It has now been confirmed that in fact JJ Abrams will direct Star Wars Episode VIII.
The original blog post follows:
So apparently a lot of film sites and blogs have it all but confirmed that JJ Abrams is to direct the seventh installment of the Star Wars series. This in contrast to what Abrams himself has said earlier:
I am looking forward more then anyone to the next iterations of Star Wars, but I believe I will be going as a paying moviegoer!
Personally I am more disappointed than excited by this whole ordeal. JJ Abrams has made some good stuff, but I've never really been a fan of his work, and in particular his work on the 2011 Star Trek film, which would be the strongest parallel to draw to Star Wars. But I do see and understand why others really do like the Star Trek film, and would like to see him helm Star Wars as well. Do we really want to see one guy at the helm of both Star Trek and Star Wars, though? Aren't those two franchises supposed to be locked in an eternal war never revealing a superior victor? Imagine the complex arguments that will be made now when criticising the other franchise's horrible director when your franchise has the same one! The Internet will never be the same again.
Primary source: The Wrap
Now, let me talk about who I would like to direct a Star Wars sequel (which will now have to be Episode IIX and IX), ever since I first heard about the new Star Wars trilogy I had a name in mind, and that was Andrew Stanton. You will know him best as the director of Pixar's Finding Nemo and WALL-E, in the latter he proved that he could pull of big science fiction films, and make it about the characters rather than the action. But I think he really found his footing with the flop John Carter, a film that I really wish hadn't flopped. It can be compared to Star Wars in its variety of alien species, universal plot and the man who lead a rebellion, and won, against the evil lord with magical powers.
I strongly believe that Stanton would be able to bring Star Wars to a new audience in a magnificent way.
That is two films sorted out, Abrams for the first (seventh) and Stanton for a second (eight), but who should take the helm of the last film? Brad Bird (he said as if it was fact). Bird has said that he would not be doing episode seven because he was already busy making other films, but episode nine would be quite a while away compared to seven. If he were offered the role, I'm sure he could shuffle things around. Buzz around episode seven sure has shown that Bird is a people-favourite for directing, and just a short look at his résumé shows that he is more than capable of directing big, fantastical films.
And hey, his most recently released endeavour was Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, which had JJ Abrams involved as a producer. Perhaps it's a good thing after all that Abrams is directing episode seven, maybe he can convince Bird to step in and finish off the series with a bang. And personally I think that'd be pretty, darn neat.
Epilogue:
For those of you asking why I've picked three directors for three Star Wars films instead of wanting one to do them all, to make sure the vision remains the same: The original trilogy was directed by three different people; the prequel trilogy was directed by the same man. Case closed.
Epi-epilogue:
Yes, I want most of Star Wars to be directed by Pixar veterans, deal with it.
Epi-epi-epilogue:
My choice for a third (first) Star Wars director would be Kenneth Branagh. I like his style.
No comments:
Post a Comment