Twilight Sequel Eclipse Gets Reshoots, But Summit Says Reports Of Hardwicke And Weitz Contact Are False

It's been a hell of a day for rumors and doom and gloom reports. There is word that Sony isn't happy with The Green Hornet, and that Warner Bros. is rather down on The Losers (about which I've heard good things) and Jonah Hex, which has led to a disinterest in pursuing Lobo. (According to Anne Thompson, Sony called the Green Hornet report 'complete garbage' and 'unfounded.')

Then there was a report that said Summit was about to embark on reshoots for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Not a serious deal, because reshoots happen all the time and are often planned into the schedule and budget. But in this case, the rumor said that Eclipse director David Slade would not be involved, and that Summit is reaching out to prior Twilight directors Catherine Hardwicke and Chris Weitz to handle the reshoot.

So, as we've asked before: is this bullshit or not? According to Summit, the reports of someone other than Slade directing are definitely bullshit.

The story, according to Lainey Gossip (which has been right about a couple of things before) is that 'key scenes' and 'a few fight sequences' are being shot or re-shot. Because of other commitments for Robert Pattinson, seven days of shooting are supposedly being compressed into three 18-hour days.

And, supposedly, David Slade's relationship with Summit has eroded, and "things had supposedly deteriorated to the point that they were actually considering hiring someone else to reshoot." Names on the possible list were Chris Weitz and Catherine Hardwicke.

Right, because Summit is going to ask the director they fired to come back and shoot new material, especially when some of that material would be action and effects-based, which was seen as one weak point of Hardwicke's film in the first place. Cue eyeroll. Just because she's in Vancouver already, working on another film, doesn't mean it makes more sense.

This is the time for Summit to jump in, and the site Gossip Cop says that contact with the studio resulted in a denial of any problems. David Slade is directing the reshoots, which have been planned all along, his relationship with Summit is fine, and that the meadow and action scenes are not being reshot. I'd prefer a straight press release from Summit, but that's not likely to happen. [via Gordon and the Whale]