MTV: So, Joan, are you a “Twilight” fan?

Joan Jett: I’d obviously heard about the movie, but before she was cast as me, I hadn’t seen it. Of course, when she was cast as me, I wanted to see the movie, and I’ve seen everything she’s done. I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really entertaining, and I’m excited that she was cast as me in “The Runaways.”

Stephenie Meyer did a Q and A for The Twilight Saga’s official website TheTwilightSaga.com!

Be sure to go there to check out all the questions.

Hi Stephenie – What is your favourite scene in New Moon the movie? – Laure

I can’t really choose just one. I love so many things. Bella’s and Edward’s first conversation in the parking lot…the painting…Jessica’s monologue…the scenes in Jacob’s garage…the first time you see the werewolves!!…Jacob in Bella’s room (thanks, Chris!)…the underwater moment…what you see while Thom Yorke’s amazing song is playing…everything in Italy…and I could go on. It’s all so good.

Why in the world is Edward’s volvo now black in the New Moon? – Kim Benson

This wasn’t my call. Picky as I am about cars, if I’d been rounding up the vehicles for Twilight, they all would have been the exact makes and models I’d written about (especially that ’53 Chevy!). I don’t know what all is involved with choosing the cars—I know they have to be able to get their hands on several identical vehicles—but I can say that I like this Volvo—the XC90—better than the first one—the C30. In regards to the color, it’s actually a dark silver, not black. And I enjoy the black rims quite a bit.

Dear Stephenie, Each director brings something different to the movie they are working on. Do you feel that by using different directors for each movie will take away from the continuity of the story? – Shannon

As I said before, I like having new styles for each story. I think it reflects, to an extent, all the millions of different versions that exist in the world—a different one for every reader. As for continuity, I think we’re fine there. The actors bring the same characters into the new vision, and the backdrop of the location is consistent.

Did you read New Moon before or after you were cast?

Taylor Lautner: After. I only read the first book when I was cast in Twilight because I knew my character was different in the first than it was in the second. As soon as I was done filming Twilight, I started reading the rest of the series.”

Moment you realized you wanted to be an actor?

Taylor Lautner: My karate teacher was in the business—he was actually the blue Power Ranger for two years. He told me to give it a shot. At first, I was like, no that’s not for me…but finally—when I was ten or eleven—I went on auditions and eventually was like, oh, I kind of like this.

Read them all HERE!

Q: In New Moon you have a kind of love triangle going on. I’m curious to see how that ended up playing out for you.

Michael Welch: There are a couple of different love triangles there. There’s obviously the one between Bella and Jacob and Edward that Mike is trying to squeeze into. More of a love rectangle. And I guess there’s the one between Mike and Jessica and Bella. You know, Jessica likes Mike. Mike likes Bella. Everybody likes Bella. And it sort of doesn’t turn out great for Mike or Jessica. A lot of this is very indicative of high school heart ache in general, but it’s sort of heightened with these supernatural characters.

Q: Both of you have a background in theatre. I wanted to know how that has helped you with your roles for Twilight and New Moon?

Anna Kendrick: Well on a logistical note, there was a scene when Jessica and Bella go to the movies, when we were shooting that outside there were like hundreds of girls standing and watching as we shot it. It was just a nice tool to have experience in front of a live audience. It seems like a silly comparison, but honestly it helped to kind of block out the fact that all these fans were watching us and to try to just focus on the scene and ignore the fact that they’re all kind of videotaping us from the side lines.

Q: What was your favorite scene to shoot?

Mickael Welch: My favorite scene by far was the kind of three way date that happened between Mike and Bella and Jacob. That horribly awkward moment when Mike asks Bella out to the movies and she tries to turn it into a group thing and then it ends up being the worst case scenario which is that that three way thing. You know, I’m sure it was certainly not a lot of fun for Mike to go through. I mean, I can relate, as I’m sure a lot of us can, but it was a lot of fun to do.

Anna Kendrick: And I would have to say that there is a scene where Jessica and Bella go to the movies. That was fun because Jessica really likes to talk about herself and Bella is really depressed. She’s not saying much. We were just kind of trying to do it all in one take, and Chris told me to just keep talking until we came to a natural stop. So I stopped and just kind of monologued as flighty, silly Jessica which was a blast.

Q: Does having different directors and different visions for different movies cause any confusion for how you should play your character?

