What can Chris Weitz bring into Twilight?

When director Chris Weitz was hired last year, he faced the monumental task of not only bringing the next Twilight film to life but also matching the success of the first film. Not only that, his arrival to the franchise was not greeted enthusiastically by fans. But with the film, New Moon, less than a month away before its release, will he deliver the goods to the fans?

The Movie Fanatic has dissected director Chris Weitz recent interviews to see if he can please the fans this coming November. Here is an excerpt of their article:

tMF’s take: Can Weitz make a difference and give the fans what they really want? I think I can answer this question by relating my experience in watching the first movie.

The problem with Catherine Hardiwcke is that she actually failed to meet the expectations of fans, because:

1. She apparently has a different vision of Twilight, one that is not ‘harmonious’ enough to most of the fans’ vision of the story and the characters. More importantly, she did not read correctly what Meyer wants her audience to feel and experience.
2. She made some of the scenes appear comedic and hilarious when in fact, it should have been serious. Blake Griffin, one of tMF’s film critics, has this to say about Hardwicke’s Twilight:

I laughed out loud multiple times during the movie. So did the nearly packed theater, full of dreamy-eyed, giggly girls. I’m concerned it wasn’t supposed to be as funny as it was. Director Catherine Hardwicke has proven to be an uneven director, with her previous films including Lords of Dogtown, and Thirteen. As with both of those movies, there are some interesting moments, and a whole lot of uninteresting, self-indulgent ones. With Twilight, there was more of the latter. And it made for one lame-ass movie. Unless you’re a die hard fan of the novels (and let me be clear, I’m passing no judgement on the books since I haven’t read them), you’ll be sorely disappointed by this dull story that will make you cry of boredom and tremble with disdain before its two whole hours are up. [ read more ]

Precisely my point.

Now listen to what Weitz has to say about directing New Moon:

In response to a question about his approach in directing a movie that almost everyone already know the ending, he said: I regard myself as fan as much as any other, and the way that I see the book in my head is just like any other fan’s ability, except that I happen to have tens of millions of dollars at my disposal to realize that vision. One hopes that it’s a strong enough envisioning of the book that people will be amused and entertained and excited even though they know how things are going to end.”

A fan responded with this remarks:

Chris is absolutely right. It doesn’t matter that we know the beginning and ending, we love the books so much that we want to see them in film. And so far Twilight has not disappointed me. You know how it is when you read a book then you go watch the movie and think Gosh I shouldn’t have watched that because the book was so much better. Well in this case with the Twilight movies I’m glad I read the books and watched and will watch the movies. No disappointment here.

Of course, we’ll get the exact answer to this question on November 20th. For now, that’s how tMF sees it.

To read their complete article, click on the link above.

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