Melissa Buttigieg, 23, saw "Twilight" 15 times in the theater. Hassina Ford, 19, watched it on the big screen 10 times, and Aimee Murphy, 22, watches the DVD every day.

They were among the throng of overwhelmingly female fans who gathered on a recent evening in London with the aim of catching a glimpse of the cast of "New Moon," the second film based on the the best-selling "Twilight" book series by Stephenie Meyer.

The crowd - representing factions of both Team Edward and Team Jacob, referring to the two male characters at the center of the vampire romance saga - shrieked and screamed as the teenage heart throbs walked down the red carpet at the event for UK fans.

"Twilighters," as fans of the franchise are known, can undoubtedly match fanboys for fervor. But can they redefine what makes a blockbuster in Hollywood?

Read more by clicking here

Spain reveres its flamenco tradition; Ireland won hearts with Riverdance. What form of national expression does England bring to the global table? Morris dancing - a folk-infused activity whose practitioners hop backwards and forwards waving handkerchiefs.

But what England also has is a genius for poking fun at itself, in particular its more eccentric cultural legacies. "Morris: A Life With Bells On" continues that gift in the finest traditions of "This Is Spinal Tap" and "The Full Monty."

The film's premiere in London's West End is like no other I’ve ever seen: The usual red carpet has been replaced by green Astroturf bedecked with straw bales, milk churns and a couple of dozen morris dancers hopping away. What is your favorite mockumentary? "Spinal Tap," "Borat," or maybe "Best In Show?" Tell us below.

Yet, despite a paltry half-millon dollar budget and a production base set on a chicken farm, ex-investment banker and first-time filmmaker Chaz Oldham managed to recruit seasoned talent including the venerable British actor Sir Derek Jacobi, French star Dominic Pinon and Naomie Harris, who joined the production straight from the premiere of "Pirates of the Caribbean."

The exceptional script of this British-made mockumentary follows a documentary crew on the story of Britain’s finest morris dancer Derecq Twist - a man determined to go beyond the boundaries of dance who inevitably falls foul of the ultra-conservative guardians of the dance.

International fascination with the film has been high, with 120,000 hits in a peak week on the movie’s website and fourth place from 248 entries at Seattle Film Festival. Hopes are high to lure a U.S. distributor on board.

The English are polarized about the prospect of morris dancing at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012. Some believe we should flaunt it, others would rather curl up and die than present it to the world.

Last word on the subject of morris dancing goes to Sir Derek Jacobi, whose talent in turn was discovered by another peer of the English acting realm, Sir Laurence Olivier:

“When you say ‘morris dancing’ usually people smile - never too maliciously but there’s a hint of malice behind their smiles. But it is so essentially English that the other half who are smiling are really genuinely fond of it and rather proud that its something that is so essentially English, nowhere else in the world will you see it, it’s ours and we mustn’t let it die.”

VENICE, Italy (CNN) - The bigger the star, the lower the press are prepared to sink in order to get their attention.

An Italian man took off his clothes - down to his boxers - and asked George Clooney for a kiss at a press conference at the Venice Film Festival.

Security seemed reluctant to drag the man, who had an officially accredited badge, away.

"It's hard when you take a big chance and it doesn't work," Clooney grinned in response. "It's always really embarrassing when you take one big swing for the fence and it falls flat ... It was a good try though."

"Have you ever heard the David Niven joke," continued Clooney, "Wasn't it his line at the Oscars one year when he said the biggest laugh he'd ever get is by taking off his clothes and showing us his shortcomings."

Clooney is in Venice to promote Iraq war satire "The Men Who Stare at Goats," which is screening at the Lido.

The film, about a U.S. military unit that experiments with paranormal powers, co-stars Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges.

NEW YORK (CNN) - Although the film’s title may lead you to believe "Taking Woodstock" is about the kidnap of Snoopy's yellow friend, Ang Lee's latest offering in fact centers round one man's involvement in bringing 500,000 people to sleepy Bethel, NY for the iconic Woodstock festival.

'Taking Woodstock' is not a typical Ang Lee film.

