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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Speculation Who do you want to direct Episode 7?

Discussion in 'Archive: Disney Era Films' started by PrincessKenobi , Oct 31, 2012.

  1. NileQT87

    NileQT87 Jedi Grand Master star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 21, 2002
    I want someone who will be all about getting the characters, dialog and acting right first and foremost. That's the way Star Wars needs to prove itself again. We know it will look pretty, but we need someone willing to filter anything awkward from the script and direct it towards being a dramatic character work instead of a lazy, vapid FX spectacle. It needs to be a saga that becomes a classic itself if it is going to even go near doing the OT justice and proving that further Star Wars can still be culturally relevant and not totally parasitic on the fond memories of a 35-year-old trilogy. The franchise is currently on life support.

    Joss Whedon, IMO, is the one I would trust most to care most about getting the characterization and drama right. It would also likely not get watered down and kiddified under him. He also strikes me as someone who doesn't like having his work tonally messed with because the people bankrolling it want a goofier, lighthearted flick (see Joss completely walking off the 1992 Buffy movie). He certainly has a better ear for humor that is actually funny and smart than George's impression of what little kids like and how to sell more toys to them. Obviously, the post-modern humor and pop-culture references would need to be removed from his style, but his ability to handle fully-realized, serious drama amongst an ensemble cast in an epic fantasy setting is needed. And yes, the man can provide memorably tragic, rip-your-heart-out-and-stomp-on-it death scenes. He knows how to ring emotive performances out of his cast.
     
  2. MandalorianWrath

    MandalorianWrath Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2005
    I think most of them are just cautious about the implications of directing the next SW film OR have been scared away by demands from the producers ("you're not going to be able to do this because it would make fans angry and cost us a lot of money")

    We all know there's going to be nitpicking, because fans expect the next director to respect what their idea of Star Wars is, while what gets a director interested in a project first and foremost is "How can I bring my vision to this and make it my own?"

    There's no point committing yourself to a project if everything you will be able to do will be dictated by a control freak of a producer, fanbase, etc. Directors have visions, they want to be able to express them, not be restricted by fears of what the audience is going to say about it.

    So to answer the OP : I don't think most of them have read the treatment. Maybe even any of them. They just dread the Star Wars fanbase. No one wants to be the director who crashed the SW ship in the eyes of millions of people.
     
  3. Serpico Jones

    Serpico Jones Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 3, 2012
    I think Trevorrow would've been announced by now if he was the guy.
     
  4. Lee_

    Lee_ Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 3, 2012
    They are all saying they are too busy with other things (except Spielberg, who said it is not his genre). I think it may be that:
    1) They don't want the kind of pressure (and criticism) that comes with a Star Wars movies.
    2) They know they will not have the kind of control over it that they would in other situations (micromanaging by others).
    3) Famous, rich, and well-established directors don't have to deal with a movie that involves the first 2 problems here, they have other options.
     
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  5. GeekFurious

    GeekFurious Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Nov 16, 2012
    Marketing decides these things based on maximum media impact. The why's to their logic is ethereal. ;)
     
  6. The-Eternal-Hero

    The-Eternal-Hero Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 3, 2012
    The treatments would actually have to be written in order for this to happen.

    But look at some of the crap some of these directors have done: there's no way anyone but QT is saying "No" to EVII. As Del Toro put it "it's like asking if I want to date a supermodel".
     
  7. GeekFurious

    GeekFurious Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Nov 16, 2012
    You think they haven't written a treatment for Episode VII?
     
  8. Eeth-my-Koth

    Eeth-my-Koth Jedi Grand Master star 9

    Registered:
    May 25, 2001
    This
     
  9. Diggs

    Diggs Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 31, 2012
    I thought the treatments had been written. I thought Ardnt had done a 40-50pg doc that spanned the entire trilogy, or has that been debunked?
     
  10. The-Eternal-Hero

    The-Eternal-Hero Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 3, 2012
    1. I don't think you woo directors with an outline, not for a movie this important, when an A-list scriptwriter is handling it.

    2. The only official word we have is that KK is sitting down with writer figuring out a story, doing a little research, based on GL's outlines. That is all. They might wait until they have a 1st Draft before they actually woo directors.

    3. No director has so much as hinted at seeing a treatment. There's no reason to even imagine it.

    4. It seems more like directors are intimidated by the prospect than that they are dismissive of the project.

    A lot of the people considered - like Abrams - are actually PT fans. As anyone who appreciates the PT knows, those are daunting films. The idea of trying to meld the visual and story complexity of the PT with the crowd pleasing perfection of the OT, while also pleasing EU and TCW fans...that would definitely inhibit a few people, I think.
     
  11. Diggs

    Diggs Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 31, 2012
    It's not uncommon for a director to be attached a the start of the script process. Yeah, ideally you'd have a script ready but it does happen.
     
