Producers for New Moon, the sequel to teen vamp flick Twilight, have selected their replacement for the ousted Catherine Hardwicke: Chris Weitz, director of American Pie and The Golden Compass. We ask: Are they insane?
It's not that we're pulling for Hardwicke's return to the franchise (despite finding the direction of Twilight one of its high points), but have Summit Entertainment's decision makers forgotten that Weitz was the man behind the failure of The Golden Compass movie, the last pre-Twilight teen-book-phenomenon that was supposed to be the next Harry Potter? I'm not saying that the lightning of poor-choices-concerning-what-to-keep-and-what-to-cut-from-the-source-material, or even uninspired direction (un)inspiring lackluster performances from his actors, would necessarily strike again, but come on; look at the man's resume: American Pie aside, there's not a hit on there... nor anything to suggest that he'd bring anything interesting to the adolescent quadrology's second chapter.
For Weitz, of course, it's a chance to make up for his Compass failure, but for Summit, the reasoning is somewhat more obscure. Perhaps there was a lost bet involved.
Chris Weitz explores 'New Moon' [Hollywood Reporter]