Did you know Paramount's version of TWILIGHT involved the CIA?!
The second installment of the Twilight Saga, New Moon, has already broken records, selling more advance tickets than any other movie in history. But would the Twilight movies be generating this much female hysteria if the films weren't faithful to the books? I've heard time and time again that, "The books are better." I can't claim to be a fan or know the difference between what shirtless werewolf seduced who's baby mama. I've been quite vocal about my dislike of the franchise. But Twi-Hards seem pretty content, eating up the movies and merchandise with both hands.
Even if the books are "better," the minor changes made to transition the world of sparkly boys to the big-screen will pale in comparison to the complete makeover Paramount Pictures had planned for the films. I'm not talking the condensing of story lines or the combining of characters. Forget the battle between vampires and werewolves over who's "turn" it is at Bella. Instead, imagine an action movie with Bella the athlete, and government agents on the trail of those malnourished PETA enragers.
FilmschoolRejects recently spoke with screen-writer Melissa Rosenberg, who adapted the first film, the upcoming sequel New Moon, and the third installment Eclipse, who says that when it was in Paramount’s hands, the movie was going to be very different:
It was really – the book itself lent itself to adaptation. Stephanie has created such a rich mythology and such rich characters that I was compelled by the story and wanted to bring that story to the screen. I didn’t really see a need to go off the path of that. I loved the story. Earlier, you know, the galleys of the book had been optioned by Paramount before it was in print, and they had a different philosophy for this book and used it as a launching pad for a different story. I never read that script, but as Stephanie says, ‘It was a great script. It just had nothing to do with my book.’
When asked what the different story entailed, Rosenberg explained:
I know that the CIA was involved, and the character Bella was a track star or something like that. It’s so contrary to the character Stephanie created.
I know there are some some Twilight purists out there who are reading this, who want to go down to Paramount Studios and get some blood on their hands. I'll kindly ask you not to, as I'm literally drooling over my copy of Star Trek as I write this. You have to also consider that this was before it went to print, and became the hugely popular best seller it is today. Besides, you're probably already in line for the midnight showing of New Moon, or for the Comic-Con panel more than half a year away... you wouldn't want to lose your place.
So even though there's a "great script" out there that might have made for a better film, it wouldn’t have been faithful to the source material. So be thankful it ended up in the right hands. Hopefully the thought of Twilight being a CIA vampire movie with a physically active heroine, will give the Twi-Hards a little insight into why us Geeks are so angry when comic-book films are complete bastardizations of the characters and stories we've grown up with and love.
Let us know what you think in the rant-back section below!