Sources confirm that Bill Condon is in negotiations to direct Breaking Dawn, which Summit Entertainment now plans to break into two films. Over the last month, the studio met with a high-caliber group of directors that also included Milk director Gus Van Sant and Mean Girls’ director Mark Waters. Sofia Coppola expressed huge interest in the franchise but dropped out after revealing that she only wanted to direct one of the two films. Condon, Van Sant, and Waters met both with Summit and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer.
If all works as planned, Condon will spend the next year in Vancouver shooting Breaking Dawn. The studio has not yet confirmed the news, nor will they reveal their release plans for the films. In terms of how the movies will be split, sources tell EW.com that the wedding, honeymoon, Bella’s pregnancy, and the birth will all be told in the first movie, while part two will focus on Bella’s transformation into a vampire and Jacob’s relationship with Renesmee Cullen.
Condon’s indie project Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which was supposed to begin shooting shortly, has now been put on hold. Condon will likely return to the film, from Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy, after he concludes his Twilight work.
His filmography on imdb is weird and sparse, but I saw a couple crappy horror flicks in there…so it appears that this has all taken an unfortunate turn for the gory worst. Blech.
This is actually good news…well for those of us who watched Twilight and New Moon and were unimpressed at best. Bill Condon has won an Oscar for his terrific 1998 film Gods & Monsters, if he can bring just a little life to this dull series then I am game to watch the remaining films.
Can this series just be over with already??
Someone please explain to me why-oh-WHY are these Oscar-winning/ Oscar-nominated directors so interested in being associated with the TWILIGHT franchise??? I mean, I know it’s a huge hit, but why would anyone want to tarnish their rep with this, when franchises like HP are huge-money makers AND not seen as crap…
I think Summit asked them, but clearly none of them will actually be directing the movie, so they obviously weren’t that interested.
I think it’s mostly to do with the cash, but maybe they also see it as a bit of a challenge. Taking a story that awful and trying to make a decent film out of it is obviously extremely difficult, as we have yet to see it happen( concerning this franchise, anyway). I’m super bummed Coppola didn’t get it. And I’m guessing she only wanted to do the first. It’s funny, initially I thought, “I wouldn’t touch that first film with a ten foot pole.”, because it’s all so damn ridiculous. But maybe Coppola saw some promise there. Something cool to be made. Whatever. Anyway. The films will suck, I’ll see them, you’ll see them, and then, in a couple years, we’ll all forget this whole mess ever happened. *crosses fingers* And by this whole mess, I mean the Twilight franchise as a whole. Bleck.
It never says that any of them are interested, it just says he’s in negotiations. They probably called him and begged him to direct because they were getting to the bottom of the list of nominated directors.
Because the throngs of screaming fans that go to see these movies are pretty much guaranteed to net directors a heafty paycheck.
t.g., maybe the problem is that I haven’t seen Gods and Monsters yet – I’ve always wanted to see it, time to add it to the list…
Terry, *maybe* the thing you and your hater brethren, who make that same old tired argument over and over again (with regard to directors, musicians, actors, etc), are missing is that not everyone thinks it’s crap! They’re getting involved in it because they WANT to, because they LIKE it. Duh. Really.
Maybe they’re involved for the money.
Hello, David Slade dissed Twilight and he became director! Ambient Lite- you’re so annoying!
Good lord, I am a “hater brethren” now? I am not denying that TWILIGHT has entertainment value, and I am not dissing its fans (I have seen a lot of uncalled for “Twilight Fans Are Dumb!” or”If You Like Twilight You A Retard” pronouncements), I am just making an assessment that just happened to be shared by a lot of professional book/film critics and book/movie scholars: the TWILIGHT franchise is pedestrian, badly written, contrived and devoid of any artistry.
Ambie, I’ll probably get reamed for saying this, but don’t bother with Gods & Monsters. It’s incredibly boring. That said, I do think Condon is a decent director. I really like Dreamgirls. I think he’s good with actors. Heck, he made Beyonce a believable actress… surely he can do the same for Kristen Stewart.
I’m just amazed with the nasty elitist attitude so many people have about the series. Who the eff cares whether “professional book/film critics and book/movie scholars” think it’s “pedestrian” or “devoid of artisty”?? When did the series EVER present itself as “artistry”? It’s fun fluff, why attack it? Do you send Mel Brooks hate mail for Spaceballs?
