Time for another Twilight movie. Which means it’s time for some more of that good old teenage angst overload as our favorite expressionless female protagonist gets a dose of sparkle venom, a cottage in the woods and a hybrid baby in the long-awaited Breaking Dawn - Part 2.
Sure, I can admit I read the books and have attended at least one midnight premiere. I can also admit I stopped caring about the whole Bella-Edward-Jacob thing a long time ago.
A long time ago as in six years ago, when I first read New Moon and discovered the Volturi.
For those of you who don’t know, the Volturi are the “evil” (read: most traditional) vampires. Whereas the central vampires to the story hang out with high schoolers and drink blood from woodland creatures, the Volturi are the ones who can rightfully claim the title of "vampire." They actually go after humans, they police the vampire world and they don’t take shit from anybody.
I’ll spare you the ending, but let me tell you that no matter what you think of their efforts at eradicating Bella and all that she stands for, at least seeing the Volturi in action will count as a good enough reason to see Part 2.
“We are probably the most interesting part of the movie,” said Charlie Bewley, who plays the vampire Demetri, known for his tracking skills. “We're the ones who have been around for so long. We've made our mistakes probably, and we've ended up together. We are this select group at the top of the hierarchy.”
Bewley, along with Daniel Cudmore, Colossus in X-Men and Felix in Breaking Dawn, are secondary characters in this film. This gives them a chance to be both vital to the outcome of the Cullen vampires’ lives (afterlives?) and inventive as far as their own characters’ backstories. The audience probably knows enough about Bella and Edward to get irked at any small misrepresentations on the part of KStew and RPattz, but it’s all open for the Volturi actors.
“When I got the role, I found sort of the human quality of Felix and explored some of his animalistic side and what it is in myself that can go down that route and bring it out,” Cudmore said.
While Cudmore said he focused on developing his character's personality, Bewley took Demetri's lack of characterization (thank you, Stephenie Meyer) as an opportunity to come up with one on his own. Demetri was his first big movie role, so Bewley wanted to get as much out of the acting experience as he can. That meant he invented his character into somewhat of a troubled superhero. (Keep in mind that Edward Cullen is merely troubled.)
“I sort of made up my own backstory, so I at least had somewhere to go. Something to tell me why I am here and what I'm doing,” he said. “I made that up and told Stephenie [Meyer]. She wasn't too impressed.”
Why try to please everyone, even the author of the novels, when you’re supposed to play the bad guy anyways? You're not supposed to make people like you – it's all part of the role. Consider it method acting. But really, all an antagonist needs is the willingness to let people hate his character, the drive to bring tension to a scene and, you know, the ability to act, all of which Cudmore pointed out as his major focuses in acting the part of Felix.
“I came into this role like any other job,” Cudmore said. “I don't think I was like, 'Oh god, it's Twilight, so I better anticipate it.' No. Just like with any other job, you just have to work hard and put your best foot forward. But as a testosterone-filled man, it's cool to just be able to tap into the bad guy side and get to be abrasive.”
Being one of the few, the proud, the Volturi affords actors the opportunity to be part of an enormous film franchise without the obvious occupational hazards of being stalked by fans to the degree experienced by the Cullen actors, nor the embarrassing worldwide scrutiny if they were to cheat on their significant others with the director of Snow White and the Huntsman.
Cudmore used the secondary role to fulfill his, and every man's, dream of getting paid to fake-bodyslam other actors on camera while wearing pasty white makeup and crimson contact lenses; Bewley used the opportunity to learn more about acting from the more experienced actors on set like Michael Sheen, who plays Volturi proto-patriarch Aro.
“When you're working alongside people like Michael Sheen, they don't have to teach you anything," Bewley said. "You almost just sort of soak in their essence as actors, and they're very good to learn from. It's a free lesson right there in front of you.”
Perhaps the best part of being Volturi? The ability to move on with your career after the saga wraps. Bewley has a starring role in Hammer of the Gods, a Viking movie set for release in 2013, while Cudmore is busy promoting his live-action Halo-based webseries Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn and sporting a “nice upper lip sweater” this month for No Shave November. Let’s see RPattz try not to get massive fangirl criticism if he promoted his final Edward Cullen role with a mustache.
So fan or not, no one will blame you for showing up for the midnight premiere of Breaking Dawn - Part 2 at the Century 12, if only to catch some good-looking secondary character action and to cheer on the fact that at least Stephenie Meyer felt like she had to try to write a few real vampires into her otherwise progressively disappointing saga.
I know that’s why I’ll be there.