‘Breaking Dawn’: Stephenie Meyer, Bill Condon talk new ending

OK, Twihards, I’m guessing that by now you’ve seen “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2” at least seven times since the film opened Friday. With its CinemaScore grade of A, it’s no surprise that you are all satisfied with the ending. That being said, if life has somehow got in the way of your screening opportunities and you have yet to see the conclusion to “Twilight,” please stop reading. The post below is filled with spoilers.

For those of you who spent your weekend in the world of Forks, Wash., you know that the conclusion of the film is far different than the conclusion of the book. Rather than the meeting of the Volturi and the Cullen clan ending in a handshake and a “see ya later,” it concludes with a gory battle where many of your favorite vampires lose their immortal lives. Or does it?

As “Twilight” lore goes, the scene was constructed far before director Bill Condon arrived on the movie. Rather, it was hashed out in a meeting between Meyer and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg long before cameras ever rolled on “Breaking Dawn.” The new, much more active and engaging conclusion was one of the key reasons “Breaking Dawn” was even able to become a movie, considering the book’s filmic challenges.

And though the conclusion comes initially as a shock to fans, specifically when Carlisle Cullen’s head is first shown severed from his body, it’s all in the book, according to Meyer.

“The battle is exactly what Aro saw,” Meyer said during a pre-release interview. “There’s a moment in the novel when he’s staring at Bella and she’s looking back at him and feeling this assessment. And then everything turns. But we can’t see what he’s seeing. But what he’s seeing is, ‘It’s going to be a close fight, a lot of people are going to die and I’m probably going to die. I’m going to die.’ And for him, in my mind, the Volturi win the day. They do. They outnumber you. They would win. But they would be decimated. Their power would be crippled, and he realizes he’s not going to survive it and that’s what changes his mind.”

Meyer adds that the only element they changed was adding Alice. “We had Alice get involved so we could visually show it, but it’s all still there.”

Condon had a different take on how the battle would play out. “I wanted to kill all the major Volturi (which we ultimately did). Stephenie was nervous that if we wiped them out the audience would have been upset that it was merely Alice’s vision,” he said. “She wanted to kill many fewer Volturi, wipe out Emmett and Rosalie and some others on the Cullen side. I didn’t agree.”

Compromise clearly ruled the day on the scene that the cast shot for six weeks in a sound stage in Louisiana. Did it exceed your expectations or disappoint? Let us know in the comments section.

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