A guy reads Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (2009-2011)

David Slade Is Not Out To Ruin Eclipse

david-slade
from TwilightLexicon.com

I’m writing this from my sick bed, so pardon any errors or bouts with madness throughout.

For those of you who haven’t kept up with this story from the beginning, David Slade, who is set to direct the Eclipse film, Twittered a few comments about Twilight a while back, along the lines of:

โ€œTwilight drunk? No, not even drunk. Twilight on acid? No, not even on acid? Twilight at gun point? Just shoot me.โ€

[audio:http://bitcast-a.bitgravity.com/slashfilm/trailers/sladetwilight.mp3]

But when David got signed to direct Eclipse, his tune changed suddenly, and his Twitter account magically vanished, with some likelihood to it being an attempt to cover up this potential PR nightmare. When the Twilight Lexicon ran this story, much of the fandom erupted into frenzied madness, demanding that David Slade give up his directing job (and sometimes certain amounts of fingers) in repayment for the outrage.

REAL EXAMPLES FROM THE LEXICON’S COMMENTS:

mama says:

Tell me where to sign the petition to have this guy taken off the project!

Tiffany says:

What the hell is summit thinking? Im so not into this dude at all… TWILIGHTERS UNITE! REVOLT!

Joan says:

grab the pitch forks!

Naleb Kation says:

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD!

However, as I have come to learn in this fandom, we all enjoy a little bit of drama here and there (and especially our online petitions) so I didn’t run the story, in order to see how it played out. As I suspected, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it seemed at first.

The key point to remember is that these comments were made by David long before he had even seen the Twilight movie or read the books. Long-time followers of my writing (before TwilightGuy ever came into being) will remember that my first run-ins with the Twilight fandom had to do with me directly making fun of the books, before I had read or knew anything about them either. In fact, my first popular blog post (popular meaning ‘had more than 2 comments from my family members’) was a spoof I wrote about ME being cast as Edward Cullen, which caused an enormous uproar and lots of hate-emails. Not only did I make fun of the books, but I spelled Stephenie’s name wrong, said that Edward has fangs, and cracked some of my worst jokes of all time (a horror in itself). So when it comes to any past bad humor directed towards the Twilight Saga, I’m just as guilty as David Slade.

But now that I actually know what I’m referring to, the things I say are quite different. Thankfully, David also understands this now, and how important the Twilight fandom is. Earlier today, he personally sent this email to the Twilight Lexicon:

“Dear Laura and Lori

I would be grateful if you could distribute this statement to the fans of Twilight:I would like to address some statements that I made regarding Twilight.

When I made these comments, I had neither seen the film nor read the books. I was promoting a comedy short film that I had made for Xbox and every pop culture subject was seen as a possible comedy target. I was being silly and none of the statements were from the heart.

Of course, I have since seen the movie and read the books and was quickly consumed with the rich storytelling and the beautifully honest characters that Stephenie Meyer created.

I would like to reassure everyone involved that I am invested in making the best film that I am humanly capable of, and that I am acutely aware of the power of the original books we serve.

Please be rest assured this statement is absolutely from the heart.

yours sincerely

DAVID SLADE”

(from the Lexicon)

I think we can all rest assured that David is just as committed to the Eclipse movie as we are.

QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS: Do you feel better now about David Slade directing the film?

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70 Responses

  1. Woot first comment! I was upset that he said those things. But after seeing the facts and his own words, I think he's ready for it and I forgive him. Many people don't give Twilight a chance before they start making assumptions, so we can't get peeved at them just because they have a preconceived notion. Just Saying

    Feel better Kaleb,
    Meghan O

  2. Well, I can't really blame him if he wanted to make fun of it. ;D I do it all the time, even though I love it. It's simply fun. ^_^
    But yes, I do like him directing Eclipse. I recently watched Hard Candy and thought his directing was great. (:

  3. I'm guessing you're not Naleb Kation *Rolls eyes*

    Like the saying; forgive and forget ๐Ÿ˜€

    Kitty
    xzx

  4. I will hold off on judgement just as i am for New Moon but I do miss Catherine… I think she had the escence of the books and did her best to bring it to the screen with limited budgeting… just think what she could do now with the budget im sure Twilight has now accorded… alas if done properly, usually sequels are better than original films only because of budgets and such, lets just hope his head is out of his anus and he is not just feeding us what we want to hear for the sake of PR

