I'm finally back home from Portland and able to share my story and pics from visiting the Twilight set on Friday, April 25. I apologize in advance for the length of this, but I don't even know where to start and I don't want to forget anything!
So it was completely by chance that I had to go to Portland this weekend for client work (thank Goodness!). I was afraid they'd be done filming before I got there on Friday. But lucky for me, they had some delays that caused them to film their final day on Friday. And thanks to some AWESOME TMs on here, I knew they were filming in Vernonia on Friday. My plane landed at 1:00, I got my rental car and went straight to Vernonia. When I got to the town around 2:30 I immediately saw the "base camp" signs and my heart literally skipped a beat. I had been afraid that they wouldn't actually be there or that I wouldn't be able to find them. So I parked my car and headed toward the "Summit" signs that pointed toward the main street in town.
All of the "Vernonia" signs on the buildings were changed to "Forks" - the police station (which was really a bank), grocery store, welcome signs, etc. (pics below) The crew was moving extras and supplies to the far end of the street, and they had a truck start spraying the road with water. I started talking to one of the crew members that was walking toward the set, and he told me I could just follow him around. Then he introduced me to a few other crew guys, and I stood around with them during shooting. And, before you get the wrong idea, half the guys were married and the others were aware that I was married
They were filming the first scene of the day with Charlie and Bella driving down the street in his police car. I had seen Kristin get dropped off by an SUV and walking around the car before and after the scene (Catherine Hardwicke was sitting in the back of the car). Kristin looked really friendly with the other cast and crew, but she was filming all day while I was there so I never got to meet her. One of the crew guys gave me the day's call sheet so that I could see where/what they were filming and with who (pic below). That's when I realized that Rob and Peter were filming that day too!
Once they finished driving the police car up and down the road, they stuck it on the back of a truck for additional controlled filming. We all started moving the supplies to the police station (the crew gave me a ride in their trucks), but then things got boring because the filming simply entailed shooting the car on the back of a truck as they drove around town. So one of the crew members asked if I wanted to go take a look around base camp. Of course I said yes because that’s where Rob and Peter were, and base camp is clearly a place where I couldn’t/wouldn’t have been able to go by myself. He took me on a tour of base camp – make up, wardrobe (where they were having a sale on clothes), food areas, and he pointed out the actors’ trailers. We all hung out at base camp for awhile because they weren’t planning on setting up for the police station shoot until after the finished driving the cars around. One of the crew guys told me that the dailies look good, he raved about the stunt work, and he said that this is the first movie he’s worked on that he really wants to see. Yay!
As we were standing there, I kept seeing Peter walking around outside of his trailer. After all, he and Rob had been there since 3:00, and it was now 6:30 or so and they still hadn’t been called to set – so no doubt Peter was getting bored. I pointed him out to the guys I was with, and the one asked if I’d like to meet him. Again, of course, I said yes! When we walked over he was back in his trailer – sitting on his couch with his laptop on his legs. The guy knocked on the side of his trailer and asked Peter if I could meet him. Peter was happy to oblige, all smiles, and came out of his trailer, took a picture with me (boy did they have a lot of make up on him to make his skin that pale!), and talked to me for a few minutes (the guy who introduced us slyly walked away after taking the pic). Peter said that he hadn’t heard of the Twilight series before the movie, but that he then read each book in a day because they were so good.
After Peter went back in his trailer, the crew guys and I continued to stand around at base camp. I mentioned Rob’s name to the one guy, and he thought that Rob would be willing to meet me as well. So we went over to Rob’s trailer and he was sitting on the couch smoking. He agreed to come meet me, and after taking two pics of us, the guy with me walked away again. So Rob and I started talking, and he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to go back to sitting in his trailer. So we just kept talking! Realistically, I think we stood there for like 45 min, and Rob was such a sweetheart and completely friendly! And god was it hard not to just want to stare at him sometimes! We talked about a bunch of stuff (that I won’t want to go into too much detail about for his privacy)...nothing groundbreaking, but still interesting, including talking about Washington DC; his need for a car and an apartment; trying to figure out what town/state he was in; the idea of celebrty; the new Harry Potter movie; is smoking habit; a new book he's reading; and the contacts he was wearing.
We stopped talking when someone came to tell Rob it was time to get food. So we said goodbye and he went to the food tent as I went to find the crew I had been with, who then invited me to eat with them. While we were getting our food, Rob got his and went back to his trailer to eat. Peter ate in the tent with everyone else, and then after I finished eating, Kristin finally got a break from filming to come eat.
I hung around for a bit longer, but when I found out it was going to be another hour or two before they’d be ready to film the police station, I decided to leave. Not only did I have an early morning for work on Saturday, but I’d already had the opportunity to meet Rob and that’s more than I could ask for!
And now I think that’s everything! Sorry I don’t have more pictures. But I had such a great day that I can’t even put half of it into words! Enjoy the pics…Rob was looking good
Huh, interesting. I didn't think he was the type to talk about personal things with fans. 
