More from makingof.com’s series on “wisdom from the insiders on film making”.

Melissa Rosenberg talks about crafting a script, and specifically  the writing of the Twilight Saga’s scripts. Of importance, I think, are her comments on the Twilight script, which was up against a 5 week deadline because of the writer’s strike. “I think it came out very well, considering. Time is quality.”

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ReelzChannel’s Twilight Weekly: Spotlight interviews screenwriter and producer Melissa Rosenberg about working on the New Moon and Eclipse screenplays, the love triangle and the famous tent scene in Eclipse.

The Twilight Saga screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg,and explained the inclusion of Victoria as the reason for Harry Clearwater’s death in an MTV interview:

“In the book, Harry Clearwater’s death, heart attack is mentioned as something that’s off screen, although it plays a crucial role in the structure of the books,” said Melissa. “Reading that it was Harry Clearwater’s heart attack it just gave me the idea of, why don’t we see this? Stephenie [Meyer] doesn’t specify what caused the heart attack, so I decided, well, you know, if could be caused by something startling him. It could be caused by fear.”

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Melissa Rosenberg who writes the scripts for the Twilight Saga spoke recently with FEARnet. Among other things discussed were her favorite new scenes and she explained how the proposal scene will be split between New Moon and Eclipse:

What’s one of your favorite new scenes or extended scenes that you’ve written into New Moon?

One of my favorites is actually the end, when they go to Volterra and confront a couple of Volturi. In the book, the conflict in that scene is verbal; there is an attack on Edward by Jane, and it works in the book, it’s beautiful in the book. It’s never acted out; it never explodes. For the movie, because it’s a visual medium, I felt like I wanted to externalize that conflict more, turn it into more of a battle. So it’s the same scenario, it’s just enacted and externalized. We get to see an actual fight.

We see that fight between Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Felix (Daniel Cudmore) in one of the latest trailers, and with its slow-motion elements it looks great.

I’m telling you: Chris and his stunt guys and the DP are just fantastic. Daniel Cudmore, who plays Felix, did a tremendous job. I love Daniel Cudmore! Not only is he terrific in this role, he’s also just the greatest guy. Funny and charming.

In your script for Twilight, you wrote in a number of direct quotes from Stephenie Meyer’s book. Can we expect the same in New Moon and Eclipse?

There are definitely some quotes sprinkled throughout. In some cases I’m paraphrasing, but I do try to include as many as I can. It’s very important. It brings the flavor of the book into the movie, so I definitely try to.

Fans want to know: Did the proposal scene make it into New Moon?

The proposal comes into the end of New Moon, and that is the first proposal. Absolutely in Eclipse, the proposal when they’re on the bed, yes — to me, that was a quintessential scene from the book. When Edward gets on his knees, with his mother’s ring, and she says yes — that was one of the most romantic scenes that Stephenie wrote in all four books.

There are so many specific scenes and events in the Twilight books, it doesn’t seem like you could take them out and still remain true to the story.

Yes. There are several that are so essential to the storytelling that you absolutely must put them in.

Read the full interview HERE. Breaking Dawn is also discussed so be sure to read the full interview.

via Twifans

ET Online has an interview with ‘The Twilight Saga’ screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, where she talks about writing for the movies.

‘The Twilight Saga’ continues this fall with the release of ‘New Moon,’ while ‘Eclipse’ will begin filming this month. ET caught up with screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, who also is the head writer for “Dexter,” to talk about what fans can expect from the next two movies.

ET: What can you tell us about ‘New Moon’ and ‘Eclipse’?

Melissa Rosenberg: It becomes bigger in scope. The first film was really a small romance in a way. There was the battle with James (Cam Gigandet) at the end. That was as big as it got. With ‘New Moon,’ we have the werewolf clan, we have the Vulturi — and in ‘Eclipse,’ there is an epic battle, so with every book, with every episode of the movie, it gets grander in scope, which is fun to write. What was great about that, too, is with the small story and the characters … to be able to grow with it and track it through, it has really been a great pleasure.

ET: Are you writing for the chemistry between Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart?

Melissa Rosenberg: When I wrote ‘Twilight,’ I didn’t know who was starring in it, so I wrote in a vacuum. There was some rewriting that had to be done when we knew who they were, because I had started with more of a comedic edge and it wasn’t appropriate for those actors and the tone. I lean toward the dark comedy, witness “Dexter.” So, going into ‘New Moon’ and ‘Eclipse,’ I knew who I was writing for. I knew who the characters were and what their voices were. It got even easier with ‘Eclipse.’ [Author] Stephenie Meyer’s created the character’s chemistry; and those two actors brought so much chemistry. I don’t think the movies would have been so successful without those two actors and their chemistry. ‘Twilight’ was beautifully cast.

ET: What was the set of ‘New Moon’ like?

