Zac Efrom to star in "Me and Orson Welles"

Although the Disney Star has not been making as much headlines as Twilight’s Robert Pattinson in the past couple of months, yet those astonishingly blue eyes admittedly keeps striking in our mind time and again. The “High School Musical” heartthrob, Zac Efron will be starring in “Me and Orson Welles”.

Efron pauses several times when he is asked what appealed to him about playing Richard Samuels, the teen in “Orson Welles”. He begins with, “It was the only opportunity that I had at the time that was . . .” and then continues, “I don’t know, it didn’t feel like . . .”.

The young actor seems to be enjoying his new role a lot. Out of the High School kid image he would now be seen as an adam.

“I have no control over the 15 dudes outside”. Efron shrugs and pauses to take a sip of tea. “They can do anything they want. It’s the law. Maybe you could call me paranoid, but I have become a very private person. I imagine there are people who can thrive in this scenario, who can be the center of attention, but I just get overwhelmed”.

Don’t consider the 22 year old as just a young cute face. His high school grades are excellent to fetch him admissions in the top universities in Los Angeles, UCLA and USC. He is self-composed and thoughtful while he talks. Efron follows the careers and films of male stars a generation or two older than he is, Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp and Tom Cruise. They, too, were once teen idols.

“I’m rewatching Leo’s transition, from my perspective”. Efron says. “He is the best barometer for me. It’s amazing to see actors who have been able to sustain this for so long and keep positive, still focused on the work, still trying to make their best film”.

Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson

The Twilighters have more reasons to celebrate the Thanksgiving whole heartedly. There is something more than they expected from their favorite stars.

No brownie points for guessing really. Fans contributed millions of box office bucks for the recent release of New Moon to mint. And now its time for the New Mooners to pay them back on the Turkey Day.

What could have been better than a couple of Tweets from the stars themselves? Dream come true? Yes, that’s what many of the fans feel. The official Summit Twitter page reflected Tweets from Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. Now that must be an unforgettable early holiday treat for Twi-hards around the world.

The most handsome vampire onscreen, Robert Pattinson wrote, “Thank you for making NEW MOON #1. It’s very exciting to be a part of something embraced by so many people. I hope you are looking forward to ECLIPSE as much as I am”.

Launter too continued the Thanksgiving spirit. His tweet went on like, “Your passion for The Twilight Saga is the sole reason we’re #1 across the world!”

And in case if you are a Stewart fan and feeling a little left out then don’t be. The most heartwarming sentiments went out from her as a holiday miracle! “You all have proven you’re the most amazing fans in the world once again. I feel so lucky to be a part of The Twilight Saga and thank you for making us #1!”, Stewart tweeted.

“Yes, I twittered. Or twitted..tweeted? I dunno, but thank you sooo much anyway..!”, she added trying bring that Thanksgiving smile on her fan’s face.

With New Moon creating box office records of all time, there could have been no better Thanksgiving gift ever for the Twilight fans. Edward, Bella and Jacob let the real-life shout-outs keep flowing.

New Moon Stars

You could just be one of those who helped “New Moon” break all box office records by milking worldwide ticket sales worth $258.8 million in over the past weekend. May be you are one of those crazy Twilight fans who broke into the book store to grab each part of Stephanie Meyer’s gripping vampire series as soon as it hit the store. May be you have gulped down each and every word from the whole series and adopted it wholly. May be the wolfs and vampires have become a part of your everyday life by now and you might have started considering it as not just a form of entertainment but a mindset and a way of life.

Or you could be just one of those unfortunate who is wondering what all the fuss is about.

Let me now get to the point straight. Either way, it reflects your curiosity towards the film. It shows that you want to know more about the story and more importantly the

Either way, you’re probably curious to learn more about the actors and actresses who turned Stephanie Meyer’s tale of vampire felt everywhere around you. So lets stir you up a bit.

Let me introduce you to some of the gumptious “New Moon” stars:

Robert Pattinson: Edward Cullen

Robert Pattinson’s towering fame left everyone intoxicated. As Edward Cullen, the 23 year old star exhibited power over the vampire sect. His sex appeal made him the biggest heartthrob in no time at all and even before he could realize this British star was ruling the real world too with his charm. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, last week, Rob said that a female fan “frantically started taking her clothes off” after he joked to a crowd of autograph seekers that stripping was a definite way to grab his attention. The coveted hero is surely seeked like vampires crave blood.

