'TWILIGHT' DIRECTOR EYES FILMING AT FIRST BEACH

Chris Cook photo

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum Editor

“Twilight” film director Catherine Hardwicke scouted First Beach at LaPush on Quileute Tribe lands on Wednesday for location filming of scenes planned for the upcoming screen version of the best-selling “Twilight” book series.

During her scouting at LaPush, Hardwicke said Kristen Stewart, who plays Isabella Swan, the lead female role in the film, and other actors would travel from Portland to film scenes at First Beach. The story features a fictional member of the Quileute Tribe named Jacob Black who is a teenage werewolf in the story.

The director said second-unit, background shot, filming of locations in Forks would also be done during the upcoming production of the teenage vampire love story.

Principal location filming is scheduled to begin in February in Portland. No dates for the LaPush filming were announced. Hardwicke said she would have loved to film mostly in Forks and other West End locations, but Oregon provided financial rebates to the film production company worth considerably more than those offered by Washington state.

Davis was behind the camera for Hardwicke’s earlier hit films “The Nativity Story” and “Lords of the Dogtown,” and is a veteran cinematographer.

Hardwicke, Marshall, Davis and location director James Lin flew from Portland to the Quillayute Airport aboard a small prop plane on Wednesday morning for the location scouting tour. The Forks Chamber of Commerce provided their logging tour van to the filmmakers.

The film is based on the “Twilight,” the first book in author Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” book series. “Eclipse,” the third book in the series, is currently on best-seller lists.