I think it’s laughable to assert concern that ANY director who chooses to be involved with the movies will have a “tarnished reputation”. Pfft. Ridiculous. Lighten up.
crispy, thanks for the boring movie save…I DO have a fairly flaky attention span. I’ve also had very successful good movie streak lately, and need to choose carefully so as not to disrupt it.
I only feel like reaming you about admitting you like Dreamgirls. If someone pops up on the boards under DREEMGURLSRULEZZ!!! or BEYONCE4EVAH, I’ll know what’s up…
i think it will be interesting… Condon will be able to make the protection shield work better, the way the book describes it and the birth.ect..i think.. the other directors are good but the last to movies are going to be so much harder to do. btw i would love to be in the movies regardless of the what people think. no matter what i truly believe this is going to be awesome!!
Oh God, this movie does not need to be broken into 2. Nothing happens in the second half. It’s all a big build up to the lamest, most anti climatic 20 pages in the history of books.
Gotta agree with you there. Can’t we just save all the time and effort and stop after the first half??
Maybe the movie will give it the climax it sorely needed!
Agreed. This is all about money. There’s no logical reason for them to split that book in two. The whole thing is just 900 pages of nothing.
Ruby, I agree with you completely. Most of that book was spent in the Cullen’s living room, waiting, waiting, and waiting. 2 movies would be a huge mistake draging out an all ready dragged out book. Painful
there will be a lot of opportunity to explore the wolves mythology by splitting it up. “Team Jacob” should be happy for that. I enjoyed all of the books, including BD although it was replete with flaws and was in no way my favorite. A second reading helped, and honestly it met my expectations having read them in order and in quick succession. Anyone looking for highbrow art is clearly in the wrong place with a postmodern adolescent vampire series. If you want highbrow, stick with the classics. Looking for Oscar-worthy? Look elsewhere. This is a pop-culture phenomena, it is entertainment. If one is not entertained by it, they simply need not read/watch/participate in it. I am sure there are plenty of copies of Austen novels available at the local library, Blockbuster still has “The English Patient” on their shelves. Those dissatisfied with any aspect of the Twilight franchise should feel free to move right on to something else.
You took the words out of my mouth.
Twilight = Ug.
Being a bit redundant here I suppose, but the build up is suspenseful. It is tense. It is a nail-biter. Just because there isn’t an Armageddon showdown fight, doesn’t mean Meyer completely failed at the writing. Seriously if you can suspend disbelief enough to buy the premise of the conception and pregnancy, the idea that this unavoidable fight to the death might be avoided after all shouldn’t be that hard to buy.
The problem is that the so-called “buildup” in the novel has every chance to be earth-shakingly tedious in the movie. Give us a break, Condon is no Bergman. I shiver to think how a long, boring book is going to translate itself into TWO long, boring movies, especially given Melissa Roseberg’s propensity to murder even the best bits in the novels and substitute inane dialogue and vacuous moments from the least interesting characters. And, frankly, Jacob and the wolves are just not fascinating enough for a second movie, not to mention I’ll be waiting with bated breath to hear “pedophilia” accusations being thrown around critic circles in regards to Jacob’s “relationship” with Renesmee. All in all, a nightmare in the works. Ugh. When will it end? Please, Summit, give us ONE movie. ONE movie can deal with all of it.
totally agree. i did enjoy the series but was very dissappointed with the ending. hopefully the movie ending will be better. there needs to be a fight and someone needs to die.other than irina someone major. the fight element was added at the end of New Moon so heres for hoping. although some other aspects were left out that shld’ve been there.
I have always thought that Seth should have died. Everyone loves him (he’s one of my favorites), you’d really care that he died, but the core group goes on. Tragic, but you can go on afterward. It’s what should have happened, IMO, so that there really could have been a climax at the end of that book.
please boo get over yourself. the whole twilight saga is awesome including the second half of Breaking Dawn thank you very much.and yes i am one of those twilight people!
Might want to put a SPOILER warning at the beginning of the 2nd paragraph.
Seems like a natural division, plus it’d be great at the end of Part I to hear Bella’s heart stop beating. Dum dum dum!
