MTV Video: Cassandra Clare says the Road to 'THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS' was 'Surreal'

Here (could be) one of the last videos from MTV's behind the scenes videos from the Mortal Instruments: City of Bones set. In this video, Cassandra Clare talks about her experience of The Mortal Instruments becoming a movie.

"Movies aren't really happening until they're actually filming," the author says of the initial prospects of "Mortal Instruments" actually being made into a film."
My grandfather was a movie producer. I grew up in the film industry," she explained. "I always knew movies aren't really happening until they're actually filming, and I thought this will never really happen. And then when they got [director] Harald [Zwart] on board, I really started to
believe it could because he has such a passionate commitment to the project, and he's a very emotion-focused director. And he really wanted to focus on the characters and their relationships to each other with the special effects second. And I thought that was a really great quality in a fantasy-film director."
"We were shooting in the subway, and they had closed off part of the subway for shooting, and I walked down the stairs to get to the set, and I saw Kevin Zegers in his full costume with runes and everything. And all the commuters were passing him by like they didn't see him. And I just thought, 'Oh my god. It's like we're in my book! He's here. He's invisible. It's like I've walked into a page of my book.' It was amazing."
And Clare wasn't just an observer on set. Like many authors before her (Stephenie Meyer in "Twilight" comes to mind), she'll make a cameo in the movie based on her best-selling series(hence her garb during our interview).
"I don't actually wear the cat ears all the time," she said. "I'm having a cameo at a very special party in the middle of the movie. I'm very excited about it."
Actress Lily Collins plays the lead role of Clary, and as she told MTV News, she was pleased to have the author on hand while filming.
"She's so lovely," Collins enthused of Clare. "She's been here for a couple weeks just to take it all in. Just to have her support on this is so amazing. We're really lucky to have her on set. Just to see her smiling and be part of this process. Especially for her, this is huge. To have something you've created brought to the screen and have people so passionate behind it. It must be an absolute dream for her."

Unfortunately, this video is only available for US residents, so head on over to MTV to watch!