From 2008 to 2012, there was always a debate going on over whether The Twilight Saga or the Harry Potter movies were the kings of Young Adult films. Twilight was the first series which had at least threatened Harry Potter’s star and made a big mark at the box office. Ultimately, The Twilight Saga wouldn’t come close to the critical and commercial success of Harry Potter, but it did kickstart a whole new fad of Young Adult movies. More so than Harry Potter, The Twilight Saga is responsible for the creation of films like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and The 5th Wave; its success made studios sure that this genre had a big audience.

When The Twilight Saga: New Moon had come out in 2009, the series was at its peak of popularity. If you’re old enough to be a teenager around that time, you’ll definitely recall the insanity with which every girl was head over heels in love with this series. The films made vampires something that girls dreamed they would have in life as opposed to their previous image of being more male-centric pop culture figures.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon’s filming involved a lot of fun from the cast, and these actors continued working for a few years more before the series ended. You’ll enjoy these pictures if you happen to still be a big fan of these movies. Sit back and travel back to 2009.

So, here’s your go at 20 Behind-The-Scenes Photos That Completely Change New Moon.

Bella On Bike

If you think car chase or bike riding sequences are easy work, then think again. They require a lot of security checks to be commissioned, because you don’t want your main actor to be seriously injured, or worse, if they go on one bike ride.

In this picture, you can see Kristen sat in the passenger seat while the director mulls over the details. You can also see how many people are there on set with the actors, with another bike looming in the background should there be a need for it.

Inside the house

In The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Bella began a firm friendship with Alice Cullen, who offered her support during her difficult time. Along with Alice, Jacob was also a permanent fixture for Bella in the film; both these characters are here with Bella during her time of need.

Of course, in this picture, these aren’t Bella, Alice or Jacob but Kristen, Ashley Greene, and Taylor Lautner. They’re receiving advice from the director over how to go through this scene in the house. You can see the house isn’t as empty as it seems on film and there is even a mat below the coffee table showing the studio name.

Birthday Boy

The Twilight Saga: New Moon may have come out in November 2009, but it was filmed much before that. Robert Pattinson’s birthday comes in May, so you can figure out the gap between filming and release dates thanks to this picture.

Being the main guy star of the film, Robert was naturally going to receive a big birthday celebration; here you can see the crew celebrating his big day. They set aside time from filming the movie to make Robert feel more special than he probably did that day as he blows away the candles for his birthday cake.

Robert and Wolf

The werewolves you saw onscreen were either real or fake depending on the situation. Sometimes, where the person transformed into a wolf, the scene was CGI while other times they needed an actual wolf on set.

Here, you can see Robert in close proximity to a real wolf. Of course, they’re not going to have just any wild wolf be on set; the danger would be awful. However, there were the trained wolves you need available there. As can be seen, these wolves were extremely docile and there is no fear on anyone involved.

Robert receiving Instructions

We never see directors onscreen, so it can fool us that actors are just so naturally talented that they get their scenes don all by themselves. In actuality, everything you see onscreen is devised by the director. The manner with which the actors say their lines is also helmed by the director; this is why you see the director giving Robert the pointers he needs for the scene.

With a green screen in the background, it’s a given that the scene would need to be completed by the post-production department, meaning that the director’s vision is of the utmost importance here.

Robert and taylor laugh

The characters of Jacob and Edward were hardly the best of friends, but from what we’ve seen of Robert and Taylor, they got along pretty well. The two even had a sizeable age difference, with Robert being a full six years older than Taylor; Taylor is still only 27-years-old.

In any case, here you can see Robert viewing something in the near distance and having a good laugh about it. Maybe Taylor didn’t catch a glimpse at whatever it was because he doesn’t seem to know what Robert finds amusing here.

Cast Photo

Promotional images are what set the fans’ appetites on course for them to go out and purchase tickets for the movie. In the late-2000s, with the Young Adult genre at its peak of success, the first look images were what the studios hoped would set the hype up.

It did work too as every Twilight Saga first look picture would guarantee a full house when the film came out. Here, the vampire cast for the film is in a group photo. However, this picture isn’t the one that was distributed before release as everyone is out of character here. It’s funny how Michael Sheen’s baddie character is all smiles instead of looking sinister.

Shooting in Italy

Almost all the actors will tell you one of the absolute best parts about being a big-time movie star is the fact that you get to visit all these far and beautiful places. For instance, The Twilight Saga: New Moon’s filming took the cast all the way to Italy!

Not only were they filming in Italy, but they also had a who set waiting for them to shoot. Here you can see filming in full school, with perhaps a little break as the crew members try to get everything in order. It must have been quite a task to make so many extras conform to the rules.

Bella in water

Actors are paid handsomely for their contributions to the films they star in. For The Twilight Saga stars, just appearing in those five films must have provided them with money hundreds of us combined won’t make in our lifetimes.

With all that money there needs to be dedication, and Kristen needed to be dedicated in this scene where Bella is submerged in water. The waves around her are intense, but she doesn’t seem be having any difficulty.

