There will be a new director atop the Twilight franchise: and he’ll be a man. Sources tell EW.com that Summit Entertainment is about to hire Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass) as the shepherd for New Moon, the second installment of Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling Twilight series. Weitz is best-known for his work with his brother Paul. The two directed and produced American Pie and then were nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay for About a Boy, which they also co-directed. Chris’ first solo directing gig, The Golden Compass, didn’t do well stateside but was a hit internationally.
Twilight, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, has grossed more than $141 million so far, but Hardwicke had clashed with the studio during production. It was announced early this week that she would not be making New Moon. Weitz has a solid relationship with Summit’s top brass; he’s considered easy to work with and has experience with special effects. “He’s the quality-of-life-choice,” says one source. While Summit insists “we have not yet signed Chris Weitz to do New Moon,” and Weitz’s agency says no deal has been signed, other sources say the deal is imminent, and that Summit has stopped negotiations with other potential Moon directors. Last weekend, Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily broke the news that Weitz was in consideration for the gig, and she reported on Dec. 9 that Summit had made an offer to Weitz. Summit plans to officially announce this hiring decision on Sunday, Dec. 14, and could have Weitz in Vancouver, B.C. as early as Monday to start pre-production on the film.
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This is good news. His resume has quite diverse array of films. He’ll do a good job.
They already started making, stupid! Haven’t you watched the trailer?
Sorry, This was meant to appear on the comment below. Sooorry!
Start. Making. It. NOW!!!
Cool! I really liked ‘About A Boy’ (which seemed like a great combination of relatable, touching, funny, serious, and introspective all in one…with characters that seemed rather quirky and rather freakish…but all in a good way that came off well), so I’m hoping that this will be a good fit!
He does have a varied resume, but as someone who loves The Golden Compass the book, I am a bit apprehensive about his ability to do New Moon. I have a relatively open mind, but this was certainly a “safe” choice.
I do not approve. I want Catherine.
UGH!!! I wish that summit wasn’t so obsessed with money that they had to fire Catherine because of it. That’s ridiculous. I’d rather the movie took forver to come out, with her directing it because then at least we know it would have been amazing!
Ugh!!
no no no no no!!!
About a Boy is one of my favorite movies ever, so I’ll cling to that.
I really enjoyed About A Boy.
His resume doesn’t prove to me that he’ll understand, or support the source material for the story. If Chris Weitz doesn’t have compassion for the love stories that are integral to the Twilight series, and carry into New Moon, then he will destroy the essence of them. It’s a travesty that Summit is pushing this so fast. I’m having trouble retaining confidence in them. I guess we’ll know nothing until Summit wants us to.
Hopefully Chris will decide quickly about Taylor. I’m really sorry to think of his not returning, but I can’t fault Summit for it’s reasons for not wanting to keep him.
It sucks that Catherina isn’t directing because she seemed truly passionate about the story. I can’t really talk about her actual work on the movie because I haven’t seen it yet (stupid argentinian realease date). I pretty much liked The Golden Compass as a movie, but when I read the book afterwards I was a little “WTF?”. but still like it as a movie (leaving aside all comparisons with the book).
I guess as long as they keep Melissa Rosenberg as the writer, the story will still be essentially the same. Good luck to Chris and don’t let us twilighters down.
I love About a Boy. I love the American Pie movies. Let’s home he can bring something special to New Moon. I hope he keeps Taylor Lautner as Jacob. I don’t think this film needs anymore shakeups.
The desicion to rush production of the film just to milk out as much money as quickly as possible is going to come back and bite them in the rear end. While this choice is not a terrible one, it’s far from great. The Golden Compass was a huge disappointment and I feel New Moon will be one as well. Pity.
Now, all this being said, and settled it’s time for them to get back to work. This guy IS capable of doing the right thing if nobody interfere (see Golden Compass), so back off and chill out.
Let him try to do it right.
Catherine, was so-so I supposed, but she made some crass directorial mistakes…and Twilight is suffering…a lot. Good casting when it comes to Bella and Edwuard. Thanks for that.
OMG NO!
he wont understand the concept of twilight!!
this is just soooo wrecked!!!!
I mean do they really think that the ‘american pie’ director can direct new moon?!
what are they filming…edward cullen doing things to a pie?! (that ought to be good though)
we should make a petition against this because:
THIS IS SO NOT WORKING