New Face Friday: Guri Weinberg talks 'Breaking Dawn - Part 2'

Twilightish hosted this week's "New Face Friday" interview, which introduces Guri Weinberg, who portrays Stefan of Romanian Coven!

Question: What did you think of your costume and your makeup the very first time you saw yourself fully decked out as your character?

Guri: Well I loved it. I mean it was a little freaky but I loved it. It was exactly what Michael, who is the head wardrobe guy wanted when we first met and we put on the wardrobe. The eyes were a little weird, cause I don’t wear contact lenses, so it took them half an hour to put them in and then it took me another good half an hour to see through them. So when I actually figured out what I looked like, I was pretty happy with it.

Question: You had never worn contacts before? That’s got to be a crazy situation.

Guri: Ya, it was awful. But because we had a whole department of people that handled the contacts and put them in our eyes. The first two weeks it would drive them crazy because it would take them a good half hour to put them in my eyes and they said you know we are never going to get through this and I said well you should try to be me.

Question: You had posted a lot on your blog about working on set with cast and your experiences from the set and since then. What kind of fan interaction have you had a result of that?

Guri: What kind of fan interaction did I what?

Question: I am just curious what kind of fan interaction you have had as a result. A lot of people don’t get into stories about the set. That’s kind of given us an inside look. So I was just curious if you had any fan reaction from that.

Guri: I always get, oh hey no disrespect but Go Fuck Yourself and it’s like how is that no disrespect?

Question: On your blog you made a mention that you got the twitter account and bought the blog and you started all the social media after you were cast. So do you think that Social Media has changed acting in a sense because of the way that you can interact with fans?

Guri: Well it hasn’t changed acting it’s more changed how actors interact with fans. It almost feels like a second job which I kinda don’t appreciate cause I don’t get paid for it. But it’s been really cool cause, joking aside, cause you get to know the fans, the fans get to know you. What I found most great about it is I got to know more about my character then I ever knew just reading the book, from the fans.

Question: What sort of things did you learn?

Guri: I’ve learned his past about losing his family, and this is where it wasn’t even in the book. Which is interesting because that’s part of one of the things that I came up with before I found out all of the rest of that information. As an actor you gotta take a character and sorta build their past, present, and how their past affected them in todays time. How they react to things. So it was very interesting to hear fans perspective, about my character and how they felt about it. And knowing about what we did in the movie makes me giggle cause a lot of it they got right and some that they didn’t.

Question: Did you do a lot of that character building before hand with Noel Fisher or did you build on your own and tell him “Hey this is what I came up with?”

Guri: I don’t want to speak for Noel, but I will speak for myself, I did it by myself at first. Noel and I met briefly in wardrobe fitting in LA, and then in October we had to go to Baton Rogue to camera, lighting tests, makeup tests, you know with Bill Condon, with everyone else. And so what happened was we had a meeting regarding our character. He wanted to hear what our ideas were and he wanted to let us know what his ideas were. And out of that meeting, really all three of us talked about what we wanted. We flushed it out and that’s how we came to be on the same page.

Question: We saw a still with you guys sitting around the campfire and it looks like they are looking at you and Noel as Vladimir, will we get to see some of that backstory looked upon? Like his war story that he’s talking about at the campfire?

Guri: I don’t know how much I am allowed to reveal, but Im just gonna put it more on the wide scope where we all talked about our experiences. You are not going to be able to pull it out of me.

Question: How much did you have to give Mackenzie in the swear jar. You are the one that kinda started it with her. How much did you have to give her?

Guri: Well I was lucky enough in the spirit that I didn’t have as much money as Rob and Kristen did, so she let me get away with it. But I was the one that told her to start a swear jar cause I felt that I was not a big help. She’s like a ninja, the way she comes up you don’t hear her. So at first you think it’s just us adults and then Mackenzie is there looking at you with that really disappointed look.

Question: How much did she charge?

Guri: I am not quite sure, because she never charged me. You are gonna have to ask her about that?

Question: We’ll have to save that for the next time we talk to her.

Guri: Exactly

Question: I know that you did a couple of conventions and then you ended up at Comic Con with all the rest of the new vampires. How was the experience been acting face to face with the fans? Have you found it overwhelming at all?

