New Interview — David Slade, Wyck Godfrey, & Melissa Rosenberg Talk Eclipse!

MoviesOnline.ca recently sat down with Eclipse Director David Slade, producer Wyck Godfrey, and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg.
In the interview they talk all things Eclipse (including the Eclipse DVD!) and they also touch base on Bryce taking over the part of Victoria that was previously played by Rachelle Lefevre -

Q: Why should somebody see “Eclipse”?
David Slade: I guess, like, if you’re not into the World Cup, and there’s nothing worth seeing on TV and you’ve not got any plans, we’ve got, like, I think six or seven decapitations. You know, if there’s nothing much going on that night, it’s a good night out. As long as there’s nothing else on at the movies you want to see. But no, being serious, I think it’s the most mature book, and I think we made, we went for the most mature film. Certainly, there’s a great deal of romance in the film, but there’s also other things. Vengeance is a very big theme in the film. Our action sequences all are built out of character, so they’re not just effects. They’re actually built out of a need to get to a place. And I think it’s a film for everyone, this one.
Q: What did you do to prepare for “Eclipse” and how did you bring your own style to the film?
David Slade: There’s a cinematic vocabulary to each of the films they’ve done. And it doesn’t come from that much premeditation. It comes from two things. One, seeing the film in my head before we go out and make it, and being very clear about what that is and planning it, and then two, what’s right for the scene and the character. I believe the most interesting thing to look at in the world is the human face, so that is why I tend to be a little closer to those human faces than maybe other directors would be.

Wyck Godfrey: When you were first talking to us about the movie, you had said that by letting the background fall out of focus and really focusing on the characters in the dangerous scenes, it creates a heightened sense of anxiety. You feel like you don’t really know what’s back there, and in the romantic scenes it creates an incredible sense of intimacy. You really feel like it’s just these two people in that world, and I think that was really effective in the movie.
David Slade: I was going to go on to elaborate, just one sentence, which is to say that with close-up comes selective focus, and it is to focus the viewer, to point them in a direction. And when I talked about vocabulary, it extends so you get a close-up which has very little amount of focus in it, but also you’ll see medium shots and wider shots that also bring the audience’s attention to a specific place, which is entirely intentional.
Q: How difficult was it to adapt the novel into a two-hour movie?
MR: I think, to begin with, it took me by surprise, because I actually thought this would be the easiest, because there’s so much conflict in it, and you have this huge battle that you’re building toward. But then once I got into it and actually breaking the story, I realized all that happened in the third act. So then it was looking at what’s going on in the first two acts other than conversation leading up. And what I found was that a lot of the threat that is in the third act, that’s building that conflict, pulling that forward and being able to expand on some of the mythology. In a movie, we can cut away to another perspective, but in the book, it’s all Bella’s perspective. So it actually ended up being probably the most fun to write in the end, after I got over the incredible disappointment that it wasn’t going to be easy — as if anything ever is.
Q: Are there any extras for the DVD?
Wyck Godfrey: Well, the nude scene you shot that wasn’t in the book will probably be on there. I don’t know, I think with any film, you go through the process of kind of editing it down to its fighting weight, and ultimately you’re going to end up with some scenes that didn’t end up in the movie.
David Slade: There were a number of scenes which just felt excessive in terms of beating the same story, so we took them out, but some of them were really nice and are great little standalones.
Wyck Godfrey: There was a great scene with Angela and Kristin that is really just kind of two girls talking about guy troubles, and it’s really, really sweet, but it took place in a section of the movie that we really had to kind of propel.
David Slade: What happens is the film has its own momentum from the script, and you start driving and you start snowballing, you start going and going and going. By the time you hit the third act you’re just blasting along. And that scene just went — (skidding noise) stop. But it’s a beautiful scene, beautifully performed, and it’s going to be a nice, little bonus for fans of the books to know that we went and shot that stuff.
Q: Did you shoot any behind the scenes stuff?
Wyck Godfrey: Well, I think there’s going to be a lot of classic behind the scenes stuff. You’ll get to see how we did most of the action and stunts in the movie and a lot of the CG process, so all of that stuff, I think, will flesh out the experience for audiences that do like to go behind the camera and see how it’s all done.
Q: Are there any extras for the DVD?
Wyck Godfrey: Well, the nude scene you shot that wasn’t in the book will probably be on there. I don’t know, I think with any film, you go through the process of kind of editing it down to its fighting weight, and ultimately you’re going to end up with some scenes that didn’t end up in the movie.
David Slade: There were a number of scenes which just felt excessive in terms of beating the same story, so we took them out, but some of them were really nice and are great little standalones.
Wyck Godfrey: There was a great scene with Angela and Kristin that is really just kind of two girls talking about guy troubles, and it’s really, really sweet, but it took place in a section of the movie that we really had to kind of propel.
David Slade: What happens is the film has its own momentum from the script, and you start driving and you start snowballing, you start going and going and going. By the time you hit the third act you’re just blasting along. And that scene just went — (skidding noise) stop. But it’s a beautiful scene, beautifully performed, and it’s going to be a nice, little bonus for fans of the books to know that we went and shot that stuff.
Q: Did you shoot any behind the scenes stuff?
Wyck Godfrey: Well, I think there’s going to be a lot of classic behind the scenes stuff. You’ll get to see how we did most of the action and stunts in the movie and a lot of the CG process, so all of that stuff, I think, will flesh out the experience for audiences that do like to go behind the camera and see how it’s all done.

You can read the rest of the interview here!