Kristen Stewart feels that the first ‘Twilight’ film was undermined by its sequel ‘New Moon’ because of the narrative choices the second film made.
Kristen Stewart has often spoken highly of her time filming the Twilight movies. But for the Oscar-nominated actor, there was a noticeable change in the second film of the franchise she felt undermined the original Twilight. Although Stewart asserted that might not have necessarily been a bad thing.
How ‘New Moon’ undermined ‘Twilight’
Stewart hadn’t read any of the Twilight books before her casting. But rather, it was the script that initially drew her to the project. In an old interview with Vanity Fair, Stewart touched on everything about the story that made the project so enticing.
“I thought it was really ambitious, this portrayal of the ultimate, most epic love story that could be. Also, Bella is not a typical female lead. The power balance between her and Edward is really skewed. Edward is this confident, perfect, idealistic man, although deep down he’s actually really afraid. Bella is naïve but also sure-footed. Whatever it is inside of her that drives her is stronger than she is,” she shared.
Although she had a fond impression of the original Twilight, the Spencer star believed New Moon took the franchise to interesting places. But this was a nice change of pace for the actor.
“It was intense. Just because of the nature of the story it goes in a completely different direction. We undermine the first,” she once told Collider. “We establish a very ideological of love and basically tell our main character, our main protagonist that she was wrong and it’s like, ‘Where’s our story?’ You’re going to be left if Edward’s not there.”
Kristen Stewart once shared she wishes she could redo ‘New Moon’
Out of all the Twilight films, Stewart ranked New Moon the highest. In an interview with LA Times, the Snow White and the Huntsman actor gushed about her time in the second Twilight film. It was an experience she even wouldn’t mind reliving just so she could deliver a better performance.
“It’s always been my favorite. I think the depths that are described in that and go from the forest to the bedroom to Italy. Oh my God, that’s why you live. If I were to do that movie now…. I really, really, really, really wish I could go back and do that movie again. I would just be better. But I love it and I had a great experience with [director] Chris [Weitz],” she said.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Stewart confided that Eclipse was her least favorite project.
“At the time we were kind of pumping them out. The movies were really close together. It feels a little mechanical,” she said. “That is the most painful, when you know it. When you are on a set and you know that you are dropping things. We were letting things just fall through our fingertips.”
Kristen Stewart didn’t think ‘Twilight’ would be a huge success
Initially, Stewart shared that she had her doubts about the multi-billion dollar franchise. Despite the success of the books, the movies were unproven, and would try to tap into a demographic she wasn’t sure was there.
“We just didn’t know. And it was kind of like an oddball, slightly marginal teen movie. I didn’t think everyone was going to take that. I didn’t think we were going to make a sequel,” she once said on the Jess Cagle podcast.
