Love & Respect: Chris Weitz Interview

I love Chris Weitz. You know what, screw it, ‘I LOVE ALL THE TWI-GUYS!!!!’ They’re all awesome, unique and super-cool in their own way! I was reading my daily dosage of TwiCrack, when I read this thing about Chris Weitz and New Moon that I though was pretty interesting.
Tomorrow at the metro website there will be an interview with Kristen Stewart and I will cover that as well.


Chris Weitz and Metro News address Stephen King and his opinions we have heard so much about. Way to stand up for us Chris! (Cause you know a person like King could bring a huge chunk of fans away just because he has a unpleasant review of something.)
Q. Stephen King wrote in a column that there is no substance, nor emotion in these books, unlike Harry Potter that he loves. What are the qualities of the books in your opinion?
A. The books address the feelings of love and loss that Stephen King isn’t particularly concerned with. (Laughs) I’m not terribly surprised that he says that. I would say, “physician, heal thyself.” Actually, the reason that they’re so successful is that people identify with the main character, with her sense of insecurity, with her sense of being singled out by someone extraordinarily special, with the sense of being broken up with, which is something everyone has experienced unless they are terribly, terribly lucky, and with the deep value of friendship as a way to heal. So I must respectfully disagree with Stephen King. (Laughs)

Chris Weitz is speaking as a true fan in answering this question. He speaks as a true fan in saying how you can relate to the book and that’s in not all supernatural magic.
Q. What is it about this story that resonates so much with its audience?
A. It deals with emotional occurrences that everyone has gone through. You’ve got all this supernatural stuff, but really what it’s about is falling in love for the first time, losing that love, wondering if you’ll ever be happy again, the restorative power of friendship, having to choose between the guy who seems the right guy or whether you’re going to hold out for the wrong person. This is true of girls, boys, men, women. We’ve all had the experience of falling in love or having unrequited love or being left and feeling miserable and hoping you can get someone back. All these things are universal.

Q. How do you keep the continuity of the story?
A. Well, we try to maintain a coherence so that nothing seems unrealistic or bizarre. One of the strengths of Stephenie Meyer’s books is that they manage to convey the normalness of people’s lives and the normalness of the main character, and yet feeds on all those supernatural and extraordinary elements. When we go to Italy [to shoot], we are dealing with this 2,000-year-old order of vampires. The key is to cast it and to design it in such a way that it doesn’t fall completely from the story, but it’s a beautiful and intricate part of the whole thing, while at the same time, giving you the sense that you’re opening up to this much bigger world. That part of the story is a reversal of the usual rules. Bella goes to save Edward. It’s not the guy saving the girl; it’s the other way around.
In that above I also love how Weitz stood up for SM and her books. And I also love the comment and how agreed with women power—in the form of Bella.

Q. Is the music very important in this kind of film?
A. It is. The book itself is a very internalized narrative and music can be extraordinarily helpful in conveying those kinds of nuances of emotion which otherwise what you would rely on is voiceover or people flat out stating what they feel, which they never, ever do. So it helps you avoid exposition and it can make it intro a really gorgeous nuanced affair. Films enjoy more senses that almost any other art form, so music is going to play a tremendous role in this.

Q. “Twilight”, the first installment of the series, received some criticism for not being 100 per cent true to the book. Are you addressing some of these issues?
A. It’s impossible to be completely faithful to every single page of a book because movies don’t have enough time. So you end up cutting things and combining things. But I would say that we’re definitely using the book as our bible. My take on this film is the film is the book and Stephanie Mayer is my main resource for everything in this. I’m constantly checking with her to see if it’s something a character would do or a detail is right. You can never absolutely please everybody but my main intention is to satisfy the fans of the book.

Q. How does it feel to take over directorial duties of such a successful franchise? A. On the one hand, it’s exciting to take over a successful franchise. On the other, it’s daunting. There are so many fans who have high expectations for this film, but it’s made easy by the fact that I inherited this amazing cast who are certainly very talented. So half of the time, I’m just overjoyed to be a part of this and the other half, I’m nervous that I’m going to be hunted down and killed by a pack of 14-year-old teenage girls in about a year’s time!


Read the rest of Weitz’s interview here.



P.S. Alexander Desplats will be doing the music. Read more about him here.




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