Matt: Okay, so Stephenie we were talking a little bit about how…like how in the tent scene Jacob the first initial scene he wasn’t even touching her because you know sometimes they have to censor it. What is your viewpoint…What is your opinion about how they censor some of the stuff to film from your books? Like some from the past books. Some from the present. Or the future books.

SM: Right. Right. Some of the future. I really want my kids to be able to watch these. Eclipse is a little bit for them…I mean, not that it’s like graphic in any way but just you know, when I read the kids Eclipse I did the chapter when the younger ones were asleep. And it was kind of a thing for me and my son like: “Do you understand what this is about? Let’s talk about it. Let’s have this conversation.” I think my younger ones are a little too young for you know: “What are they talking about, mommy?” And I’m like: “Okay, well when a man and a woman love each other very much…” And I just don’t really wanna go there yet till they’re ready for it! Um, and so I mean, there…I do want them to be something that…You know the fans who are nine? They’re gonna go see them anyway. And I don’t want to have their parents pissed at me you know? I’m okay with them because that’s what our imaginations are for. That’s what, you know,…we have our version of the scenes and if they did them exactly that way? Yeah, okay the rating would be prohibitive. And uh, not everybody could go and see it. And I think that we’ll…In the next one that we’ll have some nice steamy stuff. I think it’ll be good, but I think it’ll also be something that thirteen-year-olds can get into. Which is being true to your audience.

Elysa: There’s also the gory things to consider too, though.

(chatter)

SM: There are the gory things. And the birth scene’s gonna be tricky you know? Particularly because directors love that kind of stuff: “Alright!” We were just talking about like: “We gotta have this and that!” I dunno. It’s so funny how people are so freaked out by the birth scene.

Fansite: I’m excited about it.

(chatter)

Matt: I wanna see Rob chewing on Bella!

(chatter)

SM: I’ve noticed a real difference…

(chatter)

Fansite: We need a director’s cut. An unrated version.

(chatter)

SM: I find a kind of mind with people who have had children or been around that and people who haven’t in how they receive that. Because if you’ve been through a birth scene you know this is a messy, freaky, screamy thing. And you kind of have to take that to the x power, right? You have to take it up a notch. And so for me it was really fun to write, and I didn’t even think that it was like: “Wow, this is cool! This is blood and gore! Come on let’s go!” And then like I sent it to Jodi, who’s never had children, and she’s like—

Jodi: Well no, it wasn’t that.

SM: But I think that there’s—

Jodi: I do not have children, that is true. But, it was, again I’m thinking that it’s a YA audience is what I was thinking. I was thinking with an agent’s perspective.

SM: But I was very proud I made her squeamish.

Jodi: I was just like: “This isn’t gonna make the cut. No, I’m sorry.” I was like—

SM: It got toned down.

Jodi: What were some of the other…Didn’t you say like some of the “ripping” and the bones cracking?

SM: Yeah, there were specific words like “shredding” that we had problems with.

(chatter)

Matt: Is there like a manuscript or something that we could…?

SM: I’m sure there’s an original version somewhere.

(chatter)

Kallie: That would be awesome to read.

SM: Well you know I actually have violence in my nature, although some people doubt it. But you know it comes out in different places.

(chatter and laughter)

SM: Unless you get into really horrific car accident you’re never gonna live through something like that. I mean it’s the most violent part of your life that you’ll ever have if you’re lucky, right? Well you know it’s also good birth control, right? Reading Breaking Dawn: “I don’t wanna do that!”

LT: How do you see it playing out in your mind?

SM: Um, it’s interesting. I think that it’ll be very like the book from Bella’s perspective. So you know it’ll be what she’s seeing of this scene and everything. Um, which is actually more like Forever Dawn because we have Jacob’s perspective in this. And I don’t think that the Jacob’s perspective will be nearly as pronounced in the movies. Um you know I think it’s gonna—

Fansite: Aw.

SM: Yeah. It made me a little bit sad. I mean I think we’re gonna get some good moments, but they feel like they have to keep it Bella and Edward centric so…I mean I can see that. I know how people respond to it.

?: He’s got some good stuff though.

SM: Yeah, he does. He has some good moments.

?: It’s alright guys.

(chatter)

SM: But the birth scene may be, I think that now the concept is, Bella’s perspective.

LT: You know in the first movie, Twilight, where they’re sucking the blood, the venom out of her, and it’s just like flashes. It feels like it should be something like that.

