CATHERINE HARDWICKE - HARDWICKE QUIT NEW MOON DURING CAST DINNER

HARDWICKE QUIT NEW MOON DURING CAST DINNER

TWILIGHT filmmaker CATHERINE HARDWICKE realised she wasn't the right person to helm the sequel NEW MOON - after discussing the looming start date during dinner with the film's stars ROBERT PATTINSON and KRISTEN STEWART.
The moviemaker scored the biggest debut ever for a female director when the bloodsucking love story shot to number one in the U.S. box office chart with takings of $69.6 million (£49 million) in late November (08).
She was widely expected to take the helm for the follow-up movie before being replaced by American Pie director Chris Weitz.
Hardwicke later admitted she didn't feel the studio's schedule - an early 2010 release - gave her enough time to prepare for the film.
Now, the director reveals it was while dining with her cast that she decided she should let someone else have the gig - despite admitting she was offered a huge sum of money.
She tells E! Online, "I was in Paris with Rob (Pattinson) and Kristen (Stewart) at dinner and talking to them and it was like, 'Is this really the schedule? Would we really be starting ten and half weeks from now?'"
"Yes, we would, for various reasons which I respect, but I really thought it would be better for somebody else, who hadn't just been working every day for two years without a day off.
"I'm sad. But I would not want to let those people down…I was offered a very nice amount of money, plenty more than I have ever seen or my family has seen. But I wanted to do it only if I was going to make it better than Twilight."