So far, audiences seem sold on the film, sight unseen. Twilight cost $37 million to make, but judging from the groundswell of support from Meyer’s fans—many of them teenage girls—producers should have little trouble recouping their costs, especially considering the ensemble cast of young male heartthrobs they’ve assembled. Meyer may not be J.K. Rowling, but she’s certainly no slouch. The final book in the series, Breaking Dawn, sold about 1.3 million copies on the day it was released last August (about a sixth of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ first day). Translation rights to the books have been sold in thirty-three different countries, and the second, New Moon, spent thirty-three weeks on the New York Times children’s best-seller list. Vampire stories have some staying power—especially vampire stories about lovelorn kids.

In adapting the first book, Hardwicke and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg opted to stay faithful to Meyer’s narrative. (Probably a wise decision, considering how rabid the readership is.) Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is an average teen living in Phoenix who decides to move to her father’s house in Forks, Washington, a dreary place where it rains three-quarters of the year, to give her mother and her new stepfather time to travel. At school, Bella meets Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), an alluring and initially distant presence, whom she begins to suspect is a vampire. As it turns out, Edward belongs to a coven of beautiful vegetarian vamps—a family of sorts, brought together by a shared mandate to drink animal blood instead of the human kind.

The two begin a relationship, fraught with all the usual, uh, interfaith difficulties. Meanwhile, a rival group of equally beautiful but less friendly bloodsuckers descends on the town, one of whom decides to hunt Bella for sport. The chase is on, and it’s up to Edward to save her. “It’s just such a great metaphor for unrequited love,” says Rosenberg. “Bella feels very normal, and that can be hard when she’s surrounded by these modelesque figures, who are so difficult to relate to physically. It’s the same for any kid growing up in L.A., when you’re surrounded by models and actors.”

Perhaps energized by the beauty-myth subtext and the allure of forbidden love, Meyer’s fan base has proven to be an active one. Groups like Twilighters, Twi-Hards, and even Twilight Moms have organized online, and in July they flocked to San Diego’s Comic-Con, where Meyer, Hardwicke, Rosenberg, and members of the principal cast showed footage and took questions from the crowd—at least when they could be heard over the screams. The response to actors Robert Pattinson, Cam Gigandet, and Taylor Lautner was “a little like the Beatles on Ed Sullivan,” Rosenberg recalls. “It was insanity.” The coming-of-age story’s sequels have yet to be planned, but given the reaction so far, Hardwicke is sanguine about her chances of revisiting the series. “I mean,” she says, “who wouldn’t want to be bitten on the neck by a handsome vampire?”

TWILIGHT IS OUT IN NOVEMBER 2008 FROM SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT

See all 11 photoshoots by VMAN Magazine

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So you’re going to play the part of Jasper in Twilight. Are you excited?
I’m so excited! I cannot wait to see how it turns out!

What was the audition process like?
It wasn’t too bad. I actually lived really close to the audition and i had car troubles during the time so I just walked with my guitar. The other actors auditioning let me play my guitar so it was okay. I like to bring my guitar with me to auditions…it calms me down.

Was there any separation between the humans and the vampires?
Well at first it was just the vampires on set because we were practising stunts and preparing for the big fight scene. So when the humans came, we were all like what, humans?? But after a day we all started hanging out and became really close. It was great though because we were a large young cast so we could all go out and have fun.

Does it sound funny to call them humans and yourself a vampire?
It is actually quite funny, although I’ve gotten used to it by now… I’m in a vampirical state of mind!

Had you read the books before auditioning for the role?
I hadn’t before but once I got the role, I read the first book. I haven’t read the others on purpose because I didn’t want to get ahead of my character. It’s important to stay within the character and not get ahead of the story, although I did use Wikipedia to get some back story.

So does the film follow the book?
Oh definitely! It expands the book, although obviously its more compact than the book because the movie is only going to be 2 hours long maximum. The movie really comes to life though and it really has a strong impact.

What was filming like?
It was pretty crazy! We had to film when it was overcast, especially during the school scenes, so when the sun came out, we would have to run to the second set (we would have a cover set to use when it became sunny) so there was a lot of running around! We had to figure out which set we were going to be at for more than an hour because the weather kept changing so drastically.

Which was your favourite scene filmed and why?
I think it was the fight scene at the end. It’s one thing to play a vampire who’s out there and eating people; that’s pretty fun! We were playing controlled vampires so it was a lot of fun to go wild and unleash ourselves in the fight scene where we fight the baddies. We all go a little bit wild! Vampires unleashed!

