Bill Condon Talks Favorite Scenes, Romance, and Edward’s PoV

Fandongo released an interview with Bill Condon where the director discusses some scenes in the film from Edward’s PoV that focus on his back story.

Fandango: We get so much of Bella’s and Jacob’s view in the last book, but what specific parts do we get to see more of Edward’s point of view?
Condon: There’s something that we put in there that’s referred to in an earlier book. We actually get to see Edward in his early life as a vampire and hear his thoughts about that. There’s a glimpse of him in Twilight describing how he got turned, how he got changed by Carlisle, but this is more extensive. I do think we get more inside Edward and he changes a lot, too. The wedding has an effect on him. There’s an aspect of self-loathing to him about what he did when he was a vampire [earlier] that he releases through Bella’s love. I think that’s a fun thing to watch.
Fandango also asks Condon about something fans have been speculating about – why is Irina from the Denali Coven at the wedding?
Fandango: What is Irina doing at the wedding (as seen in movie photos)? That’s noticeably different from the book.
Condon: In that case, it’s just about good movie storytelling. Just imagine if she’s not there and then in the second movie, she shows up, sees Renesmee and freaks out. No one will know who she is. People will talk about who she is, as they do in the book. Or you’d be stuck with some clunky flashback. To make something really cinematic, you put it into the present tense. She doesn’t want to come, she’s convinced to come, she gets there, she sees something that upsets her and she leaves – so that you see, you experience what it is that’s bothering her. It’s because her problem with the Cullens is the lynchpin for the entire second movie. Part of it why it’s there has to do with servicing what’s going to happen in the first half hour of the second film.
Read the whole interview at Fandango.