THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: OSCAR WATCH, DIRECTOR (CATHERINE)
Oscar Watch: Director. The recession is causing studios to get tough with directors.
Catherine Hardwicke had every reason to celebrate as her latest film, “Twilight,” opened to nearly $70 million in November. The haul exceeded even the most optimistic expectations, and reviewers credited Hardwicke for breathing cinematic life into Stephenie Meyer’s cult novel. But when Summit Entertainment immediately began fast-tracking a sequel, “New Moon,” Hardwicke was conspicuously absent.The director had concerns about the direction of the new franchise and the amount of prep time available. Summit, by some accounts, had reservations about working with the indie-minded Hardwicke again. The studio soon announced it would hire another director, Chris Weitz, to ensure its follow-up film would be ready by November.
An isolated instance of financial dictates undercutting a director’s power? Perhaps. But there is evidence this awards season that the current economic environment is causing studios to take tougher stands when it comes to keeping directors happy.
“It’s the climate that’s different,” says one producer, who declined to be named. “It’s not so much the conversations. Conversations about budgets have always been difficult. But in the last year, (they’ve) been markedly different. There’s even more of a pressure on budgets.”
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I have a three part question for you:
1) Do you think Catherine will be nominated for Best Director? And should she be?
2) Do you think the current economic recession had anything to do with her being replaced by Chris Weitz?
3) Do you think the recession will affect the making of New Moon and cause them to cut corners to save money?
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I don’t think Catherine will be nominated because critics pretty much panned the movie. I like her a lot though and think she’s really talented. She should absolutely be given the majority of the credit for the movie’s phenomenal ticket sales because she fought to be true to the book and reached out respectfully and enthusiastically to the fans! The screenwriter should get a lot of credit too.
1) I dont think so… I love the movie, but i dont think it is oscar material. Not even the movie Australia was nominated for the golden globes, and it was that kind of material, definetly not twilight.
But I AM STILL ANGRY THAT SHE IS NOT DOING NEW MOON.
but well maybe next year chris should be. The Golden Compass is really pretty
2) Not really, because I think the same amount of money will go now to Chris, I think they had lots of problems with Catherine and they were tired to keep working with her.
3)Like I said, The Golden Compass is amazing, so I think Chris will definetly do something a like. Catherine did a really great one with less budget, with more budget it will be more amazing I HOPE…
With all the Movies out last year I do believe Catherine is an amazing Indy Director, and I believe that is why twilight was so good because it was filmed in such manner (an Indy film), not so mainstream. So yes I think Catherine should be nominated but if she is that’s a different question all together because of her Indy label.
As for the economic recession I’m not sure if that’s why they changed Directors. I believe there is more politics behind it, Indy film makers are use to low budgets I believe it had more to do with the rush on time to have New Moon in theaters then anything else, I would hate to be inspired to direct a movie and be told that there is an absolute deadline that could effect production, you have to remember there is a process; Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production. With New Moon having a lot of Post-Production it would give them less time to actually get the filming done same time frame as Twilight but with more filming needed to be done. It’s hard to rush a production when you want it to be just right.
New Moon has a 50 million dollar budget, 13 million more then Twilight, 13 million may seem like a lot to the naked film production eye but its not really that much more. With the pay raises and all the post-production (making the wolves come to life on the big screen) and all the rest of the special effects, that is where the money is going to be heading, (hopefully) with the low budget of Twilight Edward didn’t sparkle the way he should have. Hopefully they can make the special effect more visual in New Moon.
Chris Weitz has worked with special effects before (the Golden Compass with its 180 million dollar budget where he was the Director and Writer). Although I heard it didn’t follow the book, it was visually pleasing. The New Moon budget is significantly lower then what Chris Weitz is us to working but if he follows the books perspective and ideas the movie should be able to be made with the low budget, and be great.
That’s my opinion on the facts asked.
A)i say no because the crits have given her some bad reveiws.
B)NOT.AT.ALL.
C)i hope not.
P.S:Twilight is NOT a cult book:\
1) Do you think Catherine will be nominated for Best Director? And should she be?
**No, I don’t think she’ll get nominated. And, although I love the movie, it’s not THAT good. lol
2) Do you think the current economic recession had anything to do with her being replaced by Chris Weitz?
**No, I think someone (and I don’t know who) was being stubborn, and this is the aftermath.
3) Do you think the recession will affect the making of New Moon and cause them to cut corners to save money?
**No more than it did, during the making of Twilight.
Twilight was my favorite movie last year, but I don’t think it deserves an Oscar. Catherine did a fantastic job directing it, she should get credit for its success along with the hard working cast. They brought it to life…Rob & Kristen were great as Bella & Edward.
