Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg

Discussion of the Twilight movie

Moderator: bac

Forum rules
Click for Forum Rules
DudeRocksTheTwilight
I'm A Proud Twilight Guy
Posts: 3825
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:05 pm
Location: Chugging the postahol. On MSN, most likely. Tieing Sarah in thunderball.

Re: Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg

Post by DudeRocksTheTwilight »

Amanda Beth wrote:I think it's impossibly hard to turn a book, especially a very very popular cult classic book, into a movie. No one here could say we could do any better because we don't really know the guidelines she had to follow, any restrictions she had AND as people have said, a lot of was changed after her job was done. There were more scenes of them walking in the meadow/woods. She wrote it, they shot it but it was edited out.

Twilight is a very difficult book (well the entire saga) to translate on screen because it's so much in Bella's(and eventually Jacob's) head. Things come off in our imaginations (that have no budget so we can make them FANTASTIC) versus how something comes across with a bunch of actors are extremely different. I love the books, I do, but the first two books I find Bella very whiney and...I hate to say, pathetic... in my mind-- I don't see her that way in the movie and that's a good thing to me. I also find B&E to be OVERLY gooey with each other in the books which would come off even cornier on screen. I know everyone can picture it like it IS a movie, but it's not that easy. I find it humorous also that people think some of the lines in the movie were corny-- I laughed the first time I came across the "dazzle" conversation in the book. People don't really talk like that!

So, unless someone finds the script Melissa wrote, the fingers need to point at the director. If it sucks and Hardwicke let it be put into the movie, well then she sucks at her job doesn't she? I'm pretty sure while flipping through her directors notebook at B&N I saw a bunch of places where she mentioned putting lines in. She also had her own copy of Twilight that she wrote in and pointed out what lines need to be included. She had a HUGE say.

I'm letting the Melissa off the hook for now. If New Moon is better then we'll know the director was the problem. If it still sucks-- well don't go see the movies anymore. It's a well known fact that the movies can never hold a candle to the books.
Hear, hear!
Image
Al Puccini of the Mafia, Santiago of Volturi, Major Peter of JCA, EDC Bulldozer Trainee, APPC Host Jenni - TwiGirl
Amanda Beth
Has Caught Sight of Edward
Posts: 1075
Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 12:34 pm

Re: Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg

Post by Amanda Beth »

Did anyone read (I forgot what site it was posted on... this one or twilightguide.com i think) that Twilight was filmed during the writers strike so Melissa wasn't even there for some of the filming... which included the spider monkey line being put in (and that was Catherine Hardwicke's words that she wasn't there). I'm really interested in the New Moon script now to see if she's really capable of a good screenplay... hopefully there will NOT be a writers strike!
edwardsangel96
Settled in Forks
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2009 9:45 pm

Re: Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg

Post by edwardsangel96 »

I was disappointed in the fact that they spent so little time with Edward and Bella's love story in Twilight. But, I don't completely blame the screenwriter. Sometimes directors can change lines or scenes. Plus, so much is taken out and changed around in the editing process. I've seen some of the deleted scenes and wished that they were left in. I thought they were great. But, the decision of what gets put in and what ends up on the cutting room floor is the directors decision and often the studio bosses decision. Sometimes, directors have to fight studios to allow them to keep certain scenes in. I'm beginning to think that MR wrote some great scenes and they were just edited out. I guess we will see where the fault lies when NM comes out and we have a different director.

Second, some people are wanting the movies to be EXACTLY like the books. As much as I want that, it just can't be. Movies are a visual medium, whereas, books aren't. Because of that, some things just don't translate well to screen. A fine example of that will be in the scene where Jacob and Edward are in the tent, with Bella, and are conversing telepathically. I hope they put that conversation in the movie, Eclipse, because so much is revealed. But, they would have to do it in such a way that they are having a verbal conversation. Otherwise, it would be stupid. Plus, the scene in NM where Jacob is torturing Edward with his thoughts about what happened to Bella, when he left. I think that's an important and emotional scene, for a lot of reasons. But, I don't see how they could do it without having Jacob and Edward actually conversing. Maybe they could, but they would have to tweek it a bit, so that it makes sense.
edwardsangel96
Settled in Forks
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2009 9:45 pm

Re: Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg

Post by edwardsangel96 »

Amanda Beth wrote:Did anyone read (I forgot what site it was posted on... this one or twilightguide.com i think) that Twilight was filmed during the writers strike so Melissa wasn't even there for some of the filming... which included the spider monkey line being put in (and that was Catherine Hardwicke's words that she wasn't there). I'm really interested in the New Moon script now to see if she's really capable of a good screenplay... hopefully there will NOT be a writers strike!
I read about that, as well. That is probably the reason why there was so little dialogue between Edward and Bella
Jadey
Resisting Temptation With Carlisle
Posts: 2723
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:43 pm
Location: New Zealand
Contact:

Re: Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg

Post by Jadey »

Melissa left out 2 very important parts in new moon.
Chris had to add in 'Stitches' himself, and Kstew and Taylor had to fight to get the mike vomiting scene at the movies.
She doesn't get the story, and obviously doesn't know whats important and whats not.

Fire her already.
Shes full of it and she sucks at what she does
Image
^ by ForJazz
Image
"Theres a lot of like, feminist issues with the book. Like, 'Oh, she's so devoted to him' and well yeah, she's in love with him"
- Kristen Stewart
di0772
Settled in Forks
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:10 am
Location: Newcastle Australia

Re: Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg

Post by di0772 »

Jadey wrote:I thought the movie was corny and kiddy.
The books are beautiful pieces of work, and they ruined it by wanting to attract and snatch the money off 12 year olds.
It was like Melissa Rosenberg read the book a couple of years ago and then decided:

I remember reading a book I know I'll write a movie about a vampire who falls in love with a human. It feels like she wrote down all the lines in the book she felt she could use, then lost the book. While she was writing she was trying to remember how it went and when she couldn't she gave up and said it doesn't matter, I'll just add my own scene.
Amanda Beth
Has Caught Sight of Edward
Posts: 1075
Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 12:34 pm

Re: Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg

Post by Amanda Beth »

Jadey wrote:Melissa left out 2 very important parts in new moon.
Chris had to add in 'Stitches' himself, and Kstew and Taylor had to fight to get the mike vomiting scene at the movies.
She doesn't get the story, and obviously doesn't know whats important and whats not.

Fire her already.
Shes full of it and she sucks at what she does
I don't really understand why the vomiting scene is an important part of the book lol
Post Reply