Hardwicke set to Stay

There are those who might think that there are hard feelings between director Catherine Hardwicke and Summit Entertainment. After all, the latter rather unceremoniously dropped Hardwicke from the TWILIGHT sequel NEW MOON and hired director Chris Weitz instead. But apparently they’ve kissed and made up. Hardwicke has signed on to direct IF I STAY for Summit, a yet-to-be-published novel by Gayle Forman. Summit snatched up the rights to the book back in January and has been in negotiations with Hardwicke to adapt. The story follows a teen girl who is in a near fatal car crash. She has an out of body experience and has to decide whether she wants to return to the world of the living or head on up to the pearly gates. The book hits shelves on April 2nd and so far no screenwriter is attached to adapt. At the time they picked up the book Summit said, “Not since TWILIGHT have we seen as emotionally moving a book for a youth audience with this kind of crossover appeal.” Did TWILIGHT really have crossover appear? I didn’t see anyone other than teen girls in line at the theater…