EXCLUSIVE: Edi Gathegi, who played a chillingly evil vampire in Twilight and Twilight Saga: New Moon, is joining X-Men: First Class in the role of Darwin. That character, the first bi-racial mutant (in the comic series), has the power of “reactive evolution,” which allows him to adapt to any situation or environment. Plunged underwater, he’ll grow gills, he’ll gain night vision in pitch black and his skin grows fire retardant when burned.Gathegi, who played Laurent in the Twilight films, just wrapped production on the Paul Johansson-directed adaptation of the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged. He’s repped by Paradigm and Framework.

X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn has set James McAvoy to play Xavier, Michael Fassbender to play Magneto, Alice Eve as Emma Frost, Nicholas Hoult to play Beast, Jennifer Lawrence to play Mystique, Caleb Landry Jones to play Banshee and Lucas Till to play Havoc. Kevin Bacon is playing the villain.

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Yesterday, Summit (Via @Twilight Twitter) announced “Tomorrow make sure check @Twilight often as we make some exciting #NewMoonDVD announcements!”

Today, they declared “The cast and crew of New Moon are going to some #NewMoonDVD midnight release parties this Friday! Check back often as we let you know who is going where for the #NewMoonDVD Midnight release parties!”

It appears they have been announcing them on the hour, but here is what we know so far:

Peter Facinelli is going to New York for New Moon DVD Party.

Edi Gathegi will be in Pittsburgh.

Chaske Spencer and Tyson Houseman will be in Atlanta.

Melissa Rosenberg (Screenwriter) will be in Seattle.

Justin Chon, Christian Serratos, and Michael Welch will be in Salt Lake City.

Charlie Bewley will be in Denver.

Elizabeth Reaser will be in Phoenix.

Kiowa Gordon and Tinsel Korey will be in Cincinnati.

Daniel Cudmore will be in Houston.

Last, but not least. Nikki Reed and Chris Weitz in Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, they have not announced which location the cast members will attend, only the city.  So, if you happen to be attending a party in one of these cities, cross your fingers you choose the right one.

We will update this post as Summit continues to announce more cast appearances.

Over the last couple of days, many of the Twilight Saga cast members tweeted the holiday well-wishes to fans and followers, including Alex Meraz, Tinsel Korey, Christian Serratos, Peter Facinelli, Booboo Stewart, Edi Gathegi, Chaske Spencer, and Gil Birmingham. We wish you and your families a joyous holiday season too!

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Radar Online has a new exclusive interview with Edi Gathegi where he talks about ‘New Moon’.

Here’s an excerpt:

Radar: How scary is your scene?
Gathegi: Let’s just put it this way. I told Stephenie Meyer that my goal would be to scare every 14 year-old girl, and she looked at me and said “Edi, you’re so sweet and you have such a little baby face, no one is going to be scared of you at all.” Then she saw the movie and the dailies said, “OK Edi, you scared me!” And I said “That means a lot coming from you,” especially since she told me I wasn’t even going to be able to BE scary!

Radar: Kristen seems so sweet, was it hard to play someone who wants to kill her?
Gathegi: I can get into character. I don’t care how sweet you are, if the character needs me to be a certain way then that’s the way I’m going to be.

Radar: What do you think about Taylor? He is pretty much the buffest man around.
Gathegi: I saw it happen gradually but it’s still pretty phenomenal. The best way I can describe it is he was 16 when he started lifting and he gained 30 pounds, so basically God said, “This is your role. This is what I’m going to give your body. I’m going to allow your body to be able to do this because this is your destiny.”

Radar: Justin Chon told us about going to Wolf Camp, did you go to Vampire Camp?
Gathegi: I went to Vampire Camp for Twilight but not for New Moon. I went to Wolf Camp one day and trained with the guys. Vampire Camp is better.

Read the rest of the interview here.

MTV has an article from when they recently sat down with the ‘Wolf Pack’ for a Q&A session at the ‘Twilight’ convention in New Jersey and Alex Meraz (Paul) talked about his over-the-top scene he did with Kristen Stewart.

“I decided, all right, the Wolf Pack stay up all night looking for who’s killing people on the res, so we don’t sleep very much. So I thought it would be a great idea if I stayed up for 10 days straight.” What should have been a simple scene — a confrontation between Bella (Stewart) and the Wolf Pack — became, in Meraz’s mind, his “Brando moment.” Wanting to try something different, the actor played the scene overly aggressive: screaming, grabbing Stewart by the throat, hurtling his line at her.

