NEW MOON Director Chris Weitz is Hiring THE GARDENER

Right on the heels of rumors of his retirement, New Moon director Chris Weitz has announced he will be teaming up with Summit Entertainment again to make The Gardener. The film is about a Los Angeles immigrant trying to protect his son, and it begins production early next year. More information on the brand new Chris Weitz project after the jump.

In a recent interview, Chris Weitz told MovieMaker Magazine that directing is “a rather silly occupation to undertake.” Well, this silly occupation just scored a $258M international opening weekend box office for Summit Entertainment with New Moon, so I’m sure it doesn’t look too silly to them. Weitz previously worked with New Line on The Golden Compass, which he recalls as a bad experience (I saw the film–it was a bad experience for the audience too).

But instead of pushing forward with the Twilight series and returning to direct Breaking Dawn (although that film not has not been announced, it is a near-certainty that Summit will plan to adapt it after this weekend’s box office take for New Moon) after David Slade handles the next installment in the series, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Weitz is taking a dramatic turn with The Gardener, penned by the relatively unknown Eric Mason (unless you’ve seen 2002′s Manito, in which case, never mind).

Now I know what you’re thinking: wasn’t New Moon going to perform well regardless of the director? Perhaps. But cut the guy some slack. He had his final cut stripped of him on The Golden Compass, and if you look back, he has some pretty cool (and varied!) credits to his name–the critically acclaimed About a Boy, American Pie,  and hell, he even wrote Antz. So we’ll let him bask in this questionable victory if it means he’s not retiring.

[Variety]