ITALIAN PRESS CONFERENCE WITH CHRIS WEITZ FOR 'NEW MOON'

Twilight Italia was lucky enough to be the only fan site at a recent press conference held with Chris Weitz on New Moon. Chris spoke about the reasons Montepulciano was chosen over Volterra:

The press conference was set to begin at 3:00pm sharp. The hall was filled with journalists from all over Italy who had been invited to the city of Montepulciano.

Chris Weitz arrived around 3:12pm, and all the journalists present grabbed their cameras in order to get the perfect picture. Summit Entertainment producers Bill Bannerman and Wyck Godffrey were also present at the conference.

The Mayor of Montepulciano, Massimo Della Giovampaola, was also present along with Line Producer Guido Cerasuolo, who is already famous for his work on the latest James Bond movie Quantum of Solace.

The Mayor was very nice, especially when he said that the fountain that had been constructed for the movie fit in really well with the set. He said it was interesting to see how quickly they built it, but that it would be a lot better if they filled it with wine instead of water.

I need to take a quick moment in order to talk about the new director: Chris is a lot better looking than he seems in pictures or video. He’s a gorgeous man with a nice smile. He might be a little reserved, but from the first to the last minute, he was very courteous and very, very nice.

The print release also contained some new information, here is some of it:

From May 26th to the 29th, the Tuscan city of Montepulciano will be a host to the cast of ‘New Moon’, consisting of Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Daniel Cudmore (Felix), Charlie Bewley (Demetri), Dakota Fanning (Jane), and directed by Chris Weitz.

Montepulciano will be the shooting location for the two chapters in the book that take place in Volterra. Summit Entertainment, the production company of the film, commented on the reason for choosing this location: “We fell in love with both Volterra and Montepulciano, and all of the rest of the province of Tuscany, however in the movie business, there are some logistic requirements which force us to seek different locations. In the end, we chose Montepulciano, and we hope it can do justice to the city of Volterra.” Chris Weitz also added that another reason for choosing the town was because of photogenic reasons, as the city of Montepulciano is very symmetrical looking. He also said that if anyone was to blame for the decision, it was him, because he felt Montepulciano’s main square fit the scene better than Volterra’s main square. While Chris Weitz was speaking, I got the impression that he made a professional choice when he selected Montepulciano, and that he is really putting a lot of hard work into New Moon.

In the print release it was also reported that:

The decision that ‘New Moon’ would be shot in Montepulciano was based on months of looking at different sites, and most importantly based on the fans of the saga. A record breaking 5000 people showed up for the casting call, of which 1000 will be participating in a city party scene. An event is also planned for May 30th, and organizers are expecting at least a thousand people to show up to the gathering.

Read the entire article, here. Thanks to RobPattzNews and Sabrina on twitter. Make sure to follow TA on twitter here, to get the latest New Moon updates.

I cannot believe 5,000 people showed up at the casting call for extras in Italy. That is a huge amount of people. Even having 1,000 extras actually in the movie sounds like a huge number of people. I think the reasons that they chose Montepulciano over Volterra are reasons that will benefit New Moon the most.

What did you think of this article? Do you agree with their reasons for filming in Montepulciano?