Chris Weitz Sets His Sights on Stephenie Meyer’s New Moon |
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| Written by Kevin Johns |
| Sunday, 01 February 2009 19:00 |
Image by Adrian Steeves
Having never read the Twilight books, I was pleasantly surprised by Catherine Hardwicke's delightful adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's much loved novel. Hardwicke worked as a Hollywood production designer on various films throughout the eighties and nineties before helming her 2002 directorial debut, the teen-issues focused Thirteen - an experience that likely helped prepare her for tackling the teen angst of Meyer's vampire romance. Hardwicke's Twilight is visually lush (with a palate of deep forest greens accented by rich purples), confidently paced, and, for the most part, masterfully executed. The casting was spot on, and the film was well received by audiences, who loved Twilight's understated melodrama and mellow magic to the tune of a $70 million opening weekend. Obviously pleased with the film's success, Summit Entertainment, the studio holding the rights to the Twilight series, decided to rush the sequel New Moon into production immediately. In fact, the studio was so eager to hammer out another Twilight film that Hardwicke's request for adequate turn around time was flat out denied. This cold shoulder, combined with rumours surrounding creative differences, resulted in the sad announcement that Hardwicke will not be directing the sequel to her smash hit. While Hardwicke's departure from the series is certainly disappointing news, it is not entirely shocking. The Harry Potter films, for example, have already proven successful despite having cycled through various directors, including Christopher Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newel, and David Yates. What is shocking is who Summit has decided to replace Hardwicke with. In recent years, there have been several cinematic adaptations of fantasy novels that have strived to recreate the success of Harry Potter only to produce mediocre and forgettable family-friendly films. While The Spiderwick Chronicles, Bridge to Terabithia, and The Seeker: The Dark is Rising were all disappointments to varying degrees, there was no film that came close to scrapping the bottom of the barrel like the utter piece of garbage that was Chris Weitz's The Golden Compass.
While I've been assured by many fans that Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series is most definitely worth reading, Weitz's incomprehensible mess of a film left me with the desire to stay as far away from anything Golden Compass-related as possible. Never before had I watched a film in which the motivation of every single character on the screen was total a mystery to me, yet, throughout The Golden Compass, I had no idea why anyone was doing anything at any time. Major plot points, such as "dust," are introduced, but never explained; characters like Daniel Craig's Lord Asriel seem to exist for no reason at all; and just what the heck those daemon things are is never communicated adequately to the audience. Rather than gracefully introduce the fantastical universe of the books, the film's opening sequence comes across as a lame Lord of the Rings rip off, and several things, including the novel's actual ending, seem to have been reserved for a sequel that will never happen due to Weitz's incompetence. The fact that Weitz was totally incapable of handling the adaptation shouldn't really have come as a surprise to anyone since he openly admitted as much when he quit the project during pre-production. The only reason Weitz ended up making The Golden Compass was because the director chosen to replace him ALSO quit, and - with no plan B in place - the studio was forced to beg Weitz to return to the doomed film. All of which brings us back to Twilight and Summit Entertainment's horrendous decision to replace Hardwicke with none other than Chris Weitz. That's right; the future of the Twilight film franchise has been placed in the hands of the very same director that destroyed any chance of His Dark Materials turning into a successful series of films. Weitz has already turned me off ever reading Phillip Pullman's series, and he now has the opportunity to do the same for Meyer's work. The indie cred Weitz earned acting in Mike White's Chuck and Buck has long run out, and there is nothing more vengeful than disappointed sci-fi fantasy fans (just ask George Lucas), save perhaps disappointed 14-year-old teenage girls and their moms. With American Pie and About a Boy as the only real successes under his directorial belt, Weitz has a lot to make up for and huge expectations surrounding New Moon.
Given that seesawing desire to replace actor Taylor Lautner already has fans of the first film up in arms (Lautner has ultimately been kept on, so long as he beefs up), it seems New Moon is off to a rocky start. Lets hope this time Weitz is actually up to the challenge because, so far, Twilight fans have a lot to be concerned about. RELATED ARTICLES: Twilight: Book Vs. Film
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Comments (3)
Have you seen this?
http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com...chris.html |
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