  5. oooooOOOo Second comment! ๐Ÿ˜€

    Well I don't have much to say that this: -.-

    And get well soon Kaleb ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. I'm ashamed to say I heard about this story only a few days ago… But, I think it's a good thing he kinda apologies with this mail. As long as he's not going to ruin Eclipse, I think I can forgive him (; Anyway, I think he's totally aware that if he does ruin Eclipse, he'll become #1 Ennemy. In other words, he'll have a whole fandom on his back… And no-one wants that right?? (:

    Feel better soon ๐Ÿ˜€
    -Kpucine

  7. I make fun of Twilight all the time, and I'm a huge twiholic. I didn't see the big deal in the first place. It was obvious he was just fooling around. I'm glad that he actually likes them though, and is as into it as we are, because otherwise the movie could not live up to its potential. Eclipse is my least favorite book, so for me, as long as I like it, its a winner. Good luck, David!

  8. well honestly I dont care if he does or doesnt like twilight. The only thing thats important is that eclipse has to ba a awesome movie and thats it.

  9. well I din't know about this story until now, but I think we can relax because he appears to be a twilight fan so…

  10. i really think his earlier comments shouldn't be held against him. his apology seems very genuine and i'm sure he'll do a great job with the movie. we as twilighters should give him a fair chance.

    get well soon Kaleb!!

    bon jovi

  11. I think every guy has made fun of Twilight at least once. My older brother used to laugh at me and say horrible things to Edward or Jacob- but HA! He read it, and actually accepted it was pretty good. I even suscribed to you in youtube with his channel! Lolz. I can't wait to see Eclipse. I know David will make a great job!

    Feel better “Naleb”! ๐Ÿ™‚

  12. well im sorry to be the downer but i honestly don 't believe him he had obviously spoke his mind before and is know feeding the fandom what we wanna hear because he knows otherwise we'll eat him alive just as he has seen but anyways i guess we'll just have to see eclipse
    get well soon Naleb Kation

  13. Is it sad that this is the first time I've ever heard of this? Yeah, I live under a rock.
    Guess he's okay. Only time will tell. (:

  14. This is how I see it.
    When my friend gave me Twilight for Christmas '07, I avoided the book like a hot poker. It wasn't the fandom that bothered me (I had barely heard of Twilight before and knew NOTHING about the masses of fans), but I just thought the book would be either really lame or really frightening and depressing. It wasn't until I was VERY ill in bed with the book I was reading downstairs, and decided I could start the book to help me get some sleep, and fate happened.

    I think a lot of people judge it negatively at first, so I can't blame him. I have a lot of faith in this guy, and I don't think that Summit would put such a successful project into anything but the best hands.

    ๐Ÿ™‚

  15. I saw his movie Hard Candy. It was one of the most disturbing movies I have sceen in a long time. I believe that anyone will be able to put Eclipse on the screen. His comment has nothing to do with his directing ability. Only time will tell.

  16. I don't think that I can judge David untill I see him direct. Summit could have made him make that statement. No one knows, and I won't think badly of him untill I see him.

  17. I hadn't read your “casting” blog before today. Hilarious! I was reading the comments with tears running down my face. So funny… The hate mail must have been bittersweet then, but I'll bet looking back you get a kick out of it!
    As for Slade and his comments, I don't really care. There's not a thing I can do about it, so I don't get worked up. I love Stephenie Meyer's saga and am interested to see how the other movies turn out.
    Your blogs crack me up, Kaleb! Looking forward to 9-9-09.
    Feel better soon!

  18. I'm going to be honest, before my friend dragged me to see the film , I too would have not gone to see drunk or on acid (put down the pitchforks, people) but yeah, I value my life more than wasting an hour 1/2 in the cinema. And I admit, I was wrong, dead wrong or else I would not be on this site (unless I was a lurker from Twilightsucks.com looking for new material). I don't think I really took it seriously in the first place (unlike Naleb Kation JK). I have been known to make fun of *gulp* Edward. I stopped that after my friend threw a pencilcase at my other friend's head for telling us ONE BD spoiler and continued to beat her with a schoolbag ( I swear this is true ), I stopped that. Anyway, we all say stuff like that it's just more blown up when you're in the public eye. Get well soon, Kaleb! And I was going to reccomend reading some BD but since laughter is the best medicine …

  19. I wasn't a fan of David when he was first announced as the Eclipse director. I looked at IMDB, saw he had done two horror films with no romance and bad reviews. Sure, the books have horror/action, but they are centered around the romance, and I find Eclipse to be the most romantic book out of all of them. But then when he said those comments, I was completely outraged. Usually when there is a news story everyone gets insane about, I shrug and let it wear off, because I know it usually works out and I give things a chance. Since I already didn't like the guy, I was upset. His apology makes me feel a little bit better, but I still don't think he should direct Eclipse. Maybe Breaking Dawn?

