CHRIS WEITZ'S FAVORITE SCENE TO FILM

"There were a lot of fun scenes to film, frankly," Weitz recalls. "I really did enjoy the scenes in the Volturi headquarters [filmed on Vancouver soundstages], although it was a tremendous logistical headache. In a way, it's the scenes that you dread the most, because they are so time consuming and you have to get them just right, which is like the stuff in the Volturi headquarters, or the stuff that was shot in Montepulciano."

"I suppose that has to be my favorite scene, because it is the high point of the movie, when Bella goes to try to stop Edward from killing himself. We had a thousand extras in this medieval town square in a hill town in Tuscany, in the most beautiful country on earth, and it was such an extraordinary opportunity to get to work there. It was also kind of surreal, because every Twilight fan who could make it from all over continental Europe and further, had gone by hook or by crook to Montepulciano and booked a hotel room -- sometimes at the very hotel which the cast and crew were staying."

"So there was this kind of weird Beatlemania sort of thing going on in this very small, beautiful, hill town. For five days it was this kind of bizarre festival atmosphere, and it really wasn't bothersome at all; it was incredibly gratifying. All these people would applaud after every single take, whether or not we had screwed it up - they had no idea because they weren't close enough to hear. But if you looked down any alley down which the camera wasn't pointing, you'd see hundreds of these young girls who had come to just touch a piece of what they really loved."

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BOOK AND THE FILM

Those paying close attention to Stephenie Meyer's source novels might remember the "three-way date" that Bella goes on with friends Mike Newton and Jacob Black. While the scene was shot for New Moon, the filmmakers had to be creative with details in order to avoid potential lawsuits. Hence, the film will show Bella going to see a movie-within-a-movie entitled, simply, Face Punch. Unfortunately for fans, Face Punch will not be filmed at all.

Weitz explains how he came up with the title and concept for Face Punch: "The funny thing is, I had to come up with the name of a movie-within-a-movie, and the first one, which I think was named Cross-Hairs in the book, couldn't be cleared because it had already been used. You'd be shocked at the number of stupid action movie names that have been turned into movies. So I eventually submitted a list of ten to Summit's lawyers and they had to see which ones they could go and clear, and Face Punch was one of two out of ten that could actually be cleared. And I chose that over Kill Hunt, so now somebody can actually go make Kill Hunt, but Face Punch is ours. [Laughs] It was always a joke between me and my brother [filmmaker Paul Weitz] that there should be a movie called Face Punch, which was just about people punching each other in the face. But it's the kind of movie-within-a-movie, it's the least romantic thing that Bella can think of to go to, because her friend asks her, essentially, on a date and she wants nothing romantic to happen at all."

Weitz continued, landing upon a brilliant idea for the next wave of Twilight fan videos. "Sadly, there is no Face Punch, although maybe it should be something that the fans are left to make. You'll hear the sounds of Face Punch, which will be a lot of people being shot and hacking each other to bits. There are a few other movies that are referred to, imaginary movies, within this movie, and the way that it satirizes other genre films in a very brief and lighthearted way. And this is example of the stupidest kind of action movie imaginable."

OK, BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT ROTTEN TOMATOES LINE?

"I'm afraid we didn't [include the Rotten Tomatoes line], and the reason would not be because of Rotten Tomatoes, but because Summit Entertainment [is] very careful about not quoting any existing property. And probably, if we had actually bothered to go and ask, then you guys would have said, 'Yeah that'd be really cool,' but then some lawyer would have said, 'It doesn't matter, somebody else could complain about it,' and all that sort of stuff."

"It might be because of the Tomatometer response to The Golden Compass, as well," he joked, "which lowered my overall Tomatometer quite severely."

THE "PROPOSAL" SCENE

Speaking of changes, let's address the big fan question: The Proposal Scene. While Melissa Rosenberg's script for Twilight deviated slightly from Meyer's source novel, most agree that it remained generally faithful in story and (perhaps to a fault) in dialogue. So will New Moon's conclusion stay faithful to Meyer's "proposal scene," in which Edward makes a very specific ultimatum in response to a life-changing request from Bella?

"It hasn't been cut out, I can tell you that much," Weitz carefully shared. He paused to compose his answer, making sure not to reveal too much. "It's not going to hit them in exactly the way that they think it's going to, but I will say that -- how can I put it? --it's going to be quite special. I kind of saved all of my gusto for that moment. I don't think it will disappoint.

Next: Weitz on working with Eclipse director David Slade, coming back to direct Breaking Dawn...and if Breaking Dawn is even filmable