Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke with her young stars, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, at the film’s French premiere. Hardwicke was instrumental in casting the stars, but now she’s out. Photo credit: WENN.
If you have a girl aged 12-16 in your household then you know all too much about the book series and movie “Twilight.” For those of you who are blissfully unaware of the phenomenon, it’s a series of books, and now a hit movie about a vampire in love with a teenage girl. Sort of like “Dawson’s Creek” meets “Underworld.” The first movie in the soon-to-be franchise may not have won raves from the critics, but fans sure do love it – the film has performed well at the box office, including a blockbuster $70 Million opening weekend. But that didn’t stop producers from ousting the movie’s director, Catherine Hardwicke (who also directed the teen drama “13” starring Evan Rachel Wood), for being “difficult to work with.” Pundits in the film industry are saying that Hardwicke’s firing reeks of sexism- that male directors are notoriously difficult when it comes to script quality, etc. but get more leeway because of their gender.
The press release was sent out yesterday afternoon. Catherine Hardwicke, will not be directing the sequel to Twilight which Summit wants to have in the theatres by the end of next year or at the latest in early 2010. The release said that Hardwicke passed on the project due to “timing issues” because she wanted more prep time to work on the script which scribe Melissa Rosenberg turned in on opening weekend. Summit wants to film sooner rather than later.
Nikki Finke is reporting that Hardwicke was actually fired because she was “difficult” and “irrational.” Geez, they just should have called her a bitch and been done with it.
Who knows what the real story is, probably somewhere in the middle, but this rubs me the wrong way. First, the film is opening all over the world and Hardwicke is currently in Europe promoting the film. Awkward.
Second, I can’t help but think that a guy director who has brought in over $140 million on a budget of under $40 million would be treated differently. Hardwicke did everything she was supposed to do, that every director dreams of doing, directing a big box office success. (The film will probably turn out to be in the top 10 domestic grossers of the year.)
Everyone keeps saying the power job is the director and that having more women directors show box office prowess will open up the directing ranks. Guess not. Just goes to show that the gender issues are just much deeper than anyone is willing to discuss.
I can’t think of single male director who was fired after bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for a film – even some of the more notoriously difficult ones like Brett Ratner, Michael Bay or Bryan Singer. They can act like complete tyrants and throw tantrums on set and somehow it’s tolerated- even laughed about. When it’s a man, they’re called “passionate” or “committed to his art,” but when it’s a woman, she’s just a bitch. No word yet on who will replace Hardwicke – but I’d be willing to bet it’s someone with a penis.
Catherine Hardwicke is shown at both the French and UK premieres of “Twilight.” Photo credits: WENN.
Twilight wasn’t up my ally, but “13” was amazing and far superior to anything Brett Ratner has ever churned out. What could she have done that would have outweighed the film’s success? Besides being female, of course. 😡
and it probably won’t even be as …”good?” as the first movie….sniff…it’s not just the movie industry – it’s everywhere. Feminism is a joke. Men still rule the world and opportunists laugh at women’s lib because it enabled women to work all day for half of what men earn, then go home and work at the real job – raising kids, cooking, cleaning. We end up with more to do and financial responsibilities to boot. who has won the battle? It still seems like white men have the money, the time and the power.
Oh, it’s Cedric Diggory! (I am apparently still stuck in the other and now old teenage/children phenomenon)
It is very sad that no matter how many fights have been done and “won”, not that much has changed yet. How much more time will it take before women truly are equal to men?
While I may not be a prepubescent teenage girl, I’m quite sure that without the success of the book, there would be no film at all. Hell, she could have made the movie with finger paint and stick figures and still would’ve netted over $100 mil. 😆
Also, “13” was mediocre at best, although I am a Holly Hunter fan.
of course directors (or their ego) are hard to work with. male directors? duh. although it can be argued that because it has been institutionalized that directing is a male’s profession, we would have a bigger pool of difficult male directors. To answer if this is sexist or not is simple, it is the same answer as to, if it were a male director with he same issues, would he still be directing it? YES
If she was unjustly fired, her cast should refuse to participate until she is rehired.
Tina Fey has some awesome things to say about this subject. She was talking about how everyone said her impersonation of Palin was “mean”. No one said that about Chevy Chase, no one says that about Frank TV. But because she’s a woman, its seen as vicious.
It goes back to the idea that women are supposed to be genteel and above such things, which is in turn rooted in the notion that women are delicate creatures who need to be protected and revered. While that sounds nice, it also diminishes our equality by making us different. Not to mention, that by holding women to a higher standard, you’re only setting them up for more discrimination. Women are supposed to be chaste, because they supposed to be “better than that”. They’re supposed to be “ladies”. Its a way of keeping us in our place. If women are supposed to act so great, then when they dont, they can be ripped to shreds. Men are never held to the standard, and are thus immune.
The best way to change it is to simply expect more from them. We’ve all done our changing. We got a new attitude, a great work ethic, and (for some of us) also maintained our desire for a family. We do it “all” and men don’t. If you dont like how men get away with merely having a job and financial responsibilities, then you simply have to demand more from them. They won’t change until we expect them to.
