David Slade knows darkness. And now he gets to shed light on what happens after New Moon.
The director of 30 Days of Night and the teen revenge thriller Hard Candy has been tapped to helm the third film in the vampire-romance franchise, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
After New Moon director Chris Weitz let it be known that he would be one and done, various names arose as possibilities to direct the adaptation of the third book in Stephenie Meyers' best-selling young-adult novel series, including Weitz's brother, Paul; Guillermo del Toro protégé Juan Antonio Bayona; James Mangold and Drew Barrymore.
But in the end, Summit Entertainment went with a guy who certainly knows his monsters, of both the human and otherworldly variety.
"I am thrilled that David Slade will be directing Eclipse," Meyer said in a statement Wednesday. "He's a visionary filmmaker who has so much to offer this franchise."
Added Summit president of production Erik Feig: "Stephenie Meyer's Eclipse is a muscular, rich, vivid book, and we at Summit looked long and hard for a director who could do it justice. We believe we have found that talent in David Slade, a director who has been able to create complex, visually arresting worlds."
We're still waiting on New Moon, but that doesn't mean we can't start looking forward to Eclipse, which is due in theaters summer 2010.