"Blue" New Moon?

I was in Walmart last evening and grabbed one of the tabloid magazines with Rob Pattinson on the cover. Who wouldn't?

Anyway, the "sensational" two-page article spoke of all the woes befalling the New Moon movie before even a single frame of film has been shot. Basically, the "alleged" problems are:

• Pattinson's prolific partying


• Stewart's smoking (i.e., "toking")
  
• Tension is tasking the lovelorn leading man
  
• Lautner's losing his role


• Screenplay and story (from the book) are worlds apart

OK, my fellow Twilighters, let's pretend we've just gone "hunting" and are no longer jittery to the point of completely losing it. Remember, this is Hollywood. Summit Entertainment suddenly has a super hit movie under its belt and is banking on making the sequel even better. It has less than a year to pull everything together, and, in the meantime, it wants to maintain the feverish level of interest its budding franchise is enjoying.

Unlike 2008, however, there's no new Twilight Saga novel (i.e., Midnight Sun) coming out to tide everyone over until November 2009. Yes, the Twilight DVD is highly anticipated and will help things along, but the "official guide" book to the saga may only attract the hardcore fans. So, that leaves Summit with ... what?

Why, stirring up some sassy stories about the cast, of course! How they're all "struggling" to adjust to their newfound "superstardom," and to cope, Rob's drinking too much, Kristen's smoking the ganja, Rob loves Kristen but Kristen has a boyfriend, Taylor's too young and small and will never be able to pull off Jacob's hefty role in New Moon, so he's on his way out, and, finally, the story is being "radically" changed to increase Edward's presence in the movie, to the detriment of Bella and Jacob's budding friendship.

So many troubles! But, you gotta admit, it's a tricky, tried-and-true tactic that's specifically designed to maintain media and fan interest in the franchise. "Get these kids on E.T.! Access Hollywood! TMZ! E! Whatever it takes to keep the spotlight on them for the next 11 months!"

OK, now, let's talk turkey. This whole thing is, first and foremost, a business, and it's designed to make money. Nobody's going to let these actors wash out. Hell, the actors themselves know that the sequel will either make or break the franchise ... and their careers. They don't want their stardom to fizzle just because they couldn't pull it together to make a great movie. Their managers certainly won't let this happen to their new "cash cows." Rob's gonna buckle down off the booze, Kristen's gonna hide the hash pipe, they'll both manage to deal with any "unrequited love" issues, and Taylor's hard work to keep his role will pay off. (Besides, Summit would be stupid to bounce an actor that people already love, regardless of whether they're a Jacob fan or an Edward fan. It's too late ... their voices and faces are already "imprinted" on new readers.)

Regarding the screenplay and Edward's "allegedly" increased presence ... look, Rob Pattinson pulled off a terrific performance in Twilight, despite all the bad tidings. He's proved his mettle, so Summit is going to use him as much as possible — particularly because it's paying him more. Because of this, Jacob's role may be diminished ... but Taylor will get to keep his job and earn his acting chops along the way.