Twilight
Monday, March 16th & Tuesday, March 17th
This March is an interesting month at the Frida. We’ve got Spring Breakers, The Big Lebowski, and The Brood this week alone, and Soviet war epic Come and See, horror comedy classic An American Werewolf in London, and Chinese neo-noir The Wild Goose Lake coming up down the line! Yet it’s a movie we’re playing next week that YA fiction fans and glitter enthusiasts are ready to sink their teeth into: Twilight, the beloved vampire romance from Thirteen director Catherine Hardwicke!
Based on the novel of the same name by Stephanie Meyer, the film famously cast Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, a human and vampire couple whose pairing could best be described as a shot heard round the world. Capturing the imagination of impassioned fans and making $393 million on a $37 million budget, the movie paved the way for two, even-more successful sequels and propelled both Stewart and Pattinson to stardom. An object of affection, reference, and parody to this day, there’s no questioning that Twilight had one of the biggest impacts on pop culture of any movie to come out in recent years.
Now, fans will have the chance to relive the magic all over again thanks to Sydney Dayan, one of our two Volunteers of the Month for March! As Volunteer Coordinator Assistant, Sydney is responsible for interviewing potential volunteers for the Frida, with many great new team members joining our theatre during her time in this position. On top of excelling at her duties, she has an amusingly snarky sense of humor, as you’ll see in our interview about her time at the Frida and her evil plan to play Twilight here. I wasn’t expecting her to approach our conversation the way she did, but I ended up having a lot of fun with it and hope the humor carries over to print.
How did you find out about The Frida Cinema?
I was googling places that needed volunteers because I had just moved to Orange County, and so I signed up here.
What made you want to volunteer here?
You know, I just felt this strong urge that I was going to be Volunteer of the Month one day, and I knew people needed to see Twilight. So I’ve been masterminding this scheme to become Volunteer of the Month, it’s been years in the making, and now we’re here!
Tell us a little bit about Twilight.
I just feel like people don’t appreciate it. It also helps that it’s really in its renaissance right now, with there being Twilight memes and Twilight posters resurfacing. I think especially with it being election season that we need to revamp ourselves with the real question of our time: Team Edward or Team Jacob?
What were your other choices for your Volunteer pick of the Month?
I wanted to play The Fall with Lee Pace, but that movie has died and cannot be resurrected.
What is your favorite Frida memory?
*pauses in thought* You know what, every Frida memory is just so treasured, and it definitely didn’t take me a full 30 seconds to think of that answer! All of them are just so special and unique, it’s hard to pick one out of such an interesting and diverse group of memories!
If you could program any movie here, what would you pick?
Honestly, Twilight was like my first pick. I think that’s the only reason I got Volunteer of the Month, because they wanted to show it, because the people wanted it! So my plan has succeeded, with or without any setbacks, and the people will see Twilight!