While you’d think that there’d be more equity between male and female directors after more than a century of moviemaking as an industry, the field is still rather male-dominated. Sure, there’s been a push in the right direction, with more female directors behind game-changing movies like Greta Gerwig’s Barbie or Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, but it’s still sort of a phenomenon when it does happen. Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke recalled her experience on the 2008 hit, and why it didn’t give her hope for the future of Hollywood banking on women filmmakers.

Between casting Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in their iconic roles and finding a vision to thoughtfully adapt Stephenie Meyer’s books, director Catherine Hardwicke helped make 2008’s Twilight the box office hit that it became. However, her experience making the movie led her to discover the following about the world of Hollywood:

In an interview with The Guardian, Catherine Hardwicke got honest about what happened when she helmed the first Twilight movie. The film ended up making $407.3 million worldwide for Summit Entertainment after an opening weekend of $69.6 million (against a reported budget of $37 million), per Box Office Mojo. It was among the Top 15 highest-grossing movies of that year.

While she’d heard of male directors with that kind of success being gifted “a car, or a three-picture deal, or [getting] to do basically whatever you want," that’s not what happened next for her. As she continued:

And then just a month after Twilight’s release, Deadline reported Summit Entertainment had fired Hardwicke and was looking for a new director. The report suggested people thought she “was ‘difficult’ and ‘irrational’ during the making of Twilight,” and parted ways because she needed more “prep time to bring her vision of the film” to the big screen.

Ultimately, Summit Entertainment ended up hiring male directors for the rest of the franchise’s run, which Hardwicke has shown some disappointment over. But the director has also shared that she doesn’t regret leaving after Twilight because once the first movie became a franchise, “the expectations went through the roof" and “there [were] a zillion notes and committees and everything.” This was a stark contrast to the first movie where she said they didn’t micromanage her at all. Hardwicke previously shared that she thinks “they would have never hired a female director if they thought it was going to be a blockbuster”.

While Hardwicke had an unfortunate experience with Twilight, helming the film certainly allowed her to put her own stamp on a beloved property, and it’s widely thought of as the best of the Twilight movies thanks to her direction.

The early aughts were full of vampire content, largely inspired by the wild success of the Twilight franchise. That five-film franchise was a bonafide sensation, making household names out of its young cast of actors. It turns out that Robert Pattinson was worried he wouldn’t live up to fans’ expectations of Edward. And the studio wasn’t originally convinced either.

The cast of Twilight were all super popular during its run in theaters, but none as much as the trio of Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, and Robert Pattinson. The latter has one of the most daunting jobs, given how Edwards’ beauty is described in the novels. Original Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where she revealed that Pattinson was actually quite nervous about portraying his signature character. In her words:

There you have it. Despite how Twilight would turn Pattinson into a sex symbol and heartthrob, he wasn’t originally sure he could actually pull off playing Edward Cullen. The books were already hugely popular, and everyone had their own vision of what that vampiric leading man looked like. And as such, Pattinson didn’t want to disappoint the OG fans out there.

But not only would the Batman actor do just that, but Robert Pattinson would end up getting insanely famous from his role in Twilight, as well as his offscreen relationship with Kristen Stewart. Later on her same podcast appearance, Catherine Hardwicke revealed that the studio behind Twilight also wasn’t convinced that he was the right actor. Namely because during auditions he had dark hair and was out of shape. As she put it, 

Of course, anyone who saw Pattinson’s role as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter 4 knew he had the dashing good looks to pull off Edward. But the studio needed to be convinced originally, thanks to the actor’s grooming habits at the time. Clearly that Cullen makeover did wonders for him at the time, and he definitely looked the part.

This BTS Twilight story actually makes it somewhat surprising that Robert Pattinson signed on for The Batman. The Caped Crusader is one of the most popular superheroes of all time, and he had some big shoes to fill. And Pattinson got into killer shape to play Bruce Wayne in the burgeoning franchise.

The Twilight franchise is streaming now with an Amazon Prime subscription. Be sure to check out the 2024 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

Every few years a film franchise is released and becomes a bonafide sensation. Twilight was definitely in that category, with countless fans becoming obsessed with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, and debating whether or they were Team Jacob or Team Edward. The film franchise started with 2008’s Twilight, and the franchise's lone female director recently explained her big disappointment about the sequels. 

The first Twilight movie was helmed by Catherine Hardwicke, whose previous credits include the teen drama Thirteen. But she didn’t return for any of the movie’s secrets, with three other filmmakers coming in for the four movies that followed. Hardwicke recently spoke to ComicBook about the vampiric property, and the one disappointment she felt about the follow-up movies. In her words:

There you have it. It looks like after directing Twilight, Hardwicke was hoping the franchise would hire more female directors to take the mantle. But in the end she was the only female filmmaker behind the camera, as all the sequels would be directed by men. What a bummer.

Hardwicke’s comments to ComicBook comes as the there’s been an ongoing conversation about diversity both in front and behind the camera. Most big budget movies are helmed by men, although not all. There have been a few notable exceptions, some of which she mentions in her comments.

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was a record breaking success earlier this year, and is one of the biggest movies of 2023. Catherine Hardwicke also name-dropped Patty Jenkins, whose original Wonder Woman movie broke new ground thanks to women both in front and behind the camera. But it’s too bad that the Twilight franchise couldn’t hire more female directors after Hardwicke’s original movie kickstarted the whole thing.

Of course, Hardwicke didn’t just call out Twilight for having mostly male directors, as she also references both the Divergent series and the Hunger Games movies. For the latter property, that trend has continued with the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which just opened in theaters. Hopefully systemic change is coming for the industry sooner rather than later. 

As previously mentioned, there’s been a ton of discourse about the role of female directors in Hollywood. Indeed, the Academy Awards have had multiple years where all of the Best Director nominees were male. We’ll just have to see if recent wins like Barbie help to change the way studios find directors for major movie projects.

The original Twilight movie is streaming now on Amazon. Be sure to check out the 2024 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is something many people were waiting anxiously for – or at the very least, I was. Since it was announced, the idea that one of the masters of horror and fantasy was going to create an anthology series featuring a new cast, a new director, and a new story each episode was fascinating. Finally, the series premiered on October 25th, 2022. 

It’s gotten critical praise from everywhere and has a stellar Cabinet of Curiosities cast, but while we could go on for hours about how talented this cast is, let’s give a little light to the directors. What really made the series so great was that it wasn’t afraid to create something completely different from one episode to the next, and that’s partially because every episode was directed by a different director. If you want to know what to watch next if you like the Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities directors, be sure to check out our list down below. 

Jennifer Kent - The Murmuring

Starting off strong, we take a look at Jennifer Kent, who directed “The Murmuring” in Cabinet of Curiosities. Like many of the other directors here, this isn’t Kent’s first time in the directing chair when it comes to horror, as one of her most famous films that you should certainly check out is The Babadook. It’s one of the best horror films of the last decade. 

Kent also released a movie in 2018, titled The Nightingale, and directed the film Monster, so you know that she has had her hands full when it comes to horror and thrillers. Kent also directed an episode of Two Twisted, called “Love Crimes.”

Guillermo Navarro - Lot 36

Guillermo Navarro directed “Lot 36” of Cabinet of Curiosities, but this isn’t his first time in the director’s chair for a television show. He has done work for series such as Hannibal, Preacher, Narcos and even the Marvel Netflix show, Luke Cage. He was even nominated for a Primetime Emmy award for his producing work on the show, Hostile Planet. 

Navarro is someone who is actually very close to Guillermo del Toro, as he also worked on many of the director's films, including doing the cinematography for the dark fantasy film, Pan’s Labyrinth, arguably one of del Toro’s most recognizable films. He also worked on movies like Hellboy, Night at the Museum, Zathura: A Space Adventure, and Pacific Rim. 

Panos Cosmatos - The Viewing

Panos Cosmatos directed the seventh episode of Cabinet of Curiosities, titled “The Viewing.” Cosmotos is mostly known for his two directorial features. The first is Beyond the Black Rainbow, which is a science fiction horror film, and Mandy, an action horror film starring Nicolas Cage. 

David Prior - The Autopsy

Before directing “The Autopsy” for Cabinet of Curiosities, David Prior has worked plenty as a director. He’s probably most known for directing the supernatural horror film, The Empty Man, which follows a cop who is looking for a lost girl, but uncovers a cult in the process. 

Prior also directed, wrote, and produced AM1200, a thriller that happens because of a strange radio call in the middle of the night, and produced the television series, Voir, which documented video essays on cinema. He certainly has a diverse background, that is for sure. 

