On a cold Thursday afternoon, PopWreckoning was cordially invited to a warm and inviting room at the renowned Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle to discuss what has become the cultural phenomenon known as “Twilight: New Moon.” Thomas Starks was able to sit down *round table style and speak candidly with two of its newest actors: Charlie Bewley as “Demetri” and Daniel Cudmore as “Felix.”
*Not all questions are directly from Thomas Starks, but asked in the same spirit.
Thomas Starks, PopWreckoning: So I’m sure you’ve both been asked many of the same questions already today.
Charlie Bewley, Demetri: Yeah, we’re getting good at it now. You’re getting the best, most refined answer. Not like, ohhhh don’t ask that one.
TS: So what was the whole process like filming this movie, I mean, after the hype of the first one, what was it like?
CB: Well, you’re right, it was a very protected environment in filming the movies. In Vancouver there was constantly people.
Daniel Cudmore, Felix: What were they called again?
CB: They were called um…well basically there were people on the peripheral of the film set stopping the paparazzi. And you know they spot people in buildings from way off, they’d have to call up cops and shit. It was amazing man, seriously there were huge big screens that were being erected with like black bounce boards and they were to block people from taking photos from the buildings around the place.
DC: Umbrellas just like while you’re walking with them and stuff like that, just so people can’t get photos of everything that you’ve gotten all ready before it comes out.
CB: So it’s just like, it’s indicative of how big the “Twilight” thing is, people come from far and wide to just be in the city while you’re shooting.
DC: And obviously they just wanna see you.
CB: Me and Dan got to film in Montepulciano to film some of the pick ups for the “Volterra” scenes, I mean we were subject to MASS FAN hysteria. 5000 screaming girls in a very small area. The place is like a beautiful rustic city, so it’s kind of like another world for us shooting there: a real experience and we were very lucky to go there really.
TS: So were you guys given any tips as to how to deal with how to deal with this huge phenomenon?
(Some commotion from a late arrival entering round table interviewer, but these guys don’t skip a beat.)
DC: You know we’ve had that sort of media training and all that kinda thing, but not really any sort of tips, cause we would just basically go to work and do your job. But you know, to survive all of this, I mean, you would hope that you had training from your parents. You know what I mean? Cause then you know who you are. And that’s where it all comes down to. You understand who you are as a person and this is a job that you’re doing, and if someone is enthusiastic about you or the character, then you know you’ve done a good job of building and working on this character. So it’s just knowing who you are, and this kind of thing doesn’t really come around that often, so you know, just enjoy the ride man for what it is.
TS: So when you received your character, how much time did you have to prepare for the role?
DC: So are you talking about once I got the green light?
TS: Yes.
DC: Ok, the funny thing is, with acting is like, you know, with you’re audition process you usually get it the night before the audition. So to build the character you have a short amount of time to really build a lot. So you wanna do the best job you can the night before to build this to try and land the job. And then you go in, hopefully confident in the amount of work you’ve been able to put into it sometimes, like you know if you’re holding a second job you’ve only got hours in the morning to hammer it out, you’re running on coffee, you’re half asleep. But once you’ve kind of built the base of what it is, and they give you the go ahead, like you’ve got the gig, then it’s just like we had…
(Charlie breaks in enthusiastically)
CB: Too much time!!!
DC: It was almost too much time to kind of work on.
CB: Ten weeks, right ten weeks so…
DC: But building the character also helps when you’re on set. There are a lot of other outside factors, whether it be the set, whether be the costume, whether it be make up. These wicked contact lenses that we got to wear, they added help with everything that you get to do, so it’s a strange sort of beast. And then all of a sudden you’re now interacting with another person, so you’re like “Let’s do it again, let’s do it again.” It’s this weird kind of world where you have almost too much time, and then when you’re filming, you don’t have enough time.
TS: And that beautiful Italian setting probably helped a lot too, huh?
CB: That’s what we’re talking about. It’s very hard to understand, you know? You read the books and you can get kind of a good idea of what the set is gonna be like. But you don’t really know. Certainly my interpretation was slightly different, it wasn’t as grandiose as it truly was. The sound stage housed this huge vault, this cylindrical vault. The attention to detail is almost that you can’t tell until you touch it, whether it’s stone or marble. And then on top of that, you got this green screen that goes above you, which they then do CGI to create this huge dome above it. So we don’t even know how big it’s gonna be, the final thing but, when you do get to set, it’s like, “OK. Do your Job.” It’s almost like you have nothing else to think about, except your character, so it suddenly frees you up. And you start discovering different parts of your character that you were never in a position to understand before hand.
TS: So “Demetri” is the ultimate bad ass tracker and “Felix” is so raw with brute strength, was it symbiotic between you too, like when you view those characters, do you say Demetri is great, Felix is great, but together they’re greater?
CB: Well it’s like the good cop, bad cop thing. It’s a brilliant relationship that unfolds and me and Dan knew each other fairly well before hand. We had the partnership going already, and they say my character is a very sinister, evil character. Maybe he is, underneath it all. But he covers very well with this real front, this real kind of pretense of charm. It’s like “Come with us, it’s fine, it’ll be ok.” Then you realize you’re in the shit.
(The room bursts with laughter. It’s quite a true statement of being secretly sinister)
TS: Daniel you have a strong stunt background. Was there any specific stunt training you did while working with Robert?
