Gus Van Sant Talks About Why He Wanted To Direct 'Breaking Dawn'

From source: Movieline
The two-time Oscar-nominated director sat down with Movieline this week to discuss Restless’s festival reception, the one-size-fits-all perils of test screenings, the 20th anniversary of his classic My Own Private Idaho, and what he was thinking when throwing his name in the hat to direct The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.


So I have to ask: Were you really in the running last year to direct Breaking Dawn?
I think I was in the running, yeah. But I didn’t make it.
Did you want to make it?

Yeah! Yeah. I tried. I went into a meeting.
What interested you about it?

Because it was this really big pop extravaganza. Then I thought it would be interesting to try and go in there and direct one.
Because of the environment and culture around it?
Yeah.
Creatively, though, what’s the upside?

I think you could probably make it interesting. But I’m not sure, if I’d done it, what it would look like. It might have become similar to the others. I’m sure it would have in some ways.
What was your impression of those other films, and what did you think you’d bring to Twilight that would elevate it?

Well, they were really different, those films. I think I saw all three. The first one was Catherine Hardwicke; it was very… malleable. It had all these different things about it. But then the second one was different. And then I saw three, and that was different. So I realized that in the style you directed it, you could make it into something that was your own.

What about the actors? You have a history of developing great creative relationships with younger actors. What do you think you might have brought to Robert Pattinson or Kristen Stewart or Taylor Lautner?

I don’t know. I don’t know.
Did that enter your thinking along the way?
Well, I knew that I had to work with them, because they were the stars. So… I was looking forward to that part.

Read the whole interview here

Source: via Twilightish