Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke will be giving a workshop for filmmakers called The Art of Prep: Directing Workshop. It is a 75-minute seminar in the Vancouver area and will cover a variety of topics.

Hardwicke also will discuss her experience directing Twilight, the vampire blockbuster that grossed $69.6 million on opening weekend — the highest opening ever for a film by a female director.

“I’ll talk about how we prepped the treetop sequence and the seven different locations we used to film that — what was the first unit shot, what was the second unit shot, what did Rob [Pattinson] and Kristen [Stewart] do, where we put the platform.”

Hardwicke, who began her career in Hollywood as a production designer, said she developed her techniques through trial and error, a year of schooling at the University of California, Los Angeles, and watching and working with a number of “awesome directors” including Cameron Crowe, David Russell and Lisa Cholodenko.

“Being a production designer, I was a department head right in there with them, next to them, coming up with ideas, pitching, running through rehearsals with them,” she said.

“I saw a variety of directors’ techniques and then on each movie I used what seemed to work best for that film.”

See more details on The Vancouver Sun

Collider has an interview with Catherine Hardwicke to talk about the Red Riding Hood DVD release. The film also co-stars Billy Burke.

“As a director, what does it mean to you that you already have this film legacy that includes launching one of the most successful film franchises of all time? Does that inspire you to continue to do work that makes an impact on people?

HARDWICKE: Yeah. As a director, you try to do things that are going to touch the human experience somehow, and emotions that mean something to people. You search for those projects and you hope to realize the potential in a project. We try and sometimes we succeed in a way that’s crazy, beyond our wildest dreams. You just never know what’s going to happen. So many factors are involved. Everybody puts their heart and soul into it. We put our heart and soul into every project. It’s our baby. You can’t really just think, “Oh, I want to make something that is going to appeal to every single person in the world.” You have to just try to make a movie that comes from your heart. For Twilight, I wasn’t thinking it was going to be a crazy success, or anything. It had been rejected by all the major studios. Nobody wanted to make it and they didn’t think it would make any money, but I read the book and I thought, “Wow, I want to capture that feeling of just being crazy in love. I wonder if I can do that in a film.” That was my challenge. I thought, “If I can make you feel what it’s like for that first super-passionate love, other people might like that too,” and, of course, they did.”

See the whole interview on Collider

Speaking of Catherine, there is also a terrific video of her talking about Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s Twilight audition on the infamous bed. Check it out here (Via Twilight Poison)

Catherine Hardwicke talked to Seventeen Magazine about the differences between Twilight and Red riding Hood:

“CG: What draws you to these dark, fantasy movies, like Twilight and Red Riding Hood?

CH: When I read the Twilight book, I didn’t see it as fantasy. I saw it as a love story. I really wanted to create that feeling of being madly in love with someone. With Red Riding Hood, there was whole different feel. Although there is that sense of falling in love, it’s different than Bella and Edward’s relationship. Valerie gets suspicions of the person she loves, which is a very real theme. Sometimes you’re looking at someone you love your whole love and think, “Could they have a secret?” Maybe you don’t think your boyfriend is a murder, but you’re wondering if he’s cheating behind your back!

CG: You were originally interested in casting Shiloh Fernandez as the role of Edward in Twilight. What made you go back to him for Red Riding Hood?

CH: I liked him when he did the auditions for Twilight, but Rob and Kristen had more chemistry, which is something you just can’t fake. I’ve always believed my leading lady should have a say in who plays opposite her. I wanted Amanda [Seyfried] to be very involved with the person she was supposed to be in love with on screen. We had a bunch of guys come in to read with Amanda, but her and Shiloh just hit it off best!”

See more on Seventeen

The BBC Radio 4 program The Woman’s Hour had Catherine Hardwicke among their guests last show. You can listen to Catherine’s Interview here.

TY to Juxtabook for the heads up!

Catherine Hardwicke is doing a lot of press for her new film Red Riding Hood and is dropping some Twilight facts along the way.

Catherine Hardwicke is currently doing press for her first movie since Twilight called Little Red Riding Hood. The movie also co-stars Billy Burke and like Twilight it was shot in the Pacific Northwest. Here’s what Catherine had to say on Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s chemistry:

“For Twilight, Hardwicke had trouble finding an actor otherworldly enough to play vampire Edward Cullen. Then she got a call about a guy in London. “I looked at a couple pictures and was like, ‘I’m not sure,’?” Hardwicke says. “He had been fired from his last job, he was unemployed, he was in debt.” Pattinson flew to Los Angeles on his own dime to read with Stewart. “I have footage of their first meeting at my dining-room table,” Hardwicke says. “Kristen was like, ‘It’s got to be Rob!’ She felt connected to him from the first moment. That electricity, or love at first sight, or whatever it is.” Hardwicke gave him the part, but he had to make a promise. “You’ve got to realize that Kristen is 17 years old,” she told him. “She’s underage. You’ve got to focus, dude, or you’re going to be arrested. I made him swear on a stack of Bibles.”

Despite Twilight’s $400 million global success, Hardwicke left the franchise when it came to the sequel. She said it was her decision, despite a blog report that she was fired. “I couldn’t even be fired, that’s what’s so funny,” she says. “In my contract, I had the first right of refusal.” She turned down the second film, she says, because the studio wanted to rush it out. “I do not regret it at all, thank the Lord,” she says. “The truth is I liked the first book the best.”

Check out the full story on Newsweek.

Via KstewNews