Dish Of Salt: ‘New Moon’ Mania Invades Comic-Con 2009

I had such a blast last year at Comic-Con (my first) that I could not wait to come this year. I’m proud to say that I was the first person at Access Hollywood to jump on the “Twilight” bandwagon last year before all the media caught on and the hype began.

I followed all the online controversy about the casting of this barely known Brit as the main character Edward Cullen. So, I could not wait to meet this man named Robert Pattinson. The second I met him, I knew the casting was perfect and he would be a superstar to tweens and teens everywhere. While there was a large group of curious fans at Comic-Con last year, it was beyond miniscule compared to what happened at the convention center today.

I arrived to the convention center where I found a line snaking around the back of the building as thousands of fans waited in line for a chance to get into the panel. It’s amazing the dedication people have to come out days before an event and sleep on a sidewalk all to catch a glimpse of a celebrity. I’m reminded that I really take this job for granted when I see things like this. Little did these people know that I was walking past them I was heading over to a press conference where I would be no less than five feet from Robert, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner.

The press conference was in this huge room which made the hordes of press seem actually kind of small but certainly quadruple the amount of press — and then some — from last year. We waited for about a half hour. I sat next to our producer Felidette who is like the ultimate Robert superfan. She drove down from LA just for one day to see him. Scott “Movie” Mantz made himself comfy upfront with the photographers so he could snap pictures.

Around 10:20 AM, the trio came out, Robert, Kristen and Taylor, to answers the media’s questions. It’s hard not to notice how fidgety Kristen is. She seems so uncomfortable with the whole celebrity thing. She must have played with her hair or scratched her head two dozen times.

Now I only had the chance to ask one and it had to be a good one. So, I went up to the microphone and asked if “New Moon” fans will be satisfied with Robert’s screen time in this film considering how this is really a Bella/Jacob story. All three laughed at the same time and promised Edward is a big part of this film. Some more people got up and asked questions and while they did this, I frantically took pictures to send back via Twitpic as I am a Tweet-aholic.

After we revived Felidette (kidding!), we headed over to the convention floor. As usual it was wall to wall people many dressed in their best superhero outfits from Superman to the Green Hornet, Wonder Woman to Alice in Wonderland… and many many Cullen family wannabes.

Next, it was up to the interview room where I got to talk to Taylor and Kristen together. They told me that the media does not scare them — the fans do. They are diehard, that’s for sure. I’ll let you watch the video to see what we chatted about. I also talked to Ashley Greene, who plays Alice Cullen, who had some fun stuff to say about filming in Italy and driving the yellow Porsche just like in the book.

My favorite moment of the day was when I asked Andy Samberg (there to promote “Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs”) if he was on Team Edward or Team Jacob and he replied, “It’s hard to choose. It’s like asking if you like water or food. You need both to live.” Hilarious!

Felidette and I tried to get into the panel the cast was hosting where they would show new clips of “New Moon.” Unfortunately, the press area was full so we missed our chance!

A couple of hours later, I headed over to the Pacific Theater where they were screening “Twilight” and the cast would be. I guess this really was just for the fans because they made the media stand across the street on a platform and we could only shoot the cast as they came out to wave to the fans for a photo opp. I was very annoyed to see that entire cast was there. Why did they not come and do interviews earlier? I was also perturbed that while everyone else walked out and stood for a couple of minutes, Robert left after only about 30 seconds. Hey it was for the fans though so as long as they were happy I was okay with it. By the sounds of their screams they were!