Breaking ‘Twilight’ News: David Slade confirmed as ‘Eclipse’ director

Where are the fangs, Slade?

Summit Entertainment has confirmed 30 Days of Night and Hard Candy director David Slade will be directing the third installment of the Twilight saga Eclipse.

Yesterday it was reported from various sources that Slade was in talks for the job, but a Summit press release this morning made the claim official. Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg is also said to reprise her role as part of the third film.

The choice of Slade may come as a shock to those who are fans of his work. His previous films are undoubtedly darker material than the Twilight saga was ever meant to be. But he’s proven himself worthy in both the vampire genre and character study films, one of the elements many said to be truly lacking in the first film.

For those unfamiliar with the book series, the plot line of Eclipse is, for lack of a better term, much more ‘active’ than the first two. While Twilight and New Moon spend much of their time establishing characters and the relationships between them, Eclipse and the fourth installment, Breaking Dawn, see much more conflict–something that Slade has shown as one of his strong suits.

The Eclipse release is tentatively scheduled for June 30, 2010.