Michael Welch: I think that the directors that we’ve had are very different in terms of style and process, but there seems to be a singular vision in terms of our characters. Everyone seems to be pretty unanimous about it, and that basically is that we are there to add levity to the franchise and to just represent normalcy in Bella’s life. Represent just kind of a real high school experience to give the story some grounding so that people are able to believe the more supernatural fantasy elements.

Q: You talked about the monologueing. Can you give us some examples of add libbing that you were able to do?

Anna Kendrick: Well, I don’t want to give anything away. Honestly, we were doing these takes where I just had to keep talking to fill space. So I am wondering what exactly it was that I ended up saying just as much as anybody. So I’m looking forward to seeing it and finding out because I have almost no idea what I ended up saying.

Q: You guys are both so great about adding that comedic element into the movies. You both seem to be able to say a thousand words with your facial expressions. So I was just curious who were your comedic inspirations as actors?

Michael Welch: Well, for me the whole reason I became an actor was because of Jim Carrey. I probably watched Ave Ventura Pet Detective a thousand times as a kid. Man, other than that, a lot of comedic inspiration and actors… guys like… I’m just going to stick with Jim Carrey for now because he sort of jump started the whole thing for me.

Anna Kendrick: I would have to say Parker Posey has been a favorite of mine for a long time and all the players involved in Christopher Guest films. But then at the same time more traditional ladies of comedy, you know, the Tina Fey and Kristen Wiigs of the world are very inspirational, I think, as far as women in comedy go.

Q: New Moon is defiantly a darker film, but can we expect the same humor that we got form your characters in Twilight?

Anna Kendrick: I hope so. I hope that we add some humor, that certainly was the goal. The films do get darker but the scripts seem to include a little bit for the humans to do, as Mike said, to kind of add a realism and a grounding point for a franchise that is set in a fantasy world.

Michael Welch: Yeah. What’s a lot of fun for me is that the high school kids really are very isolated from the rest of the story, so even if the overall tone does get more intense as we go along, our role really doesn’t change in that respect.

Q: This question is for Anna. Melissa Rosenburg, the screen writer, said that she wrote your role kind of as a combination of Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory. I was wondering if you keep that in mind or do you just kind of stick with Jessica’s mind set.

Anna Kendrick: I have heard that and I know that she wrote some elements in to incorporate both characters. I know that they are both kind of the alpha female mean girls of the novels. One thing about my playing this role was that I felt like the only real way for me to play a girl who, in spite all accounts, should really be tall, thin, and blonde, was just kind of make it really desperate and needy and just a girl who is constantly trying to be liked, and comes of a little pathetic doing it. So I know that elements of both of those characters are incorporated into the script. I think the humans have a little more leeway in terms of how we play our characters. It really only made sense to play it a little awkward and a little desperate. But really, underneath it all, that’s really what those girls are. It made sense for me. That may be what it is on paper, but there’s only so much I can do to make it kind of mean girl-y.

Q: What’s the most rewarding things that you’ve been able to do with the fame that you’ve achieved from Twilight. If it’s charitable or something with a fan. What’s the most memorable experience due to your fame from Twilight.

Michael Welch: One of the things that I – well really it was a mutual decision that my family and I made really early on is to be committed to some kind of charity work as a way of just keeping me grounded and keeping a good perspective while working in the entertainment industry. So I have been working with an organization called “Kids With a Cause” for a number of years and we’ve done a lot of really great work. It’s sort of in transition right now. With this franchise – with Twilight specifically I was able to raise a decent amount of money for “Kids With a Cause” that went to help feed a lot of kids. We go down to orphanages in Mexico quite often and bring a lot of supplies and things that they may need. You know, generally it’s not really charity if you talk about it, but it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience. And that aspect of it – I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Q: You guys portray the nice people in the series, does it feel ostracizing to not be included in the fight scenes or action sequences?

Justin Chon: Well, I love being on the lighter side of things. I think it’s definitely needed in the film. It can’t just be dark moods, love triangles and stuff like that. I think that it is refreshing to us to act in those type of scenes too. I very much enjoy it.

Christian Serratos: Yeah, it would be fun to get to do some of the training, but it’s still nice to have this brighter, lighter role where I can bring some comedy to it.

Q: What do you think the fans will be most surprised by in New Moon?

Justin Chon: I think they will be very surprised when they see how amazing Taylor looks without his shirt on. [laughs]

Christian Serratos: Each film is definitely growing, and getting slightly darker as each movie/book goes on. So I think it’s going to be the same but better… a little edgier.

Q: We’ve heard a lot about Chris Weitz, and we’d like to know what you took away from working with him?