“[Director] Chris Weitz comes off-set like, ‘Yeah, I like the energy Alex, but just take it down a little,’ ” Spencer chimed in: “Meanwhile the producers are freaking out back there.”

” ‘Cause nobody touches Kristen Stewart,” joked Meraz.

Read the entire article here.

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MTV also has an article about their Q&A session with Edi Gathegi at the ‘Twilight’ convention in New Jersey.

Gathegi confirmed that he’s seen a cut of “New Moon” and said it follows Stephenie Meyer’s novel closely. “That’s the whole point of having Stephenie Meyer as a consultant for all the books, because you know she has final approval and final say and they’re not going to do anything to upset the fan base,” he told the audience. “You guys are the driving force behind this entire thing.”

The 30-year-old spent about three weeks on the “New Moon” set and was met with a few happy changes from the first film. For one, the cloudy red contact lenses used to give the vampires their signature scarlet stares were replaced with sleeker models more closely resembling regular contacts. For another, Gathegi finally got to wear shoes. “God bless Chris Weitz,” he said. “In “Twilight’ we didn’t have shoes, because in the book they don’t have shoes — you know, nomadic vampires don’t have shoes. And I was cold, I was froze to death! But Chris was like, ‘Well, wear shoes.’ “

Read the rest of the article here.

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Edi Gathegi, Laurent, talks about watching New Moon with Stephenie Meyer and assures us we will not be disappointed. But he wants the length of the movie to be a surprise to the fans!?  Why? What does this mean!
His trick for avoiding paparazzi? Don’t talk to strangers!

Source: Access Hollywood via NewMoonMovie.org

My daughter and I attended the Twi/Tour in Phoenix this weekend and it was a blast. While some of the big names couldn’t make it, the stars who did come were funny and enthusiastic. I could not tape the question and answer session, but I’ll give you some of the flavor. Actors speaking include Michael Welsh, Edi Gathegi, Gil Birmingham, Alex Meraz, and Chaske Spencer.

Mike Welsh was the first star on stage. Asked which vampire he would like to be, he answered James. Was it scripted to pull his chair out from under him in the cafeteria? No, Catherine threw that in. Of the cast and their friendship? Summit made the choice to pick unknown actors and so we’re all going on this crazy journey together. Oh and by the way, they are going to make Breaking Dawn. (Says Mr. Welsh.) They’d be stupid not to… as long as you guys keep showing up. By November, you are not going to be going, “I’m over it.” Mike then very graciously thank us fans for taking him on this ride that is Twilight.

Edi Gathegi was up next. His favorite scene in Twilight is the ballet room fight. In New Moon, the meadow, of course and the Volturi scene is very good. “You are going to like that!”, says Edi. As to if he was PO’d about dying in New Moon, he says that no, he is blessed to have been in the first two movies. “My glass is half full. I miss them playing in Vamp Camp!” (Edi watched New Moon with Stephenie Meyer while in Phoenix) Thoughts on New Moon? “I don’t think anyone is not going to love it. I predict a whole new onslaught of Twilight guys!

The Quileutes were next, and they were a riot! First question up? Alex, boxers or briefs? His answer? I switch it up, it depends what I am doing. What do you have on now? Right now? Briefs. Then, Gil grabs his pant top and looks and yells out “baby blue.” (This is what started the crazed twittering from CBA. I scribled down what they were saying, my daughter texted it to Kim and Kim tweeted! If only the wifi had worked in the ballroom!) Alex and Chaske get him back for that by bringing up a Dianna Ross music video on u-tube called “Muscles”, in which Gil does cartwheels and shows some muscle. (Here’s the link to Muscles!)
How does Alex like the crazy world of Twilight? This is a great world right here. he says of the audience. I love you. I like the bond with the audience. In New Moon we were in a bubble (and didn’t see all the frenzy.) Was Alex always interested in acting? “No, I went to the New School for Arts in Scottsdale, AZ to paint, then worked at Whole Foods. I still paint and dance.”
Does Gil get a long with Taylor? “I met him at 16. He was such a sweet kid. One year later, who the hell are you? He is HOT. That is not something a father should not say about his son.”
Chaske and Alex had to keep their parts secret for a month. When the photo of the wolf pack leaving together from a restaurant was leaked, Summit had to tell about them being cast. Chaske and Gil were old friends and Chaske revealed to Gil he was cast in an “untitled sports movie” in Vancouver. Gil simply told him “Good! See you there.”
Chaske then told a story about Alex’s improvisational acting skills in which, in the scene where Paul almost attacks Bella, Alex decided to grab her neck when she screams. Apparently everyone gasped when he grabbed Kristen. Chris Weitz just said, “Let’s try to keep the intensity inside!”
Gil’s thoughts on Billy Black? He is the gate keeper –the Keeper of the Stories. Of Taylor’s fame now? Gil-”I don’t know I would want the celebrity of Taylor. He can’t walk the streets.”
Do the musicians in the cast jam together? Alex-”Jackson invited me to Kristen’s room with Rob and some others all jamming out. I couldn’t understand what Rob was singing but it sounded good.” Alex proceeded to imitate Rob’s singing style.
What is Alex’s workout routine? “Howl at the moon and run on all fours.”
Chaske– Leah or Emily? “Emily. There will be all kinds of rumors now.”

