The "Twilight" series of novels has four of the top six spots on Amazon.com's best-seller list, and the "Twilight" soundtrack is the nation's No. 1 selling CD, so it's not a real flying leap to figure out what's going to be the No. 1 movie in the country this weekend.
Stephenie Meyer's swoony saga of vampires and young love — a Gothic romance for the age of Google — has grown from an OMG word-of-mouth phenomenon among teen girls to mass popularity among teens and, increasingly, their mothers and teachers. The movie, which opens Friday, has been anticipated by fans — the so-called "Twi-hards" — anxious to see their beloved characters come to life, but fearful that Hollywood would somehow screw it up.
Tuesday night, at the only Atlanta screening before the film's opening, a packed house shrieked en masse and nearly levitated in unison when the movie began. As legions more pour into theaters this weekend, here's what they will be talking about.
• Edward Cullen. And his hair. Cullen is the beautiful, noble, darned-near-perfect vampire who falls hard for young Bella, a 17-year-old mortal. Heartthrob Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movies) plays him as soft and afraid of his own urges at first, then increasingly stronger. His magnificently teased, poufed and highlighted hairstyle — James Dean taken to extremes — has generated so much talk already there's a Facebook group just for Pattinson's hair.
• Bella. Publicity shots of actress Kristen Stewart made her look too glam, and an earlier (discarded) script turned her into an action heroine. So fans were worried the movie might ruin Bella, whose awkwardness, introspection and sheer normalcy is a big factor in the story's appeal. But the movie Bella is very close to the book Bella, even nibbling her nails in one scene. Pretty, but no supermodel.
• Following the novel. The movie sticks close to the book, both in letter and in spirit. Fan-fave dialogue such as "You're like my own personal brand of heroin" survives intact.
• The atmosphere. Cloudy with a chance of gloom — this is the Pacific Northwest. Is that a whiff of "Twin Peaks" blowing on the breeze? Still, it helps anchor "Twilight" in a reasonably believable locale.
• A quick cameo. Blink and you'll miss her, but in a scene with Bella and her dad in a diner a little over halfway through the movie, that's author Meyer sitting at the counter, pulling an Alfred Hitchcock.
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