Kristen Stewart: Bella Swan

Bella Swan, the girl who belongs to Cullen and only Cullen, is also linked to him in real life. The onscreen couple had been making headlines with romancing rumors. Stewart plays Bella, in the “Twilight” franchise, a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire.  Like her growing popularity in the Twilight series in real life as well Stewart continues to be on the top. She recapitulates the role of Bella in Twilight’s 3rd installment, “Eclipse”, and is preparing to play rocker Joan Jett in “The Runaways”.

Taylor Lautner: Jacob Black

The 17 year old Taylor Launter surprised everyone beyond belief with his role as Jacob Black. Launter plays a childhood friend of Bella who lends her great support after Edward leaves in “New Moon”. He is then changed into a warewolf. “The thing is, I love this character, I love this story, and putting on the weight and not wearing much clothing was required by the role. A year from now, if I love a story and I love a character that requires me to lose 40 pounds, I’m ready to do it”, Launter was quoted as saying to Film.com.

Dakota Fanning: Jane

Dakota Fanning handled the spot lights and attention with elan. The 15 year old most promising child star froze the audience first with her performance in 2001’s “I Am Sam”. Fanning plays the role of Jane, who is a part of Volturi trained on to torture the cult’s enemies. “It’s really kind of one of the first times I’ve played the bad character, the villain figure in a movie. It was just really great to get to have the red contact lenses and the vampire makeup and get to have an evil persona, a creepy persona”, Fanning told Ellen DeGeneres in an interview mentioning how thoroughly she enjoys her evil role.

Nikki Reed: Rosalie Hale

Rosalie Hale, played by Nikki Reed, is a Cullen family member who scorns Bella. In an interview with MTv, during the making of “New Moon”, Reed said “My hair fell out”, since she had to dye her brunette hair blond for the role in “Twilight”. “It took 36 hours initially to make me blond, and every other day, I was bleaching my head and my skin. This time around, we are testing out different wigs and stuff”, she added.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

It was speculated something such and the makers of the vampire saga were not let down. “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” wolfed $140.7 million in its opening weekend. On the first three days the movie minted total $258.8 million worldwide as per reports of studio estimates on Sunday.

A year back “Twilight”, the first installment of Stephenie Meyer’s popular vampire series, grossed $69.6 million haul over the same weekend. A year after the picture was completely changed. The No. 1 domestic debut for Summit Entertainment’s “New Moon” was more than twice.

“Obviously, with the success of ‘Twilight’ itself, sequels being what they are will generate X-number of dollars more, particularly if it’s a satisfying sequel”, Richie Fay, head of distribution for Summit, was quoted as saying.

“New Moon” ranked third on the all-time domestic chart, with Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight” ranking 1st with a gross of $158.4 million opening weekend and “Spider-Man 3″ ranking 2nd with a gross of $151.1 million. On the opening day itself, “New Moon” earned $72.7 million, which is an all time domestic high for opening day. This surpassed the previous record of $67.2 million by last year’s “The Dark Knight”. “New Moon” is also the second-biggest non-holiday weekend ever in Hollywood, the top being none other than the July 18, 2008 release of “The Dark Knight”.

Outside “New Moon” debuted in 25 countries and took in $118.1 million over the first weekend. There was no doubt that “New Moon” would emerge this big.

The third installment of Meyer’s next “Twilight” chapter, “Eclipse,” arrives in the heart of summer, next June 30 and is expected to do as big as this.

Twilight had showcased the supernatural teen romance between a school girl and a vampire (Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson) and New Moon adds a love triangle with a werewolf (Taylor Lautner) to the plot. Both the films have been hot favorite among female fans resulting to around 80% of the audience for “New Moon” being female. The “Twilight” franchise “taps into something primal and visceral that drives women crazy, and they’re willing to pay for the privilege” commented Dergarabedian. The viewers for the film were mostly young who apparently left to chance to fall in love with vampire and werewolf heartthrobs.

The five films that grossed highest during last weekend are:

1. “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” ($140.7 million)
2. “The Blind Side” ($34.5 million)
3. “2012″ ($26.5 million)
4. “Planet 51″ ($12.6 million)
5. “A Christmas Carol” ($12.2 million)

Johnny Depp: the "Sexiest Man Alive"

Johnny Depp has been irresistible, not only for his fans but also for the People Magazine, it seems. The 46 year old actor is People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for the second time.

