Slade started work on Eclipse when the sec ond Twi light movie, New Moon, was fin ished but before it had been released.
�This huge, enor mous zeit geist of a thing hadn�t quite hap pened yet,� he says, adding that when the tide of scream ing fans did build around the film set, he was too busy to pay much attention,
The film�s secu rity peo ple would erect fences at exte rior loca tions to keep fans far away, and Slade would be at work in the back of a car for the ride to set each day. �Just get ting it done became a thou sand ques tions � swatch cards, costume approvals, sto ry boards. I would have my head in my notes.�
He remem bers see ing fans with flow ers stand ing in the rain as cast and crew left work after an all-night shoot in the woods one night. �I�ve got a lot of respect for those kids � God that�s tenac�ity. I have a lot of time for the sub cul tures that bring kids together, regard less of sub ject mat ter. Often it�s just a good solid source for peo ple to bond.�
Slade says he saw Eclipse as more of a romance.
�Within the two pulling forces of romance and ter ror, I wanted to try and sam ple both,� he says. �I don�t think they really did it [in the pre vi ous Twi light movies] so much. I wanted Rob [Pat tin�son] to be scary. I wanted him to have a vis ceral qual ity, where a flash of his eyes kind of made it look like he could kill.�
Slade says he approached Eclipse as a stand alone film. �There are films that came before, and you inherit cast and crew � but I really didn�t spend any time study ing the other movies.�
He says he met more than once with each actor indi vid u ally before start ing rehearsals together, �back ground cast, all the Cullen fam ily, the wolves, all those guys � as many as I pos si bly could in the time that I had.�
He got them to talk about what they liked and didn�t like about the ear lier films, and in sub se�quent meet ings he talked with them about what he wanted.
�You have to take the best of what they�ve done, acknowl edge that it�s good, and what�s not good, take them to a good place to start work,� he says.
Another thing he did was to move video mon i tors away from the set, so the actors wouldn�t worry about what they looked like.
�They con cen trated on the moment, that I felt worked,� he says. �Par tic u larly peo ple who are doing they same role sev eral times � they could be [say ing] �Am I doing that look again?��
Slade talks about scene struc ture, say ing most scenes have the same three-act form as an entire movie, and quotes Plato on the bal ance between craft and form.
�I�m going to sound like a wanker now for men tion ing Plato,� says Slade. �For Twi light, we�re not talk ing about the great est art, but about try ing to cre ate some thing that works, that peo ple respond to.�
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