New Moon Press Conference Report

Pel attended the New Moon Press Conference with Kallie of Twilight Seires Theories and Kimmy of His Golden Eyes. We got to the designated spot (which was kept an uber secret) at about 8:00. Once our press credentials and names on the list were confirmed, we managed to get in and to get a seat in the second row. The first row was reserved from photographers only.  Everyone from fansites, to Rotten Tomatoes, to Boarders Media, you name it was there.

They established a few ground rules to start (which comes into play later) they were basically: front row photographers only, no flash during the discussion panel but photo op before and after, and limit questions to the movie New Moon itself not their personal lives or other projects.

So, as we were waiting, Pel saw Steve AKA “Capone” from Ain’t It Cool News. Pel had met Steve back in Chicago at the Flashback Weekend convention and they swapped this year vs. last year  Twilight Saga Comic Con stories.  One of the things Steve and Pel both agreed on is that Twilight is now a bigtime, mainstream studio franchise. The press set up was way different. Last year it was more like trying to get people to cover it, this year it’s who made the list. Pel said, “Well, it’s graduated from being ‘The Little Indie Movie That Could’.

Eventually Kristen, Tayor, and Rob came in about 20 seconds of space in between them. What was really funny is the cameras zoomed in on Tayor and Kristen right away. It took them a second to realize Rob was about 10 feet away and because of how Taylor and Kristen were initially standing there wasn’t room for Rob to stand next to them. Rob looked on amused that no one seemed to realize right away that he was there (don’t worry in about 10 seconds the media caught on) and then Taylor and Kristen looked like “Where’s Rob?” realized the problem and nudged over.

After that the panel discussion began. Rob seemed truly jet lagged but managed a couple of funny one liners like when asked by an LA TV Station “What question did he never want to be asked again?” He responded, “I don’t know, what is it like to kiss Taylor Lautner.”  The room cracked up but Taylor didn’t hear the answer at first because he was saying something to Kristen. He had this hillarious “hmm obviously I missed something” look on his face and then just went to the million dollar smile and everyone cracked up again.    The same question was then posed to Tayor and Kristen.

Taylor said that he really doesn’t ever want to be asked to growl again. A lot of fans ask him to growl when they meet him and he really doesn’t enjoy growling on command.

Kristen thought about it and said, ‘There nothing really, you could ask me anything.” (Mind you she clearly meant regarding the movie filming.)

So then they announce two more questions and the last question goes to a guy goes to every press conference dressed in a bad brown 1970’s suit, his tie pulled down,shirt untucked, avaitor sunglasses, and a retro-mustache that rivaled Billy Burke’s.  With all the media in the room they somehow gave a question to this guy and it was the last question. This is a guy whose website is focused on satire, edgy stuff that pokes fun at the entertainment business. Nothing wrong with that, not like it pretends to be anything other than that. We don’t really know what the team was thinking when they gave him a question, it’s kind of like assuming the rep from the Howard Stern show  would ask a legit question.

So what does he ask…words to the effect of “You guys have such great on screen chemistry. Anything going on off screen?  The reaction was predicable the entire rest of the press lets out groans, explicative, eye rollage. Taylor, Kristen, and Rob looked at him like he had lost his mind. Fortunately they let someone else ask a final question.

Pel is editing the footage and should have it up shortly as well as some behind the scenes items.