TA TALKS BACK: ROME (POSSIBLE NEW MOON MOVIE LOCATION)

TA forum member SJB123 presents TA with her Rome experience:

The remnants of the deposed Romanian vampire coven, Vladimir and Stefan, now of Rome, Italy, released an ad campaign directed at Summit Entertainment to promote Rome as an upcoming New Moon movie location, as a stand in for Volterra, Italy. The campaign, and accompanying PR blitz, is a direct response to last week’s campaign release by the ruling Volturi vampire coven on behalf of Volterra, Italy. New Moon will be the latest film installment of the hugely successful Twilight franchise, based on Stephenie Meyer’s series of young adult vampire novels.

Both locales offer enticing attributes to Summit. Volterra boasts a picturesque medieval setting in the Tuscan hills, as well as the actual sites described by Stephenie Meyer in New Moon, including the Piazza dei Priori, the Palazzo dei Priori, complete with belltower, and the famed alley, in which a pivotal scene occurs. Rome is the Eternal City, with ample beauties of its own, and home to sophisticated production facilities, experienced crew, and a booming hospitality industry.

Rome is absolutely stunning and vibrant, one of the great cities of the world. Bell towers, palazzos, glorious fountains, and vast piazzas abound. When searching for a medieval look and feel, Rome does not immediately spring to mind, save the Trastevere neighborhood, with its mazelike network of narrow, cobblestone alleys and medieval belltowers, if not palazzos.

Rome is also the newly established home base of the Romanian coven. They relocated to Rome once Romania joined the European Union, placing them in close proximity to their arch enemies and usurpers, the Volturi. There is no love nor blood lost between these two warring vampire covens. While the Romanians lack the strength or numbers to reclaim their former thrones, they live to irritate the Volturi at all possible opportunities. The current situation is no exception.

The rivalry between the vampire covens ostensibly developed when Summit Entertainment indicated Rome, Italy as a possible film location for New Moon. The Volturi of Volterra reacted by releasing their campaign to convince Summit not to eschew Volterra in favor of Rome. Volturi spokeswoman Heidi explained, “Why go anywhere else? Why recreate Volterra when you can have Volterra? When we heard that Summit was considering shooting in Rome in lieu of Volterra, we knew that we had to do something. We wanted to show them just how beautiful, cool, photogenic, and atmospheric Volterra is. There is no replacement.”

The Romanians strongly disagree. “There is a replacement for Volterra; it’s called Rome,” snickered Vladimir.

Stefan concurred, “Not a replacement. Better. Better than Volterra. An improvement. Why go to Volterra when you can have Rome?”

Vladimir continued, “A vast improvement. Whatever Volterra has, Rome has more of it, and some. We don’t need a vamp girl in our ads to sell Rome.”

Stefan agreed, “Trashy vamp girl. No vamp girl in our ads.”

And, yet, Volterra is the city both named and described in New Moon, not Rome, and the Twilight fandom have been sticklers for accuracy. Heidi continued, “The Twilight fan base is already well aware of Volterra, Italy. They know what the Piazza and Palazzo dei Priori look like. They know in which alley Bella saved Edward . . . this is what the fans want, and Summit knows this.” The Twilight online universe has been flooded and glutted with images and videos of fan trips to Volterra, scouring and devouring every corner of the moody medieval town.

The Romanians reponded to the assertion that the fans would accept nothing other than the actual Volterra to serve as the upcoming film’s version of Volterra. Vladimir explained, “Where does Twilight take place? Forks, Washington. Where was Twilight filmed? Oregon.”

Stefan reiterated, “Not Forks. Oregon. Not Washington.”

Vladimir continued, “Did the fans complain? No. Why? Because Oregon is better than Washington. The fans want the movie to look good, don’t they? And, don’t try to tell me that the fans don’t know what Forks, Washington looks like, because I know that they do.”

Stefan concurred, “Forks is a dastardly place. Just vile. Like Volterra. Foul, putrid. We were so disappointed when events didn’t unfold as expected in Forks. So terribly disappointed.”

Vladimir concluded by extolling the virtues of Rome, “Summit would be terribly foolish to shoot anywhere other than Rome, in Trastevere. The medieval architecture is there, the facilities are there, the infrastructure is there, the fans will love the look of Trastevere, and the crew will have a great time. The nightlife in Trastevere is delicious.”

Calls to Summit for comment on this story were not returned.

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