Remember when it was reported that Bill Condon (“Dreamgirls,” “Kinsey”) was in negotiations to direct the final installment(s) of the Twilight franchise, “Breaking Dawn”?
Well, uhh, as we all expected, he got the gig. Summit sent out a press release confirming his role as director. There’s still no word if “Breaking Dawn” will be broken up into two films presumably because Summit and Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s teams are still negotiating those new terms.
New terms? Yes, both “Twilight” stars were paid a pittance when they first signed on to the series and weren’t yet stars. Now that their films are gigantic and they are globally recognized teen-hearthrob stars, their agents will want to make sure they get a hefty slice of the profits the studio has made off their clients. If they’re asking too much? Maybe Summit will say fuck it, one film only, but both parties know it behooves them to come to terms so they can continue to make some pretty sick bank. Only this time, the actors will finally land real, fat-sized paychecks to be sure.
Condon taking the job means two more interesting projects that were supposed to go first are now on the back burner. Those would be “Salmon Fishing In Yemen,” which was aiming for a June shoot (not anymore) and the long gestating Richard Pryor biopic, “Is It Something I Said?” which was supposed to go in front of cameras this fall (hell no, try 2011 at the earliest).
In fact, don’t be surprised if either one of those projects picks up a new director especially if Condon becomes roped into the lengthy project of directing two “Breaking Dawn” films. Sure, they’ll be shot back to back if it happens, but they’ll both have to be edited separately which could easily take up at least two years of his life.
No date has been set, but we’ll presume either the summer or late fall of 2011. The third installment, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” — the trailer of which looks laughably bad — hits theater June 30, 2010.