'Twilight': Director's Notebook: The Story Of How We Made The Movie [Hardcover]

Catherine Hardwicke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2009

Synopsis A personal, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the blockbuster film Twilight from groundbreaking director Catherine Hardwicke! This intimate full-color "notebook", designed to replicate the one director Catherine Hardwicke kept on and off the set, takes you through the creative process that went into making Stephenie Meyer's breathtaking novel come alive on screen - from casting to costumes, stunts to story boards. With never-before-seen notes, sketches, and photographs taken directly from the visionary director's personal notebook, this book includes everything from her visual inspirations, to step-by-step breakdowns of action sequences, to a behind the scenes look at some of the most pivotal moments in the creation of the film, and much more. Get the inside story - this collectible notebook will be a must-have addition to every Twilight fan's bookshelf! Biography Catherine Hardwicke trained as an architect at the University of Texas and started in film as a production designer. She designed over 20 films, including Tombstone, Tank Girl, Three Kings, and Vanilla Sky. Hardwicke's debut as a feature film co-writer and director was the Sundance award-winning Thirteen. Made for under two million dollars, it garnered an Academy Award nomination for Holly Hunter. She has since directed Lords of Dogtown, The Nativity Story, and most recently, Twilight. She lives in Venice Beach, California, with Jamie Marshall and her cat, The Black Velvet Luxury Item.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: ATOM; 1ST edition (2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905654596
• ISBN-13: 978-1905654598
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (145 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,230,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Twilighters will love it!, March 17, 2009

By 

Holly Thatcher (Apple Valley, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twilight: Director's Notebook: The Story of How We Made the Movie Based on the Novel by Stephenie Meyer (Hardcover)

I'm still giving this 5 stars, but there were a few things that I found a tiny bit disappointing...

1. The book is 163 pages, but there is not much text and the pages are small. It took me less than and hour to read it from cover to cover.

2. The book is written in Catherine's handwriting which can be hard to read sometimes.

3. I thought the book could have covered the topics more in depth. I thought the chapters about how they shot various scenes were interesting, but they made me wish I could ask her questions (and get the answers!). There were so many more things I wanted to know about how and why she made different decisions in shooting the movie.

Despite those 3 things, I still thought the book was really interesting and fun to read. I saw the movie twice in the theaters and this book made me excited for the DVD release (especially the bonus material). I realized after reading the Director's Notebook there were lots of little details from the movie I had missed. Here's one example: After the nomad vampires kill the security guard they wear his clothes, James wears his jacket and Victoria wears his "Kiss me, I'm Irish" t-shirt. I never noticed that before.

This book also made me realize how difficult it is to a translate a book into a film and how budget constraints can really limit a director's vision. I feel sad that it didn't work out for Catherine to do New Moon because you can tell how much she loves Twilight and put everything she had into this movie.

27 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Another ripoff, March 18, 2009

By 

internetjunkie495 (Western NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Twilight: Director's Notebook: The Story of How We Made the Movie Based on the Novel by Stephenie Meyer (Hardcover)

Unfortunately I had to give this 1 star - it doesn't deserve that.

I saw this in the bookstores and am glad I didn't pre-order it. The book is no bigger than a postcard. $18.00 retail!?! It's not worth $10. For the price it should have been a poster book. This is just another way for Hardwicke to bleed more money out of Twilight fans. Definitely not worth the money.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not much substance, April 12, 2009

By 

Z Hayes (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twilight: Director's Notebook: The Story of How We Made the Movie Based on the Novel by Stephenie Meyer (Hardcover)

"Twilight: Director's Notebook" has some insights, and photographs as well as movie trivia, but despite this, I found it lacking. This is because the book is purported to be the Director's Notebook, and I really expected a work of more substance, instead of something flimsy [it's postcard sized] and seemed like a book published to ride the series' popularity.

I'd rather recommend "Twilight: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion" which I felt to be worth my money, and provided deeper insights into the production of the movie.