'New Moon' director to become a 'Gardener'

‘New Moon' director to become a ‘Gardener'

"New Moon" director Chris Weitz is currently in talks with Summit Entetainment to begin work on his follow-up entitled "The Gardener."

According to an article on Variety.com, "The picture is about a hard-working immigrant who lives in Los Angeles and his efforts to protect his son."

"There are no werewolves or vampires, just a Mexican gardener in Los Angeles," Weitz said. Production is supposed to begin in March or April. Eric Eason, who wrote and directed the 2006 Brendan Fraser/Mos Def thriller "Journey to the End of the Night" also penned "The Gardener's" screenplay. The Variety.com article goes on to talk about some of the rumors about Weitz that have been circulating, "Weitz also dispelled reports that he would stop directing movies after ‘The Gardener,' an assertion that came from an interview he gave to Moviemaker magazine. The retirement angle got picked up by the New York Post's Page Six late last week.'"

The tale surmised that Weitz's departure was linked to the harsh treatment he received from New Line on 2007's "The Golden Compass."Weitz didn't deny that he had a horrific experience while working on "Compass" but said that he felt revitalized by "New Moon." He went on to explain how the author of the "Twillight" books, Stephanie Meyer, allowed him creative leeway with the film, which didn't happen on "Compass." He then added that New Line took "Compass" away from him and preceeded to edit 30 minutes of footage that Weitz felt drained the motion picture of the edge contained in the Philip Pullman books.

"It was an utter violation of my status as a director and the worst thing that has happened to me professionally," Weitz said. While he "bit through my tongue" when that film was released out of loyalty to cast and crew, he was very happy to see "New Moon" surpass grosses of "The Golden Compass."