New Moon Fan Party - 11th November 2009

In September, Summit announced that the World Premiere of New Moon would be held in LA - the British Twilight community were a little upset - myself amongst them.

Later that week Summit announced it's UK distributor, E1 Entertainment would be organising a New Moon Fan Event in London and finally on November 3rd details were released of how to win tickets to the event, being held at Battersea Park on November 11th.

Tickets were won by ballot entry and we were lucky enough to win a pair :)

So on a cold and wet November morning, myself and Claire made our merry way to London, catching the train from Wolverton to London Euston.

We met up with another Claire who had made her way up on the coach from Bude, Cornwall, it took her 12 hours of travelling, she was going to do the red carpet as didn't win ballot tickets and I really hoped she got to meet Kristen, Rob and Taylor when she got there, after all that is dedication.

We arrived at Battersea Park about 11ish and already there was a line of 30-40 people in each queue, one for the red carpet and one for ticket holders. Some people had even camped out overnight, they must have been so cold :(

As we were waiting I decided to get out the SLR camera (I had managed to procure it from my Husband), I thought it best to find out how to work it before going inside the venue, however when I tried to turn it on - nothing. One phone call later and a lot of profanities being yelled down the phone at said Husband, I learn that he put the battery on charge the evening before and hadn't put it back in the camera! My whole day nearly being sabotaged by a very forgetful hubby, I run off into the distance and jump in a taxi to the Kings Road in search of a battery or failing that a new camera.

I get dropped off at Peter Jones (John Lewis) and head straight for the electronics dept, I think the salesman thought I was completely bonkers, I told him I needed a camera with decent zoom and that I could use straight away, bless him, he sold me a Panasonic Lumix and swapped the battery out of a display one so I had some charge in it. I popped it onto my husband's account and made my way back to Battersea Park. I resisted the urge to chuck the SLR in the Thames along the way!

Back in the queue, Claire had got soaking wet whilst I was away as a downpour had ensued. Although it was cold and wet, nothing could dampen this crowd's spirits. Vans and trucks had been arriving all day, carpet people, handymen, lighting, news vans you name it, this all added to the excitement bubbling through the masses. The ticket office opened at just gone 2pm, time was creeping on towards the main event. The red carpet was loaded at around 3pm.

Finally at 4.40pm the gates opened for us and the security let us through in groups of 20 at a time, we approached the building and was stunned to see a giant illuminated Moon floating above mist and trees to the right of the venue.

We walked down the red carpet adorned with flamed torches, the crowds of people at either side of the carpet cheered and jeered, we saw a few familiar faces on our way down.

Inside hundreds of twinkly red lights lit the black drapes above, massive New Moon posters draped from the VIP balconies on either side, Volturi, Jacob, Bella, Edward and The Wolf Pack.

We headed straight to the bar whilst everyone made a dash for the front row! Once we had some wine in hand, we positioned ourselves on the 2nd row to the right of the stage. Alex Zane was projected onto the screen either side of the stage, he was on the red carpet interviewing fans and waiting for the imminent arrival of the Rob, Kristen and Taylor. During the wait, they had caped Volturi members and half naked wolves flying around the carpet, ramping up the Team Edward and Team Jacob debate... No representative from Team Switzerland, maybe a giant fondue next time ;)

We saw the bands make their way down the carpet, Band of Skulls, The Magic Numbers. Wyck Godfrey (Producer) was interviewed by Alex as were the bands. Finally a blacked out car pulls up and out jumps Rob to a thunderous reception, he actually looks really happy, considering all of the promo he's being doing. I heard after that he, Kristen and Taylor signed and chatted to fans for ages, which was really, really cool of them.

Back inside and away from the red carpet, we were introduced to a few of the bands from the soundtrack, first up were Band of Skulls, who sang 4 songs (I think) including "Friends" followed by the Magic Numbers... Yayyyyyyyyy!

All to soon the Q&A comes up, Grimmers brings the gang on stage to deafening screaming and cheering... We are about 10ft away from them and have a pretty good view.

Q&A reveals....

Has filming Twilight changed your outlook on Life?

Rob - err Yes, I guess it means I have much more respect for my name! I feel the paler you are the better you do with women (laughs, Kristen shoots him a funny look)... That's not true anymore, this is the sequel, last year if you were white... That was okay.

Has there been a book, film or band which you have been fanatical about?

Rob - erm, not really no, I mean I'd love to be able to come to something like this and just stand in there and scream, I'd love to be able to feel completely comfortable doing that, it'd be kind of amazing, but I've never found anything like that, I don't know why. I screamed so much when I... err no that was something ridiculous I was going to say... (Grimmers - Come on) I'd be in court!

What do you miss most about London?

Rob - I miss Battersea Park quite a bit! Errrr I don't know, I miss quite a lot of things... I miss the Twilight fans.

What was the funniest moment you remember from the time on set?

Rob - the moment I am trying to do a stand off with Taylor and I'm trying to look tough for a second, maybe not the funniest but by far the most embarrassing.

How did you prepare yourself for the emotional that Jacob has for Bella?

Taylor - ummm the emotional change that Jacob goes through, is the most important part. It was just a case of diving into the book and studying the character over and over again. My relationship with Kristen really helped and being under the direction of Mr Chris Weitz.

What's the best thing about being part of Twilight?

Taylor - having this kind of support behind us, it makes us feel a lot more comfortable with what we're doing, there's not a better feeling in the World than making a movie knowing that we actually have people that are really really excited to see it.

If you hadn't played this part, do you ever wonder how different life would be?

Kristen - I would just be less busy, I'm going to answer this seriously as I can't do the funny thing, acting, you never stop, all acting is, all filming is caring about other people and wanting to understand them more and through that you get to understand yourself more and the fact that I have got to do something for such a long period of time, that I normally don't get the opportunity to do, it's been the most concentrated, most amazing study of a character I've ever had and if I didn't have that I'd probably be pulling my hair out trying to find something that I love this much.

If you could change Bella, what would you do?

Kristen - I'd make her a Vampire

What was your favourite scene to shoot?

Kristen - I like the running through Italy, my favourite scene, not to shoot, but definitely stressed me out, not the most, second most, was when she gets to push him out the way and they sort of reconcile their whole relationship, they say nothing, all they have to do is look at each other and it's over.

Who is better for Bella, Edward or Jacob?

Kristen - if I was friend's with Bella I would be like please make my life easier and date Jacob... But Edward.

Below are some photos taken during the Q&A

Rob, Kristen and Taylor were all very chilled out and cool, despite the screaming and "I love you Rob's" and chants of "Take it off" to Taylor, re his shirt. Kristen was really lovely, she is such a sweetheart.

The rest of the evening was relatively chilled out, after the Trinity and Chris left, people moved away from the crowded stage area, got drinks and watched the last two bands Daisy Dares you and Goldhawks, then the New Moon trailer.

Finally got home and into bed at gone 1am - roll on the 20th when we actually get to see New Moon.

O xxx