Twilight News: Weitz to Direct New Moon

Chris Weitz, giving the international “I am a film director” sign.

As we discussed the other day, Catherine Hardwicke, who directed Twilight, will not be involved in the hit film’s sequel, New Moon. But Summit Entertainment, the studio clever enough to pick up the rights to the teen vampire book series, didn’t wait around to fill her shoes–Variety reports that Chris Weitz will direct New Moon.

Chris Weitz and his brother Paul made a name for themselves with the American Pie franchise, and since have been involved as producers, directors, or writers on a number of films. Paul has done more directing than Chris, probably because the latter spent a few years working on the The Golden Compass, the adaptation of the Philip Pullman novel that was more successful internationally than in the US (as were Pullman’s books). The big pricetag on the heavy effects movie and uneven overall box office performance has cast some doubts about whether the rest of the books will be filmed (not to mention whether Weitz would be asked back). Before that, though, he received good notices for directing About a Boy. So he has experience both with effects and action (well, now he does) as well as smaller, character driven stories. Chris Weitz also had a leading role in the tiny Mike White indie film Chuck and Buck, a movie which can best be described as strange, scary, and strangely scary yet compelling.

(And for you Old Hollywood buffs–yes, that would be me–the Weitz brothers’ mother is the beautiful Susan Kohner, who starred in the fantastic 1959 Douglas Sirk film Imitation of Life. She stole the movie and nabbed an Oscar nomination for it, but unfortunately retired from acting only a few years later.)

Filming is expected to begin as soon as possible for New Moon, with the hope that it will be ready for a late 2009/early 2010 release.