes emotionally.

"I enjoyed doing the majority of my own stunts and those are some of my favorite moments in the film," says the actor, who was 17 during principal photography. "For instance, in one scene, Jacob rips out of the house, jumps over a fence, hops across a creek and sprints through a field. I was on wires and got lifted ten feet above the ground until coming to a jolting stop where I had to freeze so the visual effects people could later take my body and convert it into a wolf."

Lautner, who played sports all through school and competed in "extreme martial arts," says his athleticism not only allowed him to accomplish his stunts, it also informed the mannerisms and progression of the character. "Pre-transformation, he's very clumsy, like that enthusiastic teenage boy who jogs around, tripping over his own feet," the actor says. "But when he goes through his wolf evolution, he becomes very agile,"

Jacob's relationship with Bella is changing also. "The opportunity that Jacob has to develop his relationship with Bella is the most exciting change for me," says Lautner. "Jacob becomes the sunshine that wakes Bella up and brings her back to life. And then when Edward comes back, Jacob loses all that."

The Internet has spawned a robust Team Jacob versus Team Edward debate. "Taylor does a lot for Team Jacob," says Meyer. "The whole Team Jacob/Team Edward thing is based on the type of boy that an individual is interested in. If I were for a team, I'd say I'd probably be Team Jacob. That's more my style. If you believe that you can develop a deep friendship and then all of a sudden fall in love later on, then you should be Team Jacob. But if you believe in love at first sight and seeing that mysterious man in the corner, then all right, join Team Edward."

Being back together with their fellow castmates has been both nostalgic and inspiring for the actors. "We've all changed a lot," says Stewart. "It's been a whole year, but we've just picked up where we left off. It feels very natural."

But, says Lautner, the success of Twilight added a new dimension to the cast reunion. "When we were filming Twilight, none of us had any idea how big it was going to be," he says. "It's really exciting to be back with the team."

Vampires and Volturi

In a brief but pivotal appearance, the vampiric Cullen family hosts a birthday party for Bella where a paper cut sets off a dangerous chain reaction, prompting Edward to end the romance. Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz and Jackson Rathbone all return as the Cullen family.

"We've turned into a real family," says Reed. "We are all so passionate about this and my castmates are such smart, interesting people. It's great to work with them again and we are so fortunate that we get to carry these characters through multiple films. We are all such fans of the books, it's been extremely gratifying to bring something to life that we love so much."

Alice Cullen, played by Greene, comes into her own in this chapter of the story. Her visions of the future lead directly to Bella's desperate attempts to rescue Edward from his misguided attempt to kill himself.

"Bella is essentially Alice's best friend," says Greene. "She wants what is best for Bella. To Alice, the most logical thing is for Bella to become a vampire and stay with the Cullens. She's respectful of Edward's desire to let Bella remain a human for as long as possible, but Alice has seen a different kind of future."

Two elements of Alice particularly delighted Greene-her penchants for beautiful clothes and fast cars. "I got to wear the best costumes," she says. "Tish Monaghan, the costume designer, found these great jackets-a white silk trench coat, a striped Michael Kors jacket- and paired them with black tights and flat ballet shoes and long red gloves. They were great and so Alice-quirky. I also got to drive this amazing yellow Porsche through these windy streets in Italy. I only had one driving lesson the day before we were supposed to film it. I have to say, I almost nicked a couple buildings!"

The Twilight Saga: New Moon marks the first appearance of the Volturi, the closest the vampire world has to royalty and a major force in the future of the saga. Centuries old and unimaginably powerful, they serve as lawmakers and enforcers for the community. The leader of the group is Aro, played by Michael Sheen. Sheen is no stranger to this world, having played a werewolf enslaved by the vampires in the Underworld series. But Sheen says there was another on the set who embodied both vampire and werewolf.

