Director Chris Weitz, the slightly less-accomplished half of the Weitz brothers (who came on to the scene with American Pie), has decided to call it quits, right after he makes a Bicycle Thief-inspired script titled The Gardener. [Film School Rejects] This is certainly sad news. After all, this guy co-directed About a Boy with his brother, both of their best films and one of the better films of the decade.
Weitz is quoted as saying he intended The Golden Compass to be “his masterpiece,” and that the studio took it away from him in post-production, something that seems entirely plausible considering the unevenness of the film, which dissapointed critically and financially.
Weitz went on: “You know, it sounds ridiculous, but I’d really like to be a better surfer…I’d like to learn to speak Spanish fluently; I’d like to travel around, live in Italy; I’d like to learn kung fu… It’s nice to make movies, but it’s also really hard.”
A better surfer? Welp, sounds good. No, but seriously, it’s hard not to, at least on some level, understand what the guy is saying. After making two studio-important films in a row and most likely losing a considerable amount of the control he was once given as director, it would get under anyone’s skin. So it does make sense his intended final film will be a smaller, more personal film. One would imagine the success of New Moon will allow him the resources to get the film made. And then Weitz wants to read books (“I’d really like to read some books.”)
Well, I’d really like to watch some movies, so I’ll look forward to The Gardener.
What do you think of this news?