Oh, me too, me too!!! If for no other reason than that husbands and kids will see it...just to know what the heck our fixation is all about...and if it reeks we may NEVER hear the end of it. Kids can be so cruel....(But husbands are even worse 'cause they have a wider vocabulary with which to torment us).

Nobody has been spot on, but the casting for Jacob Black is probably closest. And Mike!

I see Rob everywhere I look now, so my old image for Edward is fading away, being replaced by Rob. Which isn't so awful, since Rob is pretty cute.

I pictured Bella much differently. Kristen has an almost tough look to her (like she could easily play a street kid or someone who's had a hard life). I pictured Bella as very innocent looking, with wide eyes.

I pictured Charlie as older looking, and with less hair.

Nancy

Just to clarify my post, I don't want it to sound like I don't think Kristen is very pretty and will make a great Bella. She just has a world-weariness that probably comes from being such a powerful actress. I'm probably not describing it very well.

I think I know what you mean. There's just a little bit of an edge there, and if they overemphasize it, that wouldn't be right for Bella. I don't think they will, though.
And don't you think that a slight toughness will work out well? Bella has had to grow somewhat of a thick skin, or become a little bit worldly-wise, in order to rein in Renee when necessary and also to protect her. Can't you just see Renee being victimized by an unscrupulous salesman unless Bella steps in to set him straight? And I can see Bella having to get creditors off their backs after Renee finds where she hid the credit card and goes a little nuts with it.
Just see how well Bella handles herself in the argument with Charlie over whether she will go to Florida with Edward (Eclipse Ch.2 "Evasion" p.54):

I took a deep breath and tried to make my tone more reasonable. "I'll do my time without complaining when I've done something wrong, Dad, but I'm not going to put up with your prejudices."

Ow. That shamed him, put him in his place, and left him sputtering. He had absolutely no rejoinder to that.

She IS a little tough. But in the best possible way. So Kristen Stewart's little edge is a good thing as long as they don't play it up.

I still don't have a mental image of what Edward looks like. I have an image of the hair, the eyes, the jawline, etc., and I think Rob is a great match for playing Edward in the films but he's still not exactly how I would imagine Edward. In the meadow scene in Twilight when Bella is touching Edward's arm, I picture Edward having arms like tennis player Raphael Nadal, does anyone know who he is? And if you've seen him, what do you think? Nice, toned arms, not too big but very defined at the same time.

Me, too. In my daydreams, I'm always held close against his chest, so I'm not looking at his face. But I can see the hair and close up of the eyes (you know when their liquid or solid). I can imagine his posture and the gravitational pull. Edward is a feeling to me. And it fills my mind.

I also watched the teaser trailer BEFORE I started Twilight - and I was so happy I did. I always have a hard time envisioning characters and then I'm so upset when the book becomes a movie - and the actor looks nothing like what I wanted them to look like. This way I knew first off that I would be head over heels for Edward (yummy Robert from HP), I knew Bella looked like an averagely pretty girl, Esme looked ethereal, etc. I did have a hard time with Carlisle. I wanted him to look like Brad Pitt, as a friend of mine suggested, but he's too old to be Carlisle. I'm sure that actor will be fine and we won't be able to picture Carlisle any other way.

Another thing that I'm worried about is how they are going to do Jacob in the other movies - and you KNOW there will be others. I'm sorry if other people already discussed this - but Jacob is a little shrimpy in Twilight - but he gets so huge so fast in Eclipse. Who in the world are they going to cast? Certainly they won't keep the same kid, he's too young looking and she describes him as looking like a grown man. Plus I picture him to be really hot, and the current kid is cute - but he LOOKS 16 and I will have a hard time thinking Jacob is a hotsy totsy if he looks 16.

There is an actor who has the same smile, and looks like a more mature version of our current Jacob, named Steven Strait who we all oogle over every once in a while, however I am sure that Taylor will do a great job. With the attention to detail that has been paid to the first movie, I am sure that they will put him, and the other pack brothers in a kind of boot camp to get their bodies in the shape that is needed for NM and Eclipse.

