‘I can assure you we’re staying very, very close [to the book],’ Weitz says.

By Terri Schwartz

“New Moon” trailers have established fairly clearly the basic premise of the film: Edward leaves Bella. Bella is sad. Jacob helps Bella feel better.

For anyone familiar with “Twilight,” they know the central love story surrounds the human Bella Swan and the vampire Edward Cullen. It is the onscreen interaction between stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson that fans are paying their good money to see — to the point, Bella’s aural hallucinations in the novel have become visual onscreen, so that the two can have more screen time.

So fans were a bit concerned when they saw what looked to be a kiss between Bella and Taylor Lautner’s Jacob Black in the second theatrical trailer. As a quick spoiler, in the novel Bella and Jacob do have an almost-kiss, but it is interrupted.

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‘I’m excited to see finished stuff from ‘Eclipse’ rather than anything in progress,’ director says.

By Terri Schwartz

With filming on “Eclipse” wrapping up, we couldn’t resist asking “New Moon” director Chris Weitz whether he had seen any of the footage from next summer’s blockbuster. He hadn’t, he said, because he’s been busy working hard to bring fans “New Moon,” which hits theaters in less than a month. Surprisingly, he said he didn’t really want to see the footage yet.

“As a fan and a filmmaker, I’m excited to see finished stuff from ‘Eclipse’ rather than anything in progress,” Weitz said. “When you see works in progress, there’s always some guy standing in front of some big green curtain, and it’s all terribly disappointing. You really want to see the good stuff once it’s all finished.”

After “New Moon” was finished filming , Summit Entertainment announced that David Slade would be directing “Eclipse.” Weitz said he had some early chats with Slade to let him know what “New Moon” was going to look like and how he had filmed the story, and then let Slade decide how he wanted to film the series’ third installment.

“It was like the transition team, so I could kind of let him know where things are going,” Weitz said. “The transfer of power was very successful. The transition teams coordinated extremely well.”

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Taylor Lautner’s wolf in the first teaser trailer ‘wasn’t the full-fledged, pimped-out wolf,’ Weitz says.

By Terri Schwartz

For fans paying attention to the new “New Moon” TV spots that came out over the past week and a half, they would notice that the wolf Taylor Lautner’s Jacob Black transforms into looks a bit different than the original wolf in the first teaser trailer.

Well, that’s because it is different — about 500 times different.

“Every CGI shot goes through sometimes hundreds of iterations,” director Chris Weitz explained. “Like, for instance, that first shot we put out was a work in progress. It was probably version 150 or something. That shot itself is now at version 550, I think.”

Lots of tinkering went on in the four months from when the first trailer was released until the most recent teasers, but that’s not even the final version that’s going to be seen in theaters. “We’re still tweaking them to the last possible day,” he said.

With the release of “New Moon” less than a month away, that day looms ever closer. Fortunately, the wolves are looking significantly more terrifying than they did the first time around.

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Taylor Lautner is ‘incredible — and I’m not saying that because he takes his shirt off in every scene,’ she laughs.

By Larry Carroll

“Twilight” mastermind Stephenie Meyer describes Rosalie Hale as the most beautiful woman in the world — a tall, statuesque vampire with long, wavy, blond hair and eyes resembling violets. Onscreen, 21-year-old beauty Nikki Reed has lived up to that impossible description, endearing herself to fans even as she further antagonizes their beloved Bella Swan.

Rounding out a week of Cullen family interviews that has included Jackson Rathbone, Elizabeth Reaser and Kellan Lutz, we caught up with the refreshingly frank actress to talk about the joys of a half-naked Taylor Lautner, rainbow analysis and why she’ll never, ever own a Rob Pattinson doll.

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‘I don’t relate to this type of character,’ she says of the ‘Twilight Saga’ matriarch.

By Larry Carroll

She may be the sweet, smiling matriarch of the most beloved vampire family in the world, but that doesn’t mean Elizabeth Reaser can’t still be a badass.

