SANTA MONICA, California — Without a doubt, huge groups of Twilighters all over the world fantasize about Edward Cullen every day. But as popular as breakout star Robert Pattinson has become, those who've read "New Moon" know that his character Edward is absent for much of the story. Now, we've got the scoop on director Chris Weitz's dreamy solution to the problem.
"They figured out a very clever way to get Edward back in the film much more than he is in the book," revealed "Twilight" series star Michael Welch when he stopped by the MTV studios recently, acknowledging that Weitz and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg have devised a plan to work around the "New Moon" plot — which has Edward breaking up with Bella (Kristen Stewart) early in the story and fleeing to Italy. "It's more of, like, a hallucination kind of thing."
As any good Twilighter knows, Bella is heartbroken by their breakup but slowly begins dealing with her Edward-less existence through the realization that dangerous activities — motorcycle riding, cliff diving, etc. — cause her to hear the sexy vampire's voice in her head. Welch was fascinated by Stewart's pretend hallucinations on set and explained to us that Weitz intends to insert sequences of her seeing Edward as "New Moon" inches closer to its November 20 release date.
"It's tricky," he said of the filmmaker's dilemma. "I mean, [Edward] leaves for months."
"In the book, she just hears his voice," continued Welch, who plays rival Bella pursuer Mike Newton in the movies. "In the film, it's more of like a hallucination kind of thing. He will be [in the movie more than the book] for sure."
While the news of more RPattz is sure to excite some fans, others may be concerned about the tweak — and the manner in which Edward will be glimpsed in Bella's hallucinations. Will he be an Obi-Wan Kenobi-like figure, giving her advice from the great beyond? Will Edward come across more like a god, overseeing her safety from half a world away? Will the sequences play like a bad acid trip from a '60s movie, or more like Bella interacting with an imaginary friend?
"It's going to be interesting to see — I have no idea," Welch explained. "You can sort of picture it reading [the script], but I don't know how they actually went about filming that stuff."
Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."
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