As for height, Brad Pitt had to walk in special ditches, and Tom Cruise on specially built platforms in Interview With the Vampire to give Tom the height he needed to portray Lestat.

No, Interview With A Vampire Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise were gross. Too femme for my taste. Plus I boycott all that is Tom Cruise now, so I would have to have a fit if HE was in this movie.

We were talking about the current Pitt, he seems so laid back - like Carlisle.

I'll look up that Steve guy you are talking about. Sounds interesting.

I'm just a sucker for this movie and I've LOVED every person they've chosen for the part. There were ones I LOVED instantly, like Rob. I saw that picture on SM's site and was PANTING! He just LOOKED dangerous and beautiful! My biggest concern was that they were going to get a bunch of Jonas brother high-school musical types. If Miley Cyrus was Bella I was going to cry! But none of them are wanna-be pop stars, and that was my biggest concern.

Kristen is still the only one I think looks significantly different than how I pictured Bella. I LOVE KS, (has anyone seen Speak?), she's a lot more mature than other 18 year old stars and she's a fantastic actor. She just looks different than the Bella in my mind. I think the main difference is my Bella's facial features were bigger--does that make sense?

I'm thrilled with how the cast shaped up. Most of the announcements secured my approval straight away (and I'm just certain Summit was breathlessly awaiting my approval, LOL). The only one I didn't immediately accept was Nikki Reed, but in practically no time she won me over completely. Even when the actors don't look like my mental pictures they manage to pull off the right demeanor and attitude, and that's probably more important, anyway.

I remember some people were quite surprised at the casting for Laurent but believe it or not, I always imagined the character to be like someone from Martinique, with the hint of a lovely, liquid Creole accent, dusky skin, the smoothly elegant movements of the island peoples, and gorgeous cheekbones...but I never expected the actor portraying him to even come close to what I had in mind!

I am pretty pleased with all of the casting, as you said, Shimmerskin, we all didn't totally accept every one immediately, but they did grow on us.

Lauralee, like you I have never had a clear vision of Edwards face. I don't know why, but as you said, it could be because I always imagine myself enveloped in his arms, close to his chest, snuggled in place, contentment washing over me......*sigh*

you know, i was having a conversation about this with my mom the other day, and she told me somewhat the exact same thing. she said that she didn't picture edward as a teenager, but someone older.
when i started reading the books, was after they had realease the first photo, you know when everyone had a heart attack about edward. but since i get distracted by shiny things, i completely forgot about the actors when i started reading the books. to me, and even now, chance crawford looks close enough to what i imagined edward to look like. when i was reading about edward he keeped popping up in my head. i love rob, don't get me wrong. and like robert said in an interview. we are reading bella's point of view, to her, edward allong with the cullens are the most beautiful people on earth. different people, different taste. do i make sense?

Watching the interviews with Nikki Reed et al I think they are going to stick with Taylor Lautner and not recast him. The actors have said they are not the characters in the book. There is no way to completely replicate what Meyer has written yet they are doing their best to bring this book to the silver screen. As much as Lautner might not be the Jacob we envisioned he's who was cast and I see very little chance of him being replaced. I'm sure special considerations are being made to help him achieve some of the aspects that make Jacob who he is in the books.

My mental image of Bella changed when she became a vampire, and not in the way you'd expect. You might think that I suddenly was able to see her as gorgeous with every feature perfected, but that wasn't it. I didn't even see her as being whiter, paler. I didn't see her face at all anymore, which was always very visible to me when I read.

What she looked like to me post-change was *taller*. I know that sounds silly, but that's how vampire-Bella established herself in my head. Suddenly she was tall and lanky, moving boldly with long-legged strides and her hair swaying. Is it because she started dressing like a super-model, so now I'm picturing her as one on a runway?

Did this happen to anyone else?