Talk about getting trashed through the internet, this week is going to be a hard one for Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Twilight), who saw the ‘nets break her firing hours before the official press release from Summit Entertainment.
The long and the short: people weren’t happy with the direction the director took the Twilight franchise, both in terms of visual effects and the direction that the film’s narrative would take. Twilight cost $37 million and has already surpassed $138 million in the box office, setting the record for the biggest opening by a female director since Mimi Leder released Deep Impact on the world.
Deadline Hollywood Daily, who broke the story cites an unnamed studio source as saying: “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. It certainly demonstrates, while CAA agents boast of their vast influence, how little clout and muscle they actually have, or are willing to use, to protect their artists.”
A few hours after DHD broke the story, Summet followed up with an official press release which contained the smoothed-over excuse: NEW MOON (next Twilight film), does not work with Ms. Hardwicke’s required prep time to bring her vision of the film to the big screen.
Did we just see Catherine Hardwicke’s stock plummet?
Read the full release by clicking “Read More…”
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.”
