The visionary screenwriter behind Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse reveals in a new interview how she went about writing for each film and how they will differ from each other. She says, ‘I think the fans will be very satisfied with what we’ve done.’
Hollwood.com reports:
How was writing New Moon different from Twilight?
Melissa Rosenberg: In Twilight, you’re setting up the world. You’re introducing the world, and I was also writing in a vacuum because I didn’t know who the actors were going to be. Now you’re going to New Moon and Eclipse, and I could write specifically to them in my mind. So it becomes a more
New Moon is not about setting up the world, but it’s its own set of challenges because New Moon is very internal … There’s been a lot of talk about how Edward and the Cullens are not a part of the middle of New Moon, but actually they are. Certainly Edward is very much alive in Bella’s mind throughout New Moon … I think fans will be very satisfied with what we’re doing — one, because it’s true to the book and two, because there’s more Edward. That can’t be bad!
Can we surmise then that we’ll see more of the Cullens and Victoria throughout New Moon?
MR: I think you could surmise that, yes. Yes, you can. You will.
On writing Eclipse:
MR: The third one was hard. Actually, the hardest one of the three for me to write. I was so disappointed that it was so hard to write because you read the third book, and it has a great feel with action and conflict and you think, “Oh, this is going to be the easy one,” and it turns out it’s not the easy one. It’s actually the hardest of them all.
What was fun about doing Eclipse was that Stephenie — any writer when they’re creating a world like Stephenie has created — has to know all the parts they’re doing. The book is entirely from Bella’s point of view, but she has to know as a writer what all these other characters are doing when they land in Bella’s world. So she has a very, very complex, detailed mythology, as anyone who knows the Twilight world knows. It’s very detailed, which is why this is such a great world to play around in.
With any sci-fi fantasy storytelling, you must have rules be very clear, otherwise you lose people, like “OK, they can fly; now they can’t fly.” So her rules are very, very distinct, but within that, there are just miles of playground.
I think there’s going to be some fun with it, but it’s still very much the book. From the very beginning with Twilight, that’s what Stephenie’s one thing was: “Do the book. Adapt the book. Don’t use the book as a jumping-off place ….” That’s what her one rule was, and that was the only thing I wanted to do anyways.
On writing with the actors in mind:
MR: I’m definitely able to write toward them … To me, they become interchangeable with the book, because they’re so much those characters. When I first saw them, when they were first brought on, I was just stunned at how perfect the casting was for them. And Catherine Hardwicke and Summit did a really extraordinary job of finding them.
When I wrote Twilight before they came on, I would kind of sometimes lean towards quippy, sometimes broad humor, sometimes very dark. I added a lot of that into the Twilight script, and it wasn’t right. So I actually kind of went a little bit away from the book in some ways. The actors kind of brought me from the screenplay back to the tone of the book. So it was them helping me find the tone of the book — and Catherine, of course.
Her favorite character to write:
MR: I’m really enjoying writing Jacob. Jacob’s a great deal of fun to write. Charlie. Particularly writing for that actor Billy Burke. Charlie is someone — Billy Burke is someone — who you just can give a line to, you can give him a deep emotional line or a funny one-liner, and that guy can deliver anything and always brings something new to it. Of course, I love writing the relationship between Bella and Edward — it’s really important.
The biggest challenge:
MR: The biggest challenge is the Bella/Edward, because you’re always writing a line between real intimacy and what’s true versus overly maudlin or melodrama. True romance and true drama — that’s always the line.
[Source: TwilightPoison]
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