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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2008 > December > 08 > Entry
Who should replace the director of ‘Twilight’?
News broke over the weekend that Catherine Hardwicke, the director of Twilight, will not be returning to helm the sequel, New Moon, due for release in late 2009 or early 2010.
The official reason given is “scheduling,” although insiders are rumbling that’s code for “We didn’t get along, so we’re going to pick someone else, thanks.”
I liked but did not love Twilight, so I’m not greatly moved by this news. However, I am sorry to see Hardwicke go. I liked her work in thirteen and Lords of Dogtown, and her skill at directing young actors went a long way towards making Twilight as effective as it was.
I’m sure Summit Entertainment, the company that produced the film, will want to hire someone they can control, and someone who won’t cost too much, so I think you can pretty much forget any A-lister like Alfonso Cuaron, whose name has been floated on Web sites, probably simply because he directed the third (and best) Potter film, Prisoner of Azkaban.
Summit will probably want to go the way of the James Bond franchise and hire a journeyman who’s a capable shooter but doesn’t have a signature visual style. That being the case, why not hire Mimi Leder, the woman who directed Deep Impact? Until Twilight came along, Deep Impact had the biggest opening of any movie directed by a woman.
Granted, that opening would have happened no matter who directed it, but Deep Impact was a solid film that showed she could work well with actors and direct decent action scenes. (Compared to that same year’s Armageddon, Deep Impact was a masterpiece.)
One plea to Summit - please stay as far away as possible from Marc Forster, who just botched the Bond franchise with his incoherent action scenes in Quantum of Solace.
So who should step in for the deposed Hardwicke? Are you sorry to see her go or not?
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Comments
By Kim
December 9, 2008 9:42 AM | Link to this
I’m not sure how I feel about it. I think there is definitely room for improvement - but it could have been worse. I hope it doesn’t go towards the “worse” with a new director. It IS possible to kill a profitable franchise and I would hate to see that happen. This series is worth investing in. If they don’t do it right, then they won’t get the return business, and you need that to really make the big box office bucks.