In 2005, author Stephenie Meyer's first novel kicked off what would become a massive pop-cultural sensation across multiple media with a simple story aimed squarely at young adult readers.  Meyer played with erotic vampire tropes that go back further than Bram Stoker's Dracula, upending them for a tale of quasi-symbolic sexual repression and idealized, melodramatic love that allowed the love story of vampiric Edward Cullen and human Bella Swan to become a publishing sensation well beyond its original audience.

By the time Twilight arrived in theaters in 2008, fans were already displaying an unusual fervor for the material, and the film series from Summit Entertainment caused both the breadth of the audience and its passion to increase exponentially.  Since that first film became a surprise hit, its sequels, New Moon and Eclipse have arrived in consecutive years and the franchise has grossed over $1.8 billion dollars globally, making international superstars out of the young cast pretty much overnight.  The teenage romance became a commercial juggernaut, one that has proven polarizing even as it pervades the culture and rakes in massive amounts of money.

Now, the penultimate installment of the franchise, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, is about to debut, and fans are characteristically ecstatic.  The new film, adapting roughly half of the final novel in the series by Meyer, is directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Bill Condon, and takes the story in both more outrageous and more mature directions, as Bella and Edward finally get hitched, forcing them deal with the unforeseen consequences of their union, including a vampiric pregnancy and some very angry werewolves.  At the Los Angeles press day for Breaking Dawn - Part 1, Myer and Condon were present to discuss this latest entry in the series, as were stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner.  Read on to discover their thoughts on this sequel, shooting two movies simultaneously, vampire birthing, imprinting on newborns, and the impending end of the series.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 is mere hours away from playing in front of sold out crowds all over the nation, and with that in mind, let's all ride the anticipatory gravy train just a tiny bit longer by checking out a new clip from the film.  The waters are probably about as chummed as they could possibly be to ensure a massive turnout for the penultimate Twilight, but Summit Entertainment has nonetheless dropped a last-minute clip that takes a different tack than most of its predecessors.  To wit: Kristen Stewart is nowhere to be found, as Bella's presumably recovering from her vampire-birth.  Instead, this 30-second clip features Robert Pattinson, Ashley Greene, and Jackson Rathbone going up against a bunch of pissed-off werewolves in an attempt to defend the Cullen household.

Opening in theaters on November 18th is the first installment of the final chapter of the Twilight film franchise, based on the extremely popular novels by author Stephenie Meyer, entitled The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1. Returning to pen the last two movies in the series is screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, who wrote the preceding films, and taking over the director's chair is Oscar-winner Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, Dreamgirls). The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 features the franchises returning stars Kristen Stewart (The Runaways), Robert Pattinson (Water for Elephants), and Taylor Lautner (Abduction), as well as actors Nikki Reed (Thirteen), Peter Facinelli (Can't Hardly Wait), Elizabeth Reaser (TV's Grey's Anatomy), Ashley Greene (Skateland), Kellan Lutz (Immortals), Jackson Rathbone (The Last Airbender), Julia Jones (Jonah Hex), Billy Burke (Drive Angry 3D), Sarah Clarke (TV's 24), Maggie Grace (TV's Lost), and Michael Sheen (Tron: Legacy). 

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, as well as actor Peter Facinelli to discuss their work on The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1. They talked about the new film, first time Twilight director Bill Condon, how to split the book into two different movies, the eventual introduction of actress Mackenzie Foy as Renesmee Cullen, the much anticipated wedding scene, and why the ladies love Edward. 

As you've probably seen through various gossip sites and all manner of social media, fans have spent the last several days camped out in Los Angeles hoping to get a decent vantage point for the world premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1.  Well, the premiere is going down tonight, Monday November 14th, and those Twilight fans might be irked to discover that the best view of the glamorous premiere doesn't require that you camp out on concrete for days at a time.  Instead, NowLive and Yahoo! are allowing anyone the world over to get in on the Breaking Dawn gala as it happens, with livestream coverage of the event that kicks off at 5:00 pm Pacific Time and 8:00 pm Eastern Time.  Check back here at that time for the best view of all the red carpet festivities and, of course, the stars, including Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner.

