Melissa Rosenberg’s Tweaks to New Moon

Posted on 24. Nov, 2009 by in News

MTV has posted a spoiler-heaving interview they did with Melissa Rosenberg before New Moon came out. Melissa talks about four key details that she tweaked, augmented or deleted entirely when writing the New Moon screenplay.

In the video, Melissa talks about two of the changes she made; the other two:

Cause of Death Unclear …
Although he’s a relatively minor character, the death of Quileute elder Harry Clearwater sets off a pivotal chain of events in the “Twilight” world. In Meyer’s “New Moon” novel, Charlie Swan’s friend dies of a heart attack. In the movie, the sight of vixen vampire Victoria kills him. So why the switch? “Well, in the book, Harry Clearwater’s heart attack is mentioned as something that happens offscreen, although it plays a crucial part of the structure of the books. It’s what gets Edward going to the Volturi, after he calls Charlie and then Jacob answers and says, ‘Charlie’s at a funeral,’ ” she explained. “That launches the entire third act of the movie. … That just gave me the idea ‘Stephenie doesn’t specify what causes the heart attack,’ so I decided that it could be caused by something startling him. It could be caused by fear. That was a way to keep Victoria alive. It was a way to keep Charlie and the danger of the hunt alive, and that’s where we get a really great action sequence with Victoria that blends together important parts of the movie and important parts of the book moving forward. So I particularly like that.”

The Love of Laurent
Sadly, fan fave Edi Gathegi doesn’t get much screen time in “New Moon” and dies quite quickly. Rosenberg told us that if she had one regret, it’s that she would’ve liked to delve deeper into the nomad’s motivations. “Yes, we had to pull out some of the backstory, because it really just came down to conversation. Laurent was in Alaska, trying to be a vegetarian briefly, and all of his relationship with the Denali clan,” she revealed. “A lot of the backstory for Laurent had to be pulled, because it just slowed everything down. I wish we could have gotten more of that in there.”


Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Buzz
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • RSS

Tags:

2 Responses to “Melissa Rosenberg’s Tweaks to New Moon”

  1. Heather

    25. Nov, 2009

    I wish they could of gone more into his story of being with the Denali clan. It’s woven together with the last two books and would piece the story together even more. But yeah I can understand the time constraints. Even if it was included it could of hit the editing floor before being released.

  2. margaretpro

    26. Nov, 2009

    I thought these were two highly significant changes I wondered about:

    1.) why bella tells jacob “I love you” at the end, when it takes her all the way to the end of book three to recognize it and admit it herself, and

    2.) the scene when bella confronts jacob about being a werewolf and the moment when he realizes that she doesn’t mind he’s a monster, just that he kills people. I think it’s a really important moment in the book that got too cut out in the film