Twilight Director Details 'Earth-Shattering' Lesson From the Movie

Yahoo

10-07-2025

Originally appeared on E! Online
Catherine Hardwicke couldn't sink her teeth into this discouraging experience.
The Twilight director, 69, reflected on her time working on the 2008 film, including the treatment she received following the blockbuster's success.
'I walked into a room with all these gifts, and everybody was congratulating the studio,' Hardwicke told The Guardian in an interview published on July 9. 'They gave me a box. I opened it up, and it was a mini cupcake.'
The gift didn't sit right with her, as she noted that a male director would've received 'a car, or a three-picture deal, or [getting] to do basically whatever you want' for creating a massive hit. And indeed, the first film—which was adapted from Stephenie Meyer's book series—was a memorable release.
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At the time, Summit Entertainment—who produced Twilight and its four sequels—created the original film on a $37 million budget and grossed $407 million in return, per Forbes. And while the film launched lead cast members Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart to stardom, Hardwicke wasn't given the opportunity to continue with the hit franchise she helped build.
In fact, filmmaker Chris Weitz directed 2009's New Moon, David Slade worked his magic on 2010's Eclipse, and Bill Condon hopped on the two-part Breaking Dawn movies that following year. And that process of being replaced stuck with her.
'No, people aren't going to hire more women directors,' Hardwicke continued. 'They're not going to give you the next job and let you do something great. It was an earth-shattering reality right away.'
This isn't the first time she's opened up about how women directors are treated in Hollywood, as she noted that other popular book-to-movie adaptations like Divergent and Hunger Games were directed by men.
'That was a heartbreak for me,' she told Vanity Fair in 2018. 'There are other badass women out there that could have done those. There's lots of projects like that. They're stories written by women, about women, and given to male directors. Over and over and over.'
Amid her frustration with the executives behind the scenes, the filmmaker's bond with the Twilight cast remains strong. In fact, she and Stewart reunited when they both crashed Pattinson's birthday back in 2023.
'I see them both at parties, events and everything," she told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that year, "they're both lovely."
For more interesting Twilight tidbits to sink your teeth into, keep reading...
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