The Twilight Saga which is a series of romance fantasy films based on the book series of the same name by Stephenie Meyer, became a huge commercial success when it was adapted cinematically. The franchise also made Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner bonafide superstars, and paved the way for their careers to blossom in Hollywood.
While the first installment of the series was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the filmmaker did not return to helm the next three films, as she confessed that the first story struck a special chord with her. Hardwicke though, revealed she was disappointed that her wish to see more female directors come to the fore for the remaining sequels, was not fulfilled.
Twilight Director Had This Regret About The Cult Franchise
The Twilight saga starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart became a runaway success with young adults all over the world. The story of a handsome vampire’s romance with a beautiful girl, became the stuff of dreams for teenagers while making both actors huge superstars. Catherine Hardwicke who directed the first film of the series, admitted that she was completely taken in by the love story in Stephanie Meyer’s book, and was extremely eager to present it on screen.
The filmmaker though, did not return to direct the remaining films, as she confessed that the narratives in the following books did not impress her as much as the first one. Despite refusing to come on board for the next few films, Hardwicke still had one major regret about the Twilight sequels, especially from the point of view of a woman in Hollywood. Speaking to ComicBook.com on the 15th anniversary of the film, she said,
“I wanted to do the first one, my contract said that I could do the other ones, but I didn’t want to, but I did want other women to direct the other ones. All four movies after me were directed by men and both Divergents and all the Hunger Games. So even though we kind of paved the way, none of the other ones were directed by women.”
The filmmaker also added that the situation regarding female directors in Hollywood had since become much better, with the likes of Greta Gerwig gaining huge recognition for directing Barbie.
Sofia Coppola Almost Directed The 4th Twilight Film
While the first film of the Twilight saga was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the subsequent three sequels were helmed by male directors. While Hardwicke went on record to state her regret about this fact, there was a possibility that the 4th film Breaking Dawn could have been directed by another exciting female filmmaker, Sofia Coppola.
The Oscar winner revealed to ComicBook.com that she did attend a few meetings to take the project forward, but nothing of value materialized. Coppola also went on to elaborate on the problems she had with the 4th book and said,
“I thought the whole imprinting-werewolf thing was weird. The baby. Too weird! But part of the earlier Twilight could be done in an interesting way. I thought it’d be fun to do a teen-vampire romance, but the last one gets really far out.”
While Twilight: Breaking Dawn did well at the box office, Coppola’s unique sensibilities could have resulted in some interesting and alternative touches to the narrative. Unfortunately, this was not to be.