Keith Thomas - Pickman’s Model

“Pickman’s Model” featured plenty of great stars, including Shadow and Bone cast member, Ben Barnes, creating a powerful and eerie story about how art can change someone, and it was directed by Keith Thomas. 

Thomas has directed a couple of films. Most recently, he directed the 2022 remake of Stephen King’s Firestarter, one of the many adaptations that the famous horror author is known for. One of Thomas’ more known features is The Vigil, a supernatural horror film that follows a young man tasked to keep vigil over someone’s dead body as he is attacked by an evil spirit. 

Catherine Hardwicke - Dreams In The Witch House 

“Dreams in the Witch House,” starring Harry Potter cast member Rupert Grint, was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and she has had plenty of work in Hollywood before directing for Cabinet of Curiosities. While Hardwicke got her directing start working on the film Thirteen, she got even more famous down the line when she directed the first movie in the Twilight franchise. That’s right, she directed the movie that started the big screen Twilight craze. 

Other than that, she’s directed several other movies, including Lords of Dogtown, The Nativity Story, the Amanda Seyfried-starring film, Red Riding Hood, Plus, Miss You Already, The Black Ghiandola, and Miss Bala. As recently as 2022, she worked as an executive producer on the psychological thriller, Don’t Worry Darling. 

Vincenzo Natali - Graveyard Rats

“Graveyard Rats” was hands down one of my favorite episodes of Cabinet of Curiosities, and I have to give a lot of praise to the director, Vincenzo Natali. The director has several films that you should check out, including Cube, Cypher, Nothing, and Haunted.

A movie I love that he did was the Stephen King adaptation, In the Tall Grass, which anyone should check out if they enjoy horror. 

Natali has also directed several episodes of TV shows such as The Stand, American Gods, Westworld and more. Personally, one of my favorites that he’s done is “Gone Sis” in the horror series, Hannibal. He’s certainly a talented director. 

Ana Lily Amirpour - The Outside

Last but not least, we need to take a look at Ana Lily Amirpour, who directed the episode, “The Outside,” a tale about a young woman who just wanted to be beautiful like other girls. Ana Lily Amirpour has directed three films, including A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, The Bad Batch and Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, three films you should definitely check out. 

She also directed several episodes of television, including “Past Perfect” for Castle Rock, and two episodes of the Paramount+ original show, The Twilight Zone, specifically “A Traveler,” starring Steven Yeun, and “Ovation.”

With so many talented directors, it’s no wonder that they’ve done so many amazing projects that you all should check out as soon as possible. I think it’s time for a binging weekend.

Before Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke was known for her work in the indie scene with hits like Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown, and The Nativity Scene. But after that, Hardwicke landed the biggest assignment of her career when she took on the film adaptation of the first book in Stephanie Meyer’s massive best-selling book series, Twilight. And 2009 marked the arrival of the sequel, New Moon, which was without its blue filter and Hardwicke. The Miss Bala director, however, has no regrets about leaving the franchise and has explained why.

While Catherine Hardwicke was originally supposed to stay with the young adult film series, she ultimately stepped away from the project. She told Looper that despite the success The Twilight Saga that the franchise would ultimately find, she made the right decision to only take on the first film due to her connection to the source material:

When the indie filmmaker was handed the script of the first Twilight movie, she thought it was “horrible.” The original script was crazy different from the book series and, in it, Bella would've been a track star and CIA agents on jet skis were the ones tracking the vampires. To avoid having the beloved heroine work for the CIA, the director decided to turn to the books themselves to see what got fans so hooked on reading about teen vampires. Because Catherine Hardwicke understood that fans of the book liked the notion of a character that's hopelessly in love, she told Summit Entertainment that she would take on the project if it meant she could rewrite the script. Luckily, the studio agreed -- and if they didn't, Bella would've used a shotgun on those vampires in the movie. 

Catherine Hardwicke was ultimately the only female director to work on The Twilight Saga, as Chris Weitz, David Slade, and Bill Condon would succeed her. Hardwicke continued to tell Looper that the reason Summit took her on was because she was willing to give the movie an indie feel though, the film's success seemed to spark behind-the-scenes changes that she wouldn't have been comfortable with:

Catherine Hardwicke’s vision for the franchise's first installment reminds me a lot of Thirteen. Though they're quite different, both allow viewers to see teen angst in characters like Edward, who was frustrated about the limitations that come with being a vampire. Those feelings were only amplified after he fell for someone he doesn’t believe he should love. 

Aside from setting the tone aesthetically for the series, the filmmaker is also responsible for putting stars like Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Anna Kendrick on the map. But if the Red Riding Hood director could change anything about Twilight were to be remade today, the filmmaker would've liked to have amped up the finale or even that epic vampire baseball game. However, she’s very proud of being able to have captured the amazing chemistry between Pattinson and Stewart.

So apparently, increased pressure and the tight turnaround to make Twilight the smash hit that Summit wanted it to be was a bit too much for Catherine Hardwicke. But at the very least, it's good to hear that she has no regrets and realized early on that the blockbuster atmosphere wasn't for her. She can say that vision jumpstarted the series on a good note and, for that, fans should be grateful. Be on the lookout for any of Hardwicke's future productions by checking out CinemaBlend's schedule of new movie releases.

It’s no secret Twilight remains a weird, sparkly cult classic that not everyone may understand or enjoy, but when it comes to those who do, they can quote it like the back of their hand. Catherine Hardwicke’s 2008 film was the beginning of a phenomenon started in the YA book world with Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling series. But before Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson became the Bella and Edward of our dreams, Hollywood had a much different idea of how to adapt Twilight. 

On The Big Hit Show podcast, journalist Alex Pappademas took a deep dive into the making of Twilight and, before it became the beloved and loathed hit, Mark Lord took a pass at the screenplay. His description of his film is wild. In Lord’s words: 

If you’re aware of the Twilight saga, you know that Hollywood was straight up missing the point of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire series. As Hollywood does (especially in the early '00s), it was catering to a male audience – because at the time apparently that was seemingly the only gender going to the movies. In that vein, Mark Lord was tasked with adding more action to the story with just a sprinkle of Romeo and Juliet. He continued: 

Can you imagine this version of Twilight? It sounds like Bella: Vampire Hunter more than an adaptation of the teen romance novel that was flying off the bookshelves at the time. Of course they were missing the point. The story is relatable for many young girls because she’s not this strong, impenetrable character. What teen girl is? She’s flawed and weak, but she’s also incredibly clever and in love with a very attractive vampire, who wants to be with her forever. It was the ultimate teen girl fantasy and making it a shoot ‘em up action movie would have seriously undermined its intent.

Thankfully, director Catherine Hardwicke got a hold of the Twilight script. As Hardwicke explained on the podcast, she was approached by a couple of people starting a studio called Summit Entertainment. They passed along five scripts, including Mark Lord’s and she recalled hating them all. However, she did see some potential in the project. 

Hardwicke then went to a bookstore, nabbed a copy of Twilight and loved it. She went back to the Summit executives and shared what happened next: 

Thankfully, Summit listened to Hardwicke, and the rest is history! While Twilight may not be your typical blockbuster or a universally loved film, it remains to be a cultural touchstone moment for so many people. That being said, I’m not opposed to Bella: Vampire Hunter getting off the ground someday… but, you know, to like it ironically. 

Twilight has long been a cult favorite and with that comes many viewings by fans. Sure, we love to quote the various lines from Catherine Hardwicke’s adaptation of the bestselling vampire books, but there’s also a few elements of the movie you’d probably only notice if you’ve seen the movie on repeat. One detail that has puzzled fans for over a decade is Kellan Lutz’s Emmett Cullen carrying around a Ziploc bag of hard-boiled eggs in the cafeteria sequence when Bella learns of the Cullens.

One major theory that is popular among fans is the idea that the vampire thinks that humans who are trying to get fit do spend their time consuming hard-boiled eggs and so he decided to make it an accessory for himself to carry around and appear like one of them. Now, Catherine Hardwicke has finally cleared up why Emmett Cullen randomly carries around those eggs in Twilight:

In other words, Kellan Lutz was totally that guy who was really carrying around hard-boiled eggs due to his work with a trainer to get his Twilight body. The director told Insider that when she noticed the cast member was doing this, she thought it was a “quirky detail” that had to be in the actual film. And thus it was! Back in 2020, Kellan Lutz shared this photo of him and his eggs:

Based on that Instagram caption, Kellan Lutz has clearly been asked about the egg thing for years, but he told Insider that it was a secret he was willing to take to “the grave” if Catherine Hardwicke didn’t decide to settle it once and for all. As it turns out, it was more of a cast inside joke than any particular detail about the vampire. Of course the Cullens don’t eat, so it wasn’t part of his character’s diet. But we can totally see Emmett using it as a prop to look human.