DC: Um yeah, I was fortunate enough to do some stunts. I’ve sort of gone back and forth with stunt work and acting. I don’t really consider myself a stuntman, I consider myself an actor who can do stunts. I’ve got an athletic background, so I figure I can do that. But they set up a really cool fight scene. And the problem was, where do you go with these kinds of characters? They’re ultimately fast and ultimately strong, so you don’t wanna do what’s been done before in certain films. So you have to sort of build this whole thing up, and that tough task was left to the stunt coordinator and the fight choreographer. Robert and I, for a week, we just trained and practiced certain parts of the fight scene. And obviously as the lead actor in this huge franchise, there were certain we couldn’t do, like I couldn’t pick him up six feet off the ground and throw him into a concrete floor, but I do that with a stunt double. There were things we worked on together and he was kind of, you know, he wasn’t sure at first, he hasn’t done anything like this, and then he started to really enjoy it and did a great job with it. And then at the same time, his stunt double, Simon, that guy took some licks!
(We all amuse at someone else being subject to Daniel’s brute force) 
TS: Was he professionally trained as a martial artist?
DC: That’s kind of the thing with the stunt world, you either come from either a martial arts background, or from a gymnastics background, and then you work on as many skill sets as possible. He came from a gymnastics background, but he’s a tough guy man because I picked him up a couple of times from the neck and slammed him into the concrete ground from about 6 feet up, there were some seriously hard hits. It’s on wire and it’s work, but I’m bringing him INTO the ground and it’s aggressive. All hats off to him. Man, I appreciate that kind of professionalism.
TS: So you have strength (to Daniel) and you have tracker abilities (to Charlie), but through all the vampire lore which ability would you choose to have?
CB: Ever in the history of time? You know I’ll be totally honest with you, I never really thought of vampires as particularly cool before this. It never really appealed to me the whole vampire world, and I think that’s a testament to what Stephenie has done here and what a lot of very contemporary pieces like “Trueblood” and stuff are doing right now. They’re bringing them to the forefront and making them accessible to people. Particularly this younger generation, I think it has a lot to do with the aesthetic and the emotional writing within the vampires who might have before been considered to be passive and devoid of emotion. Suddenly these monsters have emotion, and if you wonder why “Twilight” is so big, those two reasons are key in that. Certainly when I got the audition to play “Demetri,” it was a huge honor when I got the call. I’m not unaware of how huge a thing this is. Despite being in the “world” for so long, it’s almost like you feel a couple of rungs down in the heiarchy, but when you turn around and look at the rest of the world and how huge this film is, it’s like, this is a real trip and I’m so lucky for playing this character.
TS: So have you run into “Volturi” fanatics, because there are a ton of them out there.
CB: Yeah, we have a REAL following now, huh?
(Charlie glances over at Daniel as though it’s just setting in)
DC: I guess so…They are pretty cool characters to play, and as an actor that’s really what you wanna do is play really interesting and complex characters. Then you’re suddenly thrust into this huge world that is “Twilight,” and you get play these characters that have a lot of history and a lot of things going on. So man, it’s kind of a dream come true to get something like this, and I think the fandom might grow even more after this film comes out just because how big it’s gonna be.
(Charlie proceeds to go into an excited review of his passion for this film)
CB: I don’t think anyone realizes how big it’s gonna be, NO ONE realizes how big it’s gonna be. I think a lot of guys out there are like “Ahhh yeah, Twilight, another film is coming out. Ok, I’ll let my girlfriend go watch it, yadda yadda.” But as soon as the first week’s over, you’re gonna start seeing guys filling up those, what very few empty seats there will be by that time. Because this is more of a guy’s film than a girl’s film, no one really realizes that yet, I don’t think it’s been put out there like that yet. This is an ACTION film, this a primal, aggressive film with stuff in there that’s gonna freak some little chicks out!
DC: But you still have the love story, and now the love triangle, obviously right? Then you’ve got the wolf pack, which are cast so well, and also the Volturi. There’s fight scenes, and action, and this intensity, and the love triangle, so it’s just gonna be a really cool movie.
TS: So what did you learn about yourselves in your characters?
CB: Well…that’s a good question…
DC: You know obviously with my character, because of that aggression, as a society you’ve been taught too push that away, push that down. That’s not how we run, that’s not how we live as human beings because it just doesn’t work that way. But it’s fun to know that you have that there, and to think about back in the day why you had that and to learn about yourself that you can kind of enjoy that, but you can control it.
CB: Totally, I’m exactly the same page as that as well. I have this side of me, it’s a very kind of, it’s a very European flamboyant, I won’t say “Queenie,” but it’s borderline, could be perceived as homosexual. But that came out in my character and I embraced it. A lot of people looked on and asked “Are you a dancer? You look like a dancer?” I’m like, “I’ve never danced in my life man,” it’s just coming out on set. And I was just swanning around like an idiot and more and more people were saying they really liked what I was doing with my character. So these things that came out that I’m suddenly allowed to do, I think with acting and since becoming an actor, me as a person has become more confident and I’ve really come out of my shell somewhat and back to myself.
DC: I went back and forth with acting because I lost the fact that it was so much fun. You kind of remember how fun it was to do this as a job. You don’t get to do this in everyday life, where you get to lose yourself and play make believe, you sort of lose that as a child and it’s too bad sometimes. As a society they say “Grow up, Grow up, Grow up”, but it’s great to use your imagination. I like what I’m doing, and now I’ve got more confidence in what I wanna do, and that helps also.
New Moon: movie website | soundtrack website | soundtrack review
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