SM: Yeah, something along those lines. I mean, yeah that was a good way…When Catherine did that it really did feel like Bella’s experience more than just an outside view. She was able to really personalize it which was nice. And even Edward personal too with that shot she came up with of Bella’s face kind of morphing over the days. I thought that was really beautiful.

(chatter)

Fansite: This is the only disruption in the…so far. The motorcycle clip, where Bella gets on the motorcycle with Jacob. Our members wanna know. They don’t think book Bella would’ve ever done that. Would’ve ever hurt Edward like that.

SM: I have read the comments and I said the exact same thing. I had…that was one of those days that I threw down. I’m like…The way that this…You know in the script I said the way that this is written, her getting on the back of the [motorcycle] is a direct response to her saying: “You lied to me. Well, I’m going with him.” And we were able the day of, and they cut down the clip that they played for MTV and stuff, we were able to soften it. We were able to get some lines in, and you’ve seen the whole thing so you know that there’s a breakaway. We tried to put in you know her response to Edward, and then now it becomes about Jacob. “Why haven’t you called me?” We switched…We tried as hard as we could to soften how that went down so it didn’t feel like something where: “Well, I’m gonna go get on the back of his motorcycle.” Because I felt like that was not Bella at all, and it’s not assertive. It’s rude. You know what I mean?

Matt: Yeah. It was like a slap in the face.

Fansite: Too reactionary.

SM: Yeah, it’s not like: “I’m a strong female character.” It’s like: “I’m a jerk.” And so yeah, that was…

Fansite: We were mad at movie Bella.

SM: Yeah, that was…

Fansite: Book Bella and I were okay, but movie Bella and I were like: “Ugh!”

SM: That was very much my same reaction. I think that it, in the form that it exists in the film, is better now. I think it works somewhat. I still think it’s kind of a stretch that she would do that. But you know you only have so much…that was one I lost. Early in I lost that one. You do what you can do.

Fansite: They’ll be happy that you agree!

(laughter)

LT: So true. Um, in the book Eclipse, we’ve kind of talked about it. We asked all the podcasts and we talked about it with some guys that have read it as well, and we talked about—

SM: The Font right?

LT: Yeah, The Font and White Yorkie.

SM: White Yorkie, that’s right.

LT: Those are our boys.

SM: Your unicorns.

LT: They all love talking about it. Um, so we were talking with them and we were talking about the character of Edward and kind of, it feels like in the end of New Moon, especially into Eclipse and especially in Breaking Dawn, it feels like his character changes a little bit. Or a lot maybe even. Um, how he goes from this strong, like as you said earlier, know-it-all to really almost a 180. Like simpering. Isn’t in control. Simpering is a bad word.

SM: There’s a lot of self-doubt that happens particularly after New Moon because this is someone who feels like he’s always had the answers and now he has screwed up worse than he’s ever screwed up in his entire life. And the one thing that he wanted more than anything else he destroyed her. And that was like so not what he was planning, so there is a lot of self-doubt. I feel like in Breaking Dawn the evolution completes where he goes from kind of like, not having hope or faith in himself, but faith in his ability to know everything. And he knows he’s right a lot. But he doesn’t have a lot of hope for anything and then he meets Bella and that throws everything into a mix and he screws up and he starts to doubt himself. In Breaking Dawn is the first time he really has faith and hope, like he comes around. He goes from being the worst pessimist to actually being an optimist, and for me that was a really big evolution. And it takes place a lot off screen in Breaking Dawn, because you know Bella is going through so much just here in her body it is very centered in her physically. And she has another battle, like she at this time has to say, “Edward, I can’t deal with you! I have something bigger to do here. Back off!” And so he becomes someone who believes at the end. Like the way she always has believed: “You and I are something special. This is gonna work out.” And he’s always felt like that she was wrong, and by the end he’s like: “You know what? I don’t even care what happens now ‘cause you’re right.” And see I always liked that about him, I liked that he was able to change. He’s one of those that changes. And Breaking Dawn for me was…on the surface there’s all this action, but for me it was all about Edward coming around. You know it’s hard for people though I think to watch the hot boy become the responsible dad because that’s not a sexy transition. Unless you have dated the hot boy and he has become the responsible dad to your children, and it’s really sexy. That’s not something that when you’re fourteen makes sense because dad is your father. But when it’s the father of your children it’s a whole other ballpark. A whole new level of sexy. You guys know. And that’s something that is not YA. It’s not a YA emotion and I always knew it was gonna go there.