It’s a detail like this that makes one realize how fun it must have been on the set of Twilight. Catherine Hardwicke and the cast were making bold and fascinating choices throughout the shoot and it contributed to the movie being successful and relevant 13 years later. Stephenie Meyer recently continued the story with Midnight Sun, which is Twilight rewritten from Edward’s perspective.

Kellan Lutz welcomed his first daughter with his wife earlier this year and Twilight’s Edward and Bella are gearing up for huge roles, with Robert Pattinson soon starring as The Batman and Kristen Stewart set to play Princess Diana in Spencer.

Over the past year, the 2008 cult classic Twilight has reentered the public headspace. Between Stephanie Meyer returning to the franchise with Midnight Sun, a hilarious deleted scene being passed around and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson now stepping into some new iconic roles. As it turns out, lightning can in fact strike twice for the vampire love story. One scene from the movie has even inspired pop singer Tessa Violet to step into the Cullens’ cleats for a music video.

The first scene we all think about when it comes to Twilight is the stylized sequence that builds up to the climax of the film where Edward Cullen’s vampire family play a game of baseball together to the tune of Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole.” Check out Tessa Violet’s tribute to the famed cinematic moment for “Games”:

She got it down to Alice Cullen’s high kick! CinemaBlend spoke to Tessa Violet about how the “Games” video came together. Here’s how she got the idea:

The singer was in high school when the Twilight books and films were having a moment, becoming major moments in pop culture. It, of course, divided a generation into the camps of Team Edward and Team Jacob. Tessa Violet recalled in our interview taking turns with friends, reading each chapter aloud to each other over a decade before her “Games” video came to life.

A huge element to Twilight’s resurgence over the last year has been TikTok, with fans often looking back at the movie production’s goofy elements such as how the vampires’ ran on set. Tessa Violet reached out to her manager about the idea, and they decided they ‘have to do this.’ Then came recreating the scene itself alongside her song. Tessa Violet continued:

The music video stars Violet with her band and lovelytheband, who she released a new version with last month. The song is originally off her debut 2019 album Bad Ideas. The end of the song features a hilarious cameo with Peter Facinelli, who played Carlisle Cullen in the movies. The singer shared how she recruited the Twilight talent to join her tribute:

Peter Facinelli clearly didn’t get to come to the baseball field with her to shoot the scene, but they poke perfect fun at how blatantly CGI’d in he is with a funny moment where she says she “can’t believe he’s really here in this location” with him.

The fun video that has certainly reached the Twilight fanbase and racked up over one million views already. Tessa Violet has also released merchandise to go along with her Twilight theme, including a “Team Tessa” shirt in the design of the original Hot Topic t-shirt of the time. It just goes to show that we continue to live in a blue-filtered Twilight world, and we’re all thriving in it.

It’s kind of hard to imagine the Twilight franchise without the stars that helped propel it to global fame. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are Edward Cullen and Bella Swan to millions of fans around the world, and picturing anyone else in those roles is difficult. That may present a problem for the makers of Midnight Sun. However, a director has some thoughts about whether or not the original films could be recut to make some movie magic happen.

Catherine Hardwicke directed the first film in the five-part Twilight franchise. After it hit theaters in 2008 and became a worldwide sensation, the movie’s stars became household names. It’s been a while since the film series came to an end, but Twilight has been making headlines again ahead of the release of Stephenie Meyer’s fifth book in the series, Midnight Sun. It’s basically Twilight Redux -- a retelling of the events of the first book from the vampire Edward Cullen’s perspective.

A sixth film based on the new book has already been greenlit, but some fans are scratching their heads trying to figure out how that will work. One idea that’s been floated would be to re-edit the original Twilight footage to make it seem as though Edward is the protagonist. For her part, Catherine Hardwicke told Entertainment Tonight that she could definitely see the value in viewing the story from a different perspective:

The question, really, is whether fans would be up for something like that. Also, whether there’s even enough Cullen-centric footage from the Twilight shoot for it to work. (The answer is probably no, but anything is possible.)

Of course, if they don’t take this approach, it means we’re likely looking at a new era for Twilight -- one that will introduce us to a new version of Edward and Bella. Catherine Hardwicke pointed out that both Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are pretty busy these days. Plus, there’s the fact that both actors have made it pretty clear they’re ready to move on from the franchise.

Though Robert Pattinson has defended Twilight in some respects, recently stating it’s “weirder” than it gets credit for, his irritation with the whole franchise is, to say the least, storied. So even if he wasn’t busy donning a batsuit right now, it seems unlikely he’d be willing to give the role of Edward another go.

In a way, that might be liberating for whoever takes the helm for the Midnight Sun movie. It’s a bit of a clean slate -- a way to revive the franchise with a new perspective. So while we might miss seeing Robert Pattinson sparkling in the sunlight, the possibilities for a new era of Edward Cullen are endless.

Would you want to see a recut version of Twilight? Or are you excited to see an entirely new version in Midnight Sun? Let us know in the comments!

At this point, the Marvel Cinematic Universe mostly seems to run like a well oiled machine. Marvel is on Phase 4 of its big screen galaxy of characters. The studio has a stable of writers, directors and stars who fill out the films, and when somebody new is needed, Marvel seems to have a line of people interested in joining the franchise. However, even a well oiled machine occasionally throws a gear.

Such was the case last week when it was announced that the pesky "creative differences" had reared their ugly head, leading to director Scott Derrickson leaving as director of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The move was especially unexpected considering Derrickson had already made the first Doctor Strange movie with Marvel, and if he was willing to return for the sequel at all, it would seem he had a pretty good time doing it.

This leaves Marvel with the unenviable task of having to find a new director for the project. It'll likely be looking for somebody with experience helming massive tentpole films, but somebody up and coming could get the nod. Here are a few potential candidates Marvel should at least consider for the gig.

Mike Flanagan

There's a feeling among many that part of the reason Scott Derrickson might be out of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness might be that he was looking for the film to be a bit more of a "horror movie" than Marvel was looking to make. It's entirely possible that is, in fact, some or all of the reason. But we don't know that's the reason, and if Marvel is looking to scare us, at least a little, then maybe what we need is one of the most successful horror directors working today.

Doctor Sleep may not have been a blockbuster at the box office, but the film was critically praised, made a number of critics' top 10 lists and even impressed the hell out of Stephen King himself. It followed up on Flanagan's work on Gerlad's Game and The Haunting of Hill House. Flanagan has to be on a lot of studio short lists to take on bigger projects, and this could be the movie to make the leap.

Catherine Hardwicke

It's certainly not news that the superhero directing club is made up of a whole bunch of dudes. While that's slowly getting better, the fact that there's a vacancy inside an established Marvel franchise gives the studio an opportunity to help rectify that oversight. Maybe the best man for the job is a woman?

Catherine Hardwicke was reportedly on the shortlist to direct Wonder Woman a few years ago, and while that didn't pan out, she's certainly kept herself busy. She directed last year's Miss Bala, so action is not a problem, and she's done genre work as well. She directed the first Twilight, and before you make a snide comment, I'll just put out there that the two leads in that franchise are two incredibly talented actors who have gone on to do great things, so Hardwicke has an eye for talent.

John Krasinski

Audiences were awed in 2018 when A Quiet Place hit theaters. The film wasn't just a unique story, but it was told in a way that captivated audiences. The film became one of the biggest non-franchise box office hits in recent memory. The only thing that wow-ed people more than the film was that it was directed by the dude from The Office, John Krasinski.

A Quiet Place was such a big hit that it led to a sequel, but that sequel is almost here. Horror movie directors with indie hits making the leap to massive franchises is basically a trope at this point, but it's the kind that exists for a reason. Whatever it is that is appealing to the big studios about these films and these directors likely means that somebody like John Kransinski has likely already been noticed.

Travis Knight

Jumping into an existing franchise like Doctor Strange, never mind the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, certainly must be a bit scary for any director. So knowing that, maybe the solution is to go with a director who has done that before and succeeded better than anybody likely expected.

Travis Knight parlayed his success directing the stop-motion animated Kubo and the Two Strings into the live action Bumblebee movie. The movie might not have done traditional Transformers-like business, but it got much better reviews than the main franchise, and it led to Knight being given the Uncharted movie. Of course, Knight just left the Uncharted movie, so maybe he has time on his hands.

