'Eclipse' director David Slade on fans, Bella and Charlie, and married life

From LA Times

While we're busy screaming over feathery Twitpics from "Breaking Dawn," Summit Entertainment is offering "The Twilight Saga" fans a juicy stocking stuffer to tide them over -- an extras-packed, two-disc DVD set for "Eclipse."

The Ministry caught up with director David Slade, who steered the third installment of the franchise, as he reflected on his whirlwind year in the Twi-universe. After all, a year ago at this time, Slade was only a month into editing the flick.

"Finishing the film is a moment of great weight. It's not just getting it cut, it's when the final print is timed and there's nothing more to do," he said. "It was the night before we did our press junket we finished it."

Finished staring at the famous faces of Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, that is. Slade, whose pedigree is in music videos and darker indies such as "Hard Candy," said he did his best with the "Eclipse" DVD to please the vampire saga's legions of fans.

"This is the only thing I've ever done that's had such a fan subculture, so with the deleted scenes I wanted to do a little justification for them," Slade said.

Chief among the scenes cut from the theatrical version of the film was an exchange between Stewart's Bella and her on-screen dad Charlie, played by Billy Burke.

[Spoiler alert!]



The two have a bonding moment after her high school graduation, one of Bella's last mortal activities before Pattinson's Edward follows through on making her a vampire.
"It's all in Billy's face, when you watch the film 30-odd times or more, there's more in his face than in his words," Slade said. "I was so confident that was going to make it in, we did it in one shot. It was two people trying to be as close to each other as possible."

Fans will get to live that moment when the DVD hits stores on Dec. 4.

Meanwhile, Slade will announce his next film in a matter of weeks, but insists it won't be any of the numerous projects that have been rumored.

"It always surprises me, what can get out there, like I'm doing 'Christine,' the Stephen King story. No, I'm not!" he said.

He did consider directing the next installment of "Wolverine," starring Hugh Jackman.

"We've gotten a ton of scripts, 30-odd projects, and one of them was 'Wolverine,' which Darren Aronofsky is doing. I met with Hugh, but felt it was right that they continue together."

The Ministry is also happy to report that Slade eloped Aug. 12 with his girlfriend of eight years, mere weeks after the June 24 world premiere of "Eclipse."

"Married life suits me," he said.

And now it's Stewart and Pattinson's turn -- on screen of course. Shooting is underway for "Breaking Dawn" parts one and two, under director Bill Condon.