I'm totally aware that there won't be that many guys who are possibly reading this page, but I'll throw the question in anyway: how does it feel to be the other guy?  Well, not really the other guy, but you know what I mean—the guy who's got a crush on this girl, tries a little bit to get his way, gets turned down many times, and sees the girl in question go out with someone else.  And then, well, nothing.  Or maybe I got it wrong.  Perhaps Twilight fans have been waiting patiently for Edward to come out, or maybe hint at Jacob, that we've forgotten about Mike.  Or we've accepted that his character is, by comparison, a minor one.  Oh, how I feel for him.

Or, you were probably watching this scene in the film, when Mike, played by Michael Welch, tries to get Bella's attention.  I guess nobody exactly expected the dance to come—I didn't, or I'm forgetful—but it still came off as funny, or charming, or gawky, or desperate, or I don't know.  So, why the dance?

The answer is simple, really: it's improvised.  “Catherine [Hardwicke] didn't really care whether dialogue or actions were improvised or scripted, or whether ideas came from her or the cast,” Welch said in an interview with fan site TouchedByTwilight.net.  “Her priority was to create something real, empathetic, and entertaining for the audience”

“In the case of the diner … the script went something, like, ‘Mike waves and calls out, trying to get Bella's attention,'” he added.   “[She] … suggested a couple of ideas and ultimately left it up to me to come up with something that works.   I thought of the dance for whatever reason, showed her, and she approved.  Later, … she had me [record] some various ‘bow chikka wow wow, woo wooo!' wacky noises.  She picks one of three choices, and there you have it.  Mike Newton in all his goofy glory, dancing for the affections of Bella.”

In a parallel, vampire-less world, however, Mike might have had a chance—or so Michael thinks.  “Next to Edward, Mike Newton is a joke,” he quipped.   “But without this god-like creature around … he isn't such a terrible catch.   It's high school for goodness sake!  Mike is a completely tolerable and decent teenage boyfriend … I can see Bella and Mike going out for about three months . I don't know if it would last much longer than that because Mike is clearly way more into Bella than she is into him.  High school girls always get bored in those situations.”

Still, all of a sudden, you know him as the guy who dances somewhat hopelessly.  Series author Stephenie Meyer even picked up on it and wrote, on her blog, that he can really dance.  Would he take on a dancing role in the future, then?  “I do like to dance, but I doubt that anyone will be hiring me to do it professionally,” he said.  “Stephanie's assessment of my prom boogie stylings was very kind.  But the truth is, anyone can dance.  The big secret is to just hit the beat.  You can do whatever you want in between beats, doesn't matter.”

But still, he's famous, and quite suddenly at that.  “It makes me feel very humbled and appreciative that people would respond to me in a positive way,” he said.  “Did I imagine this for myself?  Not really.   I always saw my career going the way of someone like Ed Harris—great actor, well respected, works all the time, but nobody's screaming for Ed Harris.  To experience thousands of people screaming at you is totally indescribable.  I never could have asked for this but now that it's here, it feels very nice and I thank you for your intense and warm support.”




-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: TouchedByTwilight.net
(Image courtesy of MTV News)