I think I’m starting to understand what it means to get “star struck.” This past weekend, Twilight mania hit the country yet again with the release of the DVD March 21.

I am a big fan of Stephanie Meyers’ series of books and the movie. So, when I heard one of the people from the movie was going to be stopping by one of the midnight release parties in the Dallas area, I was on the case. Frisco editor Emily Goldstein and I did a little snooping, and narrowed it down to a couple possibilities. One of them was the Blockbuster location in Frisco. Luckily, our source for information was spot on, and we got the chance to meet and have a conversation with Twilight director, Texan Catherine Hardwicke.

In case you didn’t know, Hardwicke grew up in McAllen. That’s one of the reasons, she told us, why she picked a Texas city as one of the surprise locations. Richardson resident David Alvey, whose pictures and stories you no doubt have seen in past neighborsgo editions, was practically running the show. He took tons of photos and introduced us to the right people so that we could get our interview with the director.

The thought never even crossed my mind that we would meet her let alone get to interview her. My mind went blank. And all the questions I really wanted to ask her vanished from my memory only to resurface the following day, of course.

Needless to say, the interview was kind of scattered and unfocused, which I’m sure she noticed, but was extremely nice about anyway. All in all, I ended the evening with more curiosity than I had before. If you’re like me, I’d suggest picking up a copy of the Twilight: Director’s Notebook, Hardwicke put together. Alvey also recommended Texas Monthly March cover story, which profiles the director. The article goes into detail about her life growing up in South Texas and her journey from architect to director.

Although a shining moment for that evening was indeed meeting Hardwicke, what made the evening really great was getting to be “star struck” amongst fellow fans without judgement. I got to stand in line with a group of hard-core fans ranging from pre-teens to a group of moms who had left the kids at home. One, who said she had attended Harry Potter parties for the kids stated that this time she were there “for me.”

We even got to see a Marine ask for a life-size Rob Pattinson poster to be signed. He swore it wasn’t for himself. According to Alvey, who talked to him later that night, he is a U.S. Marine fresh back from Iraq. One of his buddies is still over there, so he agreed to escort his friend's wife to the release party.

"He kept saying, 'He owes me big time for this.' But he was willing to suffer the humiliation for a brother in arms. Semper Fi!" Alvey said.

What could be better than that?

Want to see photos from the event? Visit neighborsgo.com/photos/search/twilight. If you happened to be there as well, or at the Allen Borders locations, where she also stopped by later that evening, share your experience.