Laughing with the director

Speaking of the director, he’s the one designing everything you see in the movie, so the job’s a pretty high-stress one. Chris Weitz must have been up nights to prepare The Twilight Saga: New Moon, because you can see him here looking very patchy indeed.

He’s nowhere near cleanshaven and looks pretty out of it as far as keeping cleaned up is considered. Chris has a full beard and is sporting a beanie. Still, he seems pretty comfortable here as he and Kristen laughing at some long forgotten joke of theirs.

Crouching Kristen

From what we’ve seen of Kristen Stewart’s set photos, she never gave any trouble to the director; this only applies to the photos seen from the set of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, mind you.

Kristen also got a lot of flak for not being expressive enough in both delivery of her lines and her expressions in all the films of the series; however, here you can see Kristen giving a very cute smile as she crouches down. She looks like she’s paying attention to some instructions for a scene and has decided to rest for the time being.

Flinging Scene Instructions

At the beginning of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, a scene depicted where Edward tried to protect Bella and, to do so, he flung her far away from his bloodthirsty family members. Bella would crash into a table behind her and this is the scene that’s being filmed here.

As can be seen, the flowers are already toppled over and Kristen is lying on the ground, meaning this photo shows the aftermath of her crash. You can also see the director without the beard he was sporting later and looking much cleaner than before.

Scary Fake Werewolf

We mentioned before how the wolves on set needed to be fake at one time and real at another, and here’s the best example we can find to be parallel to the earlier real wolf you saw with Robert. When the scene called for the wolves to attack, it seems they weren’t always CGI.

Here you can see one prop of an attacking werewolf where its mouth is wide open. Making it look scarier is the fact that its chest is opened to reveal the workings inside. For some reason, this just makes it look more scary.

Shy Robert

When The Twilight Saga: New Moon was being filmed, it was late-2008 to early-2009, this meant it falls well into the timeline from 2008 to 2012 where Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were an item. The two famously went four years without ever conforming they were together until Kristen was publicly unfaithful to them.

Back in happier times, Robert can be seen here being particularly shy around Kristen. This means either they were in a lovey-dovey phase, or Robert still had a crush on her. Either way, he sports a very boyish smile.

Goofing Robert

Like Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson was also criticized by many outlets for being rather drab and monotone in playing his character. Of course, considering Edward was supposed to be an undead vampire, Robert didn’t have much choice but to play Edward that way. However, if you wanted an example that showed how full of life Robert could be, here’s the best picture to illustrate that.

Robert and Kristen are suspended by cables – no doubt filming to show how fast the vampires could run – and Robert is having a real-time goofing around.

Meadow Scene

Edward dumped Bella fairly quickly in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, after which all of his scenes were simply fantasies from Bella’s point of view. One of these involved Bella hallucinating happier times with Edward. Here you can see that scene being filmed and both Kristen and Robert look very happy indeed.

The cameras aren’t even rolling for the shot but the two are content in each other’s company. This was when they were happiest in their relationship, so you can imagine how comfortable the two must be when this picture was taken in the meadow.

Hanging With the Stylist

For a film like The Twilight Saga: New Moon, you need the actors looking exactly as the part demands it. The trouble is, almost everyone onscreen is either a vampire or a werewolf. This is why the makeup and hair department is of the utmost importance; you can’t have the actors running around looking like normal humans, can you?

In this picture, Ashley Greene and Kristen Stewart pay homage to one of the stylists on set for helping them out to become their characters. It looks like this picture is taken after their hair has been done as both Ashley and Kristen look they’re about to get into character.

Hanging with the fans

The Twilight films wouldn’t even have been a quarter of their success had it not been for the very attractive men in the movie. Chief among these men was Robert Pattinson, who had already been well-known thanks to appearing in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Robert’s fame was such that every teenage or early-20s girl wanted him when The Twilight Saga: New Moon came out in 2009. In this picture, you can see him serenaded by lady fans all around. He must have been used to this reception as he looks right at home.

Wrap up party

The set of the Twilight films must have been a fun one as just about every actor on set was extremely young. Even the actors who played the adults were young in the general sense and it was a very young cast they had there.

The actors seen here are the young ones from the film; Robert was the oldest at only 23-years-old at the time of the wrap part for The Twilight Saga: New Moon and every other actor in this picture was just a teenager when this picture was taken. It must have been a fun wrap-up party.

Taylor awaiting instructions

Like we mentioned, Taylor was just a teenager when The Twilight Saga: New Moon had been filmed, and he was so young that he was barely 17-years-old! What makes it so fascinating is that at that age, he had the ripped figure of someone who was in their mid-twenties. The guy had undergone a drastic change from Twilight the previous year and it can be seen here.

Here, the poor boy has to do without a shirt while every other man wears heavy clothing; it must have been a cold day out there, but Taylor awaits instructions for his scene to be filmed.

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What's your favorite behind the scenes photo from New Moon? Let us know in the comments!