Guri: Ya it’s very overwhelming. Especially you think you aren't in the whole saga, no one knows who I am, they haven’t seen the whole movie yet, and it’s the opposite because they do feel that they know who you are because of the character that you are playing. They are so warm and open with you. It’s kind of overwhelming to step into that and, well you know I am just going to say love, cause it’s like “You haven’t seen the movie, give it a second, you might not like me so much.” It’s been great. I love it. I love the fans. I think Twilight fans are probably the most special fans that I have ever encountered.

Question: Ah, well thank you.

Guri: No, well thank you. I didn’t do anything, you guys did it.

Question: Do you think that you could spend thousands of years with Noel Fisher like Vladimir and

Stefan do together?

Guri: I don’t think I can spend thousands of years with myself, let alone someone else for thousands of

years. So no. The answer to that is no.

Question: How did you wrap your head around someone that lived for like 3000 years or something else like that? Not only that, everyone else is coming to defend the Cullens and Renesmee and you have someone who is just really bent on revenge more then anything else. How do you build that character that is so old and his this burning desire to have revenge?

Guri: For me it was actually a pretty interesting road to get there. When I got the part, well before I got the part I did some research about how did Romanians live 3000 years ago and then I found out that the Romans were in charge 3000 years ago and everyone hated the Romans because they were viscious. So my whole thing was, when he was a human, when he fought the romans, he lost his family to the Romans, he died, and became a vampire. That’s why the Romanians took over. For him it was a show of power against the Romans, but next thing you know the Volturi come again, and to him it’s like the Romans again. The Romans destroyed everything he had once again. For him it happened twice in a row. Anyone can understand when you have had everything that you love taken away from you, it’s just instinctual to have rage and want revenge. So it consumes you.

Question: Did you get a chance to talk to Stephanie Meyer about the history or the background of your character at all?

Guri: Stephenie and I never talked about that. Stephenie and I when we were hanging out and talking, we talked and joked about everything else. The cool thing about Stephenie is that she trusted the actors and Bill Condon to do our jobs. And our jobs as professionals is to come up with the characters, understand she wrote and bring it to life.

New Face Friday: Noel Fisher talks 'Breaking Dawn - Part 2'

Team-Twilight interviewed Noel Fisher this week, as part of "New Face Friday". Noel plays Vladimir of Romanian Coven, and in this interview, he talks about his experience on Breaking Dawn, Part 2, palling around with Stephenie Meyer, what he goes fanboy crazy for and more!

Check it out below:

It’s been a really good year for you professionally, with playing a great character on Shameless, and then the role of Cotton Top on Hatfields & McCoys. What made you pick a 3000 year old grumpy vampire? Why did you want that role?

I actually booked Twilight before Shameless or Hatfields & McCoys, but obviously the Twilight franchise is in a world of its own, a class of its own. It’s really really different from anything else I’ve ever done. And that’s something that I try and do with my parts, kind of pick parts that are really different from one another and I’m also just a huge geek at heart, too. I love vampire stuff, I love fantasy/sci-fi, and all that kind of stuff so it’s right up my alley. That was another lucky thing. I get to play like a 3000 year old bad-ass vampire. That’s awesome!

You filmed Hatfields & McCoys in Romania and you played a Romanian vampire inBreaking Dawn. Did you feel a special bond with the country when you were there filming?

I don’t know, I basically thought it was a really funny coincidence that I was going there just a few months after Twilight wrapped. I thought that was quite funny. We shot near Vlad the Impaler’s actual castle, which isn’t really a castle anymore. It’s basically a bunch of rubble now, but some of the drivers in Romania were telling us that just a few miles from where we were was a pile of rubble that was actually Vlad the Impaler’s old spot. So I thought that was kind of cool.

Can you tell us what it was like when you saw yourself fully decked out in your vampire gear with the red eyes for the first time?

In a word: Amazing. I thought that all the artistic stuff we did with this movie, in terms of wardrobe and makeup and hair and everything, really I thought it was very top notch. There’s something really special and transformative to put on all these really specific pieces of clothing and to have the eyes in, it really helped me with that very regal kind of attitude that the Romanians have from being that kind of royal group.

What was it like joining such an established franchise? Did you feel like the new kid on set?

