The last time we reported on Disney's plans for an edgy new movie version of Cinderella the project had a new director, Mark Romanek, and four planned reboots of Snow White breathing down its neck. Not only does it now also have several other big- and small-screen fairy tale “reimaginings” to compete with, it now also has a writer, as The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Chris Weitz is in talks to tackle the screenplay.
People who don't understand the film business might think that Weitz is an odd fit for this project, because he made his name as co-director of the raunchy teen comedy American Pie. People who do understand the film business will immediately recognize that he is, in fact, an odd fit for this project, because he wrote and directed The Golden Compass, a hugely expensive fantasy film that was supposed to be the first in a series of movies based on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Of course, the finished film was deemed such a disappointment that the sequels were canceled, even though the scripts for them had already been completed. However, since then Weitz has redeemed himself in the bean counters' eyes by directing The Twilight Saga: New Moon, even though experts who can tell the Twilight movies apart inform us that it is easily the dullest.