Summit Boys Club
If Nikki Finke's tip about Summit offering the New Moon directing gig to Chris Weitz comes true (i.e., if he's actually offered the job and takes it), it'll prove that Summit truly hasn't a clue.
The Twilight films have to be directed by a woman, period, and certainly not by some sensitive, well-intentioned but fatally middlebrow journeyman like Weitz (The Golden Compass, About A Boy). The obvious candidate is The Hurt Locker's Kathryn Bigelow...is it not?
Finke's tipster says "another reason [for the Weitz offer] is because Weitz and Summit's president of production Eric Feig are longtime pals." Jesus...do they play poker together? Forget Weitz, grab Feig by the lapels and slap him around and tell him that flaunting the old-boy network is bad p.r., and then hire Bigelow. Simple.
If Weitz winds up directing New Moon everything that Summit honcho Rob Friedman told Patrick Goldstein yesterday will be immediately tossed out the window. Weitz? Why not dangle the job in front of Stephen Sommers while they're at it?
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 9, 2008 at 5:26 PM
comment #1
Edward
says ...
Yeah, let Sommers fuck up another vampire film.
Posted by Edward
at December 9, 2008 5:42 PM
comment #2
ZayTonday
says ...
Why stop there? Why don't we get Paul W.S. Anderson to helm it? Or maybe Brett Ratner if he's available?
Posted by ZayTonday
at December 9, 2008 6:05 PM
comment #3
Edward Havens
says ...
I remember a couple years, whenever the topic of The Hobbit came up, the general consensus was that Peter Jackson was the only person who should make them. I was even invited on to Attack of the Show to debate the topic, as I was one of the few who said The Hoobit didn't need Jackson but a first-rate visual filmmaker who could hold his own to Jackson's much-beloved trilogy. Lo and behold, Del Toro was announced as the director, and all was good in the world again.
The Twilight series doesn't need to be directed by a woman. New Moon needs to be directed by a filmmaker who can open up the series to people like myself who are sick and fucking tired of teen vampire movies. Someone like Tomas Alfredson, whose Let the Right One In was infinitely more worth people's time than Twilight. Maybe not specifically Alfredson, but that's just one instance where a male filmmaker would be a better choice than the shrill and obvious Hardwicke, whose craptastic previous films Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown were saved by exceptional performances by Evan Rachel Wood and Heath Ledger, respectively.
Posted by Edward Havens
at December 9, 2008 6:26 PM
comment #4
btwnproductions
says ...
Bigelow's not the right temperment for this. She'd probably just laugh if it were offered to her. And Weitz is too talented. A SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS kind of director, or someone who's shot a lot of ONE TREE HILL-type TV shows, would be just fine. The audience isn't exactly looking for an auteur.
Posted by btwnproductions
at December 9, 2008 7:20 PM
comment #5
Josh Massey
says ...
I have no dog in this fight, but both The Golden Compass and About a Boy were wonderful. So I guess I second the "Weitz is too talented" motion.
Posted by Josh Massey
at December 9, 2008 7:45 PM
comment #6
Pinko Punko
says ...
The sexism in you thinking that Bigelow- who is pretty talented but has a totally different oeuvre than Twilight seems kind of surprising. Although I think she would maybe do something interesting with it- in now way would it be the same as what Hardwicke did with it.
Posted by Pinko Punko
at December 9, 2008 7:56 PM
comment #7
Nick Rogers
says ...
Josh: About a Boy? Yes. The Golden Compass. Nooooooo.
Posted by Nick Rogers
at December 9, 2008 8:00 PM
comment #8
btwnproductions
says ...
Not sexism, I just don't think she'd go for this kiind of fluttery, tweeny material. Plus it would be an insult to NEAR DARK.
Posted by btwnproductions
at December 9, 2008 8:54 PM
comment #9
renorambler
says ...
Indeed. About a Boy is quite wonderful. One of the best things Hugh Grant has been in (except for Lair of the White Worm of course).
Posted by renorambler
at December 9, 2008 9:03 PM
comment #10
Luke Y. Thompson
says ...
I truly don't understand the logic of hiring someone who screwed up a potential book-to-film fantasy franchise to come in and save another one.
Posted by Luke Y. Thompson
at December 10, 2008 1:26 AM
comment #11
Pinko Punko
says ...
About a Boy was actually quite good, considering how easily it could have been mawkish. Badly Drawn Boy's "Silent Sigh" from that soundtrack is a stunner. One of those songs that fits the movie like Simon and Garfunkel fit The Graduate.
Posted by Pinko Punko
at December 10, 2008 2:40 AM
comment #12
jbf81
says ...
I dont care about the director's gender. This is essentially a love story and if you can make the love story work, people will watch. Joe Wright did a wonderful job in Pride and Prejudice and Atonement and he is a guy. The Notebook director is also a guy, so as long he can do a good job I will be ok. And About a Boy was better than ANYTHING Catherine Hardwicke ever did.
Posted by jbf81
at December 10, 2008 4:35 AM
comment #13
Edward
says ...
Too bad Nick Cassavetes the director of "The Notebook" was mediocre at best. What saved "The Notebook" were the performances.
Posted by Edward
at December 10, 2008 8:54 AM
comment #14
Markj74
says ...
Kathryn Bigelow already made the best vampire movie since Nosferatu. Why would she want to make a tawdry kids version?
Posted by Markj74
at December 10, 2008 2:21 PM
comment #15
vp19
says ...
The "Twilight" films have to be directed by a woman? This sounds so much like the Spike Lee comments about a white man directing "Malcolm X" (and, in effect, any film about the black experience) Sorry, but I don't buy it.
Sure, we certainly need more work for female directors, but why place them in this cinematic ghetto? No one was claiming a woman had to direct the "American Girl" films (of course, they had next to no box-office impact). Why here?
Get a talented director who understands the material -- and such understanding doesn't require XX chronosomes.
Posted by vp19
at December 12, 2008 11:19 AM
comment #16
janee
says ...
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Posted by janee
at May 19, 2011 3:43 AM