‘Twilight Saga’ New Blood: Maggie Grace
www.deadline.com: Maggie Grace will play a new vampire threat to Kristen Stewart’s Bella in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. Grace, who played Liam Neeson’s in-distress daughter in Taken, will play the role of Irina in the final installments of the Stephenie Meyer novel, which director Bill Condon is directing in two separate films.
Irina is a member of the Denali coven, considered cousins to the Cullen clan as the only other “vegetarian” vampire group. When Irina blames the Cullens for the death of her lover, her actions set in motion a terrifying chain of events.
Muse bringing its big (and subtle) sounds to Sacramento
www.sacbee.com: For years now, Muse has been huge in Europe, big in Australia, cherished in Japan – places that appreciate elastic-to-falsetto vocals combined with orchestral arrangements and monster guitar riffs.
Formed in Devon, England, in 1994 – when singer-guitarist-pianist Matthew Bellamy, bassist-keyboardist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard were teenagers – Muse creates a sound that is big wherever it’s heard.
The United States is getting up to speed on Muse mania, fueled by the band’s reputation as one of the finest live acts in the world. After appearing on all three “Twilight” soundtracks and scoring a hit with the anthemic, spin-class ready “Uprising” (“We will be vic-tor-iiioous”), off the 2009 album “The Resistance,” Muse headlines – and sells out – arena shows in the United States.
How much did appearing on the “Twilight” soundtracks help your popularity in the States?
It really helped. I think in this day and age when people don’t go out and buy as many records, you use things like that to expose yourself to people who don’t know the band. It caused more of a buzz, and more people came out to see us live, and now it is sort of catching up. We are playing in arenas over here, and we are really enjoying it. I think that is what we always wanted but we thought we could never have.
