A bit of bad news for “Twilight” fans, the director of the emo vampire drama, Catherine Hardwicke won’t be returning for the sequel. We say a bit of bad news because surely “Twilight” can survive past any director and perhaps the series will work like James Bond or ‘Harry Potter,’ both of which are constantly changing directors.
Nikki Finke broke the story. “I am sorry that due to timing I will not have the opportunity to direct ‘New Moon’,” said Hardwicke. “Directing ‘Twilight’ has been one of the great experiences of my life, and I am grateful to the fans for their passionate support of the film. I wish everyone at Summit the best with the sequel—it is a great story.”
This kind of makes sense, considering the rush by Summit. Reports have said “New Moon” is supposed to start shooting in early 2009 and perhaps Harwicke needs a break or didn’t feel like she’d have enough time to prepare (Finke says: “Summit does want a ridiculously speeded-up sked for the next installment”). However, Summit says its the dreaded “creative differences.” Summit CEO Rob Friedman told Finke, “Catherine and Summit have agreed to part ways on the sequel because our visions are different.”
Summit sounds like they wanted a puppet to bring their property to the screen and Hardwicke sounded like she actually had a brain and an opinion. Insiders said she “was ‘difficult’ and ‘irrational’ during the making of Twilight,” one insider explains to me. “That doesn’t mean anything when you’re talking about a filmmaker because they all are, but still…”
Hardwicke has the distinction of delivering the biggest opening weekend ever for a female film director ever. In the end it’s probably “Twilight’s” loss. Now they can find some real paint-by-numbers hack to just crank these out with no thought to them whatsoever. The cast will surely have something to say about this soon…
Update: Variety says the rushed “New Moon” script was part of the problem. In the book of ham-fisted poetry by Stephenie Meyer, werewolves take the spotlight, and Kristen Stewart’s vampire paramore leaves here. But Summit wanted more of the hunk Robert Pattinson in there and Hardwicke was apparently, “wasn’t willing to jam this movie with a script that still needed months of development.”