Entertainment Weekly has reported a bunch of news regarding New Moon, the Twilight sequel. Here is some of it, condensed for your pleasure:
Summit Entertainment has tentatively slated Nov. 20, 2009, as the release date for New Moon, the Twilight sequel, which means the director replacing Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke has to be in Vancouver, Cananda by Dec. 15 to start work to make the release date.
And then this is a direct quote:
[One...] of Hardwicke’s primary concerns was that hunky vampire Edward remains MIA throughout New Moon’s middle portion. In her own opening-weekend interview, she told EW, “You have to get the chemistry as strong between Jacob and Bella as it was between Bella and Edward. You also have to do something with that arc: She’s in love with somebody, he disappears, she falls in love with someone else, and the first guy comes back. Movies like Pearl Harbor have tried it. It absolutely didn’t work.”
But here is the part I don't think you're going to like:
Two sources tell EW the studio doesn’t want to rehire baby-faced Taylor Lautner as Jacob, though Lautner’s agent has apparently reached out to the imaging company behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in an attempt to demonstrate to Summit how a digitally bulked-up Lautner could work. (Summit says it won’t make a decision until a new filmmaker is on board.) There’s also the matter of finding a cast of Native American actors to play Jacob’s werewolf clan — a difficult challenge Hardwicke was also faced with before settling on Lautner, who isn’t completely Native American. And with a slightly increased budget of $50 million — much of which is assumed will go to leads asking for heftier paydays, location shoots in Italy, and ramped-up F/X — Summit will have to scrimp somewhere.
Lastly, it looks like the director will be Chris Weitz, who directed The Golden Compass. Any feelinsg on that Twilight fans?