"Taking Woodstock" is not a typical Ang Lee film. It is a gentle coming-of-age comedy and yet when I think of Ang Lee, I think of characters taking understated emotional journeys ... and maybe the odd sprinkling of martial arts thrown in for good measure.

Infamous gay cowboy drama "Brokeback Mountain," martial arts period drama "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and exquisitely-shot tale of betrayal "Lust, Caution" –- not one is without an intense and somewhat cerebral undertone. In "Taking Woodstock" bouncers wear dresses and parents dance like chickens.

The main role is played by Demetri Martin and Emile Hirsch, Liev Schrieber and Imelda Staunton also star.

Demetri Martin is not an actor. He is the first to point this out as I gingerly approach the topic in a room festooned with tie die, lava lamps and beads at the hippy-themed press junket.

Actors are unpredictable critters so say, "You have done some acting before, but were you surprised when you were offered a lead in an Ang Lee film?"

"That's a really nice way to ask that question," he says. "Saying that I hadn't had a huge amount of experience - you mean no experience!

"I was surprised," he says finally. "And you know ... a little concerned.”

Martin has a TV stand up show in the U.S. in which he draws funny stick figures and makes low-key jokes. How on earth did world-renowned, Oscar-winning Lee alight upon this person to carry his entire multi-million dollar film?

It's kind of like imagining Ridley Scott casting Kermit as a lead (actually that would be amazing and Frank Oz did). I thought Ang Lee would have all kinds of impactful things to say about this casting but he merely remarked somewhat cryptically, "I see this possibility in him to find a movie and that's just a belief ... I'm willing to throw myself in and see what happens."

I find it hard to buy that the decision was THAT straightforward but decide against calling Lee a trickster to his face. You see, I think Lee’s casting is more joyfully, deliberately surprising than he lets on. Do you think Ang Lee is being more deliberately playful with his casting then he lets on? Tell us below in the comments.

Liev Schrieber stars as a transvestite and wears a dress. Schrieber is big and burly and married to Naomi Watts. He’s been in masculine action movies like "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," and "Defiance."

Maybe that was Lee's point. When I ask Schrieber what the experience was like he describes it as "exhilaratingly humiliating." Maybe we'll be seeing more of him in dresses.

Lee also manages to get Emile Hirsch in his role as a traumatised Vietnam veteran suffering from flashbacks, to strip completely naked and perform a full-frontal nude dance scene.

"Well," says Hirsch languidly, "I was excited just because I thought it'd be such a cool scene." Meanwhile, confusingly, he is taking my photo with his iPhone. "But then," he continues, "It was kind of a cold day and there were 300 extras everywhere and one of the things that I didn't realize was that everyone has cellphones. So the threat of maybe being photographed was constant."

I point him that even if he wasn’t photographed on set by an sneaky extra with an cameraphone, he is in fact immortalized nude on celluloid to be shown on a huge screen for all to see. I hope I am not the first person to point this out to him.

For more from director Ang Lee on new film "Taking Woodstock" watch Screening Room Xtra's September special on CNN at the following times: Thurs 3 September: 0845, Friday 4 September: 0315, Saturday 5 September: 0845, 1715, 2245, Sunday 6 September: 1445, Monday 7 September: 0245 (all times GMT)

Move over Scarlett. The world's most famous bespectacled neurotic, Woody Allen, declared that the person he would most like to put in one of his movies is France's First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

France's glamorous First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is director Woody Allen's latest leading lady of choice.

"Without question, Carla Bruni!" declared the U.S. director on RTL radio in Paris Thursday.

"I'm sure she would be wonderful," Allen said through a translator. "She's got charisma, she's already acted so she's not unknown to an audience. There are a lot of ways I could use her though I don't have a story for her at the moment."

Of course, Bruni-Sarkozy is no stranger to the limelight: She was one of the world's highest paid supermodels in the 1990s, then reinvented herself as a musician and released three albums before wedding Sarkozy after a whirlwind three-month romance and becoming one of France's most well-known faces.

