In June, when several fan sites got the opportunity to talk with Stephenie Meyer, they chatted with the Twilight author about the casting choices for the ancient Volturi, first seen in New Moon. Here is what she had to say about Michael Sheen, Jamie Campbell Bower and Christopher Heyerdahl. From Twifans:

ARO…………….

SM: We kicked around a lot of names with that. And Michael Sheen was Chris’ choice (Chris Weitz, director). “Frost/Nixon,” he’s a great actor, but I couldn’t see him as Aro.

Alison: Oh, Lucian! (the character he played in the “Underworld” movies)

SM: Well, I hadn’t seen the “Underworld” thing, and I was like, “I don’t know,” I kinda had a different mental image. I had this actor, that actor that I wanted. And he talked me into it. First day I saw him on set, I went up to Chris and I said “thank you so much. You were right, I was wrong. I will listen to you forever, because you were SOO right on that one.”

Nikki (LTT): When he delivered that line, it’s just like, “oooooh!!”

SM: It was a delight to watch him go in there. Every little take he did something different. He did slightly different things. Always, of course, lines were perfect. Never a mistake, but he would give something different for the director to pull from. And he’s so great, he’s a really interesting guy. So much fun to talk to.

Bekah (LTT): My husband, who thinks I’m crazy, when Michael Sheen was in…

SM: That’s one of the reasons I love that movie…I love watching him, where every time he comes on, I’m like, “Say something!”

CAIUS…………………..

SM: I hate that Jamie Campbell Bower didn’t get as many lines. He is chilling. He actually tried out for Demetri. And he was too scary for Demetri. We were watching it. There was another guy that — Demetri is supposed to be — Charlie (Bewley) was sort-of the in-between. Demetri was supposed to be smoother and calm people down. But then of course, maybe people don’t want to ever have somebody as the peace maker. They want all the tension. So Charlie was scary, but not as scary (laughs) as Jamie. Jamie was CHILL-LING. And that his face took the makeup like nobody else. He has no pores! His skin was perfect! He got in the makeup, and every line he delivered had so much weight. It was like “more, more please.” Caius needs a story. The whole thing with him and Michael Sheen was great. Well, Marcus too.

MARCUS………………….

SM: Chris (Christopher Heyerdahl) is just……….creepy. Creepy. He just did this thing where it sounded like he had 500 years of dust on him. That part of the movie…I was sitting there talking to him, and I didn’t know it was him. He’s bald. I’m used to him with the hair. So I’m sitting there talking to this tall, bald guy, thinking that he was somebody else. And when I realized it was the actor, I’m thinking really quickly back through everything — did he know that I didn’t know who he is? And then I told him…”I didn’t recognize you without the wig and the red eyes and all that…”