Thanks to largely to the copious toplessness and facial symmetry he has displayed as Jacob Black in all the Twilight films but most notably in New Moon, Taylor Lautner went from a child actor with a bunch of television credits and roles in Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3D to a crazy-famous movie star.  Gus Van Sant is the indie-minded and often wildly experimental director behind films such as Gerry, Milk, Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, Last Days, Paranoid Park, Elephant, and that shot-for-shot Psycho remake.  Like Vaseline on toast, these two tastes are coming together for reasons seemingly beyond comprehension, as Lautner is set to star in and produce an independent drama directed by Van Sant.

We're now mere weeks away from the November 18th release of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, and the penultimate vampire-on-human love story is about to become a ubiquitous presence in all our lives, as the marketing behemoth that has lain dormant since last year's Eclipse is now stretching out in preparation for a marathon few weeks.  Summit Entertainment has released a new behind-the-scenes featurette from Breaking Dawn.  It begins with about a minute of relevant material from the previous installments, from Bella and Edward's first meeting through their tumultuous love affair, then rolls out a whole bunch of new footage from Part 1.  Also included are interview snippets with all the major players, from Kristen Stewart to Bill Condon to Stephenie Meyer and most of the sprawling cast.

So far, promotion for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 has centered on the fact that the film contains the much-anticipated end to three movie's worth of cinematic blue balls, as Bella and Edward get hitched and finally get their righteous swerve on.  It'll no doubt be a lavish wedding and a passionate night of honeymoon lovemaking, but Summit Entertainment has released two new clips from the penultimate Twilight, and both focus on the story's darker side.  The first has Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as the newlyweds making the discovery that Bella's womb is now home to a rapidly-developing vampire spawn.  The second takes place down the line, when Bella's on the verge of death due to said vampire spawn, as Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, and Elizabeth Reaser (as Jacob, Carlisle, and Esme, respectively) discuss the impending birth and the threat of some pissed-off werewolves.

What with the big happenings like interspecies marriage and vampire baby-making, so far the marketing for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 has been focused squarely on Bella Swan/Cullen and Edward Cullen, the newlyweds played by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.  Yesterday, for example, the first official clip from the film teased their honeymoon, with their pre-coital arrival at a South American love nest.  Today, though, Summit Entertainment has dropped a promotional spot that puts the focus on werewolf also-ran Jacob Black, played once again by erstwhile Sharkboy Taylor Lautner. 

Mostly, Jacob is making like a downtrodden Charlie Brown in this spot.  Understandable, given that his lady love is gets a) hitched and b) knocked up by a filthy vampire with inferior abdominal muscles.  Towards the end, though, he starts getting his righteous werewolf on, going toe to toe with some other murderous werewolves.

At San Diego Comic-Con in July, a jam-packed Hall H was treated to several clips during the panel for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1.  At the first sight of the honeymoon bed – a neatly-made, unremarkable bed on which vampire-human copulation would later happen – the crowd let out plenty of catcalls and suggestive sounds.  Now you too can growl, "Ohhhh," from the comfort of your own home, as Summit Entertainment has released the first official clip from the penultimate film in the Twilight movie franchise.

It's a truncated version of the aforementioned Comic-Con clip, with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as Bella and Edward, respectively, arriving at their South American honeymoon love-nest, a far cry from the overcast environs of Forks, Washington.  All the Hall H excitement was based on the fact that these two exceedingly good looking people have been repressing their sexual desires for three consecutive movies, but now that they're safely within the bounds of marriage, they'll be rogering roundly in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1.

Though it all leads to a pregnancy that is a horrific ordeal for the bride and a traumatically gory, scarring vampire birth, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 kicks off with a fairytale interspecies wedding between Bella and Edward, the two lovebirds played by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson since 2008's Twilight.  Though the two characters have repressed their unquenchable sexual desires for one another for three movies, their ostentatious union gives way to a thoroughly romantic honeymoon, which in turn leads to the whole vampire-pregnancy debacle.  A new behind-the-scenes featurette limits its scope to the wedding itself, as Stewart, Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Elizabeth Reaser, and Ashley Greene discuss the nuptials, to the accompaniment of new wedding footage.