That would definitely be a nice ending; if they have any sense that’s what they’ll do, since they’re splitting it there!
That would be really frickin awesome. I hope they do that. Just purely from a filmmaking point, that is such a cool endpoint.
I haven’t seen any of Bill Condon’s movies so Im not sure how I feel about this. Although I think Sofia Coppola might have been a little out there, I am dissapointed that she had interest but dropped out. It would’ve been really cool to see her as a director. As well as Gus Van Sant *sigh*
Ok, the haters are back. Suddenly Condon sucks just because he wants to be involved with Twilight. An hour ago he was a genious now he hasn’t directed anything. Less we forget that he directed a. Unknown actress to her first Oscar win. Now he just sucks.
Look haters, get over it. Twilight is a part of Hollywood history. It’s a phenomenon that no one saw coming and it’s not going anywhere. Breaking Dawn will be filming and the first part of Harry Potter will be in the movies and it will be over shadowed. I’m a Potter fan so don’t get me wrong. But the making of Breaking Dawn will be HUGE because of the wedding and the honeymoon. Yes it needs two movies because the wedding, honeymoon & pregnancy will take up the first film. Bella changes into a vampire ( for those who don’t read) so he being acclamated to the vampire world not to mention raising her unique baby, Jacob’s imprinting and the final showdown with the Volturi. Yes it will take two movies duh.
So you haters keep on hating because Twilight will be with us until at least 2012!
Twilight fans throw bitch fits whenever anyone brings up Harry Potter. So why is it OK for them to do it?
I don’t think anything’s going to overshadow Deathly Hallows, sorry. And apparently Summit doesn’t either, or else they would’ve released Eclipse in November head on against it.
we all know that the difference is that the Harry Potter films are better written, has better acting, and has superior special effects compared to Twilight. Harry Potter fans wouldn’t stand for a poorly made film. Warner Brothers knows that and takes it seriously.
yet i’ve seen Twilight fans on this site saying that “people should be happy to get any Twilight film at all”. what kind of consumer would say that about a product that they were crazy about? You think Summit isn’t taking advantage of the “i’ll see it even if its horrible” thought process of crazy fans right now? it’s exactly why the Twilight films overall have bad scripts and bad acting. Summit knows the rabid fans will watch whatever they choose to give them…and after seeing the first two movies, believe me, it shows.
Marie basically nailed it. And I too have seen Twilight fans on here saying, “I don’t care, I’ll see it anyway to support the actors” (like they care, they’ve already been paid) or whatever. Summit knows it can put out crap and get away with it, and fans who keep complaining should either shut up or stop giving Summit their money.
Please don’t group all fans together. Thank you.
And the award for poster who manages to bring up Harry Potter on a Twilight article with complete disregard for its irrelevancy goes to…”The Haters are Back”!!! (slow clap)
Here’s a friendly newsflash: Reaping enjoyment from the HP series and Twilight are not mutually exclusive. What reason would one have to compare them? That they are both considered series fr young readers? That they both brought kids back to books and prompted thousands to put down their joysticks and pick up books? That is where the similarity ends. I’ve enjoyed them all. And the Anne Rice series from the 80s, all of Uncle Stevie’s collection and a host of stories not easily fit into neat little boxes. I am really looking forward to Eclipse, Deathly Hallows, BD and hoping to finally see a completed copy of Midnight Sun someday. I think it is safe to say there will be an enthusiastic audience for anything Meyer (or Rowling) dreams up to extend our relationships with these compelling characters.
boulderpa, I think I love you. I appreciate they way you relate exactly what I’m thinking in an intelligent, succinct way. Team Twilight NEEDS you.
@boulderpa: I agree about the no comparison thing, but it sounds like you’re putting the two in the same category and that’s just not right.
HP is one the main reasons something like twilight became so successful. Many of the HP fans needed something to feel the void and some of them found twilight. Others were smart enough to latch on to GOOD series like the Millenium Trilogy or The Hunger Games or Percy Jackson.
JKR started this whole frenzy about books. HP is the reason the NY Times bestseller list started to include separate sections for children’s books, because the HP books were constantly in the top spots. Midnight release parties and official book release dates also came about because of Harry Potter.
Twlight is not in the same realm at all.