Justin Chon: What i took away is how important it is to be meticulous and thorough in pre-production and planning for a movie because once we got on set he had done all the work in terms of setting things up. So all we had to do was come in and just play. So, it was really relieving and it just shows because I’m just an actor but with working with different directors, he really was on the ball with this stuff.

Christian Serratos: Yeah, that was the thing about Chris, was that he was on point. We got there, and he had already had a phone call with each of us. He was really into getting to know each of us. He was probably one of the best directors I have worked with, but he wasn’t like a ‘director’ director. He was more like this friend that just happened to be amazing at directing! He knew what he was doing and he had a vision. He made sure we incorporated what we wanted to, but still got across what he wanted to, and it has created this awesome flick.

Q: At the end of Twilight we see that Eric and Angela are a couple at the prom. Do they stay together in New Moon, and if so, how would you describe their relationship? Are they quirky, silly, or cute?

Justin Chon: Yeah, they stay together.

Christian Serratos: They are together through it all. They are very silly, and very quirky. They’re an interesting couple.

Justin Chon: Quirky, but at times I don’t even know. It is like, they aren’t even together, but they are. They are very much together, but, you know how those couples that will fight in front of everyone else but in private, they will be as sweet as can be.

Christian Serratos: They’re that cute bickering couple.

Q: Since you have played your characters for two films, and you play them so well, is there a point where you ad-lib a line or tweak something in the script? Or do you think that your character might say something other than what is written?

Justin Chon: It’s really up to the director on how he feels that the scene ultimately should be shaped, but if there is something that we feel that might be more effective by tweaking it a little and we will do it and see what the director has to say. If he likes it, he will keep it in. If not, we’ll just continue to explore the options.

Christian Serratos: We’re really encouraged to speak up and let someone know if we feel it would be better to do this… everyone is encouraged to speak up because we are trying to make the best movie ever! We’re trying to nail it, and if we feel something coming out of our mouth, then we’re encouraged to speak up.

Q: Do you have a favorite line from New Moon that sticks out to you?

Justin Chon: Yeah I think I do. But, honestly I haven’t seen the movie yet, so I think I will probably pick one when I see it.

Christian Serratos: Yeah, me too!

Q: In Twilight you guys contributed something personal to your wardrobe. Did you do that again for New Moon?

Justin Chon: Not so much so. I think it was more settled on what we’d wear this time around and our characters are more established so they kind of take it from there this time around.

Christian Serratos: I have been wearing my own glasses through the whole saga; they are pretty much Angela’s glasses now. I auditioned with my glasses, and I wore them for Twilight, and well they broke. It was a lot of wear and tear on my glasses so they had to special order the exact same pair from Gucci with my prescription in them and everything. So if I am wearing those and not wearing any animal products then I am good!

Q: In Twilight your characters are the comic relief, after intense moments with Edward and Bella. Will that continue in New Moon?

Justin Chon: I think so yeah.

Christian Serratos: That’s pretty much our purpose.

Justin Chon: We are definitely there to make sure that it isn’t too serious to where people want to -

Christian Serratos:Scream, yeah! We’re the comic relief. We are there to brighten things up!

Q: How much has your life changed from Twilight to New Moon, as far as doors opening or media scrutiny on you guys?

Christian Serratos: There have been minor changes. There’s a little more attention, but we get the laid back version of the attention aspect of it. So, that’s been pretty cool.

Justin Chon: Yeah, I agree with Christian. We get a lot of the benefits without the drawbacks. We can still, you know, me and Christian can still walk on the street and be fine.

Q: Have you taken any souvenirs from the Twilight or New Moon sets?

Justin Chon: Mm, not me. I haven’t taken anything. I am a good little boy.

Christian Serratos: He set that up because of what I’m going to tell you. Yeah, I took some bracelets! I forgot to take them off, and then I realized I was happy I forgot to because I had an ‘Angela souvenir.’

Q: Since you haven’t seen the film yet (New Moon), can you tell us what scene you are most looking forward to seeing, whether you were in it or not?

Christian Serratos: I’m excited to see the cliff dive and the Volturi come into the mix for the first time.

Justin Chon: Yeah, I am really excited to see how the Volturi’s appearance is and how they act. I’m also excited to see Taylor/Jacob ride his motorcycle around and really tearing it up.

Q: Have you ever been in a situation on your own and thought, “What would my character (Angela/Eric) do?” Has it affected any of your choices?

Christian Serratos: Not really.

