Corona | Coming Attractions

Via Summit Entertainment, newly minted Breaking Dawn director Bill Condon has released a statement to fans of the Twilight movie and book series:

"Greetings Twihards, Twifans, Twilight Moms, Team Edward, Team Jacob and Team Switzerland,

"I just want to say hello to all of you and let you know that I'm stoked to be getting underway on the adventure of making Breaking Dawn. As you've probably heard, I've been given a very warm welcome by Stephenie and Team Summit - who are super-focused, as you know, on getting these movies right.

"I'm pretty busy bringing myself up to speed on what you already know by heart: I've read Breaking Dawn twice, rewatched Catherine's and Chris's movies 2-3 times each, have all four CDs playing in my car, and have Catherine's notebook, Mark Cotta Vaz's companion books, and even Volume 1 of the graphic novel here on my desk - a corner of my office is starting to look like Hot Topic. I realize that this barely qualifies me for 'newborn' status in the universe you've been living inside for a few years now, but a guy's gotta start somewhere.

"Like many of you, I've always been slightly obsessed with vampires, dating back to the prime-time series Dark Shadows, which I followed avidly as a kid. But that alone hadn't been enough to get me interested in making a vampire movie, even though my early screenwriting and directing efforts grew out of a great love for horror movies and thrillers. Since making Gods and Monsters thirteen years ago, however, I've been yearning for a return to a story with Gothic overtones.

"The wonderful world that Stephenie has created has obviously struck a chord with you, and I don't think it's difficult to see why. For me, her characters are simultaneously timeless, yet very modern. Rooted in a beautiful, real landscape with a great sense of place, Bella, Edward, Jacob, and the rest of the Forks/La Push menagerie, experience emotions that are primal, and universal: desire, despair, jealousy - and it all comes to fruition in Breaking Dawn. This is a final chapter in the best sense; not just wide in scope and scale, but emotionally charged and intense throughout.

"I'm a huge admirer of the already-iconic Kristen, Robert, and Taylor, and wanted to be the one to work with them as they face the challenges of bringing your beloved characters to the end of their journeys. Really, what could be more fun than that?"

Director Bill Condon has been selected as the director of Breaking Dawn, the fourth Twilight movie. Condon won the Oscar for writing the screenplay for 1999's Gods and Monsters. In 2003 he was also nominated for the screenplay for Chicago.

"Bringing Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn to the screen requires a graceful and intelligent hand and we believe Bill Condon is exactly the right steward, having shown equal and abundant talents of immense creativity and subtle sensitivity," said Erik Feig the president of production and acquisitions for Summit Entertainment.

"I'm very excited to get the chance to bring the climax of this saga to life on-screen," said Bill Condon. "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."

Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, "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."

Summit didn't address any of the rumors that Breaking Dawn could be filmed as two films. At the moment it's only being addressed as a single movie.

Sources tell Entertainment Weekly that Summit has approached at least three directors to gauge their interest in directing Breaking Dawn. The trio of filmmakers are Gus van Sant (Milk), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) and Bill Condon (Dreamgirls). Van Sant's camp confirmed that they've received communication from the movie studio while the other two didn't confirm or deny the rumor.

What's revealing in EW's scoop is the different calibre of director that Summit is thinking of to make Breaking Dawn for them. All three candidates are known for their dramatic projects, some of which have earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture. It's a different pedigre of filmmaker than Eclipse's David Slade, known for his vampire horror movie 30 Days of Night, or New Moon's Chris Weitz and The Golden Compass.

Melissa Rosenberg is writing the screenplay for Breaking Dawn right now, all three main stars are signed and the producers are still on the fence as to whether to split the story up into two movies. That's what Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey said about the current development status of Breaking Dawn, the final Twilight novel to be adapted into a film.

"The issue [of whether there will be one or two movies] is not going to be resolved until we get the full treatment and see whether it's organic," Godfrey told The Los Angeles Times. "If it's not organic, I don't think it will be done, and if it is, it will be. It really has to do with how much level of detail from the books there is, with all of these new vampires that appear in 'Breaking Dawn,' the whole section about Jacob... It's a very long single movie if it does become a single movie."

On whether the creators have narrowed down their list of directoral candidates: "We're just focused on the treatment and getting that right. At that point, we're going to see who's available and who's appropriate. It's such a complicated book because you have the emotions and the intensity of the love story -- so you need somebody who's just a wonderful director of actors -- and yet it's really complicated from an action and visual effects standpoint. They've got to have both tools in their kit."

And on the complicated matter of bringing to life Renesmee, the daughter of Bella and Edward: "I keep having visions of [The Curious Case of] Benjamin Button in my head ... It's certainly going to be visual effects in some capacity along with an actor. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being a full CG creation, but it also may be a human shot on a soundstage that then is used to shrink down. I don't know. We need a director. When we get a director, that director will need to come with a point of view of how they want to tackle it."

Variety casts a net of speculation as to whether Summit Entertainment will or won't split apart Stephenie Meyer's final Twilight novel, Breaking Dawn, into two separate films. With New Moon making new records at the box office it's should come as no surprise that Summit is thinking of more ways to stretch out their moneymaker into a quintet of movies. So far screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg hasn't been given the all-clear yet from the studio to adapt Breaking Dawn into two screenplays; there's still deals that have to be hammered out with Meyer and the film's trio of stars, all of which will cost Summit a lot of money (perhaps even as much as eight figures each for Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner.)

Rumor has it that the studio also wants New Moon director Chris Weitz to return and direct the final two films.

At last weekend's Twilight panel at Comic-Con, a question was asked to Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart as to what part of filming the fourth Twilight movie they were most looking forward to. Stewart gave a cryptic reply about "actually being pregnant," while Pattinson remarked, "The cesarean section."

In what amounts to the first official mention of the project's existence, Twilight cast member Robert Pattison confirmed that Summit Entertainment has plans afoot to make a movie out of Breaking Dawn, the fourth novel in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Pattinson made the statement while attending the Cannes Film Festival and also mentioned that his deal has already gone through to star in the movie. However, he didn't know when Summit might put the Breaking Dawn film into production. [Full story]