Why are you messing with a good thing?

I heard on the news this morning that "New Moon," the sequel to the best movie ever made, "Twilight," will continue through its production with a new director.

The story I heard was that Catherine Hardwicke, who directed "Twilight," wanted more time in pre-production than the studio, looking for a release in late 2009/early 2010, wanted to give.

To some extent, I understand their thinking. "Twilight" is such a phenomenon that it almost doesn't matter who directs it, right? The Twilight fans will see it, whether it is terrible or wonderful. And, no matter how wonderful the movie is, it will not satisfy the most die-hard Twilight fans, who will see it repeatedly only to memorize the flaws.

Which reminds me: I get it. I know what it's like to see a beloved book adapted into a movie, miniseries, or (heaven forfend) a TV movie. What die-hard fans often forget is, a movie is not a book. You cannot adapt a book line-for-line into a movie. Some of the BBC adaptations come close, but they last in the neighborhood of 6 hours and consist mostly of British people having conversations. You see the flaws right there. Twilight fans should stop moaning that Bella's shirt wasn't blue and Edward's couch wasn't black leather when she saw his room for the first time. It's a different work of art than the book, okay? They are going to take some liberties. Read some of your favorite lines aloud, and imagine how dumb they would sound in actual conversation, and you'll get my point.

That being said, I'm a little nervous about "New Moon." There is precious little Edward, which means much less face time with my beloved Rob. There is way too much Bella, so Kristen needs to learn to stop spluttering. And Jacob...the director needs to remember that Jacob is a complete jerk, but some girls prefer him to Edward, so figure that one out, okay? Because I can't. At all. Alice must be amazing, but Alice was awesome in "Twilight," so that's okay...



So, "New Moon" is, in a sense, doomed to spectacular success no matter how bad it is. Still, for perspective, the Harry Potter movies have had several different directors who have taken each movie in a different direction. Maybe that will happen here...I hope.