Chris Weitz

It's a bad sign when a director feels the need to reassure fans that his film won't actually be as bad as the trailer looks.

Frost/Nixon star and Kate Beckinsale’s baby daddy, Michael Sheen, has joined the cast of New Moon.

Director Chris Weitz has revealed the Oscar-nominee will play Aro, the leader of the Volturi, an Italian vampire clan that will also include Dakota Fanning

They are pulling some serious caliber actors for the Twilight sequel. 

That gives us hope for the film's quality, given its tight schedule and insanely fast turnaround time.

—Sasha Perl-Raver

Twilight author Stephenie Meyer and New Moon director Chris Weitz made a major announcement on Meyer’s website last night:

“Good news about New Moon from director Chris Weitz:

I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in New Moon and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer.

In a last ditch effort to convince Twilight producers he should return in the sequel, New Moon, as a bigger and more mature werewolf Jacob Black, Taylor Lautner is packing on the pounds.

“I have been working out,” Lautner proclaimed, proudly. “I’ve been working out since the day we finished filming Twilight. I just weighed myself today; I’ve put on 19 pounds.”

Chris Weitz knows who not to piss off: the fans.

The newly-anointed director of New Moon will be taking over the franchise from Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke and has promised to stay true to the original source material so as not to upset the franchise’s loyal followers. 

Poor Taylor Lautner.

He had one brief shining moment of glory and then got booted.

Summit executives don’t want to have the scrawny little Twilight star back for New Moon and the film’s new director Chris Weitz is reportedly already out to get Scorpion King 2 actor Michael Copon to play the new, bigger, badder Jacob Black.

And he’s not the only new star in the mix.

Hardwicke is out and The Golden Compass director Chris Weitz is officially in to direct the next chapter of the Twilight gravy train, New Moon.

Summit has already announced November 20th, 2009 as the release date for New Moon, the sequel to Twilight, and they don’t care how they get there.