FEARnet’s Jen Yamato has this exclusive interview with Alex Meraz where he dished on Bella’s epic slap. =]

You and Kristen have a very adversarial encounter in the slap scene. Do you think that Paul really wants to kill her in that moment?

Yes, definitely! He’s compulsive, you know. He kind of goes with the flow, but he’s volatile, but not in a “I like to hurt people” way; he’s very proud. He has a thick sense of pride, and he really wants to protect the reservation and she’s bringing nothing but trouble. So in that scene, I’m thinking in my head, “Do something to make me change, so I can kill you.” Just do something, because I’m itching to kill her. She’s a nuisance, a problem. That was that way I did it in the scene, and of course she hits me, and that’s enough to change me.

Did you and Kristen rehearse that a lot beforehand?

Not at all. We did one rehearsal the day of, said our lines, and we were good! The next day, we shot it and experimented – one time I tried grabbing her throat, which she was not fond of – and we played around with it, the director gave us good stuff to do, and it was what it was.

Did Kristen really hit you in the face?

She started finding a home for that fist on my face. It was getting really close.

Read the whole thing HERE.
** Thank you Jen! **