I actually found it really welcoming. I think it was really wonderful because it was a really big group of newbies coming on. Basically, one of the really nice things about the set was that all the Cullens, and all the people that have been doing this for a long time, all they way up the ladder to Wyck, to everyone, everyone was very welcoming. It created a very warm kind of atmosphere on set, so that was kind of my experience, so I had a blast.

What was it like filming Breaking Dawn so close to home in Vancouver?

Actually, Twilight was the very first job that I’ve ever gone back to Vancouver to shoot since I moved to Los Angeles, which was really surprising. It was really cool. The hotel that we stayed at was literally three blocks away from my sister’s apartment. It was really wonderful to get to go home and see my sister, to see my family, to run around to all the little restaurants and cafes that I used to hang out at. It was really fun.

If you could create your own fan site, what would it be about? What are you really passionate about?

Oh, man, there’s a lot of stuff. I’m kind of all over the place with it. It depends on what I am currently obsessed with. Like right now I am really obsessed with a Showtime series called Homeland that I’m just totally falling for. Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead. Anything that’s fantasy is right up my alley. So anything involving that stuff would be pretty sweet. Breaking Bad is not exactly fantasy, but is another one that I’m pretty into.

Could you share some of your jokes, pranks or experiences with you and Guri [Weinberg] on the set?

The story that comes to mind a lot of the time for me, I was doing a scene where I had to — well, it’s not so much a prank because it wasn’t done on purpose, but I had a scene where I had to kind of squat down for a moment and it was right at the end of the day, and it was literally the last shot of the day and we were trying to wrap and everything. I remember they called, “Rolling!” and then, “Action!” and we started doing our stuff, and I do a squat and I just heard this big rip. I had basically ripped the back of my pants completely open, so everybody got a nice shot of my underwear. So I had to go over to the wardrobe lady and she literally sewed it back up while I was still wearing the pants in between takes. I had to run back out and get it one more time, and it ripped again. That was a good moment!

Did you and Guri try to work together to come up with the Romanian accent, or how did you guys work to make a cohesive Romanian coven?

We both sat down with Bill. That was something — I was just constantly impressed with Bill Condon because he sat down with all of the new covens and new vampires, including the Romanians, and he basically just sat us down and asked us what were we thinking? What were our thoughts on the characters? It was obviously something that we both wanted was to be able to do the accent and to do that in a way that was going to be really interesting and kind of unique. He was totally down for that and we got this dialect coach and came up with this — not a modern Romanian accent because they are so old, it had to be like an amalgamation of ancient Romanion and a lot of influence from the surrounding areas around Romania because they’d been around for so long and you add all of that into it. So we just created our own unique dialect. That was one of the really cool parts about doing the character, something that really helped me fall into the character, getting to put on that accent. I’m really glad that we got to do that.

When you learned that you were cast, who were you most excited to get to work with on this project?

Well, off the top, I’ve been a big fan of Bill Condon’s for a while. But the thing that’s really interesting about these movies is that you kind of know everyone. Like Peter Facinelli — his show on Showtime, Nurse Jackie, is great. There are so many aspects like Kristen’s been doing movies for obviously a very long time. And she’s been fantastic in everything she’s done, so like it’s really nice to get to work with people who are really experienced. It’s like a learning opportunity.

Marlane [Barnes, in a previous interview] told us that she was really impressed with your dancing skills in the flash mob that you guys did. Can you tell us a bit about your experience that day?

That was orchestrated by some of the new vampires and Toni Trucks rounded us up and brought us into a back room and, they had a little stereo and played this song and they walked us through the steps. We all just sort of fumbled around it until we sort of got it, and then tried to keep it hidden from the people we were going to serve.

We hear you’ve got the moves.

I’m glad somebody thinks so!

Did you have any conversations with Stephenie about your character?

Not a lot, actually. I had a few brief talks with her about the history and stuff, but it actually was brought up in the Illustrated Guide that she came out with a little while ago. But no for the most part, Stephenie and I talked a lot about — one of our favorite authors is Orson Scott Card and we had this big discussion. Actually, I think Summit is doing one of his books into a movie. It’s called Ender’s Game, one of my all time favorite books ever, and also one of Stephenie’s. We had a lot of conversations about book recommendations. In fact, she still owes me a book list of stuff that I’m supposed to read.

