New Moon invaded Comic-Con today in San Diego, CA as thousands of Twilight fans descended on the comic book convention.

Anticipation for November’s release of “New Moon” doesn’t seem like it could get any hotter, but the casts appearance today at Comic-Con in addition to the new footage presented by the stars of the film has sent Twilighters into a new level of vampire frenzy. As soon as the “Twilight” portion of Summit Entertainment’s panel began, fans started screaming and it didn’t stop once director Chris Weitz was joined onstage by Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black) and Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen).

The room of mostly female fans erupted into deafening screams when Lautner and Pattinson entered. The cast sat down for a panel discussion with fans and took questions from the audience.

Lautner talked about how important his character’s various transformations were to the way he approached the role. “Jacob goes through a lot in this movie – he transforms mentally and emotionally,” Lautner explained. “The most challenging for me was physically, so I had a lot of hard work cut out for me after filming ‘Twilight.’ I worked really hard to transform Jacob’s body so I could portray him correctly for all you guys. And I hope you guys are pleased when you see the results.”

Pattinson joked that he didn’t have to do a lot of preparation for the scenes where he is a hallucination of Bella’s imagination. “Chris and the special-effects team designed a thing that basically allowed me to stand on a green box and look and stay basically expressionless,” he laughed.

Stewart said it was difficult for her to play the role of Bella in this movie because it was so emotional, but credited Weitz for helping her get through the experience. Chris is sort of the perfect guy to have done this. In the first one [with director] Catherine [Hardwicke] … everything was impulsive and natural and fast,” she said. “And in this case, we had more time to think … it was a little more cerebral. And considering what I had to go through in the movie, he’s one of the most compassionate, considerate people I’ve ever met. He made it so easy.”

Weitz shared two sets of footage from the film, and both Jacob’s transformation and Bella’s hallucination was the subject of the first scene shown. The footage confirms that if fans thought there was a lot of sexual tension between Pattinson and Stewart in Twilight, they’re going to see even more of it when Lautner’s character begins his transformation into Bella’s best friend.

In the footage shown, Bella gets on the motorcycle she has built with Jacob and then looks in his eyes as he puts his hands on hers. Once she starts the bike, she begins to see Edward as a vision, telling her to stop as she rides it defiantly. She ends up falling and after Jacob rushes to her side, he sees the blood on her forehead. The entire room erupted in shrieks as the scene then showed Jacob removing his shirt, revealing a cut, new physique, to stop the bleeding. As Jacob treats her wound, Bella looks up at him and says, “You sure are beautiful.” Jacob smiles and shakes his head. “How hard did you hit your head?”

The second set of footage was the scene in Italy where Alice drives Bella to save Edward. After riding in the yellow Porsche, Bella runs from the car through a crowded celebration through the town square’s fountain when she sees Edward removing his shirt and stepping into the sun. “Stop! Stop!” she yells. “Edward! Don’t!”  This was the scene that was captured by millions of onlookers as they filmed in Montepulciano, Italy.

In addition, Weitz revealed a few surprises of his own. “Taylor did every single stunt that he could possibly get his hands on. Every stunt except the ones that the insurance company said he wasn’t allowed to do,” Weitz said. “And Rob just kind of stood there looking good, basically,” the director joked to another round of screams from fans.

Asked about their newfound fame and adjusting to the constant media and fan attention they have received since Twilight was released Pattinson said, “I pretty much live an almost identical life apart from being recognized,” Pattinson explained. “That’s not exactly the worst thing in the world.”

When another fan asked what each of the panel members were looking forward to filming in future movies, Stewart leaned forward and said, “I can’t wait to actually get pregnant,” she said with a laugh, alluding to not only Bella’s future pregnancy, but also the fact that one Australian tabloid ran a story saying she was pregnant with Pattinson’s child. Greene said she’s looking forward to working with director David Slade, who is slated to direct “Eclipse,” which starts filming next month. “I’m excited about this whole intense fight scene we’re supposed to have,” she said.  Lautner said he’s excited for the love triangle that builds in “Eclipse.” “And when me and this guy,” he said, pointing toward Pattinson beside him, “have to try to become friends to protect Bella.” After the crowd yelled in support, Lautner admitted, “The sleeping bag scene! The sleeping bag scene! Yes!”

Here are a few other highlights from the Q&A:

Rob Pattinson on how shooting New Moon was different from Twilight: “It was different doing this because of the aesthetic which Kris shows. Edward’s whole character is obviously about restraint. I found it difficult to incorporate movement into the character. In New Moon, a lot of the shots are set up for as little movement as possible which helped. It was always camera movements that drove scenes . . . and now I’m making it sound like I just stood there.”

Taylor Lautner on whether or not he’s like Jacob: “I’m more like Jacob’s pretransformation side. Because that’s before he goes wacko. I hope I’m more friendly and outgoing than this dark disturbed person, this monster. Actually, I don’t think he’s a monster.”

Robert Pattinson when asked if he would consider comedic roles: “Why not? One of my legs is shorter than the other so I can look like an idiot but I’m not sure if I can be witty.”

Robert Pattinson, who had two songs appear on the “Twilight” soundtrack, when asked if he would ever do open-mic nights: “I would but I’m too, I’m a [pussy], I guess. But no, I’d love to. I think everyone should do open mics, it’s very healthy for the show. It’s like I’m cutting a record now, if I do it, so . . .”

Chris Weitz on the challenges of making “New Moon: “The wolves are going to be great. Filming in Italy was a tremendous challenge because everyone knew we were going to be there. Everywhere the cameras weren’t pointed were hundreds of fans. People applauded after every take, which is unheard of. It’s like doing theater. But the sheer logistics of getting through all the fans to get where we had to stand by the camera — there was a moment where I had to go to the bathroom, and there was not a cafe I could go into without being mobbed. Not because I’m me, but people wanted to know if I could set up meetings with Rob.”

Taylor Lautner on filming naked: “It was quite cold. We did this scene where it was raining, but we needed it to rain harder, so we used rain from the wells. All I was wearing was jean shorts. And it was a long scene. 12 hours. It was really really hard, but … doing it all for you guys.”