S.J. Clarkson

Everybody has to get their first shot directing a big budget movie. At the end of the day, somebody has to take the chance that a director with clear skills is the right person for the job. If you can handle directing major television shows, like Game of Thrones or, say, a streaming based Marvel series, maybe you can given the reins of a major motion picture.

It looked like S.J. Clarkson was finally going to make the leap to the big screen with the next Star Trek movie, but that project has apparently gone in a different direction, and without Clarkson in the director's chair. If she was good enough for Star Trek, she can handle Doctor Strange. Let's make this happen.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

Ok, so this one is just a wish list item for me. It has to be the longest of shots, but it's one I would love to see actually happen. Do Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett really only have one major release, last year's Ready or Not, under their belts? Yes. Would the jump from that movie to something like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness be a massive leap they could be incredibly unprepared for? Of course. Do I care? Not even a little.

Ready or Not was a glorious blend of humor and horror and that's probably a mix that Doctor Strange is looking for. The duo has other projects on the horizon, so the biggest hurdle to this might simply be time, but that doesn't mean it's not a brilliant idea.

There are, of course, more great directors out there than this list could mention. Whoever Marvel gets to take over will likely be a solid choice, whether its one of these great options or somebody we haven't put here. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set for a May 7, 2021 release, which means it will likely be going into production soon. So whoever the director is, we'll likely get that announcement before too long.

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Released in 2011, Gerardo Naranjo’s Miss Bala is a solid film with an obvious significant fault: its protagonist is little more than a pawn. A character without any legitimate agency, she basically goes through the entire plot at the instruction of others – albeit because her life is threatened through the majority of the movie. The whole thing still works well enough at the end of the day, buoyed by the strength of tension and action, but it’s also the dictionary definition of a nagging flaw.

Fortunately, one of the best things about remakes is the possibility of fixing those issues with 20/20 hindsight, and Catherine Hardwicke’s Miss Bala operates well in that arena – while still creating a movie that also has its own set of issues. The good news, though, is that much like its predecessor, its positives eventually outweigh the negatives, and make the new movie a passable option for a weekend night out.

Written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, the story centers on Gloria (Gina Rodriguez), a young Mexican-American make-up artist who travels south of the border to try and help her friend, Suzu (Cristina Rodlo), win a local beauty pageant. It’s a fun trip, until a night out at a club sees the experience turn nightmarish when she becomes witness to an assassination attempt. Not only does Gloria lose Suzu in the resulting chaos, but the morning after, she too is kidnapped when she attempts to reach out to the authorities.

The criminals are led by a man named Lino (Ismael Cruz Córdova), and not only does he take Gloria as a hostage, but he puts her to work – getting her to unknowingly position explosives in hits against rivals, and mule cash into America. Though Lino promises her that cooperating is the only way she will see Suzu again, insisting that he’s not the real bad guy in the grand scheme, she tries to form an exit strategy that will not only save her, but the lives of those she cares about.

On top of the fact that the movie is a remake, the story here isn’t exactly the freshest take, as we’ve seen many variations of it over the years, but what particularly sells Miss Bala in this case is Gina Rodriguez – a really fantastic rising star who is starting to solidify her presence in the big screen world. Unlike Stephanie Sigman’s Laura in the original, Gloria doesn’t see complicity as the primary path to survival, and you can always see Gloria’s brain working behind her eyes as she calculates her options and makes crucial decisions. Often it’s a choice between the lesser of two evils (or death), and it’s frequent that the choices have dire and sometimes fatal consequences, but it’s all an affecting ride through which Rodriguez makes a strong emotional surrogate for the audience.

Gina Rodriguez’s presence does a lot to elevate the material, and it does solve the key problem of the original Miss Bala – but at the same time it’s not like the 2011 was a five star feature beyond that issue, and this new one has many of the same drawbacks… and a couple of its own thrown in for good measure. In addition to the larger story not adding much to the catalogue of similar features we’ve seen, the movie finds itself navigating through murky waters with its relationship between Gloria and Lino. Throughout the film, there exists a strange chemistry between the characters that really shouldn’t be there, and while the movie ultimately makes the right calls before the end, it has the effect of muddling things as you’re taking the ride.

Miss Bala is elevated by some tense action scenes, a couple interesting twists, and, most significantly, a great lead turn from Gina Rodriguez – but other than that there isn’t a great deal more to say. With a proper and well-formed vision it could perhaps become the start of a franchise that it clearly wants to kick start, however, this is also a situation where money is going to dictate that future more than tremendous quality. It’s a serviceable thriller, and if it leads to more interesting work for its lead all the better.

One can assume that most movie-goers have all asked themselves the same question while watching an action film: what would I do if I were in that situation? Fantasy obviously doesn’t equate to reality, and most would probably pray to simply never be in that kind of danger, but still the question crops up. For Catherine Hardwicke, director of the new movie Miss Bala, however, this isn’t a hypothetical situation. She actually went through a situation audiences have seen thousands of times on the big screen – and, editorially, her reaction was rather insane. She recently told me,

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Catherine Hardwicke at the Los Angeles press day for Miss Bala, and this shocking story was delivered at the very end of the interview. Our time was running short, and I had already asked what was supposed to be my final question, but I couldn’t help but follow up when the filmmaker told me that she personally had the experience of having a gun put in her face.

The subject came up in a more macro discussion of Hardwicke’s work as a filmmaker – the kind of stories that she is currently interested in telling at this point in her career. She expressed that, rather than having anything to do with genre, what she wants to tell right now are stories that are driven by perspective, high stakes, and real choices. This was something she definitely got in the making of Miss Bala, headlined by Gina Rodriguez as a young woman named Gloria who winds up becoming a pawn in the operations of Mexican cartels and border crime.

According to Catherine Hardwicke, a big part of what helped her make the film as realistic as she could make it was putting herself in the shoes of her main character – and it helped that she had some personal experience in the “perilous moments” department. It was at this point that she first told me about the time that her life was threatened during an attempted carjacking:

The intensity of having a gun pulled on you is intensified by a factor of 100 in Miss Bala – a remake of the 2011 film from director Gerardo Naranjo. Gloria travels from her home in America to visit her friend in Mexico and help her try to win a beauty pageant, but things go horribly wrong when the protagonist is caught up in an assassination attempt while out at a night club. She is told that cooperating with the cartel that takes her captive is the only way to see her friend alive again, so she does what she’s told – all the while trying to figure out her way out of the situation.

In the making of the movie, Catherine Hardwicke says she loved not only watching the story unfold through Gloria’s eyes, but also constantly upping the stakes in the narrative. She explained,

Co-starring Ismael Cruz Córdova, Cristina Rodlo, and Anthony Mackie, Miss Bala is arriving in theaters this Friday, February 1st. To see what else is coming up in February 2019 and beyond, be sure to check out our release date calendar.

While Gerardo Naranjo’s 2011 film Miss Bala is an intense and well-made drama, it also has a significant flaw in its storytelling. Namely, the lead character, Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman), is primarily a passive protagonist – moving through the narrative at the demands of others and not taking an active role in her survival through the danger. This is an element that is changed greatly in director Catherine Hardwicke’s upcoming remake, and I recently learned that was something star Gina Rodriguez was very much focused on in the making of the film. Said the actress,

This was a subject that I specifically brought up in conversation with Gina Rodriguez earlier this month during the Los Angeles press day for Miss Bala. Discussing her character, Gloria, and the dangerous horrific circumstances in which she finds herself in the film, I asked if there was a special point made of having the heroine do more to put her fate in her own hands. It turns out this was something that Rodriguez was very insistent about in the development of the story, and it ultimately had an effect on the way the plot moved.

Based on a script by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, Miss Bala centers on Gloria, a young Mexican-American woman, who travels south of the border in hopes of using her makeup skills to help her best friend, Suzu (Christina Rodlo), win a local beauty pageant. Things go horrifically wrong, however, when a night out clubbing is interrupted by an assassination attempt. At first Gloria is able to get away, though unable to find Suzu, but she is then captured by a local cartel leader named Lino (Ismael Cruz Cordova) and forced to cooperate with him – told that it will eventually lead her to being reunited with Suzu. As she gets roped into missions that are more and more dangerous, she starts to plan a way that she can regain her freedom and save her friend.

