by Larry Richman
February 11, 2008 12:22 PM
In all my years following the film industry I've seen very few with the advance buzz of this one.
Twilight has been so highly anticipated that its
IMDb message board already has about 50,000 posts and it's still being cast!
The film about a high school girl (Bella Swan) who falls in love with a teenage vampire (Edward Cullen), based on the first of a series of popular novels by Stephanie Meyer, is scheduled to begin filming this month with a projected release date of December 12. Summit Entertainment is distributing.
Casting announcements have trickled out slowly, with each one intensely scrutinized by the fans at a number of sites around the web.
Names released prior to today are:
Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan
Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen
Anna Kendrick as Jessica Stanley
Justin Chon as Eric Yorkie
Cam Gigandet as James
Today I learned that Michael Welch has been cast in the role of Mike, one of the first friends that Bella makes when she arrives at her new school. The information was published in the print edition of
The Hollywood Reporter. His name should be familiar to readers of this blog. Michael starred in several of my favorite films of 2006 and 2007:
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, An American Crime, and
Lost Dream.
I attended the World Premiere of
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, after which I chose it as one of my Top Picks, as well as at the 2007 SXSW Film Festival. After a change of distributors and several release dates, the film is due to be released in 1000+ theaters on May 9. Senator International is distributing.
An American Crime had its World Premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film, starring Oscar nominee Ellen Page (
Juno), was one of my Top Picks from that festival. Writer/director Tommy O'Haver says that a deal is imminent with a projected May release.
Lost Dream is still in the post-production process but I was privileged to attend a screening of an early cut last summer.
An American Son just premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
Day of the Dead is awaiting release, as is
Remember the Daze. He's just completed filming on
The Thacker Case.
Michael has both an official site at
michaelwelchonline.com/ as well as an official MySpace at
myspace.com/officialmichaelwelch.
