Everyone seems to have Harry Potter on the brain right now, and the people who’ve brought the Twilight Saga movies to life are no exception. Here Erik Feig, Chris Weitz and Melissa Rosenberg talk about the effects of Harry Potter and how it helped to inspire movies, studios and audiences alike. Read more below:

Erik Feig

“There was a sea change with Harry Potter,” says Erik Feig, president of worldwide production at Summit Entertainment, which has made the Twilight movies. “The story has a younger protagonist, but the book series and the movies are greatly enjoyed by older people, too. I devoured the first book and gave it to every grown-up I knew. We saw the same thing with Twilight. We did not ghetto-ize it as a young-adult movie. Nor did they with Harry Potter. They drew all audiences. It was an inspiration to us.”

Chris Weitz

“The impact of the Potter series has been tremendous in that it has essentially become the idea of a modern franchise,” says director Chris Weitz (Twilight: New Moon; The Golden Compass). “They latched onto something that has its own sequels built in. Now everyone is looking for a literary property that extends enough for them to keep on building.

“It’s led to this speculative bubble in mystical young-adult fiction. Twilight found its own way to hit upon the hunger for the supernatural and a particular time of life. But if you look at the bookshelves now, half of what is coming out in (young-adult) fiction is about a werewolf or a vampire or angels or demons. The other half is about magic and wizardry.”

Melissa Rosenberg

“The Harry Potter filmmakers and screenwriter Steve Kloves really respected the fans,” says Melissa Rosenberg, who has written the screenplay for each Twilight movie. “When you’re adapting a book series and you have that kind of fan base, you really have to deliver. You can’t just use the books as a jumping-off basis for another story. When I see a Harry Potter movie, I forget what is missing. Because Kloves is taking me and those kids on the same emotional journey as the book does.”

Those adapting beloved novels use Potter and Rowling as a template.

“The audience looks to see if the author is happy with the adaptation,” says Rosenberg. “If the author is, then the audience has permission to be happy, as well.”

Read the full article at USA Today here.

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NPR has a rather tongue-in-cheek article that looks at the young actors who have played main parts in large franchises, and just what their future careers may hold. Included are members of the casts from Harry Potter, The Twilight Saga and The Lord of the Rings. Read more below:

With employment numbers stuck in a rut and high school grads among those least likely to land jobs, along comes fresh competition. Do you have any idea how many wizards, werewolves and vampires are going to be out of work soon?

In a few months, Craigslist is going to have all kinds of eye-catching resumes:

SCHOOL ATHLETE (captain of Quidditch team) seeks entry-level position. No degree, but considerable leadership experience. Contact Harry James Potter.

Or:

NIGHT SHIFT SOUGHT by graduate of multiple high schools. If you’re thinking extremely long-term, ask for Edward Cullen.

OK, maybe these characters won’t be stealing jobs from the newly graduated, but what about the actors who will no longer be playing them once their series end? We’ve known little Danny Radcliffe since he was just a wand-wielding tyke. Now, he’s on Broadway, and what’s he doing? Looking for work, appropriately enough, hoping to work his way up from the mailroom in the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

That title is kind of the question for all these young millionaire actors who’ve starred in the Potter and Twilight franchises. It’s hard, after watching them in four or five or eight movies as one character, not to picture them in their most famous roles, even when they’re taking on new ones

Read the full story at NPR here.

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In some very sad news, the View Point Inn, used for filming the prom scene in Twilight, caught fire on Sunday. Much of the inn’s top floor was destroyed, as you can plainly see in the pictures. Check out more below:

CORBETT, Ore. - The historic View Point Inn in the Columbia River Gorge caught fire on Sunday, sending a plume of smoke into the sky and burning much of the building’s top floor.

The inn’s owners said two people walking around the back of the inn first spotted the flames and ran inside to alert employees.

The two people were fans of the Twilight movie. Part of the popular movie was filmed at the inn and movie fans often stop by to visit, the owners said.

Investigators said sparks from the chimney that landed on the cedar shake roof started the fire.

Staff members tried to put the fire out with a garden hose, but were not successful.

Read more at KATU.com here.

(Thanks to NorCalGidget!)

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While The Twilight Saga has been mainly filmed in Oregon (Twilight), Vancouver and Louisiana (New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn), it’s interesting to note that the state of Washington has ended their film incentives for filmmakers to come to the state. Even though most of the Saga takes place in Forks, Washington it doesn’t mean that the state of Washington could meet up to other states incentives. Read more below:

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington is boldly going where few states have gone before: It is ending incentives for the film industry.
An arms race among states in recent years led almost all to offer various benefits to lure production studios. Up until the start of July, Washington was offering a 30 percent rebate off the amount of money spent in the state — but lawmakers declined to extend the program.

