Summit Entertainment officially announced the cast for the upcoming and much anticipated “New Moon” movie.

The original actors for the characters in the first movie will be rejoining the cast: Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, Rob Pattinson as Edward Cullen, Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black, Ashley Greene as Alice, Peter Facinelli as Carlisle, Elizabeth Reaser as Esme, Kellan Lutz as Emmett, Nikki Reed as Rosalie, Jackson Rathbone as Jasper, Edi Gathegi as Lauren and Rachelle Lafevre as Victoria.

New actors will be playing the Volturi coven members and are as follows: Charlie Bewley as Demetri, Jamie Campbell Bower as Caius, Daniel Cudmore as Felix, Christopher Heyerdahl as Marcus, Dakota Fanning as Jane, Cameron Bright as Alec, and Noot Seer as Heidi. Michael Sheen will play Aro, the Volturi leader.

The werewolve pack also features some new characters and actors, respectively: Graham Greene plays Harry Clearwater, good friend to Charlie and Quileute tribal leader. TInsel Korey will play Emily, Sam Uley’s fiancee.

“New Moon” will be directed by Chris Weitz, who won Academy Awards for “The Golden Compass” and “About a Boy,” and is now filming on location in Vancouver, BC and Tuscany, Italy.

For pictures of the New Moon cast, see the Photos page on this site.

There are several indications in the movie “Twilight,” of environmental consciousness on the parts of Stephanie Meyer and Catherine Hadwicke.

Although Bella says the forest gives her the creeps in the book, in the film “Twilight,” the forest is pictured as lush and beautiful, and it has nearly a magical quality. It acts as hunting grounds for vampires and a playground for Bella and Edward.

Also, in “Twilight” the movie, Bella, Edward and their classmates go on a special fieldtrip for Biology class. I believe they go to some kind of greenhouse, where they learn about composting and reusing natural resources. The environmental consciousness is most obvious when the Biology teacher actually says, “Green is good,” in order to coax the students onto the school bus.

Another feature of “Twilight” the movie that points to environmental consciousness on the parts of the author and the director is the fact that vampires and werewolves are natural predators to one another. Although blood-sucking immortals don’t seem like the most natural phenomenon, the balance that is created by their canine counterparts is indicative of a much larger natural balance (and adds a great plot-point to the movie as well).

The back story behind the Quileute legends also adds an element to environmental balance and harmony between humans and animals. When thinking about all of these elements combined, “Twilight” seems like an incredibly environmental movie!

Native Americans are outraged at Summit Entertainment’s plans to cast many non-Native American actors into Quileute roles in the upcoming “New Moon.”

Several Native Americans voiced their chagrin on www.bluecorncomics.com. One woman commented on the plant to cast Vanessa Hudgens as Leah: “Surely, in all of America, there has to be at least one qualified Native American actress!” Another person said that if Stephanie Meyer is at all involved in the casting, that she must be a “conscious rather than unconscious racist.

What do you think? Must a Native American character be played by a Native American actor?