'Golden Compass' Director Chosen for 'Twilight' Sequel?

Catherine Hardwicke is the perfect director for this: nothing in the book compares to the moment Bella enters Bio class in the film... Edward -- repulsed -- winged like an angel (flanked by a stuffed owl), Bella -- self-conscious -- her hair billows against the fan. The danger of sexuality, the grace of Desire. Beautiful. I was thought Hardwicke could continue in order to work through the ideas she introduces. It was like My So-Called Life with Godfather ambitions. In that tradition, I had hopes Part II would be better. Only one person could have gotten those performances from those actors (while d.p. Elliot Davis got the perfect look). This is a real shame. Oh well, here's praying Kathryn Bigelow or Sturla Gunnarsson or Neil Jordan or Patrice Chereau (!!!omg!1) will be hired to take over "New Moon". But something tells me they're not looking for artists (Chris Weitz?????? ugh). Anyone who directs "New Moon" should do screenings of "The Story of Adele H.", "Godfather Part II" & "III", and "The Company of Wolves" for inspiration and instruction.

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I love Chris Weitz, he's really talented. And takes some interesting choices. Oh and you should blame all the failure of The Golden Compass on New Line Cinema instead of Chris.

But him directing this?! NO! He should use his talent on other things instead of a crappy, crappy vampire flick!

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Chris Weitz is a good director and maybe he'll be fine for this, but I think he's one of the main reasons the Golden Compass didn't work, particularly for me. I don't think large budget fantasy adventure is 'in his wheelhouse', the phrase William Goldman used to describe a filmmaker's sensibilities to a particular genre or style. Weitz can make a very good contemporary adult comedy and drama, but I don't think he's Guillermo Del Toro or Peter Jackson. I also don't think either of the two, Del Toro or Jackson, could have made About a Boy as good as it was. Again, it's (contemporary adult comedy) not in their wheelhouse.
Golden Compass was a very oddly paced film, plodding and slow as molasses, with a tepid third act and a badly directed final battle sequence in the arctic.

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Oh God, no no no. Please no.

The Golden Compass could have been better (I wanted to see the sequels to see if the story would make more sense once the whole story was put together... if I don't get the sequels, I'm not going to pretend to understand what happened in this first film) if it wasn't completely baffling in every way. To tell me that he would even be considered for a Twilight sequel for three would be devastating.

There has to be someone better. There has to be.

- http://UncoveredFilms.blogspot.com

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Apparently Summit really wants to screw it big time.
He is not good for this franchise. Golden Compass had good special effects, but as directorial contribution sucked, and big time. I don't know any kids that were satisfied with it, and I leave the grown ups out ...
About a boy was dreadfull, I am a grown up woman and I hated it.
Well Summit I spent 60 bucks on Twilight, I am not going to do it again for the rest of the sequells, unless you really do something special for Robert Pattinson.

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twilight my sister is so over exagerated. She thinks edward is her husband but no way. girls these days. i just thought bella was pretty.

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I think Chris Weitz is as good a replacement as any. I loved About A Boy and those three movies you mentioned he produced. And I really don't think it was his fault The Golden Compass did horribly in the box office. I did have problems with the end of the movie, but only because I'm a huge fan of the book series and wanted to see the book's ending. The book's ending is so powerful that I think it would've made people want to see the next movies even more than they would with the ending we were given (even though I don't think we're going to be seeing sequels anytime soon). The acting in The Golden Compass wasn't bad and aesthetically the movie was really good. My only problems were with pieces of the story they left out.

Anyway, Weitz is a good enough director to take on the Twilight universe. Who cares if he isn't a woman? It didn't matter to me that Twilight was directed by a woman. I would have seen it regardless because I liked the book. The Twilight universe isn't the genre Catherine Hardwicke should have directed in the first place. I liked Thirteen a lot, but it's a totally different genre and I think that's the genre Hardwicke should stick to. Weitz proved that he could direct a massive fantasy movie, which is what the Twilight series is, in a way. I mean, the polar bear fight scene in The Golden Compass was breathtaking--the best part of the movie by far. It may not have done spectacularly at the box office, but then again, the His Dark Materials trilogy is a book series with a brain and requires a lot of thought put into them. It is a cult series that does have its die hard fans, but it doesn't have anywhere close to the fan base that the Twilight series does. I think Weitz can succeed at turning New Moon, and possibly Eclipse, into the movies that Twilight should have been.

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I really like how everyone is judging Weitz on Golden Compass and not on any of his other movies. About a Boy is one of my favorites and I think he's really grown since American Pie.

The only think I think they need to do is raise the special effects budget. And make good werewolves. Look to the people behind the 2nd season episode of the new Doctor Who (on a very small budget) and not the people who did the dreadful werewolf in the 3rd Harry Potter.

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to lupe
I was just being sarcastic...

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I still don't see how we could judge what Catherine Hardwicke could have done on New Moon by her microscopic budget for Twilight. Clearly she spent most of it on the baseball scene which was fine. The rest of the movie worked for what it was. Also it was her first movie with big action sequences.

John D. - love your comment "My So-Called Life with Godfather ambitions". That's quotable.

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where did godfather II come in? perhaps the most revered sequel in all of moviedom is a good inspiration for another sequel, but can whatever is going to be made out of new moon be compared to gfII in any sense other than they follow a first movie sequentially?

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John D.- You sound like a pretentious ass.


"nothing in the book compares to the moment Bella enters Bio class in the film... Edward -- repulsed -- winged like an angel (flanked by a stuffed owl), Bella -- self-conscious -- her hair billows against the fan. The danger of sexuality, the grace of Desire. Beautiful. I was thought Hardwicke could continue in order to work through the ideas she introduces. It was like My So-Called Life with Godfather ambitions. In that tradition, I had hopes Part II would be better"


The biology scene was the most obnoxious detestable thing I have ever seen. A rigid posture and maybe a close up on black eyes would have mode the movie infinitesimally better. Edwards movement was overdone and the fan, unneeded. But this was not the acting/actors fault.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've seen the movie because of the awful job done by Hardwicke. Even though Summit confirms Hardwicke will undeniably not be directing the sequel, it doesn't matter. This fanbase, the majority couldn't tell you a thing about the director. Most likely not even a name. Personally, I hope Weitz does not direct because I think his involvement would be a waste of his talent. The only reason that Golden Compass failed was because of the rediculous boycotting done by christians.

For Weitz to lower himself by directing the sequel to a trashy romance, badly covered by a questionable vampire plot would be depressing. But if he accepts...whatever. To each their own.

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i do not think he should direct New Moon OR Eclipse because honstly i did not like The golden Compas verry much they should keep the director that they have

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