By Celebuzz on Mar. 26, 2009 01:30 PM

Last week’s widely anticipated announcement of the New Moon wolf pack marked the official new beginning for the five Native American actors chosen for the part.

They are already the subject of feverish fan-site activity by Twilight nation. And this is just the beginning.

“These kids are kids whose life is going to change,” casting director Rene Haynes tells Celebuzz in an exclusive interview. “They are now stars.”

“And right now they are just getting the tip of the iceberg.”

Welcome to Twilight-mania, wolf pack.

Haynes handled the Native American casting for the Twilight sequel. Her final wolf pack choices include Chaske Spencer, Alex Meraz, Bronson Pelletier, Kiowa Gordon and Tyson Houseman.

“They are all good kids,” says Rene. “They have good heads on their shoulders. I think they’ll navigate these waters the best they can.”

“I’ve told them, make wise choices from here on out. This is what you’ve been working for. Don’t mess it up.”

Just to give you an idea of the fan intensity, IMDB’s star meter showed Meraz’s star ranking rose 25,566 percent in popularity this week (the shirtless picture at the top sure don’t hurt).

Haynes’ office set up an extensive nationwide search to find the actors. They searched their database of up-and-coming Native American actors. There was a call-out for video auditions, which brought in 600 tapes (”I watched them all,” she says). There was also open auditions, including one in Vancouver which brought out thousands of hopefuls. Houseman was the lucky attendee who not only auditioned on that day, but also earned a part.

“Every single aspect was successful,” says Haynes.

It was crucial to Haynes — who specializes in Native American casting − that each of the characters chosen was of Native American descent. “It was important to the filmmakers,” says Haynes. ‘That is why they hired me. And that was my job.”

Future stars

Perhaps the hardest choice was that of casting Spencer. While Haynes declines to say what part the actor was cast for, fan sites have speculated Spencer is set for the part of Sam – a pivotal wolf pack leader who plays a prominent role in future installments.

“He’s someone I feel is going to be a star,” says Haynes. “I have cast him before. He’s always done lovely work. It’s awesome to know that it’s time for this young actor to have a great breakout role like this.”

It wasn’t a sure thing when Spencer auditioned, even after meeting casting director Joseph Middleton in NY for a powerful reading.

“It was a very long process,” says Haynes, pointing out there were many strong candidates for the part. “It was up and down, up and down. But he floated to the top.”

She’s now sure she’s found her man. Spencer is an experienced veteran who has worked with Haynes on a number of projects. “He’s an emerging young actor who has paid his dues,” says Haynes. “This isn’t just someone we picked off the street. He’s studied and ready for this.”

Another choice receiving a lot of buzz in the Vancouver shooting is Meraz. Haynes can see the appeal. “Alex is a professional dancer,” she says. “He is definitely a rising star in the Native American community.”

While all the actors are studly, the big question is, are they as studly as the bulked-up leader Taylor Lautner? “All the roles require a lot of physicality,” Haynes assures us. “They’re all quite fit.”

Credits: Celebuzz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – For “Twilight” movie fans who are anxiously awaiting the sequel but haven’t read the second book in the vampire series, “New Moon,” the film’s star Robert Pattinson offers this advice — be ready for something different and perhaps a little strange.

Pattinson became an overnight sensation playing a lovestruck vampire in the smash hit that sucked $373.4 million from global box offices, and he is in Vancouver, Canada, this week starting production on the film version of “New Moon.”

Before that sequel lands in theaters in November, Pattinson plays eccentric painter Salvador Dali in “Little Ashes,” which opens in art houses May 8 and tells of a homosexual love affair between Dali and the poet Federico Garcia Lorca.

But for now his turn as immortal vampire Edward Cullen, who falls in love with high school girl Bella Swan ( Kristen Stewart ) in “Twilight,” has catapulted him to fame and his fans are dying for details on “New Moon.”

Pattinson, for one, is cautious.

“The book of ‘New Moon,’ the majority of it is incredibly depressing,” Pattinson told Reuters. “Obviously ‘Twilight’ was about finding first love and the difficulties of that, but ‘New Moon’ is really about loss and reconciliation, but the reconciliation isn’t completely full.”

“It’s a strange story to have for a market that, I guess, wants to see a love story,” he said.

Nevertheless, the London-born Pattinson said everyone involved is working to make “New Moon” as big a success as “Twilight.”

