Wow! I always thought Director Catherine Hardwick was like a role model for girls who want to become a successful filmmakers. I thought she was one of those heroines like Sofia Coppola and Lexi Alexander and Julie Taymor but I guess Summit Entertainment begs to differ because apparently according NiIkki Finke of Deadline Holywood Daily, Summit has is taking Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke off TWILIGHT Sequel, NEW MOON after having directed the first movie that’s still earning some significant money at the box office. Not sure what she did wrong to deserve to get the boot… maybe he name showed up and the tribes had spoken.. but this is what Nikki Finke suspected happened based on an an insider scoop…
“I’ve confirmed that Summit Entertainment is taking Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke off the sequel in this big new franchise. No doubt my posting this will speed up the studio’s announcement, and Summit will surely try to spin this as all going down amicably…. The word from inside Summit is that Hardwicke, the acclaimed Thirteen director, “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…”
From another of my sources, “Summit didn’t like her. They’re saying the DP [director of photography] Elliot Davis is the one responsible for the film’s sumptuous visual look, that the editor Nancy Richardson had to save the film in post-production, and Summit thought Hardwicke’s [CAA] agent Beth Swofford was alternately ineffectual and hysterical [when it came to controlling her client].”
I heard Quentin Tarantino can be an A-hole during production but no one’s firing him for that. I think Catherine Hardwicke is just a victim of studios wanting to aim bigger for the sequel and that means keeping what they think attracts the teen audience, the stars, in spite of who the director may be and no matter if the story for the sequel might be awful or not.
Let’s just hope teen girls everywhere don’t over-react and start an uprising by creating a riot on the streets over this.
Do you think she got fired because she’s a woman?
Who do you see would be chosen to replace her to direct NEW MOON?
Did you think Hardwicke’s direction in the movie TWILIGHT was lame or awesome?
Here’s the official press release…
SUMMIT BEGINS SEARCH FOR NEW MOON DIRECTOR
Los Angeles, CA, December 7, 2008 – Summit Entertainment and director Catherine Hardwicke jointly announced today that the filmmaker will not be directing the next installment in the newly minted TWILIGHT film franchise. Summit’s targeted end of 2009 or early 2010 release of the film, NEW MOON, does not work with Ms. Hardwicke’s required prep time to bring her vision of the film to the big screen. Thus as has been done before with many successful film franchises, the studio will employ a new director for NEW MOON.
“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.”
“Catherine did an incredible job in helping us to launch the TWILIGHT franchise and we thank her for all of her efforts and we very much hope to work with her on future Summit projects,” said Erik Feig, Summit’s President of Production. “We as a studio have a mandate to bring the next installment in the franchise to the big screen in a timely fashion so that fans can get more of Edward, Bella and all of the characters that Stephenie Meyer has created. We are able to pursue an aggressive time frame as we have the luxury of only adapting the novels into screenplays as opposed to having to create a storyline from scratch.”
