Yesterday reports surfaced that Catherine Hardwicke will no longer be directing the Summit film If I Stay. Not surprisingly, the film will be directed by a guy, Brazilian Heitor Dhalia. And while I wish no disrespect to Mr. Dahlia…but, who the fuck is he? Never heard his name before. Ever. He does have several has films under his belt most recently the film Adrift which starred Camilla Belle.
Talk about lowering the bar.
Summit goes from the woman who has scored the biggest opening weekend for a female director with Twilight to a guy who is a no name?
How the hell does that even happen?
The film seems exactly within Hardwicke’s wheelhouse, the budget is under $40 million which is what she had to work with on Twilight.
Here’s the description of the film from EW:
[The film] centers on 17-year old musician Mia who, after a violent car accident, finds herself watching her damaged body taken from the wreck. She must decide whether or not she has the will to live.
Variety said that Hardwicke dropped out to do Red Riding Hood for Warner Brothers. That makes no sense since Red Riding Hood is in post production and has a release date of March 11, 2011, and If I Stay is still in pre-production and is still negotiating with Dakota Fanning to take the lead. Directors usually have a variety of projects in different stages of pre-production and Red Riding Hood got to production first.
This is important because the film was going to reunite Hardwicke and Summit who unceremoniously fired her after she created the Twilight franchise. And one more thing, the film will be produced by Denise DiNovi.
This smells bad.
Summit asks Dakota Fanning to ‘Stay’ (Variety)
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what the hell is going on? A woman director got dropped from a Pixar film and now this? WTF
I don’t know what happened in this particular situation. I do know when I worked at company that produced films that it was not unusual for directors to fight with executives. One executive joked that he didn’t negotiate with terrorists. But I’ve seen pattern that when a female director fights for her vision or argues over money, she is labeled “hysterical” or difficult. This happened to both Julie Taymor and Catherine Hardwicke. All artists are a little crazy, and female artists should be allowed to be at least half as crazy as the guys and not be called hysterical.
Yes I a woman gets angry or argues this is hard for some executives to take. I was reported to the Canadian DGA for cursing under my breath. (F…)
As an AD, a PM and a Producer, I’ve noticed that male directors are better at being demanding. They get what they want when they throw tantrums and become petulant. When women directors do that, they are shut up or fired.
Of course, I’ve only worked with 4 female directors. I’ve worked with dozens of male directors.
no surprise there.she directed an overly cliche story that was a HORRIBLE first movie and the only reason anyone liked it was because they either a)liked the books b)thought taylor lautner or robert pattinson were hot or c) became vampire obsessed.
not trying to be rude but gayle forman created a literary masterpiece and if it were obliterated by hardwicke i would cry. it’s already bad enough summit entertainment compared “if i stay” as a love story and paranormal like twilight. if i stay is about a girl overcoming the choice to stay or die and join her family while remembering important memories to herself and her love for her family.
as a last statement i might be naive but i’m pretty sure this sight seems like a women empowerment sight,so i ask this;since when is empowering women bashing on men?
Really glad to hear this brazilian film director is taking… he is good, and I would die if a great story as If I Stay was going to be like a twilight movie, no ofense I’m not vampire obsessed but I watched the movies and read the books and Twilight is not a great movie.
If I Stay is so emotional. I hope a great movie from this book.
Really glad to hear this Brazilian film director is taking… he is good, and I would die if a great story as If I Stay was going to be like a twilight movie, no offense I’m not vampire obsessed but I watched the movies and read the books and Twilight is not a great movie.
If I Stay is so emotional. I hope a great movie from this book.
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