She made a brief film appearance in Robert Altman's 1994 fashion world black comedy, "Pret-a-Porter," as well as 1998 French comedy "Paparazzi" - but she has always appeared as herself.

The 73-year-old director is rumoured to be planning a visit to the Elysee presidential palace and to stay with President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife. I wonder if he will ask her then?

Which world leaders' wives would you most like to see on the big screen? U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama? Queen Rania of Jordan? Cameroon's First Lady Chantal Biya?

ROME, Italy– The man sitting opposite me is regarded by many as not only one of the most talented directors in Hollywood, but also as one of the nicest guys in the business. But this view is by no means unanimous. Others would have you believe that I’m sitting opposite the enemy of Catholics the world over, the scourge of a billion souls.

Angels & Demons director Ron Howard talks to The Screening Room about making the film.

In a clear attempt to dispel this impression, the scourge offers me a squirt of his hand sanitizer as we say goodbye at the conclusion of our interview in Rome before the premier of his new feature “Angels & Demons”.

 With keen anticipation for his follow-up to blockbuster success "The Da Vinci Code" there will be plenty of flesh to press in the hours ahead - and Ron Howard is taking no chances with swine flu already postponing the film’s opening in Mexico.

 He talked about the controversy surrounding the film. The Vatican and Catholic church has so far stopped short of an official statement about the film - but feelings are still running high in the wake of the first film. The name of author Dan Brown was enough to earn a refusal of permission to shoot in the Vatican City and the churches of Rome.

Many in the church were upset by the storyline of "The Da Vinci Code," which suggested Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and had children who could then be traced to a living heir.

Exploring similar territory, "Angels & Demons" speculates that in previous centuries the church dealt with a provocative group of scientists and free-thinkers called The Illuminati by hunting them down and killing them.

The story for the new film is set in Rome. It forced the film-makers to improvise, going undercover and even posing as tourists to shoot vital images which would help set designers create landmark locations such as the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Square in Hollywood’s own City of Angels - better known as Los Angeles.

On the surface, my interview with Howard appeared to go well. The director appeared friendly, open and courteous – but I was not to be so easily taken in by his act. For I had uncovered evidence destined to put him on potential collision course with the church.

It was only a fleeting glimpse - but I had seen it in the new movie. A two-second shot of a statuette towering over St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. The figure had a beard, it was bald - and bore a distinct resemblance to the mortal at the helm of this unearthly blockbuster.

Either Howard had emulated Alfred Hitchcock and other film-makers by including himself in his own production –- or worse, he was attempting to make people follow a false idol by presenting himself in God’s image. I challenged him on the matter.

At first Howard pretended not to understand what I was talking about. Then a smile drew across his face - and to my surprise he even laughed.

"Oh I know the shot you mean," he confessed. "Bushy beard, bald head?"

"That’s the one!" I countered, savouring my moment as a member of the Spanish Inquisition might have rejoiced at breaking a particularly persistent sinner’s resistance to repentance.

"Sorry, that’s not me," he replied. "I think he looks more like Lenin, don’t you?"

 With that the mask that had briefly slipped returned once more and the jovial face – the one that Howard projects to the world – was back in place. And then we were shaking hands and swapping hand sanitizer.

My inquisition was at an end. But would the false prophecies of Ron Howard be enough to convince millions of Catholics to enter the cinematic den of iniquity?

I pray we will soon know the answer.

I may be a film fan, but I must admit I haven't waited in the cold for hours to catch a glimpse of the stars on the red carpet at many movie premieres.

Even so, the prospect of joining the CNN team at the premiere of new movie about the early life of Britain's famous Queen Victoria, "The Young Victoria" offered the unexpected and interesting chance to see just how different things are from the other side of the fence.

'The Young Victoria' stars Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend at the UK premiere.

The event in Leicester Square, the traditional home of London film premieres, promised to be a glamorous affair at which stars and royalty would mingle on the red carpet.

As we arrived to take our places in the rather pejoratively named "press pen," the famous red carpet was being replaced by a rich royal purple carpet and the classical film score booming from speakers around the square added to the regal atmosphere.

