Many things have changed since 2008 when “Twilight” debuted in movie theaters. For starters, that first production did not need nearly the amount of security as its sequels, according to actor Gil Birmingham.

“You hear these stories of people trying to swim with scuba gear and paparazzi jumping in the back of trucks with tarps trying to get on the set,” Birmingham explains. “Even during the wedding scene in ‘Breaking Dawn – Part 1,’ we had helicopters hovering over us. You cannot shoot with noise so there was not much we could do except drape these huge tarps in the trees so that they could not get a shot of the wedding dress.”

In “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1,” which is now available on Blu-ray and DVD at retail stores and rental outlets throughout the Valley, a chain of events set off by Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella’s (Kristen Stewart) marriage, honeymoon and birth of a child yields a shocking development for Jacob (Taylor Lautner).

Birmingham plays Jacob’s father and has therefore been there from the start. The actor admits that he had no idea that the franchise would become the pop culture phenomenon that it is today. He adds that the first sign of its significance was the red carpet premiere of “Twilight,” when fans – make that Twi-hards – showed up in the masses. However, Birmingham believes that celebrity has not changed the series’s three stars.

“I was working with Taylor when he was 16 years old and basically just a young guy to being this megastar now and a full-grown man,” Birmingham explains. “He is basically the same guy, though. It has been amazing to watch everybody involved go through this incredible transformation with their careers and essentially still be the same people they were on that very first ‘Twilight’ film.”

Actress Tinsel Korey, who joined the cast in 2009 as Emily in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” agrees, noting that everyone involved in the movies have changed and grown so much by learning how to deal with the press and fans alone. She auditioned for the part if only to bring the franchise closer to her little sister, who had always been a fan of the books on which the movies are based.

“I think that you cannot really focus on, ‘Am I going to bring [my character] to life?’ or ‘Am I going to set the mold that everybody is thinking?,’” Korey adds. “When everyone reads the books, they are imagining something different so you can never try to please everyone. You just have to do a great job in what you are doing, do your homework and just put all you have into it.”

Birmingham agrees, noting that there is a certain level of confidence he had in trusting the casting process so he just played his character as it was written. However, the story is a little different for Julia Jones, who joined the cast in 2010 as Leah in “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.”

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