MTV Post: Kristen Stewart; tabloids, Bryce Howard.

From MTV

I imagine the first day on a movie set is a lot like the first day of school. There's all the last-minute summer reading (memorizing the script), meeting new classmates (your costars) and the hours of hair and makeup (okay, maybe not that last one). But thanks to a special touch from director Chris Weitz, the "New Moon" set felt even more scholarly — in a good way. "Twilight Saga" star Kristen Stewart sat down with MTV Radio recently and talked about the director's teacherly approach to filming, working with newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard and the media scrutiny.

"Chris did a very different thing that I've never had a director do," the 19-year-old explained. "He put together a syllabus of what we were supposed to achieve and how he was going to make it easier for everyone — sort of an introduction to how he likes to work. It not only introduced the idea of collaboration but said, 'Please, everyone, love it and be invested and work hard.' It was very encouraging. It had technical aspects of [the shoot] — how he was so sorry that so much of the movie was going to be CGI stuff that we would have to react to — but that he was going to always make us aware of what we were acting with and never leave us high and dry like a lot of effects movies [do], because you don't know what you're reacting to. It was a full rundown of how he planned on making the movie. Most directors are like, 'Have you put together notes for our meeting?' and it's like, 'No. That's your job.' "

With "New Moon" already a box office smash in its first few weeks, Kristen also turned her gaze towards next year's "Eclipse," dishing about working with Bryce Dallas Howard, who took over the role of Victoria from Rachelle Lefevre. "It was really good [working with her]," Kristen said. "Bryce is scary. She is really oddly sweet as well, so it's weird to see her switch back and forth. Victoria, for Bella, is an ever-present fear — even when Victoria isn't around, she is scared that she is coming back. Bryce is such a good actress, and it was easy to be scared of her."

And, of course, no KStew interview would be complete without the requisite tabloid talk. But Kristen mustered a much more diplomatic response than the one she gave Entertainment Weekly last month. "I've gotten more comfortable with it," Kristen said of the media attention. "And the whole rumor/tabloid stuff, it's so obviously false to me. Even before I became a part of it, once I was sort of the star of that, it's like a show; it's like a ridiculous show. With false realism, like a soap opera that seems real, but you're not quite sure. It doesn't bother me; I don't take it personally."