Catherine Hardwicke

Film Independent's 9th annual Directors Lab will include Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) as a mentor!

“It’s exciting to have a group of filmmakers in the Directors Lab that not only have such varied artistic backgrounds, but also can bring a diverse slate of projects to the table,” said Director of Talent Development Josh Welsh. “We’re also so grateful to have Catherine sharing... expertise and guiding them through the directing process.”

Some of the awesome films being created through the project this year include thrillers like SarahN_12 by Sasie Sealy and The Prettiest Girl by Sasha Isaac-Young. Read on for detailed descriptions of these awesome new films...

The incredibly inane, but nevertheless mainstream representative, People's Choice Awards have nominated some impressive women and films in their categories this year;
Abbie Cornish, of Bright Star, for fave breakout star; Christine Jeffs' Sunshine Cleaning, Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker and Jane Campion's Bright Star for fave independent films; Catherine Hardwicke's Twilight as fave film; and the Barrymore-directed Whip It's Ellen Page, Eve and Kristen Wiig as best onscreen pairing. Not to mention the Charlaine Harris-created True Blood, the Eliza Dushku-produced Dollhouse, and female-watched Ghost Whisperer as fave sci-fi/fantasy shows. True Blood, not surprisingly, appears in the TV Obsession category.

Did you know YOU can vote right here? You're people, and you can choose stuff.

Variety is reporting that Catherine Hardwicke, director of last year's quite popular (if insufferable) Twilight, has signed up for a Gothic retelling of the infamous tale of Little Red Riding Hood. The new film, titled The Girl With the Red Riding Hood is said to be centered around a sort of love triangle. My guess? The werewolf, the woodsman, and of course the randy Little Red Riding Hood herself.

So, lately Twilight fans have been crybabies because Bryce Dallas Howard (famous for being cute and Ron Howard's daughter) is taking over the role of evil vampiress Victoria (played by Rachel Lefevre in the first two Twilight films), and Twilight fans don't like change. It's been wondered why this change was made, but frankly - Howard is a much bigger star and that's all you need to know. Also, who cares?

Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the first Twilight film, confirms that Howard was their first choice all along, but the role was too 'small' for her. That's why, in the third film, the role of Victoria has been built up and now Howard will deign to do it. Catherine spoke about it at the Teen Choice Awards on August 9th, and also talks about her latest project - a modern thriller based on Hamlet...

Actress Holly Hunter recently opened up about working with horror directors Jane Campion (In The Cut) and Catherine Hardwicke (the upcoming Twilight) to Variety.

On The Piano (1993) - "Jane Campion remains one of the most formative people in my life. I really pursued that movie, felt that I was right for it (even when) no one else did. But Jane was enough of a true independent individual to keep an open mind regarding me. A lot of people would have said, 'She's just not right, I don't need to see her.' And Jane said, 'If she really feels this strongly, I'll be glad to see her.' She gave me the chance to change her mind."

On Thirteen (2003) - "I look back on it with nothing but great enthusiasm and love because of the voice that (writer) Nikki Reed and (writer-director) Catherine Hardwicke found together. They both wrote in this journal -- that was incredibly magical of Catherine to suggest she and Nikki do that. Nikki was an avid journal keeper well before then, so she already had the writing habit, and Catherine had the gift to see that it could be something they could do together."