This is an article from USA Today.
It took a couple of months and thousands of hopefuls to find a quartet that fits the requirements for New Moon’s wolf pack.
No. 1 on the list: Native American or First Nation ancestry, because their characters belong to the Quileute tribe, based in La Push, Wash., both in the book and in real life.
“They had to have papers that proved their heritage,” says director Chris Weitz, who was the one who insisted on hiring within the community. “And they had to be in good physical shape.”
The Twilight sequel is filming now, and between takes, the actors usually are working out with barbells, doing push-ups or chowing down on steak, Weitz says. “They went through wolf camp together, and they are in constant training. It paid off as a bonding thing for them and helped them to get to know one another. They drove each other to get more buff.”
No amount of weightlifting, however, would allow them to act out the wolf portion of their performances; the beasts are about the size of horses and race around on all fours.
Instead, the transformations are computer-generated, although one part of each wolf might seem familiar.
“They all have the actor’s eyes,” Weitz says.
Step aside, aloof vampires with all your undead issues. The wolf pack is ready to howl.
Unlike cold-blooded neck biters, these poster guys for animal magnetism are hot. So hot that their temperature runs a steady 108 degrees, as anyone who has read Stephenie Meyer’s series of gothic romances knows.
That gives them a great excuse to doff their shirts on-screen and expose the physiques they’ve been pumping up for playing werewolves in The Twilight Saga:New Moon, the sequel to last year’s supernatural sensation, due Nov. 20.
Four actors — Chaske Spencer, Alex Meraz, Kiowa Gordon and Bronson Pelletier, all with Native American heritage — join Taylor Lautner, 17, who returns as a hairier, scarier Jacob Black. The plotline finds Jacob growing closer to a distraught Bella (Kristen Stewart) after her vampire beau, Edward, runs off.
Among wolf pack job requirements: the ability to work half-naked no matter what the weather in the Vancouver, B.C., area, where the film has been shooting for several weeks.
“It’s not pleasant for the actors,” says director Chris Weitz. “But they have all been good-natured. They show up on location in drenching, cold rain, and I say, ‘OK, off with the robes.’ “
