Chris Weitz: His New Moon fears and triumphs

Entertainment Weekly has a new interview with New Moon director Chris Weitz were he discuss his New Moon fears, triumphs and what he will remember from the cast. Here is an excerpt:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was your biggest fear going into [opening] weekend?
CHRIS WEITZ: I didn’t have any particular fears. The tracking numbers were enough to indicate that I wouldn’t be letting the studio down. But if one could imagine their biggest fears, it would be complete rejection of the movie, by the fans. What I’ve realized over the last week is I won’t necessarily get good reviews for this movie. Having swallowed that, this was made for the fans, and if you don’t get it, then you don’t get it.

Did the negative reviews surprise you?
Nothing surprises me in terms of reviews. Having been a reviewer myself, there are only two ways to spin this story. You can either be the one guy who says this is a great movie, or more likely, take a more jaundiced view of the whole thing. And given the media blitz that has accompanied New Moon, it’s rather unsurprising. I do wish there was more appreciation for cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe. I think he’s a genius and I think he made something beautiful.

A lot of fans say they like the movie more than the book, that New Moon was their least favorite book in the series.
New Moon takes a lot of time to read and you have a lot of time without Edward in the picture. And here in the compressed scenario of the movie, there is less time without RPatz. And the fact that Taylor [Lautner] does such a great job, to the reading audience who’s been very skeptical of him, here he is in the flesh, and it’s quite something.

Were there moments that you felt constrained by the book? Anything you wanted to take out but couldn’t?
The studio, my editor, and I were all working off the same piece of music. The only way I can make that interesting is to compare it to my previous experience of The Golden Compass. I don’ think the studio had read the book. Maybe they had heard the audio book while sipping Zinfandel. Eventually, they were appalled and frightened by it. At a certain point they considered cutting loose the author. They considered and executed the complete regearing and destruction of what I thought was going to be a pretty good movie. It was a shame and pursued me through what should have been my sleep for a good year.

To read the rest of his interview, click on the link above.

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