Danger is basically around every corner for Gloria in the film, and her motivation to stay alive and help her friend make it so that every choice is an important one. Taking into consideration the aforementioned “If this was a man, what would he do?” question wound up influencing these choices on a micro level, and let Gloria be an overall stronger character. Gina Rodriguez continued, saying,

As noted by the actress, it wasn’t exactly a challenge for Gina Rodriguez to get everybody to see her point of view because she was working with people who had similar thoughts and perspective. This very much included Catherine Hardwicke, who I also had the pleasure of sitting down with during the Miss Bala press day. The director specifically referenced the inaction of Laura in the 2011 movie, and from the very start of her involvement made a point of having her vision for the feature be different in that arena. Said Hardwicke,

The strength of Gloria as a protagonist was clearly something that was very important to Gina Rodriguez, but another aspect of the film that the actress very much appreciated is that it didn’t choose to whitewash the story. The movie being an American remake of a Mexican-made feature, few familiar with Hollywood patterns would have been truly surprised if the ethnicity of the characters and locations of the story had been changed – but that wasn’t this reimagining’s prerogative. Instead, as Rodriguez stressed, it was seen as a proper opportunity to be not just a female-driven action movie, but one with a Latina hero. Said the actress,

You can watch Gina Rodriguez discuss the empowerment of Gloria and her influence on the development of Miss Bala by clicking play on the video below.

Also starring Anthony Mackie, Miss Bala will be hitting theaters everywhere this weekend – going into wide release on Friday, February 1st. Check your local listings and find a proper screening, and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interview with Catherine Hardwicke in the next few days.

Mention the word Twilight, and the image of pale yet glittery vampires with a Pacific Northwest backdrop immediately comes to mind. But if the studio originally got its way, the word "Twilight" might have conjured images of Jet skis, CIA agents and an all-star athlete named Bella. Wait, what? Original Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke recently explained to CinemaBlend:

This sounds something more in line with the Charlie's Angels reboot that Kristen Stewart currently is filming, and not at all in line with Twilight, the story of a shy and reserved teenage girl named Bella who finds her voice in a relationship with a vampire, Edward. And certainly not in line with what Twilight author Stephenie Meyer conceived in her initial book.

Published in 2005, Twilight introduced readers to the star-crossed couple of Bella and Edward, soul mates destined to met even though she was a timid high schooler and he was a 104-year-old vampire. The series, over the years, has sold more than 120 million copies, proving that Meyer's vision for this passionate romance had support.

What would that fan base have thought if the drastic changes made to the Twilight concept had remained in the initial script? Likely, there would have been riots, and instant rejection of the feature-film adaptation. And that would have instantly unplugged a five-movie franchise that eventually totaled a whopping $3.3 billion in global ticket sales.

This can all be traced back to Catherine Hardwicke, who stood firm and fought to return the script for the original Twilight to the roots of Stephenie Meyer's novel. During our exclusive chat, she told CinemaBlend:

That was the right decision. Twilight connected with a massive audience, leading into numerous sequels including Twilight: New Moon and a two part Breaking Dawn. When did Catherine Hardwicke realize that she had touched a nerve? She tells CinemaBlend that it happened on opening weekend, as she recalls the reaction of the audience, and of a famous fan. Said Hardwicke:

And it continues to be a big deal. We spoke with Catherine Hardwicke as Twilight was returning to theaters in celebration of its 10th anniversary. As such, Twilight will play in more than 450 movie theaters nationwide Sunday, October 21, and Tuesday, October 23, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (local time). Want to go, and be reminded -- like Tarantino -- how it feels to be a teenage girl? Tickets for the 10th-anniversary screenings can be purchased online at www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. Bring your own glitter, though.

Having firmly established themselves as actors in both indie features and the studio system, it's sometimes easy to forget that Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were once unknown actors who appeared together in Twilight. The original vampire-based YA adaptation will soon be hitting its tenth anniversary. In the midst of looking on the film that started it all, Catherine Hardwicke, the director behind 2008's film, reflected back on the intense audition process -- particularly the "electricity and chemistry" found between its soon-to-be enormously famous leads. Hardwicke is now admitting she even warned Pattinson off due to the chemistry, noting,

That's certainly an interesting revelation from Catherine Hardwicke. As the filmmaker told People upon reflecting memories on the enormous box office success and cult legacy that ensued with Twilight, Kristen Stewart was the first person to get cast in the adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling book. Robert Pattinson, meanwhile, was the next person cast, and there was an intense romantic spark shared between Stewart and Pattinson -- even from the beginning, it seems. Still, Pattinson was 21 when he auditioned for the first movie, while Stewart was only 17 at that time. Therefore, the director was concerned about the early romantic chemistry that was reportedly bubbling from the early days between these upcoming actors.

Admittedly, though, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were not instantly in love with each other. As Catherine Hardwicke admitted, they were both "pretty shy" at first when it came to their scenes together. It was apparently more than a little "awkward" when they first acted alongside each other.

Of course, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart got friendly with each other as the films progressed. As the characters they played became more romantically involved throughout the series, Stewart and Pattinson also started to become a couple in real life after their work on the first movie. It was a relationship that lasted years, much like the film franchise, but it ended when Stewart was seen romantically linked to Rupert Sanders, the director of Snow White and the Huntsman. The couple reconnected after this public incident, but it wasn't a relationship meant to last. They broke up for good in 2013.

This is not the first time Catherine Hardwicke has reflected back on the legacy of Twilight. She also recently explained why she thought Kristen Stewart was ultimately the "perfect" fit for the lead role of Bella, and how Hardwicke knew she was great for the role from her work on Into the Wild. Furthermore, earlier this week, Hardwicke also talked about what she would ultimately change about the nearly 10-year-old film if she made it today.

Now, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart have moved on to very different projects. Pattinson will next be seen in High Life, the acclaimed sci-fi horror drama set to be released in theaters nationwide sometime next year. He was also recently seen the dryly comedic western Damsel earlier this year. Kristen Stewart, meanwhile, is currently filming a role in Elizabeth Banks' Charlie's Angels reboot, which enters theaters on September 27th, 2019. She was also recently seen in the biographical period drama Lizzie alongside Chloe Sevigny. Stewart also filmed a role in the action-thriller Underwater.

Twilight is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary, which means that the lunchbox and the Trapper Keeper you have with Edward and Bella's faces on it officially is a decade old. Catherine Hardwicke's massively successful adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's massively popular novel changed the industry in numerous ways. But when we asked Hardwicke what she'd change about Twilight, if she had the ability to make it today, she candidly told CinemaBlend:

Naturally, any filmmaker revisiting a movie that they slaved over 10 years ago would LOVE to have even more money in their production budget, because there's no doubt that sacrifices have to be made on virtually every film set because things can't be afforded. And it's fun to hear Catherine Hardwicke single out specific scenes in 2008's Twilight that she wishes she could have improved with a few extra bucks.

One memorable scene is the baseball game staged in the middle of Twilight. It is... unexpected. Bella (Kristen Stewart) is getting used to the fact that the pale high schooler she's falling in love with is an undead vampire. And so is his entire, cooler-than-thou family. When Edward invites her to bond with the fam, she learns that vampires play baseball. In thunderstorms. It's really strange, in a cool and stylish way. Here, watch for yourself:

Given the fact that this is a 10-year-old clip, the effects actually age pretty well. But in watching how Catherine Hardwicke used slow motion to enhance the physical powers of the Cullen vampires, you can see how CGI improvements would have accentuated the positives in the Twilight baseball scene. It still would have been an unexpected addition to the love story. But it also would have looked better.

That being said, when looking back on the 10 years that have passed since Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke confessed that the one thing technology could never improve on was the chemistry of her leads. She tells CinemaBlend:

We spoke with Catherine Hardwicke earlier as she prepared to bring Twilight back to theaters for this anniversary screening. And she praised the casting of both Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart as her leads. While Twilight opened the door for teen lit at the multiplexes, it changed the career paths of basically everyone involved -- none more so that Pattinson and Stewart. They each have gone on to be involved with incredible films and exciting filmmakers. But now will ever be quite as huge as Twilight was.

Want to remind yourself just how big of an event the original movie was? You are in luck. Twilight will play in more than 450 movie theaters nationwide Sunday, October 21, and Tuesday, October 23, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (local time). Tickets for the 10th-anniversary screenings can be purchased online at www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. Really, it's worth it for the baseball scene, alone.

The last we heard on the reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise, Evan Daugherty (Divergent, Snow White and the Huntsman, TMNT) was hired to work on the story treatment, while MGM struck a deal with Warner Bros. to bring it to life. Now, according to the latest rumor buzzing about the Web, the director’s shortlist has been whittled down to three female filmmakers. And they’re all pretty great.

Tracking Board reports that Tricia Brock, who directed episodes of TV shows like Girls and Orange Is the New Black, was offered the job, though she ultimately turned it down. Now Kathryn Bigelow, Catherine Hardwicke, and Mimi Leder are the three eyed for the film. Reportedly, producers are looking for a Michelle McLaren type for the post.

