Chris Weitz, director of About a Boy and the Golden Compass, has been confirmed as the new director for New Moon, the sequel to Twilight.

My sources tell me he arrived in Vancouver on Sunday and has spent the last couple of days beginning pre-production, in meetings with local crews, and starting to scout locations in preparation to shoot in March which means, ugh, my city this Spring will be taken over by screaming AssLight superfans and their equally, um, enthusiastic mothers. Amazing.

At the forefront though for Weitz is the issue of casting. Little Taylor Lautner who played Jacob Black will probably not grow a foot in 3 months. As such, it’s very likely he’ll be replaced. And this dude, Michael Copon will sing and dance and strip naked if necessary to get the part. Something about MySpace and very clearly stating his intentions which I suppose is the iGeneration’s version of what Sean Young did so many years ago when vying for Catwoman. Her rejection from that role tipped off a dramatic downward spiral, something she is STILL bitter about.

But Michael isn’t the only actor campaigning for a part. Would you believe British Ben Barnes wants to be part of Twilight too? Word is he’s very, very keen to play Aro who’s like a million years old but fine and delicate and terrifyingly beautiful because he’s a vampire. Ben certainly fits the beauty description and in person he’s actually less pretty and delicate, but I’m not feeling the hair. He’d look better with short hair, even though they’ll likely keep it long if he gets the green light. Interestingly enough, they say he’s friends with Robert Pattinson. Cozy. Here’s Ben on the set of Dorian Gray earlier this year.

All this and many more decisions are expected to be made in very short order. Summit’s aggressive and, some say, super thrifty schedule is making it a very tight timeline. Translation: more low budge cheese! And why not right?

They turned up en masse for the embarrassingly poor production value of the first. They don’t care. So why, if you’re the studio, would you spend so much money pleasing a fanbase whose only expectation is to show up? Right?

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Photos from Splashnewsonline.com