Peter Facinelli, Kristen Stewart in 'New Moon'

A semi-shirtless Robert Pattinson and totally shirtless Taylor Lautner is more than enough to cause temporary ear damage. For a moment there, it felt as though the New Moon panel might suffer from a lack of footage, but Chris Weitz and company made the crowd wait until the end of the presentation for Bella’s fountain-crossing rescue of a sorrowful Edward, who is about to step into the sunlight. This scene was preceded by a brief sequence involving Bella on one of Jacob’s motorcycles and extended Q&A with the cast and director Chris Weitz.

More interesting to me than Taylor Lautner’s exercise regimen and Kristen Stewart’s perfect imitation of Shane from “The L Word” was Chris Weitz’s recounting of his experience working on The Golden Compass with New Line compared to New Moon and Summit. You might remember that New Line did a major Compass re-edit, one that didn’t satisfy Weitz, general audiences, or critics. He related how those events soured his feelings on moviemaking and went on to assert that his work on New Moon and relationship with the cast, crew, and studio has reinvigorated him. Burn!

Also, it’s pretty charming to see how Robert Pattinson has acknowledged how he is a supporting player here, and he seems more than willing to take a backseat for Taylor Lautner for the sequel. Pattinson is much more articulate this year compared to last. I kinda preferred him as the 2008 cad.

– arno