Actress Kristen Stewart, who tanked personality-wise during a recent appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, gave a profanity-laced, whiny interview to Nylon magazine. The young actress, who plays Bella in the smash “Twilight” franchise, complains at length about the rumors that she is more than friends with her co-star, heartthrob Rob Pattinson. She also hates promoting the films and calls the PR tour she did for the first movie a “f$%&ing psychotic situation.” Basically, she hates everything about being a movie star. She’s like a younger, female Sean Penn, without the right hook.

On the Twilight Madness: “Anywhere we’d go for Twilight was a psychotic situation. The sound was deafening, and it’s thoughtless, as well… You get a slew of all these bullshit questions like, ‘What’s it like to kiss a vampire?’ and ‘How much do you love Robert?’ Then you’ll get one that’s actually real, but you’re like, ‘No, I can’t right now, I can’t even consider [it].”

On her memorable David Letterman appearance: “I feel like I have nothing to say on those shows… I’m not good at the funny thing—most people are really great on those shows. I don’t have a contrived personality that [I can] just pump out [for] a five-minute segment, so I end up sitting there and looking kind of baffled. Embarassing.”

And no, she’s not dating Robert Pattinson. “It’s just totally false… Rob and I are good friends. We went through a lot together, so we feel very close. But if we go out in public, every little detail is scrutinized, like the way I stand next to him. And it’s like, I know this guy really f’ing well [laughs]. It’s only natural that we’re sort of leaning on each other, because we’re put in the most f’ing psychotic situations.”

On who she’s actually dating: “He’s older than me—he’s 20 now—but when you’re 13 and he’s turning 16, it was always sort of an out-of-reach thing. Then you get a little older, and you realize, ‘Oh, What the f*@& am I thinking? I can have you, like, lickity…’” she snaps her fingers, laughing. “He’s awesome.”

[From Nylon]

I should add that the accompanying photo spread with the article features a messy-haired Stewart striking various hipster/angst poses. Barf! I’m not taking anything away from this girl’s talent, but her attitude really sucks. I’m sure the pressure of sudden fame has its downside, but if it’s so horrible, quit bitching about it and get out of the business. Go to college, go flip burgers somewhere – I don’t care. Just shut up about how hard your life is, princess. This is Hollywood! There are probably a hundred actresses equally as talented who would kill to replace her in those movies, and would have the common sense to at least appear grateful about it in public. I guess I can understand the whole “normal girl” appeal of Stewart, but she’s trying way too hard. She comes off as vacant, ungrateful and really annoying.

Kristen Stewart looks like she wants to bolt as she signs autographs at the Sundance Film Festival. Photo credits: Bauergriffinonline.

“When their powers combine…” This is one of the most brilliant marketing strategies I have ever heard. The Twilight people have asked the Jonas Brothers to write a song for the next movie in the series, New Moon. The soundtrack for the first film did very well on the charts, and adding a Jonas Brothers song to the next one could prove to be a money maker.

“The movie was obviously a huge success, and if they asked us to be a part of [the sequel], that would be great,” Nick Jonas said when we caught up with him and his brothers Monday, revealing that the trio are fans of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire franchise and would be willing to write a song for the “New Moon” soundtrack. “It would be really cool.”

“That would be really cool,” agreed Joe and Kevin.

In November, the “Twilight” soundtrack opened in the top slot of the Billboard albums chart and continued its strong sales throughout the film’s box-office run. Staying true to Meyer’s close relationship with music — and director Catherine Hardwicke’s love for mixing her images with disparate tunes — the soundtrack featured such diverse bands as Paramore, Perry Farrell, Linkin Park and Collective Soul.

Next month, Chris Weitz begins filming the sequel and will at some point start making his choices for a “New Moon” album. Whether the Grammy-nominated Jonas Brothers would write a “Twilight”-themed track remains unclear, but this much is certain: Before they can do much more “New Moon” campaigning, the chart-topping trio still need to actually sit down and watch “Twilight.”

“I haven’t seen it,” Joe admitted. “But I have heard it’s a great movie.”

“We’re looking forward to seeing it,” Nick added. “We’ve been a little busy, so it’s kinda hard to get the movies, but we’ll see it.”

[from MTV]

Although they haven’t actually seen the movie, The Jonas Brothers realized how popular the film was when they decided to get a bite to eat on the night of the premiere.

Edward and his Cullen family are so popular, in fact, that “Twilight” recently proved its power as a franchise by distracting screaming teens long enough for the JoBros to grab a pizza.

“I think this is really funny,” Kevin remembered of the first time the trio realized how huge “Twilight” was. “We were in town [the day of the 'Twilight' premiere], because we were working all day on our TV show.

“We weren’t able to make it to the premiere. We were invited, but we couldn’t make it,” Kevin continued. “That night, we were starving coming home from work. And we wanted to get pizza.”

