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In an effort to put fears at ease and allay any initial concern, Chris Weitz (the man who directed the big screen adaptation of The Golden Compass and who has just been named as the new director of the Twilight sequel New Moon) has posted a letter written directly to “fans of Twilight, New Moon, Bella, Edward and Jacob” on the official website of Stephanie Meyer, the author of the Twilight Saga books. Here is a message left to fans by Meyer herself that prefaces this letter from Chris Weitz and then the actual letter written and attributed to Weitz as was posted online this weekend as well as :

Hey guys,

There’s been a lot of worry and speculation on the boards lately, and I want to let you know what’s going on. First of all, like you, I’m sad that Catherine is not continuing on with us for New Moon. I’m going to miss her, not just as a brilliant director, but also as a friend. She has such a distinct, authentic voice that did amazing things for Twilight. I’m looking forward to every movie she does in the future. And she didn’t leave us empty handed. We still get the benefits of her amazing casting and the beautiful visual world she created. This foundation puts us in a good place for New Moon. Summit Films is moving forward with a new director for New Moon. They’ve asked Chris Weitz, director of American Pie, About a Boy, and The Golden Compass, to join us, and I am very pleased to announce that he’s agreed to be a part of our Twilight world. I’ve had the chance to talk to Chris, and I can tell you that he is excited by the story and eager to keep the movie as close to the book as possible. He is also very aware of you, the fans, and wants to keep you all extremely happy. (Torches and pitchforks are not going to be necessary.) I’m excited to work with Chris and I think he brings a lot to the table, not the least of which for me is that he wrote the screenplay for and directed one of my favorite movies of all time, About a Boy. I’m really looking forward to seeing his vision for New Moon. Below is a letter from Chris to you. I think you’ll get a glimpse in this note of how cool it’s going to be having Chris as part of our community.

HMMM. On the one hand, I am very happy to see that Chris either decided or was encouraged to write a letter directly to fans. I think this shows a bit of commitment to making sure he is going to at least try to make the best film he can because he genuinely cares for the fans (or at least sounds like he cares). I am concerned to read that the letter implies that Weitz has just now read the Twilight Saga books. The first line makes it pretty evident that he has no real experience with the stories … and is supposedly to start preproduction on New Moon this coming week. That’s not to say he can’t handle the job, in fact I suspect many directors aren’t fully versed in the stories they direct before they get down to the work of movie making but … still …

As much as Stephanie Meyer says that we can put our “torches and pitchforks” away, I think there is cause for concern. The Golden Compass movie was by pretty much all accounts a failure and it was based on one of the most amazingly inventive and beloved books. It is possible the same could happen with New Moon. I’m never one to prejudge scenarios like this … but I think it’s OK to be concerned. I guess we’ll have to wait and see … at least we won’t have to wait long, New Moon is slated for a November 2009 release in theaters. Alls I know is that Weitz better do right by Jacob … the next movie is Jacob‘s time to shine … he best not let any of us down. What do y’all think … worried?

[Source, thanks Jessica]

Holy Moly, y’all! Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Summit Entertainment, the folks that produced Twilight and will be producing the subsequent sequel movies, has announced that New Moon is now tentatively scheduled for a November 2009 release — BE WARNED … the report below contains MANY SPOILERS about the plot of New Moon and should prolly be avoided by those of you who have yet to read the book and want to remain unspoiled:

