SAN DIEGO — Appropriately enough for a movie series about a vampire clan that never sleeps, "Twilight" day at Comic-Con began bright and early. Gathered together at 9:30 a.m. Thursday (July 23) for an invite-only press conference, a small group of reporters took up about a third of the massive ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront hotel, eager to talk fame, fiction and fanpires with Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner.
"This year, I have something to say," Pattinson laughed, remembering that he was overwhelmed to the point of near speechlessness last year. "It's much more terrifying."
"This is a severely emotional movie. ... There are high points for Bella, but she's a manic-depressive basically," Stewart said of her "New Moon" performance. "There was more to think about. It's a more mature part."
Speaking with other reporters before the event, none of us Comic-Con veterans could recall a movie having an event like this before. Summit Entertainment claimed an entire ballroom for media only, no Twilighters allowed. Not "Lord of the Rings," not "Iron Man" or anything else had ever needed its own press event — a testament to the enormous growth of both "Twilight" and Comic-Con in general.
"It's crazy," Lautner said when the trio were asked about how they've been dealing with the fame. "None of us saw it coming, and this past year has been a ride for us."
Kristen Stewart, who currently has short black locks to play Joan Jett in "The Runaways," laughed, "I cut my hair off."
"It's still so young to me, I can't claim anything as a low," Pattinson said when asked about his avalanche of fame. "I live a nearly identical life, except for being recognized. It's not the worst thing in the world. I never did anything 'normal' before — and now, I get other people to do that for me."
Pattinson confirmed that Thursday afternoon's massive fan event in Hall H will screen a clip featuring him. The line outside the convention center is arguably the longest in Comic-Con history.
Speaking specifically about Stephenie Meyer's franchise, Stewart said, "You're so much inside [Bella's] head, it feels like home."
"When I play it, I try to eliminate the vampire element as much as I can," Pattinson said of playing Edward Cullen. "I only see it as a tool to make things more fraught."
"I did a lot of the apparition scenes, which were me doing one line a week," Pattinson remembered of the ghost-like appearances he filmed at the beginning of the "New Moon" shoot. "I had a stress-free three months. All the pressure was on Taylor."
Asked for the one "Twilight" question they hope to never answer again, Lautner knew his answer immediately. "To growl. I'm asked that by a lot by fans, and I don't like doing that," he said. "So, fans, please don't ask me that. Wait for the movie."
Pattinson's least favorite question? "What's it like kissing Taylor Lautner?" he grinned.
MTV News is on the scene with live coverage of the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con all weekend long. Visit MTVNews.com, Splash Page, the MTV Movies Blog and Hollywood Crush for videos, interviews and the latest news on "New Moon," "Iron Man 2" and everything in between.
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