In a new interview, Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke says that she walked away from “more money than I [Hardwicke] or anyone in my family has ever seen” because she believed she could not remain faithful to the book and to fans under the restrictions that Summit wanted to put her under to direct the upcoming sequel, New Moon.
Turning down money in pursuit of artistic integrity?! In Hollywood?! That’s crazy talk!
Twilight producers wanted to rush the sequel into production – which they are doing, and shooting begins next month. They also wanted to keep the budget at a modest figure.
Hardwicke disagreed with both of those things.
She says, “I was devastated. I really did feel a strong connection to the people around the world that liked the movie ├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ and to Stephenie and the actors. But I just didn’t think I could make a good movie under those circumstances.”
New Moon was passed on to director Chris Weitz, and the film is in pre-production right now.
With Twilight proven to be such a mega-hit with the highest opening ever for a female director at $70 million, Summit might be shooting themselves in the foot.
Because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
[Image via WENN.]