Some of you may remember that I had the incredible opportunity to interview actor Michael Welch (aka Mike Newton) of "Twilight" fame last Fall, shortly after I became one of the co-winners of the "Twilight" contest put on by the GR Press.
As luck would have it - I got lucky twice! This week I got to interview Michael Welch again and even luckier - I didn't have a recorder malfunction that turned me into a nervous wreck like last time.
At age 22, Michael is a seasoned actor with 19 films under his belt. Although the role of Mike Newton is small and getting smaller with each new chapter of the "Twilight" saga, the Mike Newton character is memorable because of his crazy sense of humor and upbeat personality - until Edward Cullen comes into the picture and becomes his competition for Bella's love.
We talked about his own personality, the difference between the three directors: Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Weitz and David Slade, recent projects and what the future holds for him:
"I did bring a lot of myself into the Mike Newton character, particularly in the first film," he said. "I really tried to tap into my high school wacky self and then at this point Mike Newton has kind of taken on a life of his own. And by the third film, it's interesting because so much of what defines Mike Newton is how he feels about Bella and his way in which he pursues Bella. I think he's finally come to the conclusion that he and Bella will probably not work out. He probably realized that competing with Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner is not going to lead him anywhere."
About the "Twilight" directors:
"Catherine was just very anything goes," he said. "Basically threw all the actors in a room together and was like, 'figure it out,' and we had a lot of freedom to discover and to bring whatever we wanted to bring to these characters. Chris Weitz was a little more structured in terms of the preparation and the outline and gave us all a packet of his vision of the movie before we started filming, but also allowed some freedom with the structure that he set up for us to play and discover and find out, you know, who these characters were at that point in the journey. David Slade was kind of the polar opposite of Catherine. Just like, he knew what he wanted, was very specific about it, knew what he liked and knew what he didn't like and just basically told you what to do. So, if I'm lucky, I'll get the chance to work with Bill Condon and see what his method is."
When I queried Welch about "Breaking Dawn" (which, it was recently confirmed, will be split into two films) he said, "I don't know if I'll be returning yet. I just heard that Bill Condon, the great director who did, you know, 'Kinsey' and 'Dream Girls' and all kinds of things, has been announced to do the film but beyond that, I really don't know any details. I hope they have me back. I mean, my character is in the book, albeit for a very short period of time. I will be a part of this journey for as long as they will have me."
I had just watched Seventeen Magazine's "Hot Guys of 'Eclipse'" behind the scenes video (see clip below) with Michael, Charlie Bewley (Demitri of the Volturi), Kiowa Gordon (Embry), and Alex Meraz (Paul) and had to ask, "Is it fun to hang with the wolf pack?"
"Yeah, absolutely. I see Alex, Bronson (Pelletier, a.k.a. Jared) and Kiowa quite often," he said. "Chaske (Spencer, a.k.a. Sam Uley) I've met briefly once or twice and it seems like Chaske is doing some really cool stuff that I'd like to maybe get involved with." (Note: Chaske is involved in many worthy, charitable causes as is Michael.)
"They're cool man, the wolfpack are super cool, they really are," he added. "They jumped into this world which was already established. A lot of us that were in the original movie had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. These guys know and they're enjoying every second of it cause they know what a great opportunity it is and they're just good guys. I mean Alex is just a big goof ball, Bronson is kinda wild and crazy man and Kiowa is just real laid back. So they're very cool, yeah, I like hanging out with them a lot."
I have got to say Michael Welch is one sweet, down to earth, talented guy. Here's a video of one of his post-Twilight projects; his movie Lost Dreams which came out on DVD this spring:
Seventeen Magazine video:
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