Pattinson’s rising star has turned the former model into a favorite target of the paparazzi. Only last year, he was a relatively unknown actor whose big film credits were supporting roles in a pair of “Harry Potter” movies.

“It’s turned into this crazy situation. I guess it has become a sort of phenomenon now which I really, really didn’t expect,” Pattinson said.

So, he often escapes to one of his first loves, music. He plays guitar and piano, and his song “Never Think” made it onto the “Twilight” soundtrack.

For now, he said there are no plans to put his music on “New Moon,” but he has become “obsessed” with composing songs.

He said his acting hero is Oscar winner Jack Nicholson , and his ideal job would be something out of the spotlight.

“I like any job where you can just shut yourself away from everybody,” he said.

“New Moon,” from director Chris Weitz, is scheduled to open in theatres on November 20.

Source: Yahoo – omg!
Credits: (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

SANTA MONICA, California — Over the weekend, “Twilight” actor Kellan Lutz officially began the process of stepping into the vampire flick’s highly anticipated sequels. But when he spoke to us just before leaving for the set, we learned that the man called Emmett Cullen knows some things and doesn’t know others — and somehow both are equally revelatory.

“I’m really excited for ‘New Moon,’ ” grinned the 23-year-old star, stopping by MTV’s offices Wednesday to promote the “Twilight” DVD hitting stores March 21. “I go on Sunday the 8th to rehearse and do our screen tests and make sure the contacts fit — which I’m not looking forward to. But we do rehearsals for about a week, and then I go up in April and we start shooting.”

and AnnaLynne McCord are potentials in it, but I think that’s all the stuff like ‘Michael Copon to play Jacob,’ ” he laughed, remembering the actor who had supposedly taken the role from Taylor Lautner. “I’ve known AnnaLynne for years now. It would be fun to work with her, but I won’t have any scenes with her; [she'd be] doing the Italy stuff.

“Her potential character is Heidi. I think they’re looking for someone who is local up in Vancouver,” he revealed of the recent casting scuttlebutt. “I don’t know what the chances are of her getting it.”

Along those same lines, we had to ask Kellan about the rumor that Jacob’s American-Indian friends (including fan favorite Solomon Trimble) are being replaced for the sequels, and he revealed that some unnamed friends are in the running to populate the Quileute tribe.

“I know [casting director] Joseph Middleton has been reading some of my friends for the werewolves’ parts,” Lutz told us, saying that new director Chris Weitz is determined to keep the American-Indian actors genuine this time. “[They're] really sticking to them and making sure of their ancestry, that they are real Native Americans. They asked a buddy of mine to bring in his family tree to show that he was part Navajo! It’s interesting; I really think it is important to have somewhat-real Native Americans to play these roles to some degree, but it’s really interesting to see the way things are handled.”

Asked for the names of his possible Quileute friends, Lutz grinned. “I could tell you,” he replied, “but then I’d have to hurt you.”

The most interesting revelation of our interview, however, might have been for Lutz rather than us. When we asked him about Summit Entertainment’s announcement two weeks ago of the release date for “Eclipse,” the actor was genuinely surprised to hear the news that he’d be immersed in Emmett until at least mid-2010.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard that!” he marveled. “I’m the last to know anything. It’s been funny doing these conventions that a bunch of us castmembers have been doing, to a bunch of states and countries. The fans know more of what’s going on with our jobs than I do!”

Since tomorrow sees the DVD release of Twilight, the film’s vampires visited our building here in Los Angeles last week to record a special segment for E! News. And while they were here, we made sure to grab them and have our own exclusive chat. Kellan Lutz, Edi Gathegi and Rachelle Lefevre sat down with us and revealed the latest in the Twilight film universe, from gearing up for New Moon (which they’ll start working on this week through the end of May) to the delights and horrors of intense Twilight cast hazing, to their off-screen rivalry with Taylor Lautner—who plays werewolf Jacob Black—and their thoughts on the director for Eclipse. Is Drew Barrymore in the franchise’s future? Hit the jump for the full interview with the anti-Cullens!

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Good news fanggirls: Kristen Stewart says there will be a fourth Twilight movie. She can’t imagine why there wouldn’t be a big-screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn, the last novel in her young vampire series.

As we all know by now, Twilight was one of last year’s biggest hits, New Moon starts shooting any minute now, and the studio most recently announced they’ve officially started work on developing Eclipse.
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