More on Chris Weitz and New Moon

I found this interesting Twilight blog by ScullingOnSquam, who's doing a PhD on fantasy literature adaptations. She had actually done work on the movie set last year, and has a lot of interesting insights on both the book series  and the movie.

In a recent post, she talked briefly about Chris Weitz, the director of "New Moon":

"Weitz also worked on the screenplay for The Golden Compass, and I’ve been told that he had one version of the script that was basically rejected and changed and the one that ended up being shot is completely different from what he wrote. If that’s true I wonder why, who told him no, what was wrong with his, how was it different, and what his reaction and thoughts on the new one was. Obviously he shot it, it’d be hard to turn down an opportunity to direct a $180 million blockbuster starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig just because you’re unhappy with the changes to your script (and I don’t even know if Weitz was unhappy with the changes or if he approved the changes). Overall, it was a not a well-done adaptation. It was visually stunning, the cast was incredible, I thought the music was lovely, and the costumes and setting unmatched. It had all of the details and grandeur of The Lord of the Rings but with more gold."

This must be the story behind Weitz's bailing out of "The Golden Compass" mentioned in his IMdB profile, which I quoted in an earlier post.

I don't want to prejudge Weitz's ability to helm "New Moon" based on the above, but somehow stories like this shape our expectations. I feel sorry for the guy, actually. Since Catherine Hardwicke was able to put together a Twilight adaptation on a shoestring budget, and managed to shatter records at the tills, expectations are stratospheric for Weitz who is given more leg room budget-wise. The guy must feel he has a whole planet sitting on his shoulders right now. This is a make-or-break opportunity for any director, and one must have a lot of chutzpah to take it on.