Friday, April 30, 2010

A note to fans from Bill Condon


Greetings Twihards, Twifans, Twilight Moms, Team Edward, Team Jacob and Team Switzerland,

I just want to say hello to all of you and let you know that I'm stoked to be getting underway on the adventure of making BREAKING DAWN. As you've probably heard, I've been given a very warm welcome by Stephenie and Team Summit - who are super-focused, as you know, on getting these movies right.

I'm pretty busy bringing myself up to speed on what you already know by heart: I've read BREAKING DAWN twice, rewatched Catherine's and Chris's movies 2-3 times each, have all four CDs playing in my car, and have Catherine's notebook, Mark Cotta Vaz's companion books, and even Volume 1 of the graphic novel here on my desk - a corner of my office is starting to look like Hot Topic. I realize that this barely qualifies me for "newborn" status in the universe you've been living inside for a few years now, but a guy's gotta start somewhere.

Like many of you, I've always been slightly obsessed with vampires, dating back to the prime-time series DARK SHADOWS, which I followed avidly as a kid. But that alone hadn't been enough to get me interested in making a vampire movie, even though my early screenwriting and directing efforts grew out of a great love for horror movies and thrillers. Since making GODS AND MONSTERS thirteen years ago, however, I've been yearning for a return to a story with Gothic overtones.

The wonderful world that Stephenie has created has obviously struck a chord with you, and I don't think it's difficult to see why. For me, her characters are simultaneously timeless, yet very modern. Rooted in a beautiful, real landscape with a great sense of place, Bella, Edward, Jacob, and the rest of the Forks/La Push menagerie, experience emotions that are primal, and universal: desire, despair, jealousy - and it all comes to fruition in BREAKING DAWN. This is a final chapter in the best sense; not just wide in scope and scale, but emotionally charged and intense throughout.

I'm a huge admirer of the already-iconic Kristen, Robert, and Taylor, and wanted to be the one to work with them as they face the challenges of bringing your beloved characters to the end of their journeys. Really, what could be more fun than that?

Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section below, and I'll do my best to answer them. I hope that this will be the first of many occasions I'll get to check in with you as we set to work bringing BREAKING DAWN to the screen. I am excited and grateful to have all of you alongside me for my TWILIGHT journey.

All best,

Bill Condon

P.S. Answer #1: No, there won't be any musical numbers


Twilight - Ask questions here

10 comments:

loula said...

is it going to be one movie or two?

Gisel said...

ok, i like Bill ! :)

Unknown said...

i think you should make a twitter account...:)
and i love how you described all the emotions that happen in Breaking Dawn.
my question is Renesme, the teeth baby will it be CGI or a real baby with super awesome freaky powers???

Ursula said...

I think I like him! and I agree with Shiloh, he should definitely get a twitter account up and running :)

Jenn said...

Cool! I am so glad they have finally named a director! I can't wait to see a filming date go up! I have wondered if there will be one or two films, also, so that is a question that needs to be addressed soon. In all honesty, I would rather have 1 three hour movie than 2 one and a half hour movies. For that matter, how many of us wouldn't sit through it if it were even longer than 3 hours?! I will be there!!

Cindygal said...

...@Jenn I completely agree with you! The sooner Rob is done with 'Twilight' films the better so he can dedicate his time doing lots and lots of other movies.

behnaz said...

nice actor
congraturation

LTavares2011 said...

I am so happy for the actors and especially for Bill Condon that he is definitely the director of Breaking Dawn. I love his note to the fans, as I noticed, he is really a gentleman and is very concerned (in a good way) in doing a great job, which is excelent. I am suspected to write about him because I am a huge fan of his previous works: Gods and Monsters, Kinsey, Chicago and Dreamgirls. In all of them he was the screenwriter and with the exception of Chicago, he was the director of the others.
His work is already recognized by the critics and certainly Breaking Dawn will give him a huge popularity. It will be excellent for the actors a director who loves writing, and writes very well because he will always be interested in guiding the actors. He knows a good film is not made only of a good cinematography, a good editing, a good screenplay, special effects, a good soundtrack, much money and etc. All these factors without the emotion and the passion of the actors involved, are nothing.
He did a great job with the actors, I am still very impressed with he did with Brendan Fraser (Gods and Monsters) and Eddie Murphy ( Dreamgirls ), for example, and I quote them here because many critics did not take the works of these actors seriously. They are good actors and Condon gave them a good chance to prove it.
Despite all the boring stuff Condon will have to face, and I am not going to quote them, I am very excited to see him in action, especially with Rob, maybe Edward Cullen now will have the oportunity that he deserves and Robert Pattinson, finally, the recognition he always deserved and deserve.
Good Luck, Bill!! I love you, I am twisting for you and most of all I am twisting for Rob.

I love you Rob!!!! Happy Labor Day!!

God bless you all. Happy Labor Day!!!

Diane said...

What a thoughtful introduction! And I'm so pleased at this choice. I remember loving the stage version of Chicago but doubting that it could be adapted for the screen in a way that wouldn't seem static or anachronistic. Bill Condon solved that brilliantly! Perfect for the challenges of BD. If I could make one plea, it would simply be that he remember what brought us to this story in the first place - not werewolves or action or mutant babies. It was the supremely touching archetypal love story of two singular characters, blending the Shakesperean with the down-to-earth and making us all fall in love again.

Glamglass said...

Thank you for taking the time to try and speak with the fans!! That seems quite amazing!
My biggest concern would be the certification of the movie as Breaking Dawn is the most ADULT of all the books and to deny the extremely high number of Adult fans of a FULL story (not raw, but complete emotional love scenes and the horror of Bella's Change) would be doing us a disservice. Maybe an R 18+ version could be cut along side a 13 PG version???

It would be such a shame to lose any of this amazing story!

Thanks again for actually trying to see things from the fans POV.
:-))
Twitter would be great way of keeping us updated!