Brooks Barnes at The New York Times has revealed Peter Jackson will make his first ever San Diego Comic Con appearance at the end of July in support of his upcoming production District 9, which is directed by Neill Blomkamp. Jackson was editing King Kong when the convention came around in 2005 and he never made it for any of the Lord of the Rings installments, but his appearance this year should be well met.

Along with producing District 9 a twist on the age-old alien invasion story, Jackson will release The Lovely Bones later this year through Paramount and is currently working on the scripts for The Hobbit and its sequel with director Guillermo del Toro.

Barnes also notes 20th Century Fox is currently considering whether or not to screen footage of James Cameron’s hotly anticipated return to cinema with Avatar. The film has been highly touted as an immersive 3-D experience and I am sure that is the number one concern for the studio, but early buzz for films out of the convention never hurts. Films such as Warner Bros.’s 300 and Paramount’s Iron Man received such major jolts out of the convention they quickly became some of the most anticipated films following their Con debuts.

So far, The Twilight Saga: New Moon and now District 9 are the only two movies confirmed for the convention, which I will be covering from July 23-26, but I fully expect films such as Iron Man 2, The Last Airbender and G.I. Joe to have a major influence on this year’s convention.

Stay tuned for more from the San Diego Comic Con as we get closer to the convention and be sure to bookmark my official Comic Con Section for all the updates once coverage begins.

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Summit Entertainment has announced the first movie to be promoted at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con will be The Twilight Saga: New Moon in what I assume will be Hall H on Thursday, July 23, the first day of the convention. Below is the following note sent from the studio.

On Thursday, July 23, Summit Entertainment will hold a panel for The Twilight Saga: New Moon at Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. Come see our stars and exclusive new footage for The Twilight Saga: New Moon — there may be even be a surprise or two in store!

Tickets to Comic-con are selling out fast, so we recommend you get your Thursday tickets soon so you can have access to our panel. Unfortunately, the 4-day passes are already sold out, but the Thursday single-day passes are available, albeit in a limited quantity. Tickets can be purchased on the official Comic-Con website.

I will be in attendance at the event and this will be the page to check for all Comic Con events. Comic Con takes place at the San Diego Convention Center and this year will run from July 23 - 26. Stay tuned as I will have all the updated information as it is announced.

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You may remember Edi Gathegi from two small, but memorable, parts: the Haitian taxi driver in Crank who gets Jason Statham so high he sees neon-lit visions that’d make Joel Schumacher proud and Cheese in Gone Baby Gone who spouts the titular phrase. Taylor Lautner popped up in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D a few years ago and the less I say the better–although he does seem like an extraordinarily nice guy.

Now Gathegi and Lautner appear in Catherine Hardwicke’s adaptation of Twilight as Laurent and Jacob Black respectively. During the roundtables for Twilight, Gathegi sold the film better than anyone else. The man has got charm. And even though I have little faith in the movie, I have to say I would have loved to interview Gathegi on any topic on any given day. But here’s what we he and Lautner had to say on Twilight.

Edi, your character had a small role in the book. How was he fleshed out for the film?

Edi Gathegi: Well, because it’s a movie there has to be dramatic tension. So we are very aware of the conflicts earlier on. In the book, you don’t meet the character until page 100, but in the film you have to know there is a conflict [earlier].

In terms of being vampires, what were some of the highlights of that? Of making the movie?

EG: There is something really cool about having super strength, super speed, being immortal, never dying. That’s sexy. And that’s what’s cool about the thing. Otherwise they were all humans at one point. You’re just human with all these other attributes. So I attack it like I would address any other role.

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It was a few minutes before the cast and filmmakers of Twilight were to go downstairs for the big panel when we interviewed them–yes, the panel that mentally stunted teeny-boppers had literally camped outside for overnight. I have no idea how big the Twilight movie will be. My guess is not nearly as big as some people think since the film looks likes ass and there’s a general feeling we’re nearing the peak of its buzz, only half a year before its release.

Regardless, this was the cast and filmmakers’ moment to bask in the affection (or insanity) of its fans. And you could tell they were visible nervous. I would have offered Robert Pattinson a beer if I had one on me. The man has much to live up to since he’s playing the oh so beautiful and graceful Edward Cullen (author Stephenie Meyer’s wording, not mine), and he looked weirded out, jittery and smoking heavily before walking in–or maybe it was just the state of his hair giving off that vibe since it appeared styled by lighting firecrackers on his head. Who knows?

However, he had the charismatic Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria) to help him find his comfort zone during the round-table interview. The two definitely have chemistry and noticeably enjoy each other’s company. It was a laugh-filled conversation that touched on Pattinson’s hair style, the film’s special-effects, and the fans.

Excited or nervous about how nuts it will be downstairs for the panel?

Robert Pattinson: I don’t know. I don’t know. I can’t even answer the most basic, fundamental questions. I don’t know if it’s nerves. I’m just incapable at the moment. I’m too worried it’s going to be embarrassing.

RL: Twilight does come with a built in fan base from the books. So you do have this whole thing…where you don’t want to upset people–you don’t want to upset what is already pre-existing in their imaginations. And you don’t want to ruin the movie. You don’t want to ruin the suspense for them.

Robert, how do you get your hair like that?

RP: I just don’t wash it, ever. It’s easy.

The obvious question is do you two feel chemistry?

RP: I don’t think we’re suppose to.

RL: No, no we hate each other. But no, we all had a really great time. The cast is all really close in age. So we all just sort of showed up in Portland and were like ‘Yeah, Twilight! What’s up? Let’s go for dinner.’ It was kind of like this amazing experience. Yeah we got lucky.

Was it like that when it was your time to hate one another?

RL: No. There was less group dinners once we started [laughter].

RP: There’s actually only one scene where we actually confront one another. You know, the nomadic vampires, which Rachelle is one, they kind of wander around being nomadic most of the time.

RL: Yeah, we’re always like a few steps behind. So you would think we worked together a lot. But actually it would be, they’d film something where we were like just behind them.

RP: That’s a much better description than just saying ‘wandering around being nomadic.’

RL: Yeah, if you don’t mind I cleared that up a little.

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Perhaps in a few days I’ll write something up meditating on the people who dress up at Comic Con, and what that actually means to our society, or the end of it. Essentially fantasy playing comes down to one thing: desperate attention whoring. So, while taking pics my goal was to capture these people without posing, something they will instantly do if they catch you raising your camera (although some are hired, but most are not). I find it much more interesting seeing someone dressed as the Joker (and there were more than plenty) eating a taco than pretending they’re in Marilyn Manson video. I wasn’t always able to do that,. but if I caught someone without knowing a few times, I was happy. Please feel free to insert your own captions below (I added a few of my own here and there) and send it to friends and family.

“Smell the glove. C’mon SMELL IT!”

“Does it make you feel like less of a man knowing I could squash your head with my abs?”

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