I don’t think the recession will effect the movie being made. They already have a set budget. However, I’m just sure about Chris Weitz, Catherine had a stronger following of fans. They related to her ideas and her excitement about Twilight. The wanted to bring the whole Bella & Edward love story to life.
1. No, because Twilight is a “genre” movie with vampires-everybody knows the Academy is mostly made up of snobs. If it isn’t ultra violent or/and foreign, forget it. I think she deserves a nomination.
What she did with 45 days and a small budget was a miracle. She took what could have been just a cheesy romance and turned it into a movie everybody could be proud of.
2. Considering how much money Twilight made in just one day, I really don’t think this had anything to do with it. She and Summit didn’t see eye to eye on New Moon’s budget, script, or timeline to get it done and with Chris being friends with Feig, well, there you go.
3. As far as I’m concerned, New Moon not being given at least a 70 million budget is just nuts. How much has Twilight made worldwide? Close to 250 million? They could afford more-it’s not the recession, it’s pure greed on Summit’s part and them not caring if the special effects aren’t perfect. They are a little naive.
1. no definitely not. i liked the movie.. but at the same time, i had to justify the reasons for liking it so much. i LOVED the books and i was near tears after watching the mvoie opening weekend. but honestly, i only liked it because i read thebooks, and i definitely see why its difficult to like coming in cold. hardwicke did waht she could with the actors and low budget for the film, but definitely did not reach the potential. she defintiely did a great job with the mood of hte film, and ith ad a great indie feel.. but perhaps another approach would be better? the actors needed coaches (notsaying im an expert.. but if i can tell soemthing is off then there might be..) and some parts of the movie jjumped the gun. also this is not up to par with any acadmey movies, but i think that later movies have the potential. or maybe director changes are just necessary to keep the films going. i know harry potter directros changed after the chamber of secrets, and the movies have just been getting better. a fresh mind keeps the movies fresh.
2. i dont really think that the recession has to do with hardwickes replacement. there might ahve been personal issues, but i think a big thing was the fact that twilight did so well because it already had such a large cult following. if it were any other movie that was na unknown story i doubt it woul dhave done half as well. they studio was probably banking on that, and seeing waht great results thhey had with just an above average movie, they were able to guage their focus twoard twilight with more money (hopefully), and high expectations for new moon. also, i think that chris weitz is a highly repsected director anyways, i mean, he was nominated for an oscar and directd the chronicles of narnia, another scifi kind of movie. i think he’ll be great.
3. like most people said, i definitely see twilight becoming cumulatively more expensive. summit definitely has to see that people are aching for these movies, sort of like a sappy harry potter following (sorry for the analogy). like i said earlier, with just a mediocre movie, with now even more fans (like people who just went in cold and did NOT read the books previous), there has to be more money put into this film. i doubt the movies will get to becmoe harry potter quality (whcih is above and beyond, not to berate summit), but i think that with chris weitz, who definitely ahs more expereince with special effects (chronicles of narnia, golden compass), and a more financially “encouraged” cast, as well as the avid number of growing fans, summit will provide more money.
Personally, I think Catherine Hardwicke should be nominated for best director. Why? Because she stayed true to Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight novel, the Twilight fans, and to Summit Entertainment. Catherine Hardwicke brought out certain nuances in the movie that only an insightful person can. I did not want Twilight to look like the Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, or Golden Compass type movies. I truly enjoyed the realism and the “indie” aspect of Twilight. Plus, Catherine did all of this and stayed “within the budget” of $37 mil., not to mention the fact that (statistically speaking) she blew every other movie out of the water. For instance, the Dark Knight had a huge budget and Twilight is the number two (2) movie for 2008. If you compare Twilight’s $37 mil. to the profits it has earned, Summit and Hollywood will be smacking every Twilight fan in the face if Catherine isn’t considered for an Oscar nomination.
It’s a shame Catherine won’t be able to “revamp” her role as the director of New Moon. She would have done an even better job with New Moon’s $50 mil. budget. It could very well be that someone in Summit owed Mr. Weitz a big payback favor and any excuse would have been used to diss Catherine. (This is just a theory.) Remember - to the big muckity mucks in Hollywood, it’s all about money. I sure do hope Chris Weitz doesn’t give New Moon a “Golden Compass” look. I truly enjoyed Catherine’s dark/hazy look and feel that she gave to Twilight. Not only that, but she surely did “leave the door open” for New Moon the way she ended Twilight - which is the mark of a truly great director.
I love Catherine for bringing Twilight to life and I think she did an ok job with it…but if she gets nominated for an Oscar, I might just shoot myself in the foot. There were plenty of films over the past year that were quite a bit better than Twilight, and that were directed better than Twilight was. I expect Christopher Nolan, Danny Boyle, and Ron Howard to be nominated.