Confirmed: Bill Condon to Direct Breaking Dawn

Bill-CondonsoloHit fix has part of the press release. We will run full copy as soon as we have it.

““I’m very excited to get the chance to bring the climax of this saga to life on-screen. As fans of the series know, this is a one-of-a-kind book – and we’re hoping to create an equally unique cinematic experience,” said Bill Condon.

The fourth book in Stephenie Meyer’s popular series chronicles Bella’s most advanced initiation into the vampire world to date, but is also seen by many as the most difficult to adapt of all the best-selling novels.   Melissa Rosenberg, who adapted the first two novels, would continue in that role for “Dawn.”  Stephenie Meyer has already met with Condon to discuss the project.  She noted in the release, “I’m so thrilled that Bill wants to work with us. I think he’s going to be a great fit, and I’m excited to see what he does with the material.”

See more on Hit Fix

FearNet: Why Bill Condon Could Be Good For Breaking Dawn

Bill-CondonsoloJen Yamato from FearNet analyzes why Bill Condon could be the best thing for the Twilight franchise.

“Though it’s not yet official, this week’s news that Dreamgirls director Bill Condon has pulled into the lead to direct the remaining two films in the Twilight franchise has given us plenty of food for thought. What makes the Oscar-winning razzle-dazzle specialist a shoe-in to direct Breaking Dawn over other rumored contenders Sofia Coppola and Gus Van Sant?

Oscar Cred

Catherine Hardwicke had indie film respect (Twilight), Chris Weitz had slick CG epic filmmaking under his belt (New Moon), and David Slade seemed like a perfect genre director to bring the franchise into horror-thriller territory (Eclipse). But while each of the previous Twilight Saga directors has been well-suited to their respective adaptations in different ways, Condon brings with him a very important element that could help the franchise go out with a bang: his shiny Academy Award statuette, won in 1999 for writing the horror-related flick Gods and Monsters.

Condon notched another Oscar nomination for scripting 2002’s Chicago, the film musical that effectively relaunched the musical genre in modern-day Hollywood. And even when he didn’t directly receive Oscar nods or wins, his films have (Dreamgirls earned eight nominations and won two Academy Awards; Kinsey earned one nomination; and Gods and Monsters earned actors Ian McKellen and Lynn Redgrave their own respective nods). He also co-produced the 2009 Academy Awards telecast — which, if we all recall, wasn’t that well-received, but hey — it’s the Oscars!”

See the  rest on FearNet

Bill Condon: Front Runner to Direct Breaking Dawn?

Bill-CondonsoloAccording to Mike Flemming at Deadline Hollywood:

EXCLUSIVE: Bill Condon has emerged as the number one choice to direct the final two installments of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, I’m told. Summit Entertainment hasn’t signed him, but I’m told that after several strong meetings, they are negotiating. Condon was among a list of A-list directors approved by Summit and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer.”

Mike is a colleague of  Nikki Finke, who was the person who previously broke the story that Sofia Coppola and Gus Van Sant along with Condon were in the running. Nikki tends to get things right, but she isn’t fool proof. Notably she got the Eclipse director wrong initially stating that Juan Antonio Bayora would get the gig.

Read the whole account on Deadline Hollywood.

The Hunt for Breaking Dawn Directors Begins

triodirect

In our opinion, which is based on past experience and conjecture not insider info, Summit will tell us details about Breaking Dawn after the Eclipse major marketing wave is over.  That’s not to say that Melissa Rosenberg isn’t working on script options, meaning making it one movie or two movies, that they aren’t figuring if they will use Portland or Vancouver, or when they’ll be shooting. It just means that like most companies, they like to focus their marketing and newscycle on one major product at a time. Pun intended, they don’t want the Eclipse movie to be eclipsed by Breaking Dawn news.

So where is all this going? Well, to prove that work does continue behind the scenes, here is some information vie Entertainemnt Weekly

“Sources tell EW that the studio has reached out to at least three top-notch directors, including Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation), Gus Van Sant (Milk), and Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) to gauge their interest in what is likely to be two movies. (Van Sant’s reps confirmed that he’s been approached, but Coppola and Condon’s people didn’t return phone calls by press time. Summit declined to comment.)”

See more at EW.