Upsetting quite a large number of teenage beauties, Depp overtook the Twilight hunk Rob Pattinson to win the People magazine’s sought after title. Like Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Richard Gere, the other double winners of the coveted endorsement, Depp had bagged the title earlier in 2003.

The senior editor at People, Kate Coyne, explained the reason behind choosing Depp for the title on CBS’ Early Show Wednesday by adding, “Johnny Depp was someone who was sexy 10 years ago. He’ll be sexy 10 years from now. He appeals to multiple generations of women — and for many different reasons to different kinds of women”.

People magazine also described the flamboyantly adventurous “Pirates of the Caribbean” star as “the king of cool with the killer cheekbones”. The 46 year old Depp, succeeded the 2008 winner Hugh Jackman this year.

Depp was seen ruling the screen with roles like 1930s gangster John Dillinger in “Public Enemies” and the murderous London barber “Sweeney Todd” in the recent past. In his forthcoming film, “Alice in Wonderland”, the actor will be seen in the role of the Mad Hatter. The film, directed by Tim Burton, is due for release in March 2010.

An overwhelmed Coyne said, “He’s sort of everything. He’s a guy’s guy, kind of a bad boy, he’s a respected artist and actor. You know, he’s got a little bit of everything”.

The previous winners of People’s sexiest man alive title include Matt Damon (2007), Matthew McConaughey (2005), Jude Law (2004) and Ben Affleck (2002).

People’s sexiest men alive issue featuring the 2009 winner, Johnny Depp, hits newsstands on Friday.

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson

Its a one year anniversary of the most popular vampire movie “Twilight” and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson remembers how they were simply floored by the welcome they received from thousands of eager fans of the the Stephenie Meyer’s book. Throngs of fans had gathered to greet the stars at the premiere of the big-screen adaptation.

At the same location the stars were caught unveiling the sequel “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” amid thousands of eager fans. Monday night in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles Kristen Stewart and the hottest vampire on screen, Robert Pattinson arrived for the premiere of their forthcoming film. The stars, surrounded by fans waiting for them impatiently, quite knew what was coming their way this time.

“I’m not as scared as I was last year. At some point, the security guy said, ‘This is very unsafe.’ And I was like, ‘Uh.’ Other than that, everything was cool”, Stewart said while she signed autographs finding moments out of her very short visit.

The biggest heartthrob and “The Sexiest Man Alive”, Robert Pattinson, said the crowed was much larger than the previous year’s and this they had expected. “And it seems different to me because we have done this world tour in the last week and it has just been unbelievable in every single city. It is about 10 times bigger than any other city in the world”, the star, who plays Edward Cullen in the movie, added.

A group of fans who called themselves as “Twi-Hards” reached the venue on early Thursday afternoon to secure a place in the line for get the tickets to watch their favorite stars’ arrivals on the red carpet from close.

Taylor Launter, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson

The “Twilight: New Moon” stars, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Launter finally landed in Tokyo for the promotion of the film. New Moon will hit the theaters on November 20th. The stars have been recently all over from Vancouver to Los Angeles to Sao Paulo, Brazil and finally to Tokyo promoting their film. And all these in less than a week’s time. Well, it almost requires a vampires sleeping habit to carry on with such a routine.

Rob, Stewart and Launter arrived in Japan early Tuesday morning. The photographs of the stars soon were all over the internet. The most handsome vampire on screen arrived at the press conference in a sharp dark suit. The 23 year old actor spoke about their forthcoming release, New Moon, at the event sponsored by Volvo. Rob was later joined by Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, who arrived straight from Brazil.

All the three tried too look less tired but it seems that they only get to sleep once in a “New Moon”. Rob, Stewart and Launter have been really busy with their last minute promotion of Twilight’s first sequel to be released on 20th November.

Pattinson, the heartthrob of millions across the globe, wore a charcoal suit, a deep chocolate shirt, brown striped skinny tie and fit brown shoes. Ahem! Rob is a perfect Englishman, no doubt about that! Kristen Stewart flaunted a short black leather-esque number with a fitted bodice, barely-there straps and a jagged ivory hem. Bella surely looked romantic and sensuous! Taylor Lautner simply stole the hearts of all those present all in black.

