After weeks of negotiations, Summit Entertainment has got its man. As previously suspected, Bill Condon has signed on to direct Breaking Dawn, the final chapter of the Twilight Saga.
Condon was on a shortlist of three directors along with Gus Van Sant and Sofia Coppola, so Summit was showing ambition with its directorial choices. Condon is a director of independent films and has a wide resumé, from Candyland: Farewell to Fresh to God and Monsters. Condon is best known for the musical hit Dreamgirls and often gets Oscar-nominated performances from his actors.
The Twilight series has attached very different types of directors: Catherine Hardwicke who specializes in indie drama with Thirteen being of particular note, Chris Weitz who directed comedies and ruined The Golden Compass and David Slade, who directed dark horror and thriller films Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night. Condon rounds off this interesting list.
The gig is a definite gamble for Condon; the Twilight series has taken a lot of flak from people who have a die-hard hatred for the series and it will be difficult to win them over after three previous films. At the same time, there is a large fan base to satisfy. It was rumored that Slade had run into trouble with the producers of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and was replaced by Catherine Hardwicke for re-shoots. Of course Condon is a respected director and Summit would not have recruited him if he was just going to be a gun-for-hire.
While Twilight has its critics, surely it’s a good thing that girls have a film series to themselves, in a sense. Their interests have often been ignored or railroaded into specific genres like rom-coms. And dare I say that the second trailer for "Eclipse" makes the film actually interesting.