Are you trying out for a part in Ender’s Game?

No, I’m too old for anything in that, I think. But I’m super stoked about that. It’s going to be awesome. It’s such a good story, I can’t wait to see the movie.

Video: FULL Breaking Dawn Part 2 trailer.

Well folks, the time is upon us!

The very last EVER Twilight trailer has just arrived online.

*pauses for a moment of reflection*

I absolutely loved it! Leave your thoughts on it in the comments section below!

New Face Friday: Marlane Barnes talks 'Breaking Dawn - Part 2'

The latest "New Face Friday" interview was held over at Twilight Facebook, and focused on Marlene Barnes, who portrays Maggie in the Irish Coven!
Check out the interview below!

 

Q: Your character Maggie knows when people are telling lies. Are you good at telling when people are lying to you in real-life?
Marlane: I like to think I'm a pretty good judge of character now. I feel like that's one of the things that acting has done for me is you get to see when people are acting.

Q: Did Stephenie Meyer talk with you at all about your character?
Marlane: You know, I actually didn't talk much with Stephenie about my character on set, I know that Lisa [Howard] did, but yeah I didn't really get a chance to do that. I was interested that when I read the - cause you know she put out that comprehensive fan book - and I was interested to see that a lot of the choices I had made for Maggie were pretty similar to what she already had in mind, so I feel like we just kind of both knew... that we were on the same page.

Q: So did you fan-girl on her a little bit?
Marlane: You know, I actually had not read the books before I was cast. I read them once I was going to take the part in the film, so for me ... Yeah, I don't know, I guess I was a little afraid of her. She's like this reigning queen of this huge world, and she's very busy and was on set a lot doing very important things, so I just kind of had my brush-ins when I did and tried not to interfere the rest of the time. But yeah she's really lovely and very sweet to everybody and very involved in the film, I think probably just as much as anybody else.

Q: What was it like to see yourself in your full costume and makeup and the vampire eyes for the first time?
Marlane: It's pretty amazing, actually. You know, cause the costume designer Michael [Wilkinson] was really open with us about like 'Oh, do you like this? Do you like that?' and I remember just kind of being like, 'Oh yes, yes, yes, all of that.' It wasn't until later that I was like why did I agree to these high-heeled boots? You know, everything came together in this way that really I feel like gave the Irish Coven a sense of time and place, and you know the eyes do a lot of the work for you. You put those red vampire eyes in and you don't even really have to do any acting because you just are cool. I think that was pretty awesome.

Q: What was your favorite day on set?
Marlane: My favorite day on the set was probably the day we put together the flash mob for Bill Condon. That was the same day that we were doing the press kit, and getting together to try and do our posters, so we were doing the photography for those. And we were also shooting, and then also Lee Pace and Mia Maestro came up with this idea to do this flash mob, and Toni Trucks got on board, and she kind of dance-captained the whole thing, and everybody, actually met at lunch which is like 6:00 on set time, and we got together and learned this dance and it was kind of a last day of summer camp kind of feel to it... I mean, I know a lot of people compare making  the Twilight movies to camp, but I think there's a lot of truth to that, and everybody did it and no one was too cool for school and we got out there and they had the Assistant Director and the DP [Director of Production] and the sound guy all in on this joke, and the only person who didn't know was Bill, and I think some of the crew knew kind of something was going on, and the Volturi kind of knew something was going on. So getting out on the field and just kind of busting into this dance was a really amazing experience. I don't think it's something you can ever recreate.

Q: Any talk of this dance-off or flash mob making it onto the DVD?
Marlane: You know, we did have a guy on set who was doing behind-the-scenes footage, and I know that he was forewarned about it and got some footage of it, but I also know that because we did it to 'Sweet Dreams Are Made of These' and you know they don't have the rights to that song, so there's a lot of confusion as to whether or not they could actually put it on the DvD... So, I'm excited myself to see if it shows up there because it was a really fun thing to do.

Q: Can you share with us who was the best dancer?
Marlane: Oh goodness... I mean, Guri [Weinberg] and Noel [Fisher] are probably the funniest men I know. Together, they are the quite dynamic duo, and I seem to remember their involvement being pretty comical. So, I'm going to go ahead and vote or Team Romanians on that.

