Kristen Stewart set to sink teeth into "Breaking Dawn"

Actress Kristen Stewart, winner of the Best Female Performance award for 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon,' speaks at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles, June 6, 2010.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kristen Stewart can't wait to sink her teeth into "Breaking Dawn," the two-part finale in the smash hit "Twilight" films about falling in love with a vampire.

The actress at the center of the movie series, which sees its third episode "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" wing its way into theaters on June 30, said that when her teenager Bella Swan finally becomes one of the living dead in "Breaking Dawn," she will be "coolest vampire" of the cult.

"I've thought about it a lot, and I can't wait to actually be it. It's going to be a trip, it's going to be weird," Stewart, 20, told reporters over the weekend in interviews to promote "Eclipse."

The "Twilight" movies all revolve around teenager Bella and her forbidden romance with the vampire Edward Cullen. The books by author Stephenie Meyer have become a publishing sensation, and the movies have sucked cash out of theater box offices. The first "Twilight" and the second "New Moon" together have collected $1.1 billion in global ticket sales.

Fan anticipation is running high for "Eclipse," in which an army of newly created bloodsuckers go on a hunt to kill Bella. But many "Twilight" watchers argue on websites and elsewhere that the fourth tome, "Breaking Dawn," is too dark to make into a movie for the largely teenage audience.

In fact, Summit Entertainment, the studio behind "The Twilight Saga," said last week it would split "Breaking Dawn" into two, after a torrent of media speculation the company might need a pair of films to address the complicated story.

Stewart, however, seems excited about the studio's decision and the fact that in "Breaking Dawn," Bella is transformed into the living dead by her beloved Edward. Stewart said she and others associated with "Twilight" have long known "Breaking Dawn" would become two films.

MONSTER BABY

The one person who seemed to be outside the loop of advance knowledge was Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward. Pattinson also said he has not yet read "Breaking Dawn."

"I just heard, sort of, brief rumors about what happens in the story, but I don't really know what happens at all," Pattinson said.

In the book, Bella and Edward marry and have a baby girl named Renesmee, who turns out to be a bit of a monster.

In contrast to her co-star, Stewart seemed to have an excellent grasp of "Breaking Dawn." She said her character Bella, who has been flirting with joining Edward's bloodsucker clan, will "be the coolest vampire out of all of them."

Yet, others have found problems with "Breaking Dawn." In 2008, the Los Angeles Times posted a blog titled "'Twilight': 10 reasons 'Breaking Dawn' should not be made into a movie."

The post argued one reason is that Edward "goes from being the man of every girl's dreams to a man in need," and it cited a darker twist dealing with werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) who has long been in love with Bella.

Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, who has adapted the "Twilight" novels for the screen, said she believes "there is a great story to be told" in "Breaking Dawn."

She also believes director Bill Condon, who made the critically-acclaimed musical "Dreamgirls" and the drama "Gods and Monsters," is a good fit to helm both of the "Breaking Dawn" movies and give depth to the story's darker elements.

"I don't think he's going to shy away from it, I don't think there's any reason to," she said.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)