Chris Weitz (About A Boy, American Pie) has returned to the helm for the big screen adaptation of Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass" after director Anand Tucker quit due to "creative differences".
Weitz originally wrote the screenplay and was set to direct but quit the director's chair citing the "technical challenges" of such a project. His departure came only a week after it was revealed that Weitz was asked by New Line to remove the vital references to God and the church which make up the main thread of Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. Despite the suspect timing of this decision he remained on as screenwriter.
Now Tucker has quit the project due to "creative differences". When a director with a lack of pedigree like Tucker quits due to creative differences it is usually because the studio has no confidence in his ability and tries to take control of the project or that the studio wasn't happy about the direction the director was taking the project.
But in the most bizarre twist, Weitz has now been announced as Tucker's replacement, which raises a whole new slew of questions. Weitz said; "Though I'm disappointed that New Line and Anand didn't end up seeing eye to eye, when I was told the job of directing 'Golden Compass' was open, there was just no way that I could pass it up."
Has Weitz just decided he's recharged enough to tackle the project of this scale now? Or was Anand Tucker unhappy with New Line's apparent meddling in the story's integrity and Weitz, who so happily went along with the studio's original bowing to church-group pressure, someone who will be a lot less resistant to the studios apparent demands to water down the story? Who knows, but it's all a little too bizarre to be coincidence.
New Line still hopes to make it's November 16, 2007 deadline despite of this setback.