With “New Moon” all set to hit the theaters on 20th, Summit Entertainment has already decided to re-release “Twilight”. The first sequel of the vampire series, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon”, is highly anticipated to win the heart of millions again. Twilight will be re-released on 19th, a day before New Moon’s release.

Twilight and New Moon all set to release

Summit is right now negotiating with US Theater Operators about the number of screens they will allow or make available for a one night show for Twilight. The blockbuster vampire film will be screened for a single night. A reliable source reports that some of the theaters have also agreed upon selling tickets of Twilight as a discounted rate, while the other theaters might charge full rate. There is also news of Twilight being screened at the same venue where New Moon will open on November 20th.

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the modern vampire love tale “Twilight” is a film based on Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling teen book series. Starring Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen and Kristen Stewart as Bella, the movie went on to become one of the biggest hits of the year generating a sum of $383.5 million in worldwide ticket sales. Twilight also sold about 8 million DVDs in US and Canada alone.

The decision of re-releasing Twilight has been souly taken to gratify the demands of the fans who wanted to see the film on the big screen again, reported the summit. Speculations are going on that double ticket sales from both “Twilight” and “New Moon” would be a highly beneficial to Summit. This will also benifit the Theater owners.

Abigail Breslin

Abigail Breslin, the teenage actress will be playing the role of Helen Keller in her debut on Broadway next year. Breslin was nominated for n Oscar for her role in the movie comedy “Little Miss Sunshine”.

Breslin will be seen as Keller in the William Gibson play, “The Miracle Worker”. David Richenthal, the producer of the play, announced on Wednesday the production of would start on February 12 next year at the Circle in the Square Theater with the opening set for March 3. Alison Pill will be playing the role of Keller’s teacher Annie Sullivan. Pill was earlier seen in the movie “Milk” as well as a list of Broadway shows.

The story of “The Miracle Worker” is set in the South in the 1880s. It speaks about the real life story of Medal of Freedom winner Helen Keller. Keller was born as deaf and blind. But with the help of his remarkable supportive teacher, Annie Sullivan, she learnt to communicate with the world. The play was earlier produced on Broadway 50 years ago starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke.

Breslin, who is 13 years old now, appeared first on screen when she was 5. She appeared in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 film “Signs”. The teen star also received an Oscar nomination in the best supporting actress category for playing the title role in the comedy film “Little Miss Sunshine”. The various other popular films she worked in are “Raising Helen,” “No Reservations,” “Definitely Maybe,” “Nim’s Island,” “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,” “My Sister’s Keeper” and the recent release, “Zombieland”.

Robert Pattinson

Did you find anything unusually similar between “Twilight’s” Edward Cullen and bad boy James Dean? Yes, you are right, its the perfect hair, grizzling looks and outcast persona of the most handsome vampire on-screen. The look of the vampire in Twilight was much influenced from the “Rebel Without a Cause” said Robert Pattinson.

“‘Rebel Without a Cause’ was a big influence on the first ‘Twilight’ film — it influenced the hairdo and stuff. In lots of ways, it has a very similar character arc: An everyday girl brings this relatively strange individual out of his slump”, the actor said in an interview with USA Today.

Pattinson has an image, which is quite similar to James Dean. Right after his Twilight release Rob became the heartthrob of millions of women from all over the world. In a past interview the 23 year old actor was quoted as saying that he does not feel very comfortable handling all the attention and fame the character “Edward Cullen” brought to him.

“I’m not entirely sure what it is. I’ll probably realize afterward how I could have controlled it a little bit more. But I am still like a deer in headlights”, said Pattinson.

Rob also admitted the fact that a large section os his fans are ardent readers of the “Twilight” series of books. And they all could relate his so much with the bookish character that it became difficult for them to distinguish between the actor and Edward Cullen most of the time.

“Right at the beginning, everyone just called me Edward. I don’t really mind either way. There’s something about that character that, for some reason, has sparked an interest in massive degrees in so many different people”, Rob added.

The actor also said, “If you want to compete with your own character, you have to really fight. I don’t know if I could be bothered to fight. I just let it go by.”

The forthcoming sequel of the popular vampire series, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon”, is all set to hit theatres on November 20.