While thousands of Twilighters screamed their heads off, unaware, the rock sensations snuck into a restaurant across the street and had a rare, peaceful meal. “The pizza place that we ordered from just happened to be across the street from the premiere,” Kevin laughed. “And so, we come up driving, and didn’t realize that it was the ‘Twilight’ premiere. It was one of those comical moments that was really funny for us.”

[from MTV]

The Twilight saga and The Jonas Brothers have a lot of the same fan base, as evidenced by the pizza story, so I’m not surprised that this joint venture was accepted by the boy band. And this move will only increase their popularity among the Twilight crowd – it won’t be surprising if the song, as well as the soundtrack, hits top ten.

Can you imagine what the premiere for the new movie will be like? Robert Pattinson and the Jonas Brothers in a photo together – a preeteen girl’s dream. I would not want to be doing crowd control that night.

Photo credit: PRPhotos

Open casting for the new Twilight movie, New Moon, took place in Vancouver on Sunday, where hundreds of people stood in line in the cold hoping for a part in the film. Casting was announced a few weeks ago on Craigslist, where a post asked for actors who were “first nations/aboriginal actors and actresses between the ages of 15 and 25 available to film between March and May.” Some of the people interviewed in line had flown in from as far as Florida. Some of the hopefuls were there because they were fans of the Twilight series, and others were dragged along by their friends. But as 12:30 pm, the auditions were cut short, and no more people were allowed to see the casting directors. Needless to say, people were not happy about this.

Tears and arguments broke out Sunday as hundreds of first nations teenagers from all over North America were turned away from a casting call for New Moon, the sequel to last year’s vampiric blockbuster Twilight.

Some of the young people, who had flown in from as far away as Florida, began lining up as early as 5 a.m. at Second Avenue Studios in Vancouver’s Main Street area.

So when casting assistants told the crowd at 12:30 p.m. that no more people would be allowed in the building, the hundreds left outside were heartbroken.

Some even turned on those who had barely made it through, hurling accusations of cutting in line.

Rosanna Razor, 22, was one of the disappointed fans who didn’t get a chance to meet the casting director.

“It sucks,” she said. “I was here since 9 a.m. I came up from Seattle.”

The crowd flooded to the open casting call as a result of ads posted on Craigslist a few weeks ago for “any first nations/aboriginal actors and actresses between the ages of 15 and 25” available to film between March and May.

New Moon, based on the second book in the Twilight series, follows the main character Bella and her time spent with friend and Quileute Jacob Black on the La Push reservation in northern Washington.

[from Times Colonist]

“It’s definitely a good turnout.” What did they expect? They schedule an open casting call after the Twilight/Hot Topic debacle and think that only a few people will show up? They don’t say in the article why they had to cut the auditions short – they only lasted a few hours, which isn’t very long. Then again, I was not doing mob control. There may have been security concerns at play. Vancouver is definitely the Hollywood of Canada, but that doesn’t mean that they’re equipped for hundreds of people descending on one sidewalk for an entire day. But for those who are Twilight fans and were able to show up at the auditions – whether they got in or not – this must have been a fun experience, even if it ended in disappointment.

For those of you who are curious: some of the people waiting in line figured out that the dialogue given in the audition scripts was between Bella and Embry at the bottom of page 327 in New Moon.

Header image is a still from Twilight. Photo below is from the Vancouver Sun.

The sequel to the hit teen vampire sensation “Twilight” has already had its fair share of speed bumps, with director and casting issues, but it seems those problems are now in the past. “New Moon” is in early production, and child star Dakota Fanning may have been offered a plum role as Jane, the young but terrifying leader of a vicious faction of vampires.

Dakota Fanning…with fangs?

It’s possible. I can exclusively report that the 14-year-old child star—she turns 15 on Feb. 23—is in talks to play Jane opposite Robert Pattinson & Co. in New Moon, the upcoming sequel to box office megahit Twilight.

“There were no auditions,” a source reveals. “They just offered it to her outright, and now they’re in negotiations. They’ve been going back and forth.”

Jane is a member of Italy’s Volturi, the most deadly group of bloodsucking killers in author Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling series.

In the casting notice we got our hands on earlier this month, Jane is described as a petite blonde with a “Botticelli angel-like face…[and] crimson irises.” While fellow Volturi guards Demetri & Felix “are three times the size of her, they are terrified of her,” the casting notice reads.

Coincidentally (or maybe not), an online petition started by a Twilight fan already asks the studio, Summit Entertainment, to cast Fanning because she would be “perfect” for the role.

Early last month, Entertainment Weekly suggested Pushing Daisies star and Broadway diva Kristin Chenoweth. “Her voice is certainly high enough, and at 4’11”, she’s also short enough,” writer Amy Wilkinson proposed.
Director Chris Weitz is expected to start shooting New Moon in March in the U.S. and Italy. If all goes as planned, the movie will hit theaters on Nov. 20.

