This has not been a good weekend for female filmmakers, which is a shame because there actually seemed to be some progress in Hollywood for a few minutes there. Last month, Catherine Hardwicke's Twilight became the top opening movie by a woman director, and there were hopes for Lexi Alexander's Punisher: War Zone opening this past weekend. Just as the latter bombed, Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily has broken the story that Catherine Hardwicke has been removed from the previously announced sequel New Moon, which many assumed Hardwicke would helm.

From Nikki's post:

I've confirmed that Summit Entertainment is taking Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke off the sequel in this big new franchise. No doubt my posting this will speed up the studio's announcement, and Summit will surely try to spin this as all going down amicably.... The word from inside Summit is that Hardwicke, the acclaimed Thirteen director, "was 'difficult' and 'irrational' during the making of Twilight," one insider explains to me. "That doesn't mean anything when you're talking about a filmmaker because they all are, but still...

From another of my sources, "Summit didn't like her. They're saying the DP [director of photography] Elliot Davis is the one responsible for the film's sumptuous visual look, that the editor Nancy Richardson had to save the film in post-production, and Summit thought Hardwicke's [CAA] agent Beth Swofford was alternately ineffectual and hysterical [when it came to controlling her client]."

In fact, I'm told that the studio has even had quiet talks with other CAA directors for the last week. "And Swofford never told Hardwicke about that and that she was about to get kicked to the gutter," an insider tells me. "To add insult to injury, Hardwicke can now look forward to being grilled by the press for days on end, in front of the cast, about why she's getting ****-canned."


Comingsoon.net

LMFAO @ not liking her, after being the most successful female director to date!

She need time, while Summit is hungry for them $$$!

A movie will not be awesome is its rushed!