Melissa Rosenberg: ‘New Moon’ was one of the happiest sets I have ever been on. The guy who picked me up, said, “This is a great set. [Director] Chris Weitz is a genius. It is so wonderful.” I was, “Okay, dude, you are overselling.” But I got on the set and it was just delightful. You can tell when it is uncomfortable and they are not connecting. Chris Weitz is just a Zen master. I went to him and I was, “You are so cool and calm. And everyone is so cool and calm.” He said, “You have no idea what it is going to cost me.” My husband is a director and I know what it costs him. You have to tamp down every ounce of panic and frustration in order to project this calmness. I hope Chris got a good vacation between production and post.

ET: What do you think of the recasting of Rachelle Lefevre?

Melissa Rosenberg: I love Rachelle, but Bryce Dallas Howard? It was a shame, but I think Rachelle will go on to do brilliant things. I just love her. I am sure Bryce will be great.

ET: There is a fourth book. Will the franchise continue?

Melissa Rosenberg: I can’t imagine Summit letting that go. Right now we are focused on ‘Eclipse.’ We are just about to start. I imagine there will be discussions.

‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ opens in theaters on November 20, 2009.

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Melissa Rosenberg describes a new scene she came up with for New Moon that she particularly likes. It involves Victoria and a snack!

Hit Fix has their New Moon set interviews up with Rachelle Lefevre, who plays Victoria and screen writer Melissa Rosenberg:

Rachelle Lefevre:

* Don’t expect that “gliding” effect to return in “New Moon.” The vampires speed is much more realistic this time around.
* Lefevre has been over 40 feet in the air for her three plus weeks of stunt work.
* Scenes only described in passing in the book between Victoria and the Wolf Pack are depicted completely in the movie adding more action to the mix.
* She’s been told to return to shoot “Eclipse” in August.
* Stewart participated in a very dangerous tidal wave stunt in a water pool that had her spinning.

Much more is discussed so check out the interview HERE.

Melissa Rosenberg:

Q: Does writing the sequels present a whole different set of challenges than writing the ‘Twilight’ script?

Yeah, because in ‘Twilight’ you’re setting up the world. You’re introducing the world and you’re introducing characters 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,’ I could write [the characters] in my mind so it becomes a more comfortable world, you know? So, ‘New Moon’ is not about setting up the world, but it’s about it’s own set of challenges because ‘New Moon’ is very internal. I mean all of those…there’s a lot of talk about how Edward and the Cullen’s are not a part of whole middle of ‘New Moon’ but actually they really are. Certainly Bella’s very much alive in…I’m sorry Edward’s very much alive in Bella’s mind throughout ‘New Moon.’ As a reader you feel his presence. You feel that helping drive that story. Harder to do in film, you know? You have to somehow find his presence and bring it there without having thought bubbles constantly. And I think the solution is going to satisfy fans. It’s going to be very much in keeping with the book and the tone of the book. So I think it would be interesting to see how I think fans will be feel pretty satisfied with what we’re doing. One, because it’s true to the book and two because we see more Edward. So that can’t be bad.

Q: You did sort of change things slightly to tailor it to be more cinematic.

There are many things that change but as long as we hit the emotional experience I think it will resonate the same way and really ‘Twilight’ was that same thing. There were a lot of things that were in the book that weren’t in the movie. But because we hit the emotional stepping stones all they way throughout, you took the same journey with the characters that you took in the book and that’s what’s really most important about an adaptation is you have to take your audience in the same emotional journey and your characters in the same emotional journey as they do in the book and then everyone will have the same experience. It’ll be as it is in the book.

Q: So then could we surmise it that we’ll see more of the Cullen’s and for example Victoria throughout ‘New Moon’?

I think you could surmise that, yes. Yes, you will.

Read the full interview HERE.

Melissa Rosenberg wrote this note on FaceBook about the set of New Moon. She calls it a “ridiculously happy place to be.” She also says that Chris Weitz is “the zen ringmaster and doing a fantastic job.” Click on the pic to read it all.

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~Kim C

Melissa Rosenberg posted a note on her FaceBook about meeting “Eclipse” director David Slade:

If Melissa Rosenberg has any say in the casting, we can expect some more nice eye candy for “Eclipse“. Celebuzz has an article in which Rosenburg states that she would like to see Channing playing Riley in the third installment of the Twilight series.

“There’s a very big battle at the end with Riley, and I think Channing would do that so well,” Rosenberg offers. “There are some complexities to that character. [Riley] really is tragic. He’s a puppet for Victoria. So he has to break your heart a little bit at the end when he realizes that she doesn’t want him. Channing could do that beautifully.”

I’m excited that she mentioned the battle, which means she is planning on putting it in the script!

Read the full article here (photo credit: graphicsDB.com)

*yes, I did search for most drool-worthy pic that I could find.

Also read E! Online’s Mark Malkin’s exclusive with Melissa Rosenberg where she dishes about Edward in New Moon:

“In the book, he’s actually an enormous presence in [Bella's] mind,” Rosenberg said. “He’s so present in her mind throughout the entire center of the book, so we really played off that, and it kept him alive in a slightly different way, but fans will feel it’s true to the book. You can’t have a Twilight without Rob Pattinson.”

And mentions why she thinks the movies will always be rated PG-13. Read the full article HERE.

Thanks to Kim at Pillow Biters for sending us the E! story.

~Jess H