The stars of the film - which chronicles Princess Victoria's romance with the young Albert and the turbulent years of her ascension to the throne of what was world’s most powerful nation - started to arrive just before 6p.m.

Emily Blunt who plays Victoria, Rupert Friend, the dashing Prince Albert and the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson were all greeted with screams of appreciation from the crowds. "Rupert! Rupert!" and "Emily! Emily over here!!" shouted fans, almost drowning out the background music.

The Duchess of York, who was wearing a royal purple Vivienne Westwood dress, shares producing credits with royalty from the film world such as Martin Scorsese and Graham King (who teamed up on the multi-Oscar-winning film “The Departed”).

“You become a pest, but for 15 years I waited to do it." she told CNN. "For the last five years, I kept going to Graham King, saying 'Graham make my movie, make my movie, make my movie, and it’s pretty extraordinary that he did it for me.”

The idea was referred to Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes who produced a script which delighted producers King and Scorsese. It also caught the eye of actress Emily Blunt, who told CNN:

"[Victoria] was so passionate and rebellious. I was excited to see her in a different light."

When it came to casting the lead role, King says Blunt gave him little choice, refusing to leave his office until he agreed to make her his Victoria. We put this to Emily, who laughed: "I think he might be overselling it a bit, I certainly wasn’t down on my knees, I mean, I guess emotionally I was because I knew I’d probably kick up a stink if someone else played it because it’s one of those parts, and I rarely make a plea like that for a part and I really did want this one."

Co-star Rupert Friend says the experience on set was a positive one and that was mainly down to Blunt.

"I can't pretend that it was a hardship! Emily sets a tone. She was the lead in the film and she does a fantastic job. I have been a fan for a long, long time and she really hit the tone that we were gonna work hard and play hard and that was her mantra really."

Among the last to walk the carpet were the Duchess of York’s daughters. Princess Beatrice, who features in a non speaking role as a lady-in-waiting, arrived wearing a toga-style blue dress with her younger sister Eugenie in tow.

I had imagined a frenzy of camera crews and journalists shouting each other down and shoving for the best spot but was surprised at the calm camaraderie as colleagues from rival networks shared jokes and clutched cups of coffee to keep their hands warm in the chilly London evening.

It was only when the last guests had been ushered into the mezzanine and we began to pack up our equipment that I realized my hands were numb from cold.

I also had a new found respect for the fans who wait so patiently in the freezing cold for hours to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars.

Do you have a memorable story from a film premiere?

The epic is a rare creature indeed in contemporary cinema. Which is a shame because, with the exception of the action blockbuster, it is the movie genre most suited to the big screen.

An inappropriately dressed Lady Sarah Ashley arrives in Darwin looking like she is ready for a couple of weeks on the French Riviera.

The latest director to step up to the dizzying task of producing one of these motion picture mammoths is Australian Baz Luhrmann.

Historical drama "Australia" is set , unsurprisingly, in Australia just before the outbreak of World War II. At something like $130 million it is the most expensive film in Australia's history. Starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, two of the country's most famous Hollywood exports, the picture is an identifiably Australian epic.

With these credentials, it is no surprise 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the film, has been pushing hard for awards glory, although the film and its stars were absent from this week's Golden Globe nominations.

Despite some pretty hysterical anticipation from fiercely patriotic Aussies, the film, which had a  lukewarm critical reception, has failed to perform that strongly at the box office in either Australia or the U.S.

Certainly, there is a lot to like. Nicole Kidman plays English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley - a winningly contradictory combination of uptight and feisty - who travels to Australia to her husband's remote cattle ranch. A series of incidents throws her together with rough hewn Aussie bloke, Drover (played by Jackman and his impressive upper body musculature) and together they embark on an epic journey across Australia to save her land from a takeover plot.

As we have come to expect from Luhrmann, "Australia" is exquisitely visualized. The sets for Lady Sarah's estate house are built in painstaking detail (there is even a tennis court) by Luhrmann'swife and long-time collaborator, Catherine Martin who had to transport everything to the remote East Kimberley region of Western Australia. Luhrmann shoots much of it in the magical dusk hours, showing the sets and the extraordinary landscape to their full advantage.

