Last week it was reported that New Moon director Chris Weitz was talking about giving up directing after making one more movie, however he’s now come forward to say that isn’t true (a lot of directors say something similar when they’re drained from making a movie, but it’s rarely true), as well as to reveal the film that last week was supposed to be his last – The Gardener.
He’s in talks with the makers of New Moon, Summit Entertainment, about the new film, which will certainly be a lot quieter than either his Twilight movie or The Golden Compass. As Weitz says in Variety, “There are no werewolves or vampires, just a Mexican gardener in Los Angeles.” We’re hoping that won’t be the tagline on the poster, because it’s not really going to sell the movie.
However there’s not much more news on the plot than that, other than the Mexican gardener is a hard-working immigrant who’s trying to protect his son. As About A Boy showed Weitz had a knack for small scale dramas, it’ll be interesting to see what he does with this new film.
Weitz’s supposed retirement stemmed from comments he made in an interview with MovieMaker magazine, although he’s now keep to point out that giving up the movies was more something he wanted to do more after The Golden Compass, and New Moon has reinvigorated his love of film. Compass proved a horrible experience for Weitz, who had the film taken away from him and 30 minutes hacked out, to remove anything that might have offended the Christian right, leaving a completely neutered version of Weitz’s vision. As he says, “It was an utter violation of my status as a director and the worst thing that has happened to me professionally.” Hopefully The Gardener will be a more pleasant experience.