Justin Chon: Not too much, because Eric is… I don’t think I would make the same decisions as he does. But you know, Erik is probably a little smarter than I am in real life.

Christian Serratos: I think so too!

Justin Chon: Yeah, [laughs] maybe I should start thinking “What would Erik do?”

Q: We love the human characters, but if you could choose to be one of the more serious characters to play in New Moon, who would you pick?

Justin Chon: I would like to play Alex’s role, Paul. He just has so much testosterone going on. So wild you know?

Christian Serratos: If I could play another character, I think it would be awesome to take a shot at playing Leah. She’s got an awesome sass about her, and I think its fun to play sassy characters.

Q: Has your association with the Twilight Saga movies inspired any of your friends or family to come out of the Twilight Closet, and reveal their obsession with the books or the movie?

Christian Serratos: Oh, yeah! I know a lot of people. One of my friends, when I told them I was working on this project, went out and bought the books, and fell madly in love with them! What’s awesome is that I, my family and some of my friends are taking this journey together.

Justin Chon: My sister is a huge fan of Twilight. So, she can’t even believe that I am a part of this. In a way it is like, she wishes I wasn’t in it, because when she sees me it’s like, “Oh, now I know that it is a movie because my brother is in it” you know? But my sister loves the whole series.

Q: Have you guys had any crazy or memorable fan experiences?

Christian Serratos: None very crazy. They have all been really respectful and really chill. They have all actually all been really cool people.

Justin Chon: The craziest I have seen is with a girl. She tattooed Twilight and New Moon on her body herself. I thought that was pretty wild.

Q: Because the fans are so dedicated, have you ever been huge fans of something or experienced that for yourselves with something other than Twilight?

Christian Serratos: I have a huge obsession with So You Think You Can Dance. It was an obnoxiously large obsession. I even went to the SYTYCD concert.

Justin Chon: I had a huge, huge obsession with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I was a kid. They even had a soundtrack on cassette tapes back then, and I bought all that stuff. I bought action figures, I had t-shirts…

Christian Serratos: That’s weird!

Justin Chon: …that fake green ooze. Yeah I was just really obsessed with it.

November 16:
Kristen Stewart – “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien”
Taylor Lautner – “The Jay Leno Show”

November 18:
Robert Pattinson – “The Late Show with David Letterman”
Kristen Stewart – “The Today Show” and “Live with Regis and Kelly” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”

November 19:
Robert Pattinson – “The Today Show” and “Live with Regis and Kelly”
Taylor Lautner – “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”

November 20:
Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner – “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (pre-taped)
Robert Pattinson – “Ellen” (pre-taped)
Taylor Lautner – “The Today Show” and “Live with Regis and Kelly”

November 23:
Ashley Greene – “The Late Show with David Letterman”
Michael Sheen – “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”

November 24:
Ashley Greene – “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”

November 25:
Peter Facinelli – “Jimmy Kimmel Live”

December 2:
Nikki Reed – “Jimmy Kimmel Live”

December 3:
Ashley Greene – “Jimmy Kimmel Live”

CalgaryHerald.com did an interview with the human cast from The Twilight Saga films! Check out the rest of the interview here!

Sure, New Moon’s vampires and werewolves may get all the attention, but it’s Bella’s gang of high school friends who keep the movie centered in reality. Anna Kendrick, Michael Welch, Justin Chon and Christian Serratos (who play Jessica, Mike, Eric and Angela, respectively) talk about providing the franchise’s comic relief and keeping it real as mortals amongst all the supernatural shenanigans.

Unlike Twilight, which was shot in Portland, you shot New Moon in Vancouver. What was that like?

Justin: The weather’s actually been better here. Portland was very, very, very cold and rainy. It’s a little bit nicer here.

Anna: One of the freaky things about shooting New Moon in a different location than Portland was the re-creation of things, like the high school parking lot. It was like déjà vu because we were in a different country but they completely recreated the parking lot from the school we shot at before.

If you weren’t playing humans, which would you prefer to play: a vampire or a werewolf?

Anna: I would personally rather be a werewolf since they seem to get to have a lot more fun. The vampires are very cool, but they have to be very calm and collected all the time. The werewolves get to let loose a little bit more.

Michael: I’d much rather play a vampire. Being a vampire would be cool, I think, for the first 100 years or so. It’d be fun to be able to play because vampires are just too cool; they’re just sexy and interesting and complicated.

Christian: I’d play a wolf. I’d play Leah, ’cause she’s sassy.