I think I mentioned in passing recently that I was reading the Twilight series. I don't routinely talk about the books I'm reading (and was particularly wary of mentioning THIS particular series of books), because I'm a pleaser by nature and didn't want to raise the hackles of anyone who has issues with the morality of reading a series of books about The Forbidden Love Between a Sullen Human Teenager and a 200-year-old Vampire Living in Modern Society Under the Guise of Being a Sullen Teenager.
But I must say that I finished the four-book series within a week and found it very entertaining. (Throw rocks if you must, but it is what it is.) So this weekend Grayson and I rented the movie, which I was prepared to like but was worried that it wouldn't live up to the book. (It, of course, did not.) (But it was pretty good.)
Near the beginning of the movie, when Bella was in the kitchen with her dad, Charlie, I paused it, turned to Grayson and said, "This is weird. In my mind, the kitchen table is much farther over to the left and there's no bay window in there." And his raised eyebrows said to me, "Katherine, I think you are about to be very disappointed in this movie."
We then had a brief discussion about how surprised he was that when I'm reading, I visualize furniture and appliance placement, as well as the type of window that exists in a room. And I was all like, "YOU DON'T?" Seriously, I thought EVERYONE did that. We had a similar conversation when I realized that the dining and living rooms were blue in Charlie's house in the movie. Not in my mind, they weren't!
So with that, I will tell you what the location scouts and set decorators did JUST like I would have, and what they did differently. (Possible spoilers follow, so act accordingly.)
SPOT ON:
- Bella's truck
- Forks High School (interior and exterior, except that I had visualized the science classroom scenes from the right instead of from the left)
- The entire scene with the guys who were going to assault Bella, as well as Edward's rescue and response (including the 360 in the Volvo)
- The Volvo
- The restaurant where Edward took Bella after "the rescue"
- The interior of Bella's bedroom
- The forest
- The meadow
- The beach at La Push
- The attack scene with James near the end
TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN I EXPECTED:
- The exterior of Charlie's house
- The location of Bella's bedroom in the house (facing the street? really?)
- The sparkle of Edward's skin in the sunlight (just thought they could have done better)
- The exterior of the Cullens' house
- Edward's bedroom
- The location and configuration of the stairs in Charlie's house (interior and exterior)
- The hotel that Jasper, Alice and Bella stayed in in Phoenix
- The presence of color and non-bachelor type of furniture in Charlie's house
- The way the Sheriff's Office sat perpendicular to the road instead of parallel to it
Also, I thought that Edward would run much faster.
It's been such a long time since I've watched a movie based on a book that I didn't even realize I'd be making these inane comparisons mentally FOR THE ENTIRE DURATION OF THE FILM. Nonetheless, I'm still looking forward to New Moon this fall!
2 comments:
I totally agree with you on many things - especially that Edward would run faster. I think a large part of that is they had a very low budget for the first movie.
Also, I was a bit disappointed in the simplicity of the wording - the characters in the book didn't have much depth.
Food for thought, on Stephenie Meyers website, she posted a portion of Midnight Sun - Edwards version of twilight. Its very raw, but interesting. Considering he's 108 years old, the wording is a bit better.
Can't wait for New Moon!
Thanks, Megan! I went and read Midnight Sun last night and tonight. It was kind of odd, since so much of the dialogue was the same as Twilight, but interesting to hear it from his perspective.
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