Summit Entertainment has tentatively slated Nov. 20, 2009, as the release date for New Moon, the Twilight sequel, which means any director who signs on to replace Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke has to be in Vancouver by Dec. 15 to begin 12 weeks of preproduction before a mid-March start date. Reports have speculated that Hardwicke was fired for being difficult on set, but sources close to her suggest Summit’s aggressive production schedule turned her off. “She’d love to do the sequel if she could do it better than Twilight,” says one. “It ­became clear that Summit didn’t have those same priorities.” Indeed, at press time the second movie appeared to have ­little more than a rough first-draft working script. As Summit’s production president Erik Feig told EW during Twilight’s ­record-busting first weekend, “There is that first…script. All the finesse that turns a screenplay into a movie hasn’t ­happened yet.” Two weeks later, Summit is saying it’s happy with screenwriter ­Melissa Rosenberg’s progress. Another of Hardwicke’s primary concerns was that hunky vampire Edward remains MIA throughout New Moon’s middle portion. In her own opening-weekend interview, she told EW, “You have to get the chemistry as strong ­between Jacob and Bella as it was between Bella and Edward. You also have to do ­some­thing with that arc: She’s in love with somebody, he disappears, she falls in love with someone else, and the first guy comes back. Movies like Pearl Harbor have tried it. It absolutely didn’t work.” With or without Hardwicke, Summit ­faces other snags. Two sources tell EW the studio doesn’t want to rehire baby-faced Taylor Lautner (pictured) as Jacob, though Lautner’s agent has apparently reached out to the ­imaging company behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in an attempt to demonstrate to Summit how a digitally bulked-up Lautner could work. (Summit says it won’t make a decision until a new filmmaker is on board.) There’s also the matter of finding a cast of Native American actors to play Jacob’s werewolf clan — a difficult challenge Hardwicke was also faced with before ­settling on Lautner, who isn’t completely ­Native American. And with a slightly increased budget of $50 million — much of which is ­assumed will go to leads asking for heftier paydays, location shoots in Italy, and ramped-up F/X — Summit will have to scrimp somewhere. So what director would want to take on such a big headache? Well, at press time, an offer was out to Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass), who put Summit on the map years ago when its foreign sales operation made tons of cash off of his first film, American Pie. (One source says Weitz has already had conversations with below-the-line crew for New Moon.) “We are in a recession,” ­reminds one Hollywood insider. “It’s a hit franchise. Whoever steps into it is guaranteed a $100 million gross. Everyone wants this movie.” Adds an exec at another studio, “You’d have to have a very high standard for art, hate the movie business, and hate ­money to walk off this sequel.”

Oh man … this is really worrisome. There are quite a few things in this report that raise red flags for me. Recasting Jacob Black is a terrible idea! Taylor Lautner made a great Jacob … I can’t believe they hired him for the part only to replace him in the rest of the films. I’m also concerned that they are talking about changing major plot points of the book. Fiddling with the way Edward appears in the sequel is a bad idea … the surest way to piss off fans is to “reimagine” the storyline and make major changes. Finally, I’m really concerned about the rush to make the film. Pre-production is to start next week … and they don’t have a finished script or a director? This just all screams BAD NEWS in my head. What do y’all think … does any of this sound reassuring to you?

[Source]

Sadly, David had to fly back to NYC yesterday after his quick trip out West for Sashie and Will’s wedding … because he’s got, like, a million things to take care of in NYC he couldn’t stay longer. It’s gonna be a little while until I’ll get to see him again … I have a week trip in Detroit coming up and then a couple weeks back here in LA before I jet off to NY again for his birthday next month.

Anyways, I was able to finally finish Book 2 of the Twilight series, New Moon, last night and again found that I enjoyed the book very much:

I liked the way the story shifted in this second book … introducing the werewolves was a very smart move and I liked the author’s allusions to the Romeo and Juliet story (likening the protagonist’s feelings for Edward and Jacob to Juliet‘s feelings towards Romeo and Paris, respectively). My one complaint with the series, thus far, is the weakness of the main character Bella. She is always hurting herself and causing accidents that put her in harm’s way … she is always overdramatically pining for Edward, sometimes to the point of nausea. I mean, I get that young girls may eat this stuff up but I think making the character a little stronger, a little less reliant on the boys in the story would make her more interesting. I have a hard time feeling sympathy for a girl who cries profusely at the sight of the beautiful boy she’s in desperate love of … and then hates herself for crying so much that her tears keep her from being able to look at him (this actually happens at the end of New Moon). That being said, tho, the story is compelling … once you get into it, you don’t want to put down the books. I’m looking forward to starting Book 3, Eclipse, later on today.

I have a dinner date later on with my good friends Gillian and Tim, who I haven’t seen in a couple of months … we’re long overdue for hanging out so I’m really looking forward to seeing them tonight. So yeah, reading and hanging … keeping things pretty quiet these days :)