It's been more than a month since the last installment of Twilight Watch. I still haven't seen the damn film. It's starting to fade from the multiplexes and it's beginning to look as if I will have to wait for On Demand. Sigh.
I think the best thing I can do is to just continue The List I've been working on for the past few months as that was the whole point, right? Okay. Here goes.
Catherine Hardwicke: As far as I know, she is the only production designer turned major director in the history of American movies (as always, if I am wrong, please let me know in the comments). So far she seems to have avoided the cinematographer-turned-director disease of pretty, pretty films with story problems. I was super excited to see her first film, Thirteen. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I am completely obsessed with anything that has to do with teen girls. To say I enjoyed Thirteen in no way implies that it was any good. It's a melodramatic film, full of after school special clichés. Even though I was aware of all that when watching it, I still found it hard to shake. For all its silliness it feels right in how it's pitched emotionally. Sadly, the reality of teenage life is often more like bad television then good art. A few years ago I began listening to a lot of Britney Spears for a project I was working on, and I was amazed at how dramatic all her songs were, how emotionally raw and over the top. And then I got part of why she became such a huge star- her songs aren't any good, really, but they feel like being in high school. While writing this I took a look at the reviews for Thirteen, and honestly they kind of weirded me out. All of these middle aged men giving positive, serious reviews to this film about thirteen year olds having sex and wearing really hot clothes and lying to their parents, just made it seem really prurient. Andrew Sarris wrote one of the few negative reviews, pointing out how creepy it was watching this film in the theater with a bunch of grownups. Thirteen is the only film of Hardwicke's I've seen. I really want to see The Nativity Story. I have no idea how Hardwicke treats the subject matter, and I think I have a fantasy about single, teen, pregnant Mary of Nazareth deciding that telling a really elaborate lie about the messiah is a better plan than being stoned to death (I remember a TV miniseries about Jesus from the '70s that had a scene of Mary worrying about being stoned to death, it really stuck with me). I have a feeling I will be disappointed, but that will be more my problem than the movie's. The Lords of Dogtown is somewhere on my Netflix list. LA skaters have never really interested me that much, but I've heard it's pretty good. And now Twilight. Sigh. The worldwide take is nearly $280 million. It cost $37 million to make. It's a monster hit. I have to see it.
Then suddenly, things get even more interesting. Catherine Hardwicke has been fired from Twilight's sequel, New Moon. According to Summit Entertainment, this was a mutual decision based on scheduling. Anonymous reports inside Summit say Hardwicke was "difficult" and "irrational". Oh, for Christ's sake. Irrational? She just helmed a low-cost blockbuster. Suck it up Summit. She is being replaced by Chris Weitz whose most recent project was The Golden Compass, which cost $180 million and was a US box office disappointment, but did well internationally. I'm not the hugest fan of the His Dark Materials books. I liked the Golden Compass, and more or less enjoyed The Subtle Knife, but I thought The Amber Spyglass was a mess. I found Weitz's film to be pretty unwatchable. American Pie box-office aside, he is hardly a risk-free choice. This makes no sense. I hate to be a shrill feminist scold (actually that's a lie: I fucking love being a shrill feminist scold), but please name one male director who has been removed from a film series when the first installment was a massive, money creating machine. Right, never.
I really have to see this film. Damn. And read the book. I do have some news. I ordered the book from Amazon. It has arrived, in fact it's sitting here in my lap, still in its brown cardboard shipping box. I'm going to open it right now. Hold on. Okay. Here it is, all 498pp of it. Damn. I guess I should read it, right?
Stay tuned for Twilight Watch Part 3: The Reading
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