(chatter)

SM: Oh my gosh it’s so sweet. It’s such a different level when you see them bond with their children. But I always knew this, that’s one of the reasons why it was hard to go YA because this was never gonna be…Remember Sweet Valley High? Okay, I’m really old.

Fansites: Yes!

SM: And those novels that like every…they’re still in high school. They’ve been there for 400 years and they’re still in high school. My books were theAnne of Green Gables where she grows up. She goes to college. She gets married. She has six kids. Her kids grow up. Her kids get married. I love the evolution. I love that they get to grow up and so for me the story was always…they were always gonna grow up.

Fansite: So it does change.

SM: And it does…It really changes. It’s not YA anymore in Breaking Dawn and that’s something that throws a lot of people.

Fansite: Totally.

SM: But I like letting them grow up. You feel bad when you make your characters stifle. They get to grow and change.

Elysa: Just back to Eclipse for a second. You mentioned on your website that there was an alternative ending to Eclipse.

SM: Yes.

Elysa: What can you tell us about that and will you ever write it or is it—

SM: See if I tell them, I can’t write. And so that becomes…’cause then you’ve destroyed it. But um, there was a certain point in time not as much faith in the series and I was told to end it at three. And I’d never planned to do…you know I was…There were three books right? There were supposed to be three books and there was no idea of it going on, and in my head it was this long series. And so it was like: “No, we should end this.” Because you know if you go on too long sometimes series lose their steam or whatever. And the story was just so wide open then. There was so much that wasn’t done and so to have ended it there, it would have had to be a radical ending. Um, radically different. There [were] some fantasy elements that I don’t think people would’ve seen coming. I don’t think they would have responded well. My mom hates it! Hates the ending. My sister was cool with it. And you know I could see that because there were things…Some people, the way they’re tied to the characters are dependent on certain aspects of those characters, and now I’m gonna sound really really bad but it messed with that for some people. But then once I started thinking about it I was really intrigued by that conversation. There was this really dramatic scene and Bella doesn’t know what’s going on and the visuals in it were really strong for me. And so then I wanted to write it. You know back when nobody cared about the books and I could do whatever I wanted, I was like Bree it was gonna be on the website. That was the plan all along. I would write up this alternate ending, but will people throw rocks at me if I write this? There’s a possibility! Oh and then people will think: “Oh this is the real ending and that’s the fake ending.” When it’s not you know…this is just an alternate. This is the way it could’ve gone. But it didn’t and I like it better how it is.

Matt: Are you leaving it open so—

SM: I’m leaving it open in case I decide some night I wake up and start typing and then I can put it on my website. Although you know I hate spoilers but then sometimes I wonder would Breaking Dawn have been an easier transition if people had had the spoilers? If I hadn’t thought: “Oh, I don’t want to ruin it.” And I just said, “Okay, hey guys, Bella’s gonna have a baby! Strap in!”

(chatter and laughter)

SM: Would people have been like: “Okay, I’m ready for it.” I don’t know. It’s a hard thing. Do you fight to keep it spoiler-free? Can you anymore? I was so disappointed, you know the last Harry Potter there was no way to avoid being spoiled. It was impossible. My friend took her little nieces and nephews and they went to go stand in line at the bookstore and some people drove by in a car with a megaphone shouting out the names of the people who died in the book.

(chatter)

Matt: Yeah, I got spoiled with the sixth book with Dumbledore.

SM: Yeah. I mean people just…there’s this desire people have to ruin the fun for other people.

Kassie: I don’t like that.

(chatter and laughter)

Kassie: I want to hunt them down!

(chatter and laughter)

Kassie: My vampire comes out!

SM: Why would you do that when you see little children? Like who can be that person who sees little kids there in line and wants to upset their fun? I don’t understand that.

Kassie: Oh it makes me mad! I wanna go talk to their mom.

(laughter)

Elysa: For Breaking Dawn my house was Fort Knox . I didn’t go anywhere. I was not online. Nothing. I mean I fell off the face of the earth. I did not want to be spoiled, and I wasn’t. I did not get spoiled—

Matt: You live in the middle of nowhere. I live in L.A.

(laughter)

Elysa: Fair enough. Fair enough.

THANKS TO STEFANIE FOR TRANSCRIBING!

To read our previous posts from the Stephenie Meyer Fan Junket 2010 click HERE!