NOTHING is going to overshadow the final Harry Potter movies. Just because Twilight has such a rabid fan base doesn’t make it a BIGGER fan base than Harry Potter’s. Just look at the box office gross of the Potter movies vs. the Twilight movies and you’ll find the answer.
Harry Potter FTW!
twilight is way bigger than harry potter will ever be. and the second movie just came out
“twilight is way bigger than harry potter will ever be.”
Stop embarrassing yourself. New Moon was probably the single most overhyped movie of 2009, and even it couldn’t beat Half-Blood Prince, either domestically or globally. What HBP did was the equivalent of a Twilight movie making $900 million worldwide in 2017. Does anyone here think that would ever happen? I don’t.
“Breaking Dawn will be filming and the first part of Harry Potter will be in the movies and it will be over shadowed. ”
Thanks for giving me my daily dose of lulz.
Er, sorry to point this out, but Harry Potter is going to be doing the overshadowing. I like Twilight, but I’m going to see Harry Potter before anything else (I’m willing to bet most people will if they’re a fan – most of us grew up reading the books). It also has a bigger fan base…..and less haters (at least from what I’ve seen anyway).
Although, looking back at the way you worded your comment, I’m not absolutely certain what exactly you mean – if a movie is filming (and thus not released yet), how can it overshadow one that’s finished and in theaters?
LMFAO. This post must be a joke. There’s no way it’s serious.
“the final showdown”
ahahhahahhahah LMFAO
You make it sound like something actually happens at the end!
And why on earth would HP be overshadowed????
HP IS bigger then twilight.
Many people are thinking Deathly Hallows stands a chance at toppling Avatar, and I’m with them. If you think Breaking Dawn stands a chance against it, hell they wouldn’t even keep Eclipse in November because of it.
And I think Part 2 is going to crash harder than New Moon did, which has something like the 7th highest Friday to Saturday drop of all time. Especially those who only watch the movies and haven’t read the book, the backlash of the books release is going to happen all over again.
If the Host is released a few months before part one or two, I’m fully calling it ’08 all over again and will be wondering with Smeyer is going to throw another fit and what she’ll decide to take away from fans this time.
The situation with Midnight Sun still cracks me up. And I’m giddy with relief they didn’t go through with the unbelievably unnecessary encylopedia.
Who in their right mind is thinking that Deathly Hallows will gross more than AVATAR? Seriously? Over 750 million dollars in the USA? When every film after the first one barely passes or gets close to 300 million? All of a sudden, just because it’s the last film, the fanbase it’s gonna grow by 2.5 percent???
Deathly Hallows won’t gross more than Avatar. It’s not in 3D and will not have the benefit of the higher ticket price for 3D showings. And even if it were going to be in 3D, it still wouldn’t beat Avatar, even though Deathly Hallows will surely be a better film than the wildly overrated Avatar.
Actually, Dave, it IS going to be in 3D. I don’t think either part will make more than Avatar (combined, MAYBE), but still, they are making it 3D.
Oh crap. Seriously Terri? They’re really doing it in 3D? UGH!!! I can’t stand 3D. I’ll definitely just be seeing it in 2D.
@Dave: BOTH parts of DH will be in both 2D, 3D, and Imax 3D, so you know all the fans will see the film at least twice since they’re the last ones. So it’s guaranteed to make close to 500 mil in the US alone. I don’t think it will pass Avatar, but I think it will get pretty dang close. Especially part two.
This whole discussion is moot. Anyone with a fraction of a brain knows Harry Potter is one of the biggest franchises on the planet. Twilight doesn’t even come close to matching the success of HP. Anyone who says differently is just looking for an argument.
Don’t hold your breath, but HP 7 won’t be overshadowed just because their filming wedding and honeymoon scenes for Breaking Dawn. Twilight didn’t overshadow the success HP6 had last year at the box office, so what makes you think it will overshadow the last parts of the film series? Dream on.
Bill Condon is a fine director. Don’t see the need for 2 films but it is big box office. Van Zant would be great for this saga. Will see it anyway and both films if needed.
Sigh…
Why him? He must be cheap. It looks like this isn’t going to turn out as cool as it could have been. I really wish Sofia Coppola would have done it. And Gus Van Sant was my dream director for the project so obviously that wasn’t going to happen.
