Twilight's 'Eclipse' gets director David Slade

By Hanh Nguyen

April 22, 2009 6:41 PM

David Slade has landed the directing gig for "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," the third installment of the series based on the best-selling teenage supernatural romance novels by Stephenie Meyer, Summit announced Wednesday.

So no, Drew Barrymore didn't get it. Sorry, Drew.

Slade, a Brit (hence the rather, er, cheeky pose) doesn't have an extensive resume, but he helmed 2007's Alaskan-set horror film "30 Days of Night" and thus knows a little something about shooting films without lots of cheery sunshine. He's also reportedly been tapped to direct the still-developing Neil Gaiman urban fantasy "Neverwhere," which could bode well for "The Twilight Saga's" more fantastical elements.

Slade also famously directed the claustrophobic and psychologically disturbing "Hard Candy," staring Ellen Page as a young teen who gets back at an older man whom she suspects is a child predator.

"I am thrilled that David Slade will be directing 'Eclipse,'" says Meyer. "He's a visionary filmmaker who has so much to offer this franchise. From the beginning, we've been blessed with wonderful directorial talent for the Twilight Saga, and I'm so happy that 'Eclipse' will be carrying on with that tradition."

Summit president of production Erik Feig adds, "Stephenie Meyer's 'Eclipse' is a muscular, rich, vivid book and we at Summit looked long and hard for a director who could do it justice. We believe we have found that talent in David Slade, a director who has been able to create complex, visually arresting worlds."

"Eclipse" is scheduled for release on June 30, 2010. So that's only a little over half a year from the Nov. 20 release of its predecessor, "New Moon."

In "Eclipse," Bella is still running from a vengeful vampire, but must also contend with mysterious killings that have been going on around Seattle. Oh yeah, and she still has to pick between Edward and Jacob.

Your thoughts? Is this a promising choice? Who's seen Slade's films?

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| Comments (8)

8 Comments

I've seen his movies and I am a huge fan of the Twilight saga but I'll have to reserve my judgment til I've seen the movie! You can leap with joy all you want about him being a visionary director and sure, his previous movies were good. But for me, it's all about the screenplay. If they rip apart Eclipse the way they seem to be ripping apart New Moon (the 'humans' only filmed for a week, and they are quite a proportion of the book) then it doesn't matter how good the director-ship is.

Leighannah | April 23, 2009 3:28 AM

my friends and I are already waiting to see if new moon will be worth seeing. They are messing up the movies by not going by the books from what i've heared. So I don't care who is director the movies

Tara | April 23, 2009 7:18 AM

hes a good director hopefuly he can make the movie a big boom,hes previous movies are good but still i cant giv any period till we see the eclipse on 2010,

angel of twilight | April 23, 2009 9:20 AM

This guy is perfect to depict Jacob like the sexual predator he is.

Breaders | April 23, 2009 9:52 AM

twilight was not evn book based.how can we be sure that new moon will come up good?i hope they will be able to get the important scens from the book & put on screen.it will be more romantic & people can get to relate more w/ the movie even w/o reading the book.

.... | April 23, 2009 10:26 PM

i've read the books several times...boy am i happy i got to watch the movie first. at least i know how to picture them out while i'm reading the books..... after reading twilight,cant blame those who read the book first if they sort of kinda disappointed with the outcome of the movie. some really good scenes were lost. just hope they'll do better on the other 3 books.

kyrah | July 7, 2009 10:15 PM

I hope he does a better job than the director of New Moon. I like the movie in general but there were SEVERAL things about it I would change and I almost wish they would have stuck with one director for all of the Twilight Saga movies. Katherine Harwicke did a good job portraying the vampire looks in Twilight. In New Moon, their eyes were way too yellowish-brown, they were much more pale, and they made Esme look like crap in her last scene of New Moon. I think the director of this movie should take another look at Twilight and stick to their original appearance. Also, the New Moon movie did not transition well from scene to scene; if you haven't read the books then you probably couldn't keep up. So I'm hoping, with the third new director, he can bring Eclipse to the screen with more passion.

rachel | November 20, 2009 5:47 PM

Um, why do they keep switching directors? Can't they just keep one for a couple of them?

Mandy | November 22, 2009 10:36 AM