The Twilight World

The Swans Have a Not-So-Extreme Makeover

As any good Twilighter knows, the original film was shot in Portland, Oregon, but the sequels were moved to Vancouver, necessitating re-creations of such key locations as the Cullen house and Forks High. When production designer David Brisbin oversaw the ”rebuild” of Charlie Swan’s house, he studied the original location obsessively and created exactly what he had seen — with one key addition. Take a look at the ”New Moon” trailer and you’ll see a scene where Jacob leaps parcours-style up a tree and into Bella’s bedroom window. In the original ”Twilight,” that bay window wasn’t there; Brisbin, however, felt that the moment was important enough to make the tweak.

Hell Hath No Fury

Actor Chaske Spencer stands 6-foot-2 and put on 15 pounds of muscle to play Sam Uley in ”New Moon.” Kristen Stewart is 5-foot-5 and barely weighs more than 100 pounds. But when a pivotal scene called for her to punch and push him, Spencer left the set covered with black-and-blue mementos. ”We did this scene and Kristen, she has a mean right hook,” laughed the muscular Spencer. ”She hits me — I think it’s in the trailer. She hit me really hard, and I’m trying to be all guy-ish, show that she didn’t hurt me in front of [the other wolf pack] guys, or I’ll get teased. After 15 takes, ouch! She’s a little firecracker.”

Don’t Go Booking That Flight

We don’t want to accuse anyone of product placement, but when Bella and Alice head to Italy in a hurry near the end of ”New Moon,” let’s just say it’s very obvious that they’re flying Virgin America airlines. And while thousands of people travel to Forks every month, they might not have so much luck retracing the Saga’s roots this time: Virgin America doesn’t offer flights from Seattle to Italy in real life — not even when you’re in a hurry to save a loved one from exposing himself as a vampire.

A Little Light Reading

Moments after arriving on set, each ”New Moon” actor was handed a 20-page pamphlet written by director Chris Weitz, who envisioned them as ”orientation guides” for the cast and crew. Although he was the rookie and many of his actors were on their second ”Twilight” film, Weitz’s unusual document laid out his plan for the style and locations of the film — and encouraged the actors to improvise so that the plan could be taken to the next level.

Black and Right and Red All Over

In the original ”Twilight,” fans never saw Jacob’s house. But in ”New Moon” the run-down home on the Quileute reservation needed to be glimpsed several times, which had the filmmakers searching until they found an appropriate-looking shack near the forest where Jacob and the wolf pack would spend much of their time. The only problem? The house they found was green, but it had been described in Meyer’s novels as a red house. Intent on keeping the franchise’s obsessive fans happy, the whole place was painted red just for the movie.