Kidman's wardrobe is also a delight: the pith helmet, gauzed netting and strange wire spectacles she wears on her initial trip to "Faraway Downs" are fabulously OTT. They say more about her incongruousness in the dusty, gruff frontier land of 1930s Australia than 10 lines of dialogue - which can be cringingly cheesy at times.

It is here that "Australia" film falls down somewhat, for despite its technical brilliance, it doesn't quite work. It could be because Lurhmann leaps from genre to genre - the Drover's pub brawl at the start is pure spaghetti Western; at other times the narrative veers so far off into kitsch melodrama that you expect the characters to burst into song. All this to-ing and fro-ing undermines the dramatic punch, mainly because melodrama's homely comforts sit uneasily on an epic canvas.

But, then what defines an epic?

In times past, they were easy to spot. They were historical films with a broad sweep like "Ben Hur" and "Lawrence of Arabia." They dealt with big events in big landscapes and featured even bigger stars. An element of romance, or war, was often thrown in the mix too.

Although traditional epics are still made today, such as Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" in 2000 and 2004's "Troy" starring Brad Pitt, their massive budgets make them risky investments. Get it right like James Cameron did with “Titanic,” which was the first film to cross $1 billion in box-office receipts, and you have a work of massive prestige and profit.

Get it wrong and the result is Michael Cimino’s infamous 1980 Western “Heaven’s Gate” - now a byword for excess and perfectionism - that went so far over budget it almost bankrupted the studio, United Artists.

"Australia" certainly isn't "Heaven's Gate" and it probably won't be "Titanic" either, but it is still a hugely visual film that, despite its flaws, still makes for a great cinema-going experience. Luhrmann should be congratulated for his work conserving this rare cinematic breed.

What's your favorite epic movie?

You don't need to be a brain surgeon to make TV, but sometimes it can be pretty complicated.

Rainy weather on the Australia's 'sunny' Gold Coast covers the camera lenses with raindrops forcing the chopper to land.

Take our shoot for the November show. We were on the "The Gold Coast" in Australia for one of the southern hemisphere's big film events, the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The Gold Coast is normally blessed by blue skies and bluer seas, but this time it was grey, wet and windy. To show off the classic "Gold Coast look," we had hired a helicopter with special "cineflex" cameras - that can shoot a stable image no matter how much turbulence the chopper encounters - to shoot the coastline from above.

The plan for the opening and closing sequences of the show was to fly the chopper in from the sea towards shore, running fast over the water Miami Vice-style, then pan up to reveal our presenter, Myleene Klass, perched on the deck of a boat saying "Welcome to the show."

Sounds simple, right? But each day we would prepare for this "money shot" and the weather would dash our hopes. No matter how much expensive technology you have, if the weather isn't with you then there's nothing you can do. The final day of the shoot dawned, we still hadn't got our shot, and Myleene, was due on a plane at 10am. Time was running out.

The boat's skipper relays instructions from the show producer in the chopper above the Myleene on the boat deck.

Logistical issues, like how to communicate, were also making things more complicated. The chopper is too noisy for a mobile phone so I had to cue Myleene to deliver her lines using a combination of hand signals and radioing between the chopper pilot and the skipper of the boat who would then instruct Myleene, inevitably causing a delay.

This meant the first attempt at the shot was a failure. Shortly after, it started raining again. The pilot's satellite indicated there would be rain for 10 minutes followed by a seven minute window of sunshine, followed by a long-lasting downpour. This shot had to work.

Success: both shots bagged just as the rain began to come down again.

We wiped the rainwater off the lenses and took off amid the gathering rain clouds. I timed my cues a bit later and we got the opening link and the closing link in the bag just as it started to rain once more.

Television: it's not brain surgery but sometimes it makes you feel like you're in need of some.

Watch the successful shots on this month's Screening Room which goes behind the scenes at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, shows footage of the CNN APSA Viewer Choice Award for the Best Asia-Pacific film of all time and features an in-depth interview with Oliver Stone.