Is Fanning right for Jane? We’re sure Twilight fans have plenty to say about it.

[From E!Online]

I will have to check in with my resident Twilight expert – my 13-year-old daughter – when she gets home from school to see if this is a good fit. I do know that Dakota is pushing to branch out into edgier roles now that she’s a teenager – so far it’s been difficult. Maybe this is just the role and franchise for her.

There have been rumors for some time that Taylor Lautner, who plays Jacob Black in the Twilight series, would be replaced by another actor for the second film, New Moon.  In the second film, he would play a werewolf – a part that requires sheer size as well as a different acting style than playing (in his words) a “happy-go-lucky” guy.  Lautner noted the difference between the character that he played in the first Twilight installment and the character that would be necessary for the second film:

Lautner told MTV News recently that, while he can’t automatically grow hair, he’s been bulking up in anticipation of continuing in the role.

“My job for Twilight was to bring Twilight Jacob to life—the friendly, happy-go-lucky little Jacob,” he said. ”My job for New Moon is completely different. I’ve been looking forward to that. I’ve been getting ready for it, and I can assure them I will follow through with that.”

[from E! Online]

Today, Stephanie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series, announced that Lautner would indeed continue to play Jacob, making many teenagers very, very happy.  Chris Weitz, the director of New Moon, writes that he always knew Lautner would be right for the part:

I’m very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in New Moon and that he’s doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer.

The characters in Stephenie’s books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I’m looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film.

[from StephanieMeyer.com]

That was a well-written letter Weitz’s personal assistant wrote for him.  The bottom line is, changing actors mid-stream in a series doesn’t bode well.  With the success of the books, studio execs must have anticipated that a second movie would be made, and should have taken into account the changes to his character.  But it doesn’t seem that the studio was all too worried about attention to detail.  Their hurry to make a buck may have also forced the original director to leave the series.

The speculation about Lautner’s casting change was reinforced by the fact that the director of Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke, is also not continuing on in the franchise.  Verified reasons for Hardwicke’s leaving have been few and far between, but because she cites “timing” as the reason, this probably means that Hardwicke wanted more pre-production while the studios were pushing for a quick turnaround with a 2009 release.

Both Chris Weitz and Taylor Lautner have challenges ahead of them, for different reasons.  But both are going to have to work hard to fulfil the fantasies of countless tweens.

Taylor Lautner is shown in a still from Twilight and at the premiere on 11/13/08. Credit: WENN

The young stars attended the much anticipated premiere of the film Twilight, based on the first book in popular young adult vampire series by Stephenie Meyer. Advance buzz for the film, which features relatively unknown actors Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart, has been enormous, especially among teens. The film, about a young girl who falls in love with a vampire, is put out by small film studio Summit Entertainment and is expected to be a box office smash. There are three additional books in the series by Meyer and if Twilight is a hit we can expect to see a phenomenon to rival Harry Potter.

The film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke (“13″ and “Lords of Dogtown”), arrives Friday on 5,500 screens with the industry already abuzz with reports about spectacular advance ticket sales. During the last few weeks, I’ve been hearing from studio marketing chiefs, who all seem in awe of the word-of-mouth groundswell for the film.

When the film’s young stars, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, showed up at Comic-Con last July, they were greeted by Beatlemania-style screams. Last week, 10,000 kids showed up at a Dallas mall to mob them. They’ve been on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and several teen tabloids as well as all over MTV.

But what’s amazing is that one of Hollywood’s biggest studios had the project for years and simply let it go. “Twilight” was originally at Paramount’s MTV Films, which spent nearly two years trying to develop the picture before the studio put the project in turnaround. A second studio, Fox Atomic, also passed on the project before it came Summit’s way.

It wasn’t as if “Twilight’s” teen appeal was exactly a secret. The second novel in Meyer’s series, “New Moon,” debuted at No. 5 on the New York Times bestseller list for children’s books when it was released in 2006. It hit No. 1 the following week and remained in the top position for 11 straight weeks. The fourth installment, “Breaking Dawn,” sold 1.3 million copies in its first day of release. The entire series has now sold 8.5 million copies in the U.S., more than 17 million copies worldwide.

[From The LA Times]

Considered a Romeo and Juliet tale with vampires, you can see Twilight’s appeal among the younger set. At least 250 people camped out overnight to make sure to secure their spot for last night’s premiere.

Expect the stars to earn millions and get a lot more media attention. Pattison, 22, previously played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Stewart, 18, starred In the Land of Women and Into the Wild.

Here’s a trailer for Twilight, which is out Friday in the US.

Thanks to WENN for these photos from the premiere last night in LA.