With just a few weeks remaining before “New Moon” hits theaters, we caught up with the 34-year-old actress sometimes known as Mrs. Esme Cullen during her final days on the “Eclipse” set. During an exclusive chat with MTV News, Reaser was eager to talk about ripping apart mountain lions, asking for Robert Pattinson’s autograph, and why she thinks one of her co-stars should have played Esme instead.

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‘She had some fun playing, really, the most evil of all the bad guys,’ Weitz says of the actress.

By Terri Schwartz

Next month’s “New Moon” release features a number of changes from its sequel’s debut this time last year. There’s new director Chris Weitz; a new cast of characters, including bad vampires and a wolf pack; and Taylor’s Lautner’s 30 pounds of muscle.

But one of the most exciting changes from last year’s “Twilight” is purely visual in nature: shooting the third act of the film on location in Italy.

“Wow, am I glad we were able to shoot there,” Weitz said with a laugh in a recent phone interview with MTV News. “We went to about 12 different hilltop towns in Tuscany, which was both delightful and exhausting, because it had to be done relatively quickly. Montepulciano had the most symmetrical main square that I could find, so that was the winner for that reason.”

Fans can expect about 20 minutes of the film to be spent in Italy or in interior shots set in Italy. While trailers released for “New Moon” show hints of flashbacks featuring the Volturi, Weitz said most of the time is dedicated to the present day.

The use of color in the film is a big change from “Twilight,” especially with the striking use of red shown in the trailers during a festival in Italy.

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Fourteen-second lip-lock conveys the pair’s mutual desire and sense of danger.

By Larry Carroll

In the “Twilight” Nation, every leaked shot is cause for celebration, every new piece of footage is reason to skip school, and every new glimpse of Robert Pattinson is the highlight of a given week. It’s no surprise, then, that the Internet is abuzz with a never-before-seen clip from “New Moon” that features a scintillating smooch. OME, indeed.

“It’s still my birthday,” Bella (Kristen Stewart) asks in an early scene from the November 20 “Twilight” sequel, noticeably swallowing her fears over a blossoming romance with vampire Edward Cullen. “Can I ask one thing? Kiss me.”

The clip plays for only 47 seconds but will undoubtedly be replayed for hours by drool-heavy Twilighters wishing they could get a similar wish on their next birthday. Looking like he’s about to cry, RPattz leans in and lets KStew wrap her hands around his face, simultaneously kissing his leading lady and conveying the sense that Edward is battling back the temptation to make the human his late-night snack.

The two star-crossed lovers swap spit for 14 seconds, each moaning to convey their mutual desire and sense of danger. Edward doesn’t say a single word during the clip, but he doesn’t need to.

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Actress also talks about cast’s shared love of kittens, board games.

By Larry Carroll

The tabloid covers may be dominated by Rob and Kristen, but in the hearts and minds of “Twilight” fans, there is no cover girl as dazzling as so-sweet-she’ll-give-you-a-cavity series star Ashley Greene.

With “New Moon” less than a month away (hooray!), and Alice Cullen’s screen time substantially increased, we caught up with the actress and occasional MTV News correspondent to get her latest thoughts on stealing expensive cars, playing board games with Kellan Lutz, and the “New Moon” cast’s shared love of … kittens?

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Ad features scenes of Rachelle Lefevre in action, Taylor Lautner backflipping into wolf form.

By Eric Ditzian

We’re not even into November yet and the extended looks at “New Moon” continue to flood in on an almost daily basis. This week alone Summit Entertainment dropped 11 brand-new pics of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and others, plus a fresh clip that showed Stewart’s Bella Swan going face-to-face with a shape-shifting werewolf. Continuing this streak of “New Moon” sneak peeks is a brand-new 30-second TV spot, which premiered during “Access Hollywood” on Wednesday, that showcases a number of vampire versus werewolf face-offs.

The ad gives us our first good look at Rachelle Lefevre’s vampire Victoria in action. Flame-haired and steely-eyed, we see her standing in the woods as she stares down an approaching werewolf. She then pulls a super-fast 180 and takes off in the other direction as the hairy beast floods the frame. The shot then cuts to Victoria sprinting through the forest while the wolf charges behind her. Finally she leaps athletically into the air to escape her predator.

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