"Chris Weitz looks like a cross between a vampire and a werewolf to me," says the actor. 'He's got the chiseled look of a vampire, and yet he is buff like a werewolf, so he was like a great mythological creature going around the set. "

Sheen developed a distinct vocalization for Aro, higher pitched and more precise than his normal speaking voice. Weitz notes that his intonation perhaps arose from their early talks about the character. "Essentially, the character is 2,000 years old," says Weitz. "English is not his first language, so he might speak it in a calculated way. He is incredibly gracious and endearing, but also extraordinarily dangerous."

In fact, Sheen says, he unconsciously channeled the scary, psychedelic, music-hating, color-sapping Blue Meanies of Yellow Submarine fame when voicing Aro. "There was a moment where I suddenly thought, 'Oh, I sound a little bit like the Blue Meanies,'" he says. "I found them really disturbing when I was a kid, so I thought that was a good thing."

While all the Volturi are formidable, perhaps the most fearsome is Jane, a sweet-faced, innocent-looking vampire who can-and does-inflict pain merely by willing it. She is played by Dakota Fanning.

"I've never really gotten to play a bad guy before, but in this one, I play a bad girl -or vampire-and it was really fun," Fanning says. "Plus, I was a really big fan of the books, I read all four of them in about a week, so it was thrilling to be asked to be a part of the film."

Part of that fun came from the physical transformation. "I got to wear red contact lenses, which were cool and changed the whole look of everything, literally," she says. "And the white make-up-I thought I was pale before, but now I realize, by comparison to a vampire, I'm actually quite tan."

Kristen Stewart, who had met Fanning before her involvement with the film, says, "Dakota is straight-up scary and mean as Jane. She's one of the most impressive people and actors I've ever met. She's really got a presence that you just don't mess with. And you wouldn't expect that, because she's a little girl. She's one of the best young actresses around, and I'm excited that I got to work with her."

The Wolf Pack

The Cullens are a family; the Volturi are a completely different kind of family-and then there are the werewolves, who Chris Weitz describes as more of a fraternity. "Not in the sense of like Alpha Omega Chi," says the director. "They are a band of brothers whose job it is to protect their land and their tribe and even the people around them who don't necessarily understand what they're doing."

In the story, the Quileute wolf pack evolved as protection against the vampires. The werewolf trait is dormant until tribal land is threatened, and then those chosen by fate for this role have no choice and little control over the transformation. The real-life Quileute have no tradition of lycanthropy, but according to legend, the tribe is descended from wolves that were changed into men. Even the tribal name "Quileute" comes from their word for wolf, "Kwoli."

Chaske Spencer plays Sam Uley, the serene, self-assured leader of the pack. He took the lead on the set as well, earning the nickname "Alpha" from his fellow actors. "As Sam, I felt like I had to take care of my boys," Spencer explains. "It was easy-we liked hanging out with each other on and off screen, and we really got into the characters. It was a real brotherhood."

Sam was the first young man of his generation to experience the transformation and he has had to guide the ones who followed. "His priority is to protect his people," says Spencer. "That's his job. It's not a job I think he really wanted, but it's what he's been chosen for."

All the actors playing wolf pack members are of Native American descent. Spencer is Lakota (Sioux); Bronson Pelletier, who plays Jared, is Cree-Metis; Kiowa Gordon, who plays Embry Call, is Hualapai; Tyson Houseman, who plays Quill Ateara, is Cree; and Alex Meraz, who plays Paul, is Purepecha (Tarasco).

Meraz's heritage played a key role in his characterization of Paul. "In the wolf pack, you see a little bit of what it's like to be native people on a reservation, especially the sense that the indigenous community regards itself as a family, the way the wolf pack does," says Meraz.

"My tribe is from Mexico, and my grandfather was a shaman there," he goes on. "Our people were fishermen, like the Quileutes. In preparation for my audition, I prayed and asked for permission to portray this tribe. You have to pay respect to the people from the past, the present and the future."

To get into fighting trim, the actors went through "wolf camp" and trained hard throughout filming. "They brought a lot of energy to the set," says Kristen Stewart. "They were always working out and practicing wolf cries. It brought a new energy to the movie. They're warm and fun and frisky. They're also full of life in a way the vampires aren't."

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