Tell us about your character, Jasper.
Well the film is about a human girl falling in love with a vampire boy. The boy has to decide whether he can just love her or whether he has to bite her. I play one of his brothers, called Jasper. Jasper has the peculiar trait of being able to influence the emotions of people around him. He can affect how they think and how they feel.

Are you anything like Jasper?
I think so. I’m less blood thirsty but we both have a big Southern background and so that comes with the old school qualities, such as taking a girl out or meeting people daily and talking to them.

Can you tell us any set secrets?
It wasn’t a very secretive set… I had a prank played on me one night! Eddie has a very feminine voice! It was about 10pm after a long day of work and he calls me, pretending to be Kelly from production. In my defence, his voice was very accurate! Anyway he called and told me as Kelly that I had to go to work the next day at 3am… I was quite shocked but I shrugged it off and told her I’d see her tomorrow. So a few minutes later I get another call and it’s Eddie just laughing. I ask him why he’s laughing and he asks me if I’m working the next day. I explain that I have to be on set at 3am and he starts laughing again and tells me he’s Kelly. I get confused and he explains that it was him pretending to be Kelly and it was all a prank! It was a small prank but it was really funny.

Did you have any embarrassing moments on set?
I actually did! For the baseball scene, they made me bat with my left hand. I’m not a leftie at all so I looked ridiculous doing it! It was pretty embarrassing…but I finally got it down at the end!

Who were you closest to on set?
All of us kids were hanging out together, so I don’t think I was closest to someone. I guess my guitar was my sweetheart… I took it everywhere with me! It will never work out though…her parents hate me…

What was the coolest stunt you did?
We jumped off a 23 foot balcony! The cable catches you at the last moment and brings you safely to the ground, about 2 metres before you hit the ground and break your legs! It was pretty cool, like a mini bungee jump!

You write your own music. Do you have a band?
I do actually. I play whenever I’m not acting. The band is called 100 monkeys.

What instruments do you play?
Mainly guitar, keys, bass. We switch it up though so i play the mandolin and the banjo too. It’s mostly blues and southern rock…very contemporized though! It’s so much fun! It’s a 3 man band but we all switch instruments and we all sing. Lots of harmonies etc…we just love playing together!

Where can people listen to your music?
We have a myspace… www.myspace.com/these100monkeys and we’re in the middle of setting up a website. We’re also going to start to play at a local bar in Santa Monica, West Hollywood and a few other places. We’re basically a live band because we do a lot of improvs. We make up songs on the spot. All the music on our myspace is improvisations.

You sound pretty serious…are you going to launch into the music career then?
Not really… I can’t call it a hobby because it’s so much more than that but I don’t want to do music as a career. It’s a huge part of my life though… I need it to survive! I would love to have a place to play! I’m also working on an album by myself but if nothing happens with it, I don’t mind. It’s mostly for myself…

Describe yourself in 3 words.
Calm. Collected. Crazy.

If you could play any prank on anyone, what would the prank be?
I’d try to lock someone in their trailer with a pot belly pig! Most people don’t find pigs cute, even though they’re pretty harmless, so I think that would be a funny prank to play!

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
I really want to run with the bulls in Spain! I want to see if I can do it! So definitely Spain…

If you were stuck on a desert island with only three things, what would they be?
My guitar, a harmonica and a family photo album.

Tell me a secret!
I have burnt cereal…whenever you leave the stove on, don’t put the cereal bowl on top of the stove… I keep a very messy room… I am a very messy person! The only neat room is the living room because that’s what visitors see and where we hang out! Also there’s a small recording studio in the living room so it needs to be clean. The rest of the house suffers though…even my car is messy!

What’s the strangest thing you’ve had in your mouth?
Frog legs were pretty gross…I had those down in Louisiana…but honestly, I can’t do raw oysters…they’re horrible! I’d rather eat frog legs! But there are plenty of disgusting things out there so I haven’t given up hope yet!

What’s your secret addiction?
Honestly…Alone time. I’m naturally more of a loner…I like to have 2 hours a day alone; either in the park or driving alone…I just relax and collect my thoughts.

What irrationally annoys you?
Really rude people! If I’m in a restaurant and someone is rude to their waitress or too loud, I get really annoyed…I see a lot of people these days just losing respect for others. Society is just becoming very selfish…

Do you have a myspace? If yes, what is it?
well fans can contact me through the band’s myspace, www.myspace.com/these100monkeys. Or if you want to find news about me, there are two main fan sites that keep up to date with what I’ve been up to. I’m not affiliated with me but they are really great for information. www.jackson-rathbone.com and www.jackson-rathbone.org

From http://www.portraitmagazine.net

So, without further ado, MTV hereby present the third entry in their “Twilight” Stars Answer Fans’ Burning Questions series. Feel free to keep submitting your wildest queries, and look below for all you’ve ever wanted to know about Anna Kendrick’s lung capacity, Lutz’s love of velour, and RPattz’s promise to suck on your neck. (Head over to the MTV Movies blog for news on special fan events leading up to the “Twilight” premiere.)

