Melissa Rosenberg on adapting Twilight

In The L.A. Times, Denise Martin talks to Melissa Rosenberg about adapting Stephanie Myer's book, Twilight, for the big screen and the response to the final book in the series, Breaking Dawn.

As a writer yourself, what did you think of “Breaking Dawn”? Fans were pretty divided.

I was utterly compelled by it, first of all. I understand why there's uproar, but I respect Stephenie for having made the choices she did. She easily could have played it very safe. She could have had the series go on for another eight novels, but she took a risk. And she blew it out! She just completely went wild. I just think that that's such bold storytelling. She turns the series upside down.

Here's the thing: If you're playing it safe, you're not going to offend any of the fans. If you take a risk, you risk losing your entire audience, you risk destroying your entire series. We deal with that on "Dexter" all the time [the series on which Rosenberg writes). Every time you take a risk, you have a 50-50 chance of choosing wrong. We've all seen series take that risk and fall flat on their asses and everyone cries, "What have you done to my series?" And then you're the most hated person. But I think Stephenie was true to herself and her story and that's what is important.

Twilight trailer



Twilight will be released in the UK on 19 December.