When a studio wants to rush films out the door one right after the other, it doesn’t leave a lot of time to prepare. New Moon, the Twilight sequel, opens on November 20 this year, and the third film, Eclipse, is already set for June 30, 2010. EW recently confirmed that Chris Weitz wouldn’t return to direct the third film, citing the tight turnaround as a primary reason.
Now EW says that Drew Barrymore is on the shortlist for consideration as director of Eclipse. Which, at one point, could have seemed like a neat idea. She’s just finished Whip It, her first film as director, and as I’ve said before with respect to this series, it would be cool to see a female director with the reigns.
But Summit is plainly interested in just pushing these movies out the door before interest has a chance to die down. They’re no Harry Potter, that’s for sure, and the window of opportunity is going to slam shut, sooner or later. If that doesn’t happen before the third film is even in the can, count me as surprised.
And if she does get the gig, so what? Great directors can turn around good to great movies in no time at all. Mediocre directors can turn out good and interesting movies in no time when the studio doesn’t really care about more than the poster and marketing. But when a studio wants to control a set of films like Summit does Twilight and there’s no time to work? Eugh. Other directors have been rumored as well, including James Mangold and The Orphanage‘s Juan Antonio Bayona. I’m not sure they’d have any better luck than Barrymore would.