Director Catherine Hardwicke's lavish movie retelling "Red Riding Hood" will open in theaters Friday. Although there will be some inevitable comparisons between the new Amanda Seyfried-starrer and Hardwicke's previous film, the 2008 smash hit "Twilight," Hardwicke says she has no regrets about leaving behind the franchise adapted from Stephenie Meyer's wildly popular young adult novels about high school student Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and the two supernatural hunks vying for her affection.

"I'm not really a sequel person," she says, though she admits to loving both "Godfather II" and "Aliens." "I like the first ['Twilight'] book the best. Then it went into Anne Rice land. I wasn't that into the other ones."

Hardwicke, though rumored to have been fired from the 2009 "Twilight" follow-up "New Moon," which was directed by Chris Weitz, says it was impossible for her to be let go since she had the first right of refusal on the sequel built into her contract.

She adds that both Weitz and David Slade, helmer of the third movie, "Eclipse," had many more constraints put on them than she did, remembering that when "Twilight" was filming it was still an under-the-radar project and not nearly the juggernaut it is today.

"There was a massive amount of pressure on them," she says. "I had a lot more freedom. Half of the stuff in my movie is not in the book... I got to put a lot of my imagination and my own fingerprints on it. That's not the case anymore. Now they are watched like a hawk."

As to whether Hardwicke liked the other directors' adaptations, she is more diplomatic.

"Like I said, I think the directors had a lot more obstacles.... I'm not a good judge. Even when I was a designer, I didn't want to do a sequel. If I got called for a job that was a sequel, I didn't go to the interview. Why would I want something that somebody else had already done, even if that somebody was me?"

-- Nicole Sperling

Photo: Director Catherine Hardwicke, right, with actress Amanda Seyfried on the set of "Red Riding Hood."

Credit: Warner Bros.

A few weeks ago, we reported that Amanda Seyfried was on the studio shortlist for the Catherine Hardwicke-directed, Leonardo DiCaprio-produced "The Girl With the Red Riding Hood" at Warner Bros. Sources now say it's looking likely Seyfried will come aboard the dark adaptation of the fairy tale for Hardwicke.

The Times' Rachel Abramowitz also recently caught up with Hardwicke, who acknowledged the Seyfried discussions. Hardwicke tipped a few more details about the "Twilight"-esque project (based on an idea from DiCaprio), which she described as being about a “village plagued by this wolf."

"It’s wild with all these different secrets and lies, and a murder mystery," she said. "It’s super-sexy.”

“Red Riding Hood” has never lacked for modern cinematic re-interpretations, including Neil Jordan’s “The Company of Wolves,” which explored the innocent Riding Hood’s sexual awakening, and the 1996 “Freeway,” in which the story was refracted through the lens of a serial killer (Kiefer Sutherland) and an abused girl (Reese Witherspoon).

Hardwicke adds that she thinks a green light will happen on this one. "We’re on track, and it looks pretty positive," she said.

Photo: Amanda Seyfried. Credit: Stephen Shugerman / Getty Images