By Sue Loughlin
TERRE HAUTE — To say that Andrea Dunn is a “Twilight” fan is a serious understatement.
She’s a die-hard Twi-hard who attends “Twilight” conventions and has a fan blog called Indy Twilighter that she runs with fellow Twi-hards Amy Martin and Mary Ruiz.
In May, Dunn and Martin visited the movie sets of the “Twilight” sequel, “New Moon,” which debuts in theaters across the country at midnight tonight.
It will be shown on five screens at Kerasotes Theatre Showplace 12 in Terre Haute. All five are sold out, and long lines are expected the rest of the weekend, according to a theater spokesman.
Dunn, Martin and Ruiz already have their tickets.
“Some women buy shoes. Some women buy purses. I do ‘Twilight,’” said Dunn, 29, from her Vigo County home Wednesday.
Indy Twilighter is hosting the Wabash Valley New Moon Premier Party from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. tonight at Showplace 12. There will be a Character Look-Alike Contest, and raffle tickets are being sold for drawings of New Moon cast-autographed items.
Other raffle prizes include “Twilight” and New Moon merchandise. Raffle tickets are $1 each or five for $3.
The event also will include a “Twilight” yes/no trivia contest. The entry fee is $2.
For more information, go to indy-twilighter.blogspot.com and click on links for the Premier Party. All money raised at the party will go to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure-Wabash Valley Affiliate.
“It’s kind of like using your obsession for a good cause,” Dunn said. She’s been a “Twilight” fan for about 11⁄2 years and she’s met some of the cast members at conventions and while in Vancouver.
In fact, she and Martin stayed at the same Vancouver hotel as several “New Moon” cast members. One night, they were having drinks and saw cast members Ashley Greene (Alice in the movie) and Rachelle Lefevre (who plays the character Victoria).
“I told the waitress to put whatever they were having on my tab,” Dunn said. While it wasn’t her intent to bother the movie stars, “They said ‘thank you’ and waved us over and told us that was a very classy thing for us to do.”
Dunn and Martin sat at their table for about five minutes, and Dunn has the photo to prove it. “It was exciting,” she said. While in Vancouver, they visited movie sets that included Jacob’s house, Bella Swan’s house and a theater that appeared in “New Moon.” Dunn brought home a piece of fake moss that was on one of the sets.
Recently, Dunn and Martin went to Tennessee to see another cast member, Jackson Rathbone, play in his band called 100 Monkeys.
Dunn said she was drawn to “Twilight” because it is a love story. “Young girls are hoping to experience the feelings that come across in the story, while women my age, we know how it feels to have those feelings for the first time,” she said.
The “New Moon” movie is based on a fantasy-romance novel by author Stephenie Meyer, and it is the second book in the “Twilight” series. It is based on a romance between mortal Bella Swan (played by Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson).
Dunn said she was not drawn to “Twilight” because it includes vampires. “I wouldn’t have considered myself a really big vampire fan” before “Twilight,” she said.
Once she read the first book, she read the next three books in the series within about a week.
She’s re-read them “I don’t know how many times,” she said. “I could tell you what page certain parts are on.”
On her sofa she had a large collection of “Twilight” and “New Moon” items, including cast-autographed pictures and a T-shirt autographed by cast member Kiowa Gordon, who plays Embry Call. Those will be raffle prizes.
The autographed pictures include Michael Welch, Justin Chon, Charlie Bewley, Tinsel Korey, Bronson Pelletier and Kiowa Gordon, all cast members in New Moon.
Dunn also has many personal items, including a large “Twilight “sign, magazines featuring Twilight stars and even items she has made, including a sculpture/candle holder and a stuffed doll that looks like Edward Cullen.
Indy Twilighter is hosting tonight’s party “because we’ve been fortunate as fans. We can pick up and go and do these great, crazy things. I wanted to do something special for people here in the Wabash Valley and give them an experience, too,” Dunn said.
Martin, 33, said she became a “Twilight” fan “because it’s a nice love story” and it’s become a hobby for her.
Ruiz, 32, said, “I just got sucked into it.” One day she took one of the books from Dunn’s desk as a joke. She read the book that night and has been a fan ever since.
“It’s one of those books that you pick up and you just can’t put down,” Ruiz said. “You have to keep going to see what’s going to happen next.”
Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com