Its just like with appearances. If a guy wouldn’t have sex with someone because they were too fat or not attractive enough, well then, we must follow suit. Or, ask that men place more value on their genitalia and not just stick it in anything that comes along. But since that will never happen, its better to just place that high standard, and not relent until you find the right guy. They will never change until we expect them to.
I’m surprised the studio didn’t go old-school and refer to Hardwicke’s hormones or her inability to do math. 🙄
Other allegedly “difficult” directors who have never been fired: Doug Liman and David O. Russell. But in Russell’s case, George Clooney once put him in a chokehold. Good times.
I don’t care if this makes me sound sentimental:
Ever since I was small, I’ve noticed the male dominance in directing, and it make me uncomfortable. And I felt empowered and inspired by Catherine Hardwicke’s success. And I’m crushed by this news.
Now, there’s always a possibility that these are generated rumours and false quotes of which the people in question aren’t even aware. It could be like the time when everyone was sure Emma Watson was holding out for more money, while in reality she was waiting to see if the shooting schedule would interfere with school. So, I’m crossing my fingers for that.
wow, i hope she sues their asses for billions and billions and billions of dollars… nuff said…
ok, I’ll try to post again and remember what I said last time…
MSAT: thanks for this, you make excellent points.
Bellatrix: (nice name!) yeah, good ‘ol Cedric, still the hottie.
Also, thanks for the above comments, except those by Antony, who obviously has one and can suck it 😆 – there are lots of movies based on “blockbuster” books that didn’t do well in theaters and yes, even in a movie directed by a woman, it takes more than “finger paint and stick figures” to make a blockbuster. 🙄
Roman Polanski was convicted of raping a 13 year old girl and fled the US to avoid prison, but he was still offered movies and not only that, he was awarded oscars for his work. HMMMM, so a man can be a rapist, but this woman who is deemed “difficult”and “irrational” is fired, despite her success. Give me a damn break already!
Women still aren’t paid what men are for the same work and don’t get the same respect for the same work and it’s nauseating. And I don’t want to hear that it’s womens’ fault for not asking for equal treatment, because that’s a bad argument…I’m very tired now and am feeling “hysterical” and “pms-ing” and I need to go and lie on the couch and eat bon bons and talk on the phone and do my nails, ta ta! 8)
This is a circle jerk if you ask me. Working moms beget disenfrachised kids, begets huge consumerism to assuage the kids due to guilt, begets kids with behavorial problems, begets “baby mama” – “baby daddy”, begets huge welfare rolls, begets rise in arrest rates for theft and drug abuse, begets rise in government debt to warehouse offenders(among other issues of course), begets, etc., etc., etc.
I’m sure I’ve missed some steps, it’s simplistic at best and I have things juxtaposed a bit but my intent is the same – Women have been sold this promise that if they are in the work place then they are deemed equal to men and “They can have it all – a healthy happy family and respect by earning a wage outside of the home”.
Actually yahoo was reporting that it was more that she refused to do it because the movie was going to be released sooner than she wanted (Late 2009-early2010) and she “didn’t have time to prepare” or something like that…
Please. Directors have been axed from films all the time for being unworkable.
Maybe she was just difficult, plain and simple.
Congrats on jumping to conclusions, though.
The only reason the movie did as well as it did was because of the book fans. Perhaps with a new director, the acting won’t be so wooden and awkward.
I doubt her being fired had anything to do with her being a woman. I’m betting it had everything to do with her not wanting to rush filming in order to release the sequel next winter. Studios know they need to get the films out with as little downtime as possible in order to make the movie-goers happy. If she isn’t going to play ball, they will find someone else who will. Watch, what comes out will be as awful as “Queen of the Damned” was.
Survey says: Bet she asked for too much money to do the sequel.Puerile adolescent crap anyway. 🙄
well i heard the movie actually sucked. granted, its made a LOT of money, but think about the core audience…teenage girls who are obsessed with the book and think “Edward” is hot. theyd watch it no matter what kind of reviews it got.
im sure there is a legit reason for her firing.
I’ll admit, I’m a Twilight fan, read all the books, and yes I’ve seen the movie. I don’t really know what to think of the firing. I think it reflects poorly on Summit for doing it right in the middle of Hardwicke promoting the movie during a whirlwhind press tour.
And while I enjoyed the movie, I didn’t think it was the best movie ever. There are plenty of things about it that could have been better. I don’t know if another director will harm or help the franchise. However I have to admit in all the interviews I saw of Hardwicke, she clearly showed passion for Twilight and enjoyed working on it.
I am a fan of the books and liked the movie only because of the books at this point
Her directing was atrocious – way too much slow motion and face shots
If I had to say why I thought she was fired I wouldn’t say it was because of her being a woman, but because Summit realized that the second movie wouldn’t get away with such bad directing – The first movie is a success because fans are excited, they won’t be so excited next time around if they make the same mistakes
I hate the movie. I’m a lukewarm fan of the books, but the movie was just rotten! A new director could bring new life, but until they get a new Bella….