  20. If there was one group of people I would never want to make angry, it would have to be the Twilight fandom. I hope this poor guy can recover from this.

  21. no hard feelings, LOTS of people make fun of popular stuff they know nothing about. i do it all the time (though not really about twilight), so i'm not guilt free.
    it was kind of bad planning though to say that, though, lol. If there's one thing to know about Twilighters it's that you NEVER NEVER make fun of Twilight or anything related to it… because that pitchfork comment probably wasn't a joke.

  22. Never was a big deal to me. He's not going to purposefully make a bad movie, come on.

  23. It's okay. I must live under a rock too, because I hadn't heard anything about it either! But I think he'll be an excellent director for Eclipse seeing the nature of the latter half of the book and the kinds of movies that he has directed. ๐Ÿ˜€

  24. I just found out reading your post. I knew that he will be directing Eclipse but that was all. I think he is sincere in his apology and I feel a little better with the decision of putting him as director of Eclipse. Although I will keep my doubts until I see the movie…..
    It was a good thing of you to tell us about your own experience with Twilight the first time you talked about it, it was a good example that people can change and be honest about that. Nobody doubts about how much you like the saga now!!! haha
    Que te mejores Kaleb ( get well soon ๐Ÿ™‚ )

  25. I forgive him. In all honesty, I'm a bit more confident in him than in Chris Weitz. No offense intended to Mr. Weitz.

  26. Something to think about, do you honestly think he is going to shoot his own career down in flames? No, he's going to do his best to make this a great film. Just remember, Kristen wasn't pro-Twilight for a while there either. People make mistakes, awesome people learn from them. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Get well soon Kaleb!

  27. I don't care if he likes Twilight or not. I haven't even herd about this until now. He wouldn't turn Eclipse into something it is not just to be funny. I think he values his career more than that.

  28. No. Friggin'. Way. IS THIS GUY FOR REAL!?! All this bull coming from his mouth (well technically his computer) and we're supposed to suck it up!?! HOW RETARDED DOES HE THINK WE ARE???????? What he said about Twilight wasn't very funny, even to a sane person (sorry guys, but you know we're all a little off the rocker)!!!!!!!!!!!! He probably won't try to purposely mess up Eclipse, but he is, however, trying to pull the wool over our eyes! Never trust a man who totally disses something and makes it clear that he doesn't like it and thinks it 'killed the genre', and then skips off to direct the next movie in the saga when someone 'flashes the cash'! He may have had what it takes, but he's totally F'ed up and lost my vote!

    Crap! Now I think I've got carpal tunnel! Thanks an awful lot, David Slade!

  29. Lets be honest anyone involved with Twilight Saga is going to get a lot of fame, even if their part is relativley small they still get a lot of publicity. Is it not obvious that this guy just wants a piece of the fame, money, and opportunity he would get from making this film? I see his original comments as his truthful feelings, now he got caught and is trying to suck up to Twilight fans-we are going to being his source of income. I'm just really disappointed and disgusted, I feel like anyone who is part of the project from now on isn't going to really care about it, just the fame and fortune that would be a result. They couldn't say what they really thought about the project- that would just lead to a bunch of angry fan girls. I'm not happy and I would perfer if he had at least been honest, but no one in their right mind would be.
    I smell a PR guy behind his actions.

  30. Thank you Kaleb for posting this! You have made lots of my nervousness go away. I wasn't quite ready to grab my pitchfork (and I really do have one) but hearing about this made me feel a little uneasy about why he signed on to direct the movie. Now I feel so much better

  31. His e-mail does not make me anymore comfortable about him directing Eclipse. I think he only sent that because he HAD to, due to all the drama it was causing in our fandom. I still think he should be fired. I still don't understand why they keep hiring new people to direct the movies. Eclipse is my absolute favorite book in the saga and if he ruins the movie, it would pretty much be the end of the world! FIRE DAVID SLADE NOW.

