Summit Entertainment has started preparing to cast the sequel "New Moon", based on Stephenie Meyer's second book in the series. To contain costs, the studio is filming Meyer's third book, "Eclipse", back to back with a new director now that "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke is being replaced.
Hardwicke had until recently been thought a candidate to direct the sequel, but word began to circulate in the industry that her relationship with series producer Summit Entertainment has not always been smooth.
On Sunday, Summit confirmed that Hardwicke would not direct the film, saying in a statement that its plans to release the film in late 2009 or early 2010 did not mesh with Hardwicke's required prep time.
"Twilight", the film that drew legions of fans of Stephenie Meyer's vampire book series, earned an estimated $70.5 million in North American box-office receipts during its opening weekend. The movie rang up the fourth-highest November opening weekend of all time. That's an extraordinary result for an independently produced film that cost just $37 million to make and was passed over by Paramount's MTV Films.
Summit has said that they want to start auditions and casting the films new actors as soon as possible, as chemistry between talent has been the key to "Twilight's" huge success. The production company has a history of discovering new talent and not having to spend a laarge part of the production's budget on name stars. Although the stars of "Twilight" can expect a substantial pay increase for the upcoming films.
Auditions and casting call information for both "New Moon" and "Eclipse" is posted on following website:
http://acting411.blogspot.com
New Moon Casting Calls & Auditions