I think this got blown out of proportion. The studio wants to get started right now on the next Twilight movie. Catherine said she didn’t want to start right away, she’s got other stuff going on. So what is the studio going to do? Wait around until Catherine is ready or look for someone that is ready right now? Of course they’re going to look for someone that is ready right now and too bad on Catherine. It has nothing to do with her gender or whether she’s difficult to work with. Besides her abilities shine in Twilight, and naturally the studios want to capitalize on the success. I mean look at Harry Potter. Half Blood Prince is ready, but it was pushed back to July 2009. They are no where near ready to film the last movie because of this or that. Fans are getting restless with the Harry Potter dickering around, and jumping on the Twilight bandwagon, so yeah, the studio is maximizing its chances with the Twilight sequels while they can and a director that is ready to jump is the one they want, regardless of gender.
Apparently the new script was shiteous and Catherine asked for time for rewrites. They did not want to dither around and bollocks script be damned, they were ready to keep the money train a rollin’…. So Catherine passed on a quality issue versus a get it out quick issue.
I thought the movie was horrible. I laughed out loud more than a dozen times while watching it, and thought that some of the scenes could be cut and turned into ready-to-air Saturday Night Live skits.
I only went to see it because of the books and Stephenie Meyer’s AMAZING writing. You won’t catch me shelling out $12 to see the sequel next year.
Fool me once… 🙁
There are lots of cases where there is a good book that turns into a shiteous movie, Bonfire of the Vanities anyone?
I have not seen the movie, but I haven’t heard great things about it either. Although, this may have elements of sexism, if she would not meet the schedule they set forth she was going to be out. And so would a male director. However, I don’t think they will recast it since those actors are contactually bound to at least three films if not more.
I think what people are reacting to here is the way this is presented. The details here don’t matter much, it’s that we see so much of this attitude in the work place.
If it was just scheduling issues and rewrites, then that’s one thing. Why say that she is “difficult” and “irrational” ? THAT’s why this seems gender-based.
The point is that if this were a male director, they would have just cited “sceduling issues” and be done. Or at least say, that his “integrity” over a script came before money. They wouldn’t deem him “too difficult” and “irrational.” 🙄
Ron: Bonfire of the Vanities (the book) is a masterpiece, imo, and easily one of my favorite all-time reads. I’ve actually made a conscious decision NOT to see the movie because I’m sure it would only piss me off. Ditto for Beloved.
I may cop a bit of shit for this but men and woman are NOT EQUAL, nor should they be. They shouldn’t be held to the same standards.
Woman should be able to achieve anything they want career wise, and they should have equal pay. And in that aspect it should be equal.
But it really annoys me when people say, if guys can acts like this so can woman, or visa versa. Call me old fashioned but me and woman are fundementally different in thei personalities and how they act to situation. Woman do cry more, and I don’t see that as a sign of weakness at all, I see it as them having different hormone levels. I get annoyed when I hear woman refute this as sexist, or untrue.
Same with guys. Stop feminizing yourselves. Your men, act like men, wearing makeup and things is for woman. I’m not trying to be sexist, but it’s true. The reason men and woman are attracted to each other, is because they are different, and part of that difference is gender roles. I don’t mean woman having to stay at home and cook and clean, that’s an equal partnership. What i mean is though men and woman acting like their gender. I think woman are more smooth and delicate and men more rough. It’s not sexist oppression thinking that, it’s us acting like we should. It’s reflected in our evolution.
I got off track there I just needed to vent.
Having now seen the film, I’d say she was sacked because she sucked as a director – at least on this particular project.
While she did makes some good choices, there were plenty of poor ones, and overall film itself looked cheap and lacked a consistent mood and tone – the audience deserved better.
As much as people think it’s adolescent rubbish there are lots of themes that are universal ones, particularly loneliness, hope, and the ability to change. Methinks they got completely thrown under a bus for the turgid teen romance. And what annoyed me about that was all the humour deployed in the book that made those moments less overwrought and trite were completely absent from the film.
If it had been up to me, with a film that made that much money, I’d have sacked Hardwicke and hired someone else too. She just didn’t seem to get it. That, or she was rushed and undermined by executive meddling (of which I know there was some).
However, if they’re sacking her I say sack the screenwriter too. That script SUCKED. A good screenwriter would have been able to flesh out the characters a bit more, and for a plot so simple I was suprised at what they missed out.
They need someone who can see past the obvious tweendom label that gets thrown at the books and pick out the ideas that can appeal to a mass audience without patronising them or regurgitating stuff that other people did wrong before – case in point, the Bella and Edward romance was so constipated at points it was in danger of veering into Padme and Anakin territory.
I was actually hoping they’d pick someone like Mike Mills (who did great work on Thumbsucker) but the new guy is probably a better choice because he’s done a large visual-heavy fantasy flick with a big-ish budget before.
Note to directors when directing this sort of thing, let your actors improvise a little so that the scenes at least have the energy of the moment.
Eventhough I was one of Twilight’s (the books) biggest detractors at one point, they won me over and I did recognise the themes that seem to appeal to the large audience they have. Writing it off as teen crap misses the point and insults the people who like it or aspects of it.
So yeah, not sorry to see her go. I don’t think it was her best project, and I’m sure she’s a better director than that film made her appear.