Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Who Should Direct 'Breaking Dawn'?

It's one of many questions that has come up whenever someone talks about Breaking Dawn. And a few of the Twilight Saga stars have already cast their pick of who they think is the best fit - Robert Pattinson votes for Gus Van Sant while Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning think Sofia Coppola fits the bill. It's been said that these two Oscar-nominated directors have been approached to direct the final installment of the Saga as well as Bill Condon.

MTV breaks down the pros and cons of each of these directors - which one would you choose? Do you have other suggestions for a director?

Sofia Coppola
Pros: The director of "Lost in Translation" and "Marie Antoinette" has made a career out of exploring human alienation and the difficulty of one person meaningfully connecting with another — and the emotional beauty that occurs when such a connection is actually made. Looked at in a certain light, "Breaking Dawn" is all about alienation and connection: Bella's guilty feelings about how deeply Jacob loves her; Edward struggling to reconcile his love for Bella with what will keep her safe; Jacob's rage over his unrequited love and his eventual bond with Edward and Bella's child. It would be interesting to see Coppola weave a profound film out of these characters' twisty emotional allegiances.

Cons: We're not at all sure that profundity is what Summit Entertainment or "Twilight" fans want. We're doubly uncertain about how Coppola would handle the story's many action sequences. What's more, Coppola is also a writer and has scripted all of her feature films, including an adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides' "The Virgin Suicides" and the upcoming Hollywood drama "Somewhere." Now that she's established her filmmaking cred and has three Oscar noms to her name, we doubt she'd give up such creative control and work with Stephenie Meyer's source material and Melissa Rosenberg's screenplay.

Gus Van Sant

Pros: The "Twilight" books are steeped in the misty, wooded environment of the Pacific Northwest. With films like 1989's "Drugstore Cowboy" to 2005's "Last Days," Van Sant has made the Northwest almost into a character — it's ambient noises as important as any line of dialogue. In terms of tracking the story's ever-changing dynamics between groups, family members and friends in "Breaking Dawn" and exploring its often transgressive teen sexuality, we think Van Sant would do a stellar job.

Cons: As is the case with Coppola, we can't exactly envision Van Sant — a two-time Oscar-nominee with highbrow tastes — taking on such a mainstream work of literature. For a guy who's been around as long as he has, a hefty paycheck hardly seems enough to convince Van Sant to veer off course and head to Forks, Washington.

Bill Condon
Pros: "Breaking Dawn" features a slew of horror-like elements — including a bloody, supernatural birth scene — and Condon has explored that genre before with "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh." He has also dabbled in supernatural subject matter with "Gods and Monsters," a film about the real-life director of "Frankenstein." And then there's "Dreamgirls" — proof he can take established source material and churn out a visually stunning box-office success.

Cons: Will he be free? He's set to begin filming his Marlon Wayans-starring biopic about Richard Pryor in the fall. There's no word about when "Breaking Dawn" might begin filming, but will Condon be available?



{via MTV}

5 comments:

  1. I don't know who should direct BD but I think Catherine did a great job keeping Twilight very romantic and tramatic at the same time but let's hope they start filming it soon; I'm sure that it will take time to make this one not just a couple months..

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  2. I think if I had to pick out of these three directors to film breaking dawn I would say bring on Bill Condon. I mean the others are good and all but this is a major major film and so the most perfect director needs to be picked for it. The best thing to happen would be one of the original directors of the twilight sagas. Its the last installment so I really hope they get it right.
    p.s I hope they make it into two films, it would be truly amazing!

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  3. I think out of these choices Bill Condon would be the best. If anybody could direct it I would choose David Slade. I think he is/was doing a fantastic job in Eclipse.

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  4. I have already put my vote in for gus van sant. Obviously hopeing for an oscar performance, since he has two oscar movies under his belt(good will hunting & milk) But I also feel very strongly that only a woman can tell the story of Sheer happiness with the honey moon, Panic of young pregnancy,the joy of a baby's birth, and the sadness in the end. The Coppola's are a famous directing and acting family - I loved suicide diary's. Its hard to say. I think Twi-hards deserve an oscar so we can put it in the face of all the twilight haters:)

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  5. I think Catherine Hardwicke should be brought back.
    She did very well at translating the romance between Edward and Bella.

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