Great fun, you should have been there!

Twifans has transcripts of  Edi’s talk.

Last night on Twitter Edi Gathegi tweeted that he had just watched New Moon in a private screening with Stephenie Meyer. He was also asked about it at the Phx TwiTour I was at & confirmed it to the audience there, that he watched New Moon in a private screening with Stephenie.

It just gives me chills thinking about it!!

We recieved a wonderful email from Larissa today about her TwiTour Minn. fan encounter. Here is what she had to say:

Hey Ladies –

Here’s a little more info from Creation Entertainment’s Salute to
Twilight. The original guest lineup was supposed to be Peter,
Ashley, Kellan, Jackson, Billy Burke and Mike Welsch. Due to
cancellations for other projects, we got to see Peter, Catherine
Hardwicke, Gil Birmngham, Edi, Christian, Chaske and Bronson
instead. Here’s what went down:

Peter is awesome. After the first couple of questions, he called
all the questioners up to the stage with him and gave hugs and
answered face to face. He then missed his flight to London because
he left his passport in LA, so returned to the hotel to hang out
with fans in the bar. So sad I missed that.

Gil played the guitar and sounded spectacular. He totally loves
Taylor, and says Team Jacob fans will not be disappointed with New
Moon.

Edi had the entire audience in stitches the entire time. He has
really enjoyed being part of the Twilight franchise, and repeatedly
stated how much he enjoyed interacting with fans. When asked which
movie he would like to star in if he could, he stated, “Eclipse,”
with a huge sigh and a pout.

Christian is super sweet and looked amazing in some sparkly Alice
and Olivia leggings. She told a funny story about how both Catherine
and Jackson didn’t recognize her the first time she showed up on set
without the ponytail and glasses.

Ah, the wolf pack. Super tight-lipped about New Moon. No shedding
of shirts (despite multiple requests). But cute as all get-out.
They hugged and high-fived when they saw each other for the first
time. And Kellan needs to watch out — Bronson’s dimples rival
his! Little known fact: that picture of Chaske, Kiowa, and Alex
walking down the street in Vancouver (you know the one) was totally
posed — they saw the photographer and adjusted themselves
accordingly.

Catherine was amazing. She truly considers Twilight her baby, and
was very sincere in her praise of what Rob and Kristen were able to
do with the characters. She also let slip that Jackson was one of
the other final four candidates for Edward, and that she auditioned
him in Kristen’s hotel room while she was filming Adventureland.
She is working on a remake of Hamlet starring Emile Hirsch; this is
going to be a must-see.

Hope this is at least a little interesting, and will tide everyone
over until Comic-Con!
Larissa

It sounds like you had a blast and were glad you shared this with us! Thanks Larissa

Fox 12 Oregon in Portland talked live on the phone with actor Edi Gathegi about this weekend’s Vampire Baseball game:

Thanks to Novel Novice Twilight for sending this to us! Sara, from Novel Novice Twilight, works as a producer on the Morning show & she got to call Edi and talk to him before patching him through to the anchors. Read about it HERE.

Photo Credit: George Weinstein

Thanks so much to the amazing photographer George Weinstein for sending this picture to us. Isn’t it amazing! We’re not sure if Kellan is serenading Edi or what, but just to see Kellan play bongos & sing is priceless!