For starters, in “Eclipse” your character will be changing into a wolf for the first time, what was that experience like for you? Was that something you had been looking forward to since “New Moon” and have you seen how the effect looks on screen yet?
Tyson Houseman: It’s true yeah. Well they actually did show me what my specific werewolf looks like in full CG wolf form and it was really cool. It looked really cool and I’m excited to see it on the big screen. It really helped seeing the images of the wolf because it gave me an idea of what I was really working with because before that I didn’t really have anything to work off of. I knew I was a werewolf but what does that really mean? So to have the imagery to help define it really helped out. It looked way cooler than the one I had in my mind.
Your character gets to “imprint” for the first time in this film, can you tell us about that scene and what it was like to shoot?
Tyson Houseman: Yeah that’s a pretty important part for my character. I’ve actually gotten made fun of so much because my character imprints on a two-year old. At first it seems a little bit creepy but in the film they actually do a really good job of explaining the whole idea that it’s like you don’t have a choice and it’s like love at first sight. It doesn’t have to be a romantic thing if there’s like an age gap or something like that. So I think the way they explain it in the film they really do it justice. They really tell it really well.
You have a different director in “Eclipse” than you did in “New Moon” so could you talk about the differences between working with Chris Weitz and David Slade? How did the cast adapt to working with a new director and what kind of fresh perspective was Slade able to bring to this film?
Tyson Houseman: Well it was really nice to have the opportunity to have two different directors on my first big film that I’ve ever worked on. That was a great way to jump in to the whole idea of working on films and stuff like that. Working with Chris Weitz, he was a lot of fun and he is an extremely nice guy. He would always find away to make a joke on set and make me feel really comfortable. Even though maybe I did something wrong, I never felt too bad because he made me comfortable and let me know that I could get it right. Chris will just ease you into it and you’ll find the way to hit the line or the right take just through that comfort zone.
was a really smart director and he was very practical. He paid attention to the very, very tiny details. It was nice because I would be saying a line a thousand times and to me it would sound the same but he would be like, “No, no try it again differently just the slightest bit.” He was just able to talk about ideas behind different things and it really helped getting it across, you know? Eclipse is definitely the darkest of all the books in the series, and my favorite book too, so I think David Slade is the perfect guy for the story. There is a whole war scene that happens and it just seems like it’s going to be his forte so I’m really excited to see how the final film turns out.
Can you tell us anything bout the war scene?
Tyson Houseman: Well I didn’t get to do any filming for that personally because all of that was when we are in wolf form and all the wolves are completely CGI.
What can you tell us about the re-shoots that took place in April? Were they extensive, do you know which scenes were re-shot or added and were you involved with any of them?
Tyson Houseman: I really don’t know at all. I found out about the re-shoots through my Mom. She called me one day and said, ” Oh my God, they are doing re-shoots, are you involved?” I was like, “I have no idea?” My Mom is on top of all the Twilight news for me. I find out all the things I need to know through mom. She checks the Internet way more than I do.
Do you follow any of the “Twilight” fan-sites on the Internet?
Tyson Houseman: Not really. I’ve tried to avoid that a little bit. I remember when the first pictures of us came out on the Internet, of all of us wolf guys, I went and took a look at one of these sites just to see what it was like. I was reading all these comments that said things like, “Oh, this guy’s not right for the character at all.” Or, “This guy doesn’t look good at all” and it was just like a lot of insulting stuff. There was some good stuff but there was a lot of stuff that kind of hurt. I just try to avoid looking at the Internet stuff now.
