Catherine Hardwickebecame the director tasked with bringing the first chapter in theTwilightsaga on the big screen, but the director did not continue participating in the franchise for the sequels. Speaking about the continuation of the vampire love story, Hardwicke has revealed that there was one aspect about the sequels that really disappointed her.
In 2008, the books written by Stephenie Meyer were the most popular literary series in the world, and their popularity only grew whenKristen Stewart and Robert Pattinsonstarred in the movie adaptation of the first novel. However, unlike other sagas such asHarry PotterorThe Hunger Games, which had repeated directors on several occasions,Twilighthad a different one for each book adaptation. And, for Hardwicke, this became her issue with the sequels, not necessarily because they were all different names, but the fact that no other women stepped into the role she left behind.
During a Q&A session at the 15th anniversary screening ofTwilight, the director revealed that she refused to direct the rest of the movies, but she would have liked the next directors to be women (viaComicBook):
“All the aesthetics and everything is so important to me, that’s just the way I live and breathe. And the acting, I took years of acting classes before directing my first feature just so I could see ‘how does it feel, that kind of pressure.’ But I think that I really loved the first book the best, to be honest. It was just fresh, it was original. I never read anything like that. Always I’d read about vampires in dark alleys in London and Paris, and this one, they’re in the trees, around in the daytime. They’re in high school. I’m like, ‘That’s insane.’ I loved it. And so, the rest of the books, I didn’t just fall quite as much deeply in love with them as I did the first one. So, I was kind of happy to do the first, I wanted to do the first one, my contract said that I could do the other ones, but I didn’t want to, but I did want other women to direct the other ones. All four movies after me were directed by men and both Divergents and all the Hunger Games. So even though we kind of paved the way, none of the other ones were directed by women. And, of course, Patty Jenkins, of course, Greta Gerwig. A lot of bad ass people came down the doors.”
‘Twilight’ Director Catherine Hardwicke Was Paid Only $3 For Her Directorial Debut
Director Catherine Hardwicke revealed that before her multi-million ‘Twilight’ film adaptation, she was only paid $3 for her work.
It Would Have Made Sense for Sagas Like Twilight to Have Female Directors.
The secondTwilightfilm,New Moon, was directed by Chris Weitz, whileEclipsewas helmed by David Slade, and Bill Condon directedBreaking Dawn, which was divided into two parts. As forThe Hunger Games, the first movie was helmed by Gary Ross, and Francis Lawrence took over from the sequel onwards, even directing the recently released prequel,The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. For their part, theDivergentfilms were directed by Neil Burger, and Robert Schwentke.
What all these sagas have in common is that they have female characters as the main stars of their stories, and that is surely why Hardwicke considers that female directors would have been the right choice to helm all of them. Lionsgate recently announced that aTwilight TV showis currently in development, so the studio will certainly have the chance to fulfill Hardwicke’s wish with the new iteration.