Q: Speaking of other castmates, were you surprised when you saw anybody else's costume?
Marlane: I was really surprised at how beautiful the Denalis' were, frankly. I don't think I had thought very much about what an Alaskan coven would look like, and all the fur and the leather, I just thought they looked really beautiful and it all looked great together. So, I'm going to vote for them, especially Casey [LaBow]'s outfit. I don't wear fur myself, but I thought it really looked good, you know? It really looked authentic.

Q: What did it feel like coming into an established franchise? You know, did you feel like the new kid?
What was it like joining the cast?
Marlane: Right, well, because there were so many of us that were new, and because the production crew really took us by the hand and we never had to worry like where we had to be and that kind of thing, and just the sheer number of us that walked in together... I don't know, it wasn't as awkward as it seems like it should've been. Because there was so many of us, it was not like being the new kid in school because you know there were twenty-five new kids and we outnumbered the school. So, you know, it was new for everybody and I think that made it easier, but I feel like the cast that were already there were really welcoming and you know excited to have new people on-board, so yeah it was a good experience, really.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about how long you had to keep it a secret that you were cast and when you could finally tell, who was the first person you told that you got cast in a Twilight movie?
Marlane: Oh, sure, well they did not tell me that I had to keep it a secret, so I told my mom right away and most of my family and close friends, but then it kind of came down that 'Oh, you know, if you put anything online,' and I have a pretty private Facebook account anyway, so I feel like it was only close friends that knew about it for quite a few months, 'cause I got cast in September [2010], and I don't think they came out with the cast list until maybe October of that year, and they were kind of releasing certain names here and there and it kind of took a while for my coven to come out. So, this whole process has been like... You know, you have to keep like little things to yourself to keep it fun for everyone and exciting, so that's definitely part of it.

Q: Any Twi-hards in that list of friends who were especially excited?
Marlane: Yeah! You know, one of my very closest friends from school was really into Twilight while we were in school. She used to watch it all the time. She and her roommate would just sit and watch it all day together... I don't know how... they would just get all the movies that have come out so far and watch them over and over again, so she was pretty excited about that and pretty shocked I think. And it was surreal for me because I remembered her watching them, but I was never over there when she did it, so it was 'Oh yeah, I remember you were really big into that.' Yeah, so that was neat. And I have some cousins that are in high school, so that was pretty exciting for them as well.

Q: I was wondering, you play an Irish character, how do you prepare for that?
Marlane: Well, I actually got an MF [Master of Fine Arts] in acting and a lot of my training was in voice and dialect. So, I actually had already had an Irish dialect before I was cast, so I didn't have to worry about that, and then the rest of the work was just about brushing up on my Irish history and choosing my time period for Maggie and deciding for myself how she and Siobhan and Liam had come together, and that was the thing that I was most surprised about with what Stephenie Meyer put out in that companion book, that Siobhan and Liam had been together first and then they added me into it, and that first she and Liam didn't get along very well but then they all do, and I sort of thought like 'Oh, that's exactly how I think of it,' so I was pretty impressed that... I feel like her - and I've said this to someone else - I feel like the way that Stephenie writes, even if she doesn't specifically say all of the details she has in her head about these characters, I think it comes out in the writing anyway. Just the way that she envisions them and how they interact with one another. I feel like it's all there, you know?

Q: What was it like working with Patrick [Brennan] and Lisa on set?
Marlane: Oh, it was great working with Patrick and Lisa. Lisa is so much fun. She's a Broadway musical theater actress, so she's very jolly and we joked around a lot and sang a lot of songs, and Patrick is really just the perfect example of a gentleman giant. He's tall, he's sweet, and he's softspoken. You know, he's very heartfelt, so I couldn't have asked for a better couple of people to spend all that time with.

Video: First Look at the last Breaking Dawn Part 2 trailer!

Last night, Robert Pattinson, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Resaser, Wyck Godfrey, Taylor Lautner and Jackson Rathbone were all in attendance at the VMA's and presented a first-look at the newest Breaking Dawn trailer and OH MY GOD IT LOOKS AMAZING!

The full-version will be available tonight from 8PM ET / 1AM GMT (Ireland/UK) on Yahoo!.

VIDEO: The Cast presenting a new Breaking Dawn Part 2 trailer at the VMA's!

via