Summit hires new 'Twilight' director, right? Wrong!

I hate to be the skunk at the picnic, but Summit Entertainment has not -- I repeat NOT-- hired "Orphanage" director Juan Antonio Bayona to direct "Eclipse," the third film in the wildly successful “Twilight” series. That would be the exact opposite of the "news" you read earlier today, first in Nikki Finke’s post on Deadline Hollywood and later in Dave McNary's seemingly authoritative Variety story, which baldly stated that Summit "has tapped Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona to direct 'Eclipse.' "

By sheer coincidence, I had lunch today with Erik Feig, who’s president of production at Summit and the man most involved with managing the hit series of films. ("New Moon," the second film in the series, begins production later this month with Chris Weitz at the helm.)

Feig was shocked to see the media reports saying Summit had hired Bayona, since -- ahem -- they’re not true. "The 'Eclipse' directing job hasn’t been offered to Juan Antonio or anyone else," he told me. "We’ve met with three or four talented filmmakers and we’ll be meeting with three or four more other candidates before we make any decision. No one has been offered the job."

Feig added that no one even bothered to call to check out the rumors before printing them, something that has become an all-too-often occurrence in the Wild West free-for-all that constitutes today’s Web-based entertainment coverage. "Nikki never called Summit or any of the producers, and Variety ran it off her blog without calling us either, which I find doubly irresponsible." (In fairness, McNary did call Summit’s PR rep, who would not confirm the story.)

The fact that the initial stories were erroneous didn’t stop everyone else on the Web -- including many of my favorite blogs -- from not only linking to them, but rewriting them in a way that repeated the falsehood. That includes everyone from the Vulture, whose post was headlined "Juan Antonio Bayona to Direct 'Twilight 3,' " to our own Hero Complex, which led its account by saying: “It’s official, according to the trades, the filmmaker behind the hypnotic horror film, 'The Orphanage,' will be brought in for the third 'Twilight' film."

I mean, if you can’t trust the Hollywood trades, who can you trust, right? As it turns out, Bayona was in town and had a Wednesday meeting with Summit execs, who are certainly impressed by his resume. Bayona has also met with "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer, who has a lot to say about any key creative choices made on each film in the series. On the other hand, Bayona has told friends that he isn’t sure he wants to tackle the film. Though he also admires the series, he's concerned about how much creative involvement he would have coming in to direct the third installment in a series, where most of the casting and character development is already in place.

The real lesson here: The madcap pace of the Web, where everyone gets hits by linking to newsie items about cultural hot buttons, is creating an environment where you have to check stories out before you reprint them -- or you end up with egg on your face. (Trust me -- it's happened to me too.) This is just the latest example of a story that was good but, alas, too good to actually be true. 

Comments

[Nicole]

Three cheers for LATimes fact checking!

[Jonathan Price]

You mean like your Avatar item the other day, Patrick. Don't be a hypocrite. You didn't seem to check that out before you posted the item, then had to eat your words.

[e.VILLANUEVA]

Well, what can I say; I am one of the guys who published this info in my site. But I can't contact Summit, so Variety should be ashamed of this.

Spanish press published this info as well, today, and now they will have to correct it.

[Angie Scott]

Thank goodness! I am so glad to find out that Stephenie Meyer has as such creative clout on the movie series. I am another obsessed fan who is terrified that the final three movies will lose focus if directed by 'action' or 'special effects' directors. Twilight sent a loud message: We fans are interested in the emotional connections between the characters. If we were interested in special effects or action sequences, Twilight would have tanked. With Stephenie there to protect our beloved family of characters that she created, there is hope. I say bring back Catherine Hardwicke for Eclipse -- give her the proper budget for necessary special effects and she will do just fine.

[Nikki Finke]

Summit's Erik Feig Apologizes To Nikki Finke Tonight
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/summits-erik-feig-apologizes-to-me-tonight/

Feig is accusing Los Angeles Times blogger Patrick Goldstein of misquoting him today about the accuracy of my reporting.

Feig told me he plans to confont the LA Times columnist.

Goldstein is refusing to publish my response that I stand by my story, which I worded very specifically to say: "I can confirm that Summit Entertainment is telling Hollywood privately that Juan Antonio Bayona will direct Eclipse."

[Nikki Finke]

Summit's Erik Feig Apologizes To Nikki Finke Thursday Night
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/summits-erik-feig-apologizes-to-me-tonight/

[Laura]

As long as its NOT Drew Barrymore thats going to direct Eclipse. Nothing against her but she is not what Eclipse needs. I still say Joss Whedon. He has pleanty of experience with vampire's and vampires being in love. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (Angel) (Spike) .

I again just hope whoever it is will bring out the maturity in Eclipse and its not another teen Love story.

[unintendedchoice]

way to get the "real" story!
letterstotwilight.com

[Typekeypad101]

i dont really think cathrine hardwicke should have ever given some else
the authority to film the movies, well of course with stephanie meyeres premission
of course, but if Chris Weitz directs this movie, then i dont really know what to
say, i mean he is good at making the golden compass movie, dont get me wrong
it was good, but hes just not the kind of person that looks like he can direct
a love romancy kind of movie!

[John Garcia]

the LA doesn't have the exclusive of the story... La Opinion talked to... Bayona.
http://www.impre.com/laopinion/entretenimiento/cine/2009/3/13/twilight-3-aun-no-tiene-direct-114028-1.html