‘Twilight’ saga’s Volturi vampires walk red carpet in Rome; scenes from 2nd film screened

‘Twilight’ saga’s vampires on red carpet in Rome

ROME — The Volturi have invaded the red carpet.

The actors playing the vampire “royal class” in the highly anticipated second installment of the “Twilight” series were greeted Friday by a crowd of screaming fans at the Rome Film Festival, where scenes from “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” were screened.

Actors Cameron Bright, Charlie Bewley and Jamie Campbell Bower met fans and signed autographs as they walked the red carpet after a team of flag weavers from Volterra, a Tuscan village that serves as the fictitious home of the Volturi clan.

The tale, based on four novels by Stephanie Meyers, is a modern-day love story between a sensitive schoolgirl and a century-old vampire and has especially been popular with teen audiences.

The “New Moon” scenes shown Thursday marked the appearance in the saga of the Volturi, a powerful class of vampires who enforce the rules in the vampire underworld.

The clips shown included an early scene in which the main characters Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) tearfully leave each other as he goes away in an effort to protect her life.

“You don’t belong to my world, Bella,” he tells her.

Other clips show Bella with a man who morphs into a gigantic wolf, and Bella running through Italy to save Edward from the Volturi.

Behind the scenes footage from the film was also screened Thursday, explaining how the Volturi actors took on their sadistic roles.

“Nothing could have prepared me. When we put on the costumes and the red lens, that was a defining moment for me. I felt like a vampire,” Campbell Bower, who plays Caius of the Volturi clan, told reporters.

The movie, which opens Nov. 20, was shot in Vancouver and the medieval Italian town of Montepulciano, meant to represent Volterra.