The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – The Salary Saga
Steve Barton
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Once Summit signed Bill Condon to direct The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, everyone has been waiting with bated breath to find out if the final chapter in the Saga would be one film or two. As it turns out, salary negotiations for the possible fifth film have been the hold-up, and not for the actors you might think.
According to The Hollywood Reporter’s THR, Esq., the studio is close to finalizing agreements with leads Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, all of whom will get big raises to return for a fifth installment of the vampire romance saga. And director Bill Condon is already signed to film two ‘Breaking Dawn’ movies, which would be shot back-to-back starting in the fall and released in November 2011 and summer 2012, respectively.
But Summit is having a harder time locking in some of the franchise’s secondary characters. Deals for Peter Facinelli (who plays Carlisle Cullen) and Billy Burke (Bella’s father, Charlie Swan) are done, but the actors who play the Cullen kids (especially Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene) are trying to sink their teeth into bigger paydays that, at least at this point, the studio behind the billion-dollar franchise is unwilling to provide. “We may have a situation where one of them is thrown out on the street to make a point,” says a source close to the dealmaking.
As fans of the series are well aware, there’s already been a recasting precedent set what with Bryce Dallas Howard replacing Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria, so if I were a Cullen, I’d get my ass in gear and sign on the dotted line asap since production won’t wait much longer and costs are going up every day.
For that reason, Summit is still holding out the option of simply doing one ‘Breaking Dawn’, although multiple sources say they’d be shocked if the fifth film doesn’t happen. “This thing is gonna be two movies,” one source says, “with or without the cast intact.” [Author Stephenie] Meyer has already signed off on the plan to make two — a key hurdle, given the approval rights she has in her deal.
Summit also is eying another cost-cutting measure for the final installments. A deal is currently being negotiated to move the production to Louisiana (the first was shot in Portland and the second two in Vancouver and Italy). Luring ‘Twilight’ would be a huge “get” for the state — and, given the tax credits, a money-saver for the studio.
Keep it here for more as we suspect this won’t drag on for too much longer.
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Wonder how the hell they’ll handle that birthing scene in the Dread Central forums.
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