Deadline’s Mike Fleming reports that director Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Gods and Monsters) is now the top choice to helm Breaking Dawn, the adaptation of the final Twilight book that Summit Entertainment plans to release as two movies. He isn’t signed up yet, but “after several strong meetings, they are negotiating,†says Fleming. Of all the A-list directors that were on Summit’s wish list — including Sofia Coppola, Gus Van Sant, Stephen Daldry, and Fernando Meirelles — Condon is the only one who made Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, which totally counts as relevant experience for directing a movie in which (spoiler!) Robert Pattinson will impregnate Kristen Stewart and administer a C-section with his teeth.
Now the bad news! Fleming says an imminent start date on a Breaking Dawn double feature would likely force Condon to push back his adaption of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (which had been having casting problems anyway), and the director’s planned Richard Pryor biopic. So Marlon Wayans might have an extra year or so to practice his Oscar speech.
Is Bill Condon About To Sink Fangs Into `Twilight Saga’s’ Two Final Segments? [Deadline]