Of course he’s cheap. Dreamgirls wasn’t exactly a masterpiece and he hasn’t done anything big since that film came out in 2006.
Bill Condon is actually a decent director (Gods & Monsters, anyone?). I’m baffled as to why he’d want to be affiliated with this dreck, though.
And two parts? That’s just ridiculous and unnecessary. The second part is going to be a big load of nothing — the bizarre imprinting thing and the fight that doesn’t happen.
if you dont like it then why in the world arent you just going on about your business and just stop hating so much. you must not have a very eventful life if all you do is sit around hating on twilight. i mean get over it. a lot of people like the saga including myself.so please stop the madness. BE HAPPY:)
Condon is a terrific director and screenwriter. Gods and Monsters, Dreamgirls and Kinsey are all fantastic movies. If he can’t make this material interesting, no one can. I am curious if he will be involved in the script since he wrote all his previous films.
oh god here come all the haters out again. why do you even comment on the story if it is about twilight? if you hate it so much dont read it. as for two movies im all for it, there is so much that happens in breaking dawn. rosenberg already destroyed the frist two movies by cutting out stuff i dont want to even know what she would have cut from this one to cram it into 2 hrs.
I totally agree, and also CAN NOT wait!
Ugh..so not looking forward to Breaking Dawn. It was the worst of the series and they better make some serious changes to the book for that movie to be watchable. And yeah, for those who haven’t read the books..you might want to warn that this article contains some major spoilers.
Yep, I agree. I’m actually looking forward to Eclipse. It was the best book of the series with the most tension. BD is a steaming pile of crap. It doesn’t matter how great a director is, the source material is so awful.
I know the only reason they’re making BD into two movies is so they can milk it for every penny. It may have been a long book but that doesn’t mean it should be made into an extra long movie. Ugh. Maybe I’ll stop watching the series after Eclipse. Kind of like I should have stopped watching the Matrix after the first movie.
I keep forgetting that one of them is coming out this summer and apparently there’s two more after that. WHEN will this disaster end?!!
The Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana are fading out, Twilight is the only thing still hanging on. It needs to end already. For the sake of humanity.
Bill Condon is a great director and anyone who says otherwise probably hasn’t seen his work. Having said that, with source material that bad and a hack screenwriter like Rosenberg, there’s only so much he can do.
Also, how in the hell are they going to stretch Bella’s transformation, pedowolf-meets-demon-span and the non-fight with the Volturi into a full-length movie? The first part is probably fine in terms of content, but the second part is going to be downright anemic. That’s assuming anyone shows up to the second part after seeing Stewart’s uterus ripped open…
That’s demon spawn. And there’s really no other way to describe her.
EVERYONE WILL SHOW UP. HATER HATER HATER LET ME GET YOU WAITER. LOVE YA BUT YOU SUCK. TWILIGHT IS THE BEST
I’d be curious to know what it was exactly that made Condon want to do this. He does have some horror movies in his past, so maybe it intrigued him. Who knows. Seeing as he isn’t writing the script, my hopes aren’t that high, but he is an interesting choice.
Oh, and there’s no reason other than $$$ for this to be two films. Summit’s just being greedy and to say otherwise is to be in denial. And yes WB and New Line are also greedy by splitting HP and The Hobbit, but those novels at least have the plot heft to make a split justifiable. BD doesn’t. And if the second half does consist of what this article suggests, it could be over in about 45 minutes. And that’s being generous. Make it ONE movie, cut out some of the book’s fat and repetition and get it over with.
My sister-in-law and I think that the birthing scene will be one of those things that mothers will show their daughters and say, “don’t get pregnant.”
As acted by Kristen Stewart, it could end up being one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes in movie history.
lol
omg……i know
this could be a comedy classic
That’s why Tommy Wiseau is the only person who should even be considered for this project.
Lol. I’m laughing just thinking about it. But I’m sure it won’t be the same as the book. Summit will not want to risk scaring all their little 12 year old fans away.
If you are criticizing Kristen Stewart, you should hate Mia Wasikowska even more, she was awful in Alice, not even compared to what you think about Kristen’s performance.
Sadly, that might be true, Michael, lol.
@Karin: What does that have to do with anything?
Sorry..just got a fit of the giggles over this statement. But oh so true.
Anyone else think it said Bill Clinton at first??