Twilight Saga screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg talked to Wall Street Journal about her work on the Twilight series while they had breakfast at the SoHo hotel. She revealed a lot of things during the interview like her thoughts on Twilight, her works on Dexter, and how she feels about being dissed by critics. Rosenberg wrote the screen of Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. She is currently working on Breaking Dawn, which has been divided into two films. The first part will be released on November 2011, but the second half has no scheduled date yet. Summit Entertainment has signed Dreamgirls director Bill Condon to helm both movies.
The American screenwriter admitted, “I’m done with teen romance. I’ve done it to death. Of course, that’s what people hire me for.” She worked as a writer on TV shows like Party of Five, Ally Mcbeal, and The O.C. It was her job as the screenwriter of the dance flick Step Up in 2006 which starred Channing Tatum that led her to Twilight. She was asked by Summit to write for the sequel of Step Up, but she declined because she was busy with other projects. She was then offered to write for the big screen adaptation of the first novel by Stephenie Meyer, Twilight. (Both Twilight and Step Up were released by Summit.)
She said, “Eight months later, they called and said, ‘How do you feel about teens and vampires?’ Well, I love teens and vampires. It’s an unapologetic romance and we just go for it. For older people, it sends them back to an innocent passion, and for young people, it’s tapping into where they are right now.”
But before Twilight, she was worked as a writer and executive producer of Dexter on Showtime. The show gave her a Peabody Award and a nomination from The Emmys. But she recently gave up on her stint on the award-winning to focus on Twilight. But unlike in Dexter, which was praised by both by critics and viewers, although Twilight series was a huge success at the box-office, the movies were panned by critics. She revealed, “It’s tough. It sinks in a lot more than praise. It speaks to the inner demons that say I’m a hack anyway. I have to not listen to it.”
But she admitted that Twilight films “are not trying to be Gandhi. Is it high art? No. But it’s not trying to be. They were not about quick wit and dry humor. When I wrote the first draft for Twilight, I had a lot more comedy in there, and then it just became clear it wasn’t the voice of the movie.”
But on the bright side, she told WSJ, “You’re not wondering if fans will show up. They will.” Twihards don’t really listen to critics.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse will be shown in theaters on June 30, 2010. And you can also watch Eclipse online.