The industry warns that Washington stands to lose out on future productions because it can’t compete with the incentives offered in Vancouver to the north and Oregon to the south, which both offer lucrative benefits to lure projects.

“We become a quintessential fly-over state,” said Amy Lillard, executive director at incentives-managing group Washington Filmworks. “We are between two very aggressive jurisdictions. If you’re a producer and a business person, it doesn’t make sense to come to Washington.”

Even with the film incentives, Washington still wasn’t getting some of the work that would logically be shot in the state. The vampire-and-werewolf story behind the popular movie “Twilight” was based in Forks, Wash., but much of the film was shot in Oregon.

Lillard said the “Twilight” movie bypassed the state because Washington’s incentives weren’t good enough while “The Killing” recently went to Vancouver because of the uncertainty over the future of Washington’s incentives. The group still has about $3.5 million raised in the first half of this year to lure additional production and has recently approved four new projects, but Lillard said others are already reconsidering whether they will come to Washington.

Read the full story here.

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Despite a valiant effort to raise the funds needed, Forks High School and it’s 1925 facade have been demolished this month. The Peninsula Daily News has the full story of the building’s now famous history:

FORKS — Efforts to save the 1925 facade at Forks High School ended earlier this month when the last remnant of the then-named Quillayute Union High School was demolished.

But the venerable building still has more history to reveal.

One time capsule was opened this month and two more thought to be on the old school campus will be investigated later, and part of the facade will be preserved.

The oldest portions of Forks High School — made famous literarily in the Twilight series of teen romance novels — became doomed after an $11 million school construction bond was approved to raze them and build new school buildings.

Attempts were made to save the historic facade — which had great sentimental value for its generations of graduates and was a popular spot for Twilight fans to have their pictures taken in front of the entrance proclaiming “Quillayute High School.”

But the condition of the 86-year-old brick-and-mortar facade was too poor to save without expensive renovations.

A community effort to raise the $287,000 needed to save the facade raised only a few thousand dollars.

The school district asked the demolition crew to hold off until the last possible moment, Quillayute Valley School District Superintendent Diana Reaume said.

There was hope that a donor would come through in the eleventh hour, but time ran out, Reaume said.

Read the full story at Peninsula Daily News here.

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Glamour UK has put together a list of the “50 Hottest Movie Moments” and The Twilight Saga didn’t just make the list once, but instead a total of three times! Check it all out below:

#2 Twilight, 2008 Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart

She was an ordinary schoolgirl, he a 109-year-old vampire Adonis. Their forbidden love (not to mention the fact he may drain her any minute) only served to heighten the tension of the moment their lips finally met. Swoon.

#3 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, 2010 Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart

Of course, R-Patz couldn’t have all the fun, and by the third Twilight flick, werewolf Jacob had his hairy paws on Bella too. Their on-screen, lust-filled smooch was the culmination of months of sexual tension ‘tween the best friends and even had fans questioning their obvious chemistry. Rob who?

#30 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, 2011 Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart

We’ve seen enough teasing on-set shots and heard enough tempting backstage gossip to know that the final Twilight instalment is set to be the steamiest yet. And if you’ve read the books, you know what we’re talking about… We can only hope that Edward gives enough shirtless action to live up to our expectations. It’s a given that Jake will.

Read the full list at Glamour UK here.

(Thanks Noor!)

I can’t believe they left off the reunion moment between Bella and Edward in New Moon! That is still one of my favorite movie moments ever.

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The Huffington Post has a new interview with the beautiful Elizabeth Reaser as she promotes her new movie, The Art of Getting By. Liz jokes about how she’s playing a mom again like she did in The Twilight Saga, while never having played that role in real life. Liz goes on to talk about her roots in the Juilliard School, her amazement at the reach of the Twilight films and her other projects. Read more below:

Reaser has larger roles in two other films due before the end of the year: Jason Reitman’s Young Adult, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1. Her involvement with the Twilight phenomenon has been eye-opening.

“When I took the role, I didn’t even know it was a book,” she says with a laugh. “And it was all so hush-hush - there was no script to get my hands on. It’s amazing the reach those films have had.”

Reaser, a native of rural Michigan, graduated from the Juilliard School with the intention of working in theater: “I wanted to do plays,” she says. “But then I got out of school and started getting jobs in movies and TV. And I seemed more suited to that. I like the intimacy of working for the camera, the size of performance it requires. I love getting into tiny moments.”

She’s been at the center of a couple of TV series (including The Ex List: “I could tell that one was falling apart quickly”) and had lengthy character arcs on a couple of others (Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Wife). She didn’t watch her TV shows - or her films.

“I don’t like to watch myself,” she says. “For the most part, I find it weird. It depresses me; I’m very critical. Then I’ll watch it, like, three years later and think, ‘That wasn’t hideous.’

Read the full interview at The Huffington Post here.

(Thanks Noor!)

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