Comic-Con got off to a Twilighty start this morning with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn panel in Hall H. People queued for two days to get their chance to see the stars of the film, with Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and director Bill Condon in attendance. With industrial-strength ear-protection in place, we headed in to see footage and hear what's in store. Some spoilers for those who haven't read the book will follow!
The first clip show featured the Cullen parents, played by Elizabeth Reaser and Peter Faccinelli, talking to Taylor Lautner's Jacob Black. Bella's suffering and needs vampire blood to stay alive through her pregnancy. Carlisle Cullen is determined to go out and brave the woods so that he can feed and continue to keep Bella going, but with Jacob's old pack, the Quileute wolves, standing guard outside he might not make it out and back. Jacob heads into the woods (in a scene not in the book) to face the pack and negotiate a settlement - but he may not be playing his cards completely straight in his new peace with the Cullens...
The second clip, which takes place earlier in the film, came from Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward's honeymoon, with the pair arriving on their Brazilian island and Edward carrying Bella across the threshhold (cue screams). In fact, cue screams all over: when each of them appeared on screen, when we saw the marital bed (seriously, ladies? Be cool, please), when he headed outside to go swimming and when Bella followed in a state of semi-undress. But there was also some comedy here as well, with Bella awkward and hesitant now that she faces the reality of having Edward all to herself.
However, it was all about the stars, with Stewart, Pattinson, Lautner and Condon joined by Elizabeth Reaser, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene and Julia Jones later on. The screams were, of course, deafening, despite Pattinson's new haircut looking like he slept awkwardly and heavily on his right-hand side.
On the birth scene, R-Pattz said, "I think the birth scene is so different to everything else in the movie, and also for a fantasy series it goes quite far, and is quite hardcore and quite graphic – it was when we were doing it anyway. But there’s no way to do it in any kind of tame way. But it was fun."
Stewart added, "We tried to go as hardcore as we could. It’s not your typical birth scene. It took two days to shoot – it was a two-day labour which is really hard. She’s able to fight harder than any human would be able to because she’s got that bit of vampire in her – literally. Also, at that very part too you get to see and I got to play with having venom running through your veins and feel the hell that that is – and then that’s after the most joyful moment of holding your baby for the first time."
Pattinson added, "I never get to play Edward in a way where he’s so aware of his own helplessness and is very frail and human; usually he’s controlling himself or in control of the situation. But here he’s trying to help Bella and has no idea what he’s doing and he’s just desperate. Normally when that happens in other movies Bella comes in and saves the day, but Bella isn’t there to save anyone. But it was nice to play him totally annihilated by the situation. It was fun."
It sounds like the movie builds to something of a crescendo by the end of Part One. Said Condon, "There’s childbirth, the wolf attack – things coming at you from all sides in the last 30 minutes of this movie so it’s a really intense ride."
The cast also discussed their imminent break-up after working together almost non-stop for more than four years, but as Nikki Reed pointed out they have two more years of press and premieres to go before before they finally say goodbye.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 is out on November 18 this year.