With the big discussion around His Dark Materials and the massive alterations of the huge plot changes, the news comes in that Chris Weitz has left the Directors duties but wants to retain the Screenwriting role. The reason from Empire is given as:
The director issued a statement saying that “It will be an extraordinary film, but at this point in my life I am not the right director to bring it to pass. Though I remain honoured to continue serving as caretaker of Philip Pullman’s work on the page as this project’s screenwriter, the technical challenges of making such an epic are more than I can undertake at this point.”
I’m surprised as I thought he was going to announce that he was totally out of the project when I first saw the title. I would have thought that the work on the Screenplay is going to be the hardest part, or perhaps he feels that the Director will be the one to face criticism more than the Screenwriter. Who knows until more information comes out.
Coming Soon reports that Weitz is still keen to continue and says:
I look forward to retaining my place as screenwriter and helping to bring Mr. Pullman’s epic vision to cinematic life. I deeply appreciate his support, and the understanding of everyone at New Line in allowing me to step aside.
This sentiment is reflected with New Line themselves, as Toby Emmerich states:
“Chris over-delivered on the script, and I can only respect him for being realistic about the physical, emotional, and technical demands of the project.”
So it looks like they are still keen to continue with the script, including the radical changes to bring it to the big screen.