Bigelow won two Oscars (Best Picture and Best Director) for her Iraq War film The Hurt Locker, which took home a total of six statuettes. In 2013, she was nominated for Best Picture for Zero Dark Thirty, though she was snubbed from the Director category. Though she executive produced the documentary Cartel Land and helmed a short film called Last Days, she hasn’t had a major feature film gig since the Jessica Chastain-led film, though she plans to make True American with Tom Hardy.

Hardwicke is best known to the public as the director of the first Twilight film, and she returned to join other female panelists like Kate Winslet and Octavia Spencer to judge Lionsgate’s Twilight short film fan competition. She followed up the franchise by helming the Amanda Seyfried-led Red Riding Hood and episodes of Hell on Wheels and the now-canceled Low Winter Sun. She will next direct the film based on the young-adult novel Stargirl with young stars Joey King (White House Down, Stonewall) and Charlie Plummer (Boardwalk Empire).

Last on the rumored shortlist is Leder, who has a long list of TV credits. Most recently, she helmed episodes of HBO’s The Leftovers (for which she’s also an executive producer), Shameless, Almost Human, Smash, and Nashville. She’s prepping for the premiere of The Leftovers season 2 on October 4.

The new Tomb Raider movie will center on a younger Lara Croft as she embarks on her first major archaeological expedition, not unlike the recent video game Rise of the Tomb Raider, which is scheduled for release on November 10. The film is being fast tracked, though no actress has been announced in the leading role.

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Cam Gigandet hasn’t had a long career – he didn’t do his first feature until 2007 and before that only started acting on television since 2003 – he hasn’t had a lot of luck picking quality projects. With the exception of Easy A, which he had a very small role in, almost every film that Gigandet has appeared in has been panned by critics, from Burlesque to The Roommate to Never Back Down. Perhaps Catherine Hardwicke’s Plush will help do something to buck the trend.

Variety has learned from sources that Gigandet has cast as the lead of the upcoming thriller. The actor will play a psychiatrist who uses his special psychic ability to look into the memories of his patients and find out what plagues them. As >previously reported Emily Browning will play a traumatized young woman who has powers that match the doctor’s. This will be the second time that Hardwicke has worked with Gigandet, as he previously had a role in 2008’s Twilight. The director wrote the script along with Artie Nelson. The trade doesn’t say when the project will move into the production phase.

Thanks to the casting of Browning and the psychiatry angle of the story, I can’t help but think of Sucker Punch when I read about this story and in no way is that a good thing. Then again, perhaps Gigandet will put on a performance that will earn him an Academy Award in 2014. Hollywood is a strange town.

Since the Twilight franchise began in 2008, reviewers have found many angles to take in their criticism, be it the wooden performances, overt messages, overdone melodrama or the poor writing. Not excluded from these comments is the first movie, but do you want to know who else had major problems with Twilight? The director, Catherine Hardwicke.

"Every one of those scripts sucked,” Hardwicke recently said about her work for the vampire franchise. "Oh, Lord, did they suck." Vulture recently had the chance to speak with the filmmaker, and part of the discussion was about Twilight and her reflections since the movie came out. So why did she decide to take on the project if she thought the script written by Melissa Rosenberg was "horrible?"Said Hardwicke, the most influential element was the passion that fans have for the stories and the characters. "I looked it up on the Internet and I thought, 'Okay, it’s based on a book and people tend to like it. There’s gotta be something there.'" She then turned to the original books, written by Stephanie Meyer, and found what people were connecting to: the plight of being hopelessly in love. "I thought, That’s kind of a good challenge, to see if, as a filmmaker, I could make you feel that giddy, crazy ..."

She then gave up another tidbit that may come as a surprise to fans. While Rosenberg is the only credited screenwriter on the movie, part of Hardwicke's deal was that she could fix the script herself. The article says that Hardwicke went to Summit and said that she would only do the movie if she could do a complete rewrite. According to the site, the studio agreed. If this is true, why isn't Hardwicke credited as one of the screenwriters and why hasn't this come out until now? Surely Hardwicke and Rosenberg have previously mentioned in interviews how they worked together on the script. I really feel like we're only hearing one side of the story here.

At first glance, I was definitely onboard with the idea of a dark retelling of Little Red Riding Hood featuring werewolves and starring Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman. Then the little things started bothering me. The presence of Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke. That one dude in the trailers with the Robert Pattinson hair. The overall Twilight-y vibe that became more and more obvious the closer the film got to release. Then the reviews came in, and I heaved a sigh at the passing of what could have been a genuinely kick-ass movie in the Sleepy Hollow vein.

Still, the Twilight movies have made roughly (checks notes) all the money in the world, so clearly there's an audience for this sort of thing. If you're part of that audience, Cinema Blend and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment are giving you the chance to win your very own copy of Red Riding Hood on Blu-ray! That's right, we're giving away three Blu-ray copies of the film, and winning is easy.

Just click on over to our Facebook page, "Like" it if you haven't already, and then leave a comment on this contest post. Tell us about your favorite "reimagined" fairy tale, and why, and we'll pick our winners. The contest ends at 12 am EST on Tuesday, July 5th. You can also check out the movie's website right here.

The winner will be notified via Facebook direct message and asked to provide their mailing addresses (no P.O. boxes please). Prize packs will be mailed directly to the winner. No purchase necessary. Failure to comply with the rules will result in disqualification and subsequent mockery. Good luck!

Hey Twilight fans. How would you like to sleep in the same bed where Bella (Kristen Stewart) first kissed her soulless soul mate, Edward (Robert Pattinson), in the first Twilight film?

Yeah, I know, you’d rather own the bed Bella and Edward used to conceive their unique offspring, Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy), but that’s not the one director Catherine Hardwicke owns, nor is it the one she’s contemplating auctioning off for charity. Hardwicke, who directed the 2008 launch to the Twilight saga, revealed that she still has the bed in question, and will auction it on behalf of the Step Up Women's Network if fans “showed enough demand for the item,” according to Hollywood Life.

Showed enough demand? Something tells me Hardwicke’s going to have Twi-hards sleeping on her lawn for the next few weeks so they can show just how interested they would be in owning an important piece of prop history from the saga they cherish. Plus, it’s for a very good cause. Step Up assists underprivileged teenage girls who need help graduating high school and moving on to college. In other words, girls who are growing up on Stephenie Meyer’s books. Win win. As for me, I’m holding out for a shred of Jacob’s torn flannel, and will outbid anyone as soon as it goes on the auction block.

The movie world is falling head-over-heels in love with Trent Reznor. This past Sunday at the Golden Globes, Reznor and his partner, Atticus Ross, took home the award Best Score for their work on The Social Network and earlier this month it was revealed that David Fincher is having the pair create the music for his adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Now Nine Inch Nails music is being used to promote Red Riding Hood in the film's newest trailer. Coincidence?

Apple has premiered the second look at the Catherine Hardwicke-directed film. Starring Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez , and Max Irons, the film centers on a young woman trapped between the man she loves and the man her parents want her to marry. As she is about to flee with her lover, a werewolf kills her sister and the town goes into panic mode as an esteemed werewolf hunter explains that the beast is someone in their village.

Check out the trailer below or in HD over at Apple.

While I might be alone here, I think this is a significant improvement over what we saw the first time around. Sure, the "What big eyes you have" and "Grandmother's house" lines are really phony, but at least this time they are playing up the scarier tones and making it look a little bit less like a Twilight ripoff. Yes, the two brooding hunks fighting for the young girl's affection is still there, but at least most of it is drowned out by Gary Oldman ranting about werewolves and Reznor singing about biting the hand that feeds you. All I'm saying is that it could be worse.

I don't think I would have been a Twilight kind of girl when I was in middle school-- I was more into reading Stephen King and watching Back to the Future on a loop at the time-- but for some reason Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke's new movie, Red Riding Hood, seems like it would have been right up my alley. Maybe it's the crazy visuals we've seen so far or just the idea of a tweaked version of the classic fairy tale, but seeing Amanda Seyfried in that blood-red hood I can only think that I would have forced my friends to see it, even if we giggled through it a little bit.

Now that we've gotten deeper into my middle school years than anyone ever wanted to go, check out the new poster for Red Riding Hood that debuted at Apple, and that should appeal to plenty of 13-year-old girls like I used to be. Seyfried's still got the kickin' red hood but now she's running through the forest like she's on a mission, or maybe chasing after Ron, Hermione and Harry in one of those forest scenes from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Either way I like it, and will be looking forward to it despite all reason when the movie comes out March 11. Take a look below and see if you can share in this madness with me.

Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke has moved on from sexy vampires to big bad wolves. Her first movie since 2008’s franchise starter Twilight is Red Riding Hood, and yep, it’s that Red Riding Hood. Hardwicke's take on the classic tale of grandmothers, little girls, and hungry predators involves Amanda Seyfried as Valerie, the girl in the red hood. The rest of the cast is pretty good too with Gary Oldman and Virginia Madsen, along with Julie Christie as Red’s grandmother.

But until you see the trailer, the idea of turning Red Riding Hood into a serious movie sounds pretty silly. The film’s first trailer will debut this weekend in front of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, but it’s already online, right now.

Watch the first trailer for Red Riding Hood below or in HD on Apple.

Ok, the concept still seems pretty silly. The trailer tries, and tries hard, to set this up as the new Twilight, but at the end of the day the title still reads Red Riding Hood, and that still seems pretty silly. But if you can ignore the fact that it’s based on something pretty unsuited to be turned into a movie, what’s there in the trailer actually looks sort of dark and gritty. Like True Blood meets Twilight, it’s living on a wolfy middle ground between those two vampire extremes.

Let us know what you think of the first trailer for Red Riding Hood in the comments section below. For more on the movie, including a look at the film's first poster, visit the Blend Film Database.

After over a year of waiting, this is our first look at Catherine Hardwicke’s take on the classic fairy tale, Red Riding Hood. We first heard about the film last August and since then there have been ups and downs, but it seems the Twilight director is finally making some headway.

The images show off the film’s star, current “it” girl Amanda Seyfried, looking all sexy and doe-eyed like you might expect from a dark retelling of Red Riding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried. They don’t give much away, but the blurb in the EW clipping fills us in on the goings on in the fairy tale realm, including the introduction of Gary Oldman, who will play a “Witchfinder General” who shows up in Red’s town to help cleanse it of evil.

Catherine Hardwicke had this to say about her flick:

Red Riding Hood isn’t that far from release, March 11 of next year, so expect these image to be the first in a flood of marketing from the piece. Scope it out below.

It’s far too easy to just associate an actress with her biggest project at the moment and that’s exactly what happened and what is happening to Nikki Reed. Back in 2003 she was just the newcomer who wrote Thirteen and today she’s simply Rosalie from The Twilight Saga. Not that either is anything less than a fantastic accomplishment, but Reed has quite a lot going on in her career and those projects are certainly deserving of attention as well.

I was fortunate enough to chat with Reed about her upcoming non-Twilight release, Last Day of Summer. In that Vlad Yudin-directed film she plays Stephanie, a young woman taken hostage by a disgruntled fast food employee played by DJ Qualls. Qualls’ character may be acting like a deranged lunatic on the outside, but deep down he’s just a lonely guy who wants to be treated fairly. Clearly the two don’t mesh well and that’s got a major effect on how he handles his hostage situation.

It’s an interesting piece on a number of levels, but most notably for its stars. Not only is it unusual for Qualls to take a leading role and a more serious one nonetheless, but having fallen into the Twilight hole myself, it’s quite nice to see Reed portray a person sans fangs. She holds the experience near and dear to her heart for the challenge it posed and because it gave her the opportunity to work with a close friend. Reed also took the time to address some of her upcoming projects. Click here to find out what she had to say about the next installment of The Twilight Saga, but stay right here to find out about Last Day of Summer and her latest venture, directing music videos.

Were you approached for this role or did you audition?

Reed: I actually was approached. DJ Qualls and I have been best friends for I don’t even know how long, since I was a kid, 14, 15, many many years. In fact, we just bought houses half a mile away from one another so we could be closer, that’s how close we are. So he was offered the role initially, for Joe, and they couldn’t find Stephanie and he told the producers that he thought I was the one for it and they actually resisted.

They thought that I was just sort of too, I guess pretty. But I hate saying that because it implies I view myself as that or that’s a word I would use to describe myself, which it isn’t and so I actually had to fight for it. I went in and I said, ‘You guys just think that because I play roles that are that.’ I play characters that are pretty, I play characters that are sort of intimidating and confident, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m that. I think it’s kind of interesting that you can actually convince the audience that you are the character you play even in terms of aesthetics because the truth is, and I think after you see this movie you sort of realize, that I’m not intimidatingly beautiful and I don’t mean that as a put down to myself; I’m just not conventionally pretty and that’s the truth. I just happened to have been cast in roles like that for many years.

How’d you meet DJ? Did you meet on a set?

Reed: DJ and I met through mutual friends many years ago and then we did a movie together called Familiar Strangers when I was like 18 or 19 and then we did this movie. So we’ve worked together twice, but we just met through friends years ago and we just really connected on some kind of amazing level that doesn’t happen very often in this industry. And I mean a real friendship; we see each other every couple of days and I bring groceries to his house and he’ll come over with movies, like real friends, not Hollywood friends. [Laughs]

Is that what made you so determined to get this job, to work with him?

Reed: I liked the concept, I liked the project, but yes, of course. I think DJ is immensely talented and he also suffers from being pigeonholed at times just being the funny, goofy guy, the silly looking guy and he’s so much more than that.

Yeah, I was going to say it’s unusual to see him in this type of piece. Most of the films I’ve seen him in, he’s the comedic relief, so it’s nice to see him in something more dramatic and in a starring role for that matter. Did he take to all of that easily?

Reed: Yeah, I remember him being excited about the opportunity to have a leading role in something where he wasn’t just playing a goofy guy and he took it very seriously. When you’re friends with someone, you don’t always realize the depth of their talent until you’re sitting and watching them work and I think we both had moments like that on the set. There were a number of times where I would go up to him after and go like, ‘Are you okay to talk now?’ And he would say, ‘Yeah, that was so incredible!’

How was it filming in so few locations? You’re character in particular is really just in one; did that make it easy to stay in character, staying in the same environment?

Reed: No, I think we were really comfortable with the project; we had extensive rehearsals and we’ve known each other for so long. I think when you’re comfortable, it’s easy to feel like you can step away from your location and your zone. So on this particular set I didn’t feel like it was scary to leave that area.

You had extensive rehearsal time? That’s a luxury most small films don’t have. Was this not a quick get-in-and-get-it-done type of project?

Reed: It was. It was such a quick indie, get in, get it out [project] that we had to rehearse because if we didn’t, we would have no idea what was going on. [Laughs] Sometimes it’s scary to make a movie this fast because you never shoot scenes in sequence and in chronological order and it just feels like - What am I doing? What scene is this? What moment is this in this movie? What is this coming before and after? – especially with the dynamic between Stephanie and Joe. They’re really crucial to get the timing right with when you think she starts to trust and him and open up or when she’s just manipulating him and trying to get him to think she’s doing that, so there are a lot of scenes that can feel repetitive or redundant if you don’t have a very specific thought process with what she’s feeling as opposed to what she was feeling three seconds ago. We had to rehearse and have really detailed notes so that the day we got there it was like, okay, I know what’s happening. I know what I’m thinking. I know what’s going on right now

Your character goes through a major transformation. She goes from being taken hostage to just hanging out with the guy. How did you manage that and make it seem realistic?

Reed: Yeah, exactly. How do you convey that in a realistic way? How do you make that believable that that could possibly happen? This is not a testament to all psychopaths who want to go in and shoot their bosses; I’m not trying to say that they’re all good-hearted, well-rounded people that are just having a bad day and that’s acceptable. It’s not acceptable. But with Joe, that’s the beauty of filmmaking, you can sort of manipulate things a little bit and in the case of Joe, he isn’t a bad person, he’s just frustrated and misunderstood and hates his life. It just goes to show how quickly that can change with human contact or someone else caring about you or loving you and I think, if anything, it’s a message on how to treat people. And I do think Stephanie, at one point or another, invests enough trust that one possibly can in that circumstance, I think she does invest that in him and it’s always in the back of her mind, but I think she does believe she’s safe, at least towards the end.

So how was it working with Vlad? He’s only a first time narrative director. Did that show at all?

Reed: Vlad is really wonderful. He knows what he wants and being a producer on this movie I really saw what DJ and I contributed tonally. It was interesting to really feel like you’re part of the process and be acknowledged for that because I’m kind of an obnoxious actor in that I love to look through camera lenses. If I can have the opportunity to go into an editing room, it’s like the golden ticket for me. All I want is to learn about everything else in the filmmaking process. I just directed a music video which just came out and that’d sort of be the area of the field that I’m going to move into, I hope. And so with this film it was nice for people to acknowledge that that was okay. I didn’t have to ask anymore if it was okay for me to go and scout locations.

