Back in August of 2009, director Catherine Hardwicke signed on to direct Girl in the Red Riding Hood, a gothic interpretation of the Little Red Riding Hood story. (Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way production company is teaming with Warner Bros. for the film.) Now the Los Angeles Times suggests that Amanda Seyfried (Jennifer’s Body, Dear John) is being courted for the lead role in the film.

They report that writer David Johnson (Orphan) has finished a new draft of the script, and the movie is apparently gaining momentum. We still don’t know a lot about the film’s approach, other than its “gothic” nature and it’s supposedly a werewolf story with a teenage love triangle at the center. The Times goes out of its way to draw comparisons to Twilight (which Hardwicke also directed), but even though I’m certain Warner Bros. is willing to cash in on Twilight-mania, I’m holding out a bit more hope for the quality of this project.

Perhaps my expectations are because of DiCaprio’s involvement, even if he ends up only being involved as a producer. As recently as yesterday in an interview with MTV, he stated what we as movie fans all hope to hear: “It’s all about the material at the end of the day.” It’s clear DiCaprio has high hopes for his content and isn’t interested in cashing in on the latest trend, and Hardwicke has proven herself an interesting director with films like Lords of Dogtown and Thirteen. I think Seyfried has yet to show her real talent as an actress, but perhaps Girl in the Red Riding Hood will be something of a showcase for her. In any case, at least it should be something different.

A final note: Michael Dougherty’s Trick ‘r Treat provided some interesting Red Riding Hood imagery which shares some potential story elements with Hardwicke’s new project. I won’t spoil Dougherty’s film for you here, but it’ll be interesting to see how those comparisons shake out when all is said and done.

Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke will not be directing it’s sequel, New Moon. The news first broke on Deadline Hollywood, where it stated that Hardwick “was ‘difficult’ and ‘irrational’ during the making of Twilight”. However, Summit Entertainment quickly released a statement on the matter:

Summit Entertainment and director Catherine Hardwicke jointly announced today that the filmmaker will not be directing the next installment in the newly minted “Twilight” film franchise. Summit’s targeted end of 2009 or early 2010 release of the film, New Moon, does not work with Ms. Hardwicke’s required prep time to bring her vision of the film to the big screen. Thus as has been done before with many successful film franchises, the studio will employ a new director for New Moon.

All eyes will be on Catherine Hardwicke tomorrow during the European press tour in France. Was she fired by Summit or does she really have prep timing issues?