Q: “What’s it like kissing the most gorgeous man alive, Robert Pattinson?” – Ceejay
Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan): His teeth are pretty sharp. It’s great. I like it. It’s cool.

MTV: People are also debating whether Edward and Bella will French kiss.
Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen): It’s more of a Chilean kiss.
Stewart: What’s that?
Pattinson: That just wasn’t funny. Whenever we kiss, I just try to kill her all the time.
Stewart: And I love that. She’s a total sadomasochist, if you think about it.
Pattinson: And I’m just gay.
Stewart: Or impotent.

Q: “Kellan Lutz likes Runts. Do you have a favorite candy?” – Liz
Cam Gigandet (James): It changes a lot, because I do something I shouldn’t do: I will lock in on a candy, and I will eat it until I can never have it again. I don’t know why. I do love cookie dough more than anything in the world, but that’s not really a candy. I would probably say, right now, it’s Heath bars. No, Skor. Skor bars! That’s it for sure.

MTV: Well, Mike Welch was sent thousands of socks after he made a comment about how he needed them. Are you ready for thousands of Skor bars to come your way?
Gigandet: Hmmm … I love Lamborghinis. [Laughs.] I love them, I really do.

Q: “If you had a choice to play any character (gender aside), who would it be?” – Bob
Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen): I’d play Rosalie. She’s just so feisty. And you know, to think about the gender thing, playing a female would be quite fun. It would be a stretch for an actor who is male, so yeah, I would enjoy playing your role.
Nikki Reed (Rosalie Hale): Well, thanks, babe.
Lutz: And she has a hot outfit. I’m wearing velour, by the way, so I doubt anyone said Emmett.
Reed: My monkey man! I think I would play Alice. There’s something about Alice that’s just [intriguing]. I’m sure a lot of other people feel this too. Like her psychic abilities … and that she was in a mental hospital. They checked her into a mental hospital before she became a vampire because she could see the future, and so they thought she was crazy.

Q: “Do you have the lung capacity to speak as fast, for as long, as Jessica? Because I don’t.” – Evangeline Annie Van Holzen
Anna Kendrick (Jessica Stanley): It was a cake walk after “Rocket Science”! I remember Stephenie Meyer [being on set] the day that I was doing that big speech about the Cullens. It was just a lot of dialogue. … She is quite a chatterbox, but it wasn’t too bad, because it all seemed to make sense and come from this really sweet, desperate place.

Q: “Are you aware that you’re being stalked?” – Serena
Peter Facinelli (Carlisle Cullen): Am I? Yes, and I wish you would take the tent down from the front of my house — now. That’s kind of rude! No, I had no idea.

Q: “If there were such a thing as vampires, would you want to be turned? – Kristin
Christian Serratos (Angela Weber): I don’t know. I probably would, just out of pure curiosity.

MTV: Would you want to be frozen now or later on in life?
Serratos: There’s a lot of thought that’s going to go into me becoming a vampire. I’d probably wait — no, why not? If I’m going to do something crazy, I’m going to do it now. I’d become a vampire right now.

Q: “If you could describe yourself in three words, what would they be?” – Em
Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen): I would like to think that I’m kind of chipper, upbeat and fun.
Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Hale): Um … I’m a loner who loves company.
Greene: [Laughs.] He’s a weirdo, basically.

Q: Michael, how does working on a production like “Twilight” compare to the work you’ve done in the past? – Ann
Michael Welch (Mike Newton): Well, I started out my career in television, just doing different guest spots. [I] started out with sitcoms. Actually, my first role that I got was as Young Niles on “Frasier,” because when I was younger, I was always doing impressions. That’s how I broke into acting to begin with. That allowed me to break into the sitcom world, and then from there I made the transition into dramas and then got lucky enough to be on a show called “Joan of Arcadia,” which was on for two years. Since then, I’ve been doing independent movies that probably will never come out, most of them. And then all of the sudden, this “Twilight” just came out of nowhere! It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever been a part of, man. It’s so exciting.

Q: “Robert, will you suck my blood out?” – Alley
Pattinson: Yes. Right now? Do they give their addresses and stuff?

MTV: They give their names, and I am sure if you click on MTV.com, you could e-mail any of them.
Pattinson: “Will you suck my blood out?” Is that, like, a worried question? Or is it kind of a desiring question? I won’t if you don’t want me to.