What’s the music video?

Reed: It came out a couple of weeks ago, it’s for an artist named Sage and the song is called “Edie Sedgwick.” You can go on YouTube if you’re interested in seeing it. I also have a blog called IAmNikkiReed.com and I did a post on that, you can see it there. I financed it myself, I’m proud of the video for what it is given the money and the time that we didn’t have. [Laughs] It’s interesting and it’s artsy, it’s cool, it’s clearly my first video. I’m just a believer in keeping all of the creative brain cells moving and working even when you’re not working because the inevitable loneliness and boring drought in the actor’s world, it can eat you alive. I have friends come over and we read plays out loud and I make paintings and I just do things all the time just so I don’t ever feel like I’m sitting around.

Well, with Thirteen on your resume, you should have no problem branching out and doing more behind-the-scenes things.

Reed: No, that’s not the case. Sometimes you realize that things in Hollywood, the way that the stars align and things happen in a very perfect way, that’s rare. It doesn’t actually work like that. It definitely sparks interest and opens a lot of doors, but you’ve got to fight really hard and I do and I write a lot and I’m a believer that things will come of that.

I agree. Why not reunite with Catherine Hardwicke again? Between Thirteen and Twilight I’d imagine you two would make a great pairing again.

Reed: Yeah! Absolutely. I’m sure at one point or another. The wonderful thing about Catherine and I is that there’s a genuine mutual respect and now I’m not the only one because the world has seen her work. I truly believe in her and I think she’s just so gifted and so talented and I guess I can confidently say now that she thinks the same of me because she keeps putting me in her movies and there’s no reason for that other than she thinks I’m talented and that’s really flattering. We don’t really hang out in our personal lives. In fact, I’ve spoken to her once in the last year and a half via e-mail; she’s doing a movie somewhere and I’m proud of her and happy for her, but we have a really great working relationship and so I’m positive that at some point or another I will be working with Catherine again.

Other than The Twilight Saga, what do you have coming up?

Reed: I just finished shooting a movie called Catch .44 with Bruce Willis and Forest Whitaker and Malin Akerman and in terms of projects before Twilight, there’s a second video that I directed at the same time, simultaneously when I did the first one that was just released, so we’re working on editing that and releasing that.

That’s with the same artist?

Reed: The same artist, yeah.

That’s great. Congratulations!

Reed: Thank you very much!

Virginia Madsen has suffered some truly ridiculous roles since her Oscar nomination for Sideways back in 2006-- The Haunting in Connecticut, The Number 23, must we keep going?-- but working with Catherine Hardwicke, of all people, may offer a chance to turn things around. Variety reports that Madsen has been cast as the mother of Amanda Seyfried's character in Red Riding Hood, which is a sort of gothic/punk remaining of the classic Grimm Brothers tale.

it's unclear how big the mother role might be, but given that the story is being given a romantic twist, you have to assume mom would have at least a little advice for Little Red. Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons Lukas Haas, Julie Christie and Gary Oldman are rounding out the cast of this one, which is scheduled for release in March 11, 2011. It will be Hardwicke's first film since Twilight, and you can bet Warner Bros. is counting on some serious crossover audience. Virginia Madsen, prepare to start courting the Twihards.

It’s been two months since we’ve heard any casting details for Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood, but that doesn’t mean the roster is closed. Variety is reporting that yet another actor has been added to the Warner Bros. production and that actor is Lukas Hass.

The film is being described as a “gothic horror re-imagining” and stars Amanda Seyfried as the titular character, but a wolf isn’t the only thing she’s got to worry about-- Seyfried’s character is caught in the midst of a love triangle. She’s engaged to a guy played by Max Irons, but also has a thing for Shiloh Fernandez’s character, an orphaned woodcutter. Then there’s Julie Christie as Red Riding Hood’s grandmother and Gary Oldman as Father Solomon, the guy in charge of finding and killing that pesky wolf. Haas is on board to play the village priest.

It’s difficult to comment on Haas’ casting considering the only film I can really remember him in is in Mars Attacks. The guy’s been at it in front of the camera for quite a while, so he’s got to be packing some serious talent. I’ll have to keep a close eye on his performance in Inception to get a better sense of what he’s capable of. The Red Riding Hood ensemble as a whole is really promising, now we’ve just got to hope this classic fairytale with a twist thing can work. My hopes are high.

The Girl With the Red Riding Hood still seems primarily like a teenager thing, directed by Twilight's Catherine Hardwicke and starring Amanda Seyfried in a "goth" take on the classic fairy tale. But at least they're getting a little adult supervision. Heat Vision reports that Julie Christie and Gary Oldman are in talks for roles in the film, while Max Irons, another youngun, is officially on board as well.

Irons will be part of the film's central love triangle, between Seyfried's titular character who is menaced by a werewolf, Shiloh Fernandez's orphaned woodcutter, and Irons as the guy she's actually engaged to. Christie and Oldman seem to be stepping into two of the more iconic roles from the original story-- Christie as Red's grandmother, and Oldman as the man charged with catching the werewolf, a slight twist on the hunter who usually comes to Red's rescue in the Grimm Brothers fairy tale.

Irons will be the one getting all the attention as the hot young thing in the film, but Christie seems to be the real coup. She earned an Oscar nomination for Away From Her in 2008 but hasn't made a major Hollywood film since 2004, when she appeared in Finding Neverland and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Of course, Christie's selectiveness with roles doesn't mean she always makes good decisions-- she was in Troy, after all. But it does lend a little extra hope for a film that right now seems custom-made for Hot Topic shoppers.

At last, a role for a teenage guy that does not go to Taylor Lautner. THR reports that Shiloh Fernandez, known from Jericho and United States of Tara, has snagged a lead role opposite Amanda Seyfried in Girl With the Red Riding Hood, which is being described as "gothic horror re-imagining" of the classic Little Red Riding Hood story.

Fernandez will play the orphaned woodcutter who is also the love interest of Seyfried's character, a woman being terrorized by a medieval werewolf. I'm guessing the two of them will team up for some serious wolf-killing action by the end. The film is directed by Twilight's Catherine Hardwicke, which I guess makes it even more surprising that Lautner didn't somehow work his way in there.

THR notes that at one point Fernandez was up for both Robert Pattinson's Twilight role and Emile Hirsch's in Speed Racer, so it seems his big break is long overdue. If he does indeed become famous after this film, Hardwicke will be able to take credit for foisting three teen matinee idols upon the world-- a pretty impressive track record by any measure.

It can't be easy for any director brought in to shepherd the gigantic Twilight franchise, but it just got a little trickier for Eclipse director David Slade. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that the studio has replaced his longtime editor Art Jones with Nancy Richardson, who edited the first Twilight film for Catherine Hardwicke.

Reportedly Slade's material, which the studio called "very good," needed a stronger edit, which apparently involved bringing back more of the moony-eyed madness of Hardwicke's original film. While an editor can have an enormous impact on how a film turns out, it's a hard thing to distinguish when you're watching the final film, especially since Slade and Jones's previous work together-- 30 Days of Night, Hard Candy-- will likely be very, very different from Eclipse. While replacing an editor in the middle of the post-production process might normally be a sign of trouble, consistency between the Twilight films may turn out to be a good thing. So long as Richardson knows to edit in lots of tight close-ups on Jacob's abs, she should be fine.

Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke is mining the classics for her next gig. Overture Films has hired her to direct a new version of Hamlet which will star Emile Hirsch as Hamlet.

As you’d expect, it’s Hamlet with a twist. The screenplay being written by Ron Nyswaner will take Shakespeare’s seminal play and set it in the modern day. They’ll strip away all the royalty stuff and focus on Hamlet as the story of a young man deciding whether or not to take revenge on his uncle for murdering his father. Since it’s Hardwicke and they’re modernizing it, expect this to be pretty heavy on the teen angst.

According to producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen it will also be a “suspense thriller” as well as “exciting and accessible for an audience today”. I suspect that’s code for none of that “thee” and “thou” stuff.

Some of you may remember Baz Lurhman’s Romeo + Juliet, which took a similar approach to Bill Shakespeare’s other most famous play by turning the Montagues and Capulets into rival gangs set in the modern day. Lurhman however, kept all the flowery ancient language while plopping it down in a modern setting. Baz kept it poetic while this new Hamlet seems more interested in skewing towards contemporary mystery/revenge movie.

Want more Twilight connections? Kristen Stewart appeared in 2007’s Into the Wild with Emile Hirsch. Kristen Stewart for Ophelia anyone? Crazy seems like something she could pull off.