Gus Van Sant: How I Bombed My 'Twilight' Audition

10:19 PM PDT 5/17/2011 by THR staff

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The Oscar-nominated director was hoping to land the "Breaking Dawn" helming gig, which ultimately went to Bill Condon.

Even Oscar-nominated directors have to audition for jobs -- and they don't always get the gig either.

Gun Van Sant, whose credits include Milk and Good Will Hunting, was hoping to land the job directing the final two Twilight movies, Breaking Dawn -- Parts 1 and 2. But he said he was unprepared when he went in to make his pitch.

"I got very nervous," Van Sant told MTV. "There were like 15 people. I had never really auditioned or gone into a job interview in that way since maybe 1988 or '87. I guess I was unprepared for that. Usually people just hire me."

Apparently, talent and experience weren't enough for the Breaking Dawn producers. They wanted a director with a clear vision that closely followed the final book in Stephenie Meyer's vampire series.

"I was talking about the book and really all I was saying was 'OK, this is great, let's go do it,'" he said. "That was my pitch, and I think they're used to something else. They're used to, for those of you who might audition for film jobs, they're used to like a 40-minute dissertation with perhaps visual aids and a pep talk about how fantastic this project is going to be and I just didn't know how to how do that."

Sofia Coppola and Bill Condon -- both Oscar winners for writing -- also reportedly auditioned for the job, which ultimately went to Condon.

Van Sant is at the Cannes Film Festival promoting his latest move, Restless. (Read THR's review here.)

Breaking Dawn -- Part 1 opens Nov. 18.