  32. K so this is the fitst time I'm hearing about this and three letters come to mind WTF! You don't make fun of something and than direct the movie! He still needs to prove himself to me. That letter he sent has “good press” written all over it. He doesn't seem like he's cares that much either. All I have to say is that summit needs to stop screwing twilight over and handing it to people who don't care about it. Catherine Hardwicke would have NEVER said such things about twilight. I personally miss her.

  33. … i think he's ONLY sorry for saying that because he knows that if we're not on his side he won't get his check.
    I'm not convinced that he likes the Twilight series, yet. Words are just words until he proves other wise.

  34. he's only human, and there are people who make fun of the series before reading it/ watching the movie anyway.. so if normal people are allowed to do it, people in the limelight should be allowed that freedom too. we're all entitled to our own opinion after all.
    but the fact that when he was announced as director, and this news broke, and he actually took the time to write a personal email to the fans apologizing for it to retract his statement, is at least better than him keeping quiet about it and being all rude and abrasive to the fandom (which will not have been good lol). at least now we know he won't purposely be ramming Eclipse into the ground due to his apparent “hatred of the series”. People who poke fun at it often don't bother to read it, but he did, and it turned out he liked it, like many other “converts”. So he's apologized, which shows some degree of sincerity. The only thing which should concern people now should be how well he pulls off Eclipse, and I'm hoping he blows us all away.

  35. I mean, 30 Days of Night wasn't a bad movie, but it was very gory. And the Vampires looked creepy and not sexy. And they ate their own kind. And burned in the sun.

  36. I didn't know about any of this until just now. And frankly i'm not that worried about eclipse. Just give him a chance people! I mean if you can't forgive him, then by extension it's like you're not forgiving kaleb for saying the things he said about twilight before. Anyway, i'm more worried about new moon. I heard that they were going to change the story just so robert pattinson can get more screen time. I desperately hope this is not true becase chris did say he'll be faithful to the book…

  37. Honestly, I think for someone to have made those comments to begin with and then SIGN ON to be the director of one of the movies, it's a drastic enough leap to realize that he didn't mean what he said before. I am totally behind him. The tell will be whether or not it actually turns out well, but I think he's going to do his best. Also, that he has made an effort to put Twilight fans at ease, he obviously has some sort of respect for…. or fear of… the series and its followers (hey–whatever works, right?)

    Like Chris for New Moon, it will just have to play-out, and they know that if they screw up, Twilight fans will probably ambush them while they're both eating breakfast. They're rabid, man.

  38. Ahaha. Sometimes I wonder if it would have been better to have someone shoot me than having gone to see Twilight in cinemas. I'm not really sure it was worth my money. Ah well, hopefully New Moon will be better. To be honest, I blame Twilight mostly on Catherine Hardwicke, and partially on Kristen and Rob. I think there was a lot of pressure on them, so they didn't do as well as the minor actors.

    And we'll have to see about Eclipse.

  39. I was a bit upset when I first heard this story, but I think things were really just taken out of context. A lot of us joke about Twilight all the time, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we mean it. I crack jokes concerning Twilight all the time, but that's because my love for it doesn't hold me to certain restrictions. Sure, he might have released that statement just to calm the fans, but at least he acknowledges how devoted and concerned we are about the series and its development. His recent actions show a sort of respect to Twilight and its fans. Thanks for this post Kaleb, hopefully it'll calm more fans down. Get better soon!

  40. well i'd never heard this story but well now i have and i have also read what you, Kaleb, thinks of it and i must say i agree with you and i suport him and i hope he makes Eclipse the brilliant movie it should be.

  41. I don't know if I feel better.
    Lucky for his he was able to release a statement so soon, otherwise the fans would have grabbed the pitchforks!!
    I don't think you should talk bad about a movie when you haven't even seen it yet. Just say you don't really like the Twilight vampire genre for your night out. I don't care if you're promoting a movie you've made.

    I hope he's totally devoted to Eclipse from now on and that he invites all the fans to the set as an apology!!

    Feel better, Kaleb!

  42. Okay, weยดll forgive him ^^

    lol I just went through your first twilight-related posts..
    They were hilarious, especially knowing what you write about twilight now xD
    Do you really have an Attention Ladys: I watch Greyยดs Anatomy t-shirt xDD?

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