  12. Darth_Xeres

    Darth_Xeres Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Jul 3, 2010
    I think Whedon will be too busy with Avengers 2, setting up the S.H.I.E.L.D. television series, and the Marvel universe in general to have the time for Episode 7. And from Disney's point of view, IMO it makes a lot more sense to keep the director of a movie that just earned a bazillion dollars at the helm of that movie's sequel (with the potential of reaping an equivalent amount of money) than to move him to a "new" franchise and risking Episode 7 and even more so Avengers 2 not performing as well as they might.
     
  13. DARTHVENGERDARTHSEAR

    DARTHVENGERDARTHSEAR Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 8, 2002
    I imagine there's a lot of pressure directing a Star Wars film, nowadays. Especially, when some felt Lucas failed to do it, again.

    The one thing they have to do is base their vision and film structure on the gritty look and feel of the OT and I'm sure they'll be fine.
     
  14. yodasbum

    yodasbum Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2004
    If someone has access to the treatments then I would expect them to be under non disclosure contracts. The deal doesn't go through for another couple of weeks and I would expect that Disney/Lfl would want to unveil the director themselves rather than have their hands forced like it seems happened with Arndt. Tevorrow would seem like he's involved in some capacity. Some others are easier to rule in Matthew Vaughan (no apparent work) and rule out Michael Bay (full slate of 5 or 6 projects).

    I think what's clear is that no director will have the influence that George had for instance down to environment or creature design and approval or even scripting new sequences like the droid factory in pick ups. I'm not certain that this would be an ideal job for top directors who regularly want/get more control. I wouldn't expect the director of VII to automatically get final cut for instance because there are two more films to come afterwards and these films will be far stronger linked than say the Bond films.

    They even have in house directors like Brenda Chapman who already be attached. I would expect that one of the candidates regularly mentioned on these boards will get the job.
     
  15. GeekFurious

    GeekFurious Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Nov 16, 2012
    You do woo directors with an outline.

    The director then comes in, talks out the project and builds a rudimentary outline of his own about what his vision for the story is. If accepted on the project, the true building blocks of what the movie will be begin. At that point, the treatment may end up in the garbage with some elements utilized, or they could decide to use a large portion of it.

    Television is a writer's medium. Movies are a director's medium.
     
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  16. Jango_Fett21

    Jango_Fett21 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 9, 2002
    How do people come up with this kind of stuff? As far as I know, every single person that has been talked to outside of Spielberg and possibly Tarantino s currently busy with other projects. I wouldn't know if Tarantino flat-out said no because the films aren't his cup of tea (given that I haven't read his comments) the way that Spielberg did, but everyone else who's been talked to by media people has other projects in the works and were only spoken to because their names were 'out there in the press' in association with SW E7.
     
  17. Miana Kenobi

    Miana Kenobi Admin Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2000
    A lot of other stuff goes into choosing a director far before we have a script. Time commitment is a major one; if they're going to use the same director for all three, now they have to find a director that either has little or no prior commitments for the next 9 years or so, or at the very least their other stuff fits into a schedule. Another is the directors themselves either being interested in it and knowing if they'd be a good fit for it or not. This isn't just some unknown little film; this is STAR WARS. Some might be daunted by the task, but a lot of them have enough respect and humility to know whether or not they'd be good for the films.
     
  18. GeekFurious

    GeekFurious Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Nov 16, 2012
    Yeah, I think for a lot of these guys who are in their mid to late 30s and early 40s, it is very personal and something of a dream job that once offered, you realize it may not be what you want to do... just dream about doing.
     
  19. Diggs

    Diggs Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 31, 2012
    LFL/ Disney will have drawn up a wish-list and sounded those on it out. Those that would be interested will most likely have been shown the treatment (probably in order of preference but not necessarily). As of yet, it doesn't look like anybody has passed based on what they have read. So much of director and cast-choices revolve around who is available, especially if a project is locked into a certain release date. As others have pointed out, Kersh and Marquand were not hotshots when they landed the gig. Kersh knocked his effort out of the park and Marquand did just fine (albeit with GL taking a strong overseer's role). The gig is a double-edged sword. Whoever gets it has the chance to get SW back up on its feet and back onto the big screen. Or they get drowned in hyperbolic backlash if it sucks (which I don't think will happen).
     
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  20. The-Eternal-Hero

    The-Eternal-Hero Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 3, 2012
    Sometimes, not always. Lucas has started projects with no script before. But he's not producing this, he's only consulting. With a draft coming from a talented writer, all I'm saying is, our speculation could be way off. No one outside of LFL might have seen any story content at this point. They might be waiting for the draft for all we know. Also, in the past, the movie was in GL's head. Not this time. As Lucas himself said, there are a lot of gaps in his outlines.

    So the idea of people passing on it seems off.
     
  21. Krueger

    Krueger Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2004
    Does anyone think Dave Filoni might actually be in the running? If not for Episode 7, I think definitely for one of the latter films. I think we will eventually see him behind the camera of a live-action Star Wars film.
     
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  22. Echo-07

    Echo-07 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 9, 2012
    Totally doubt it. They've bowed out without even having been contacted. It's just that these are names put out by fans and the media so they must feel that they have to bow out. Besies Frank Marshall has said the choice is down to a few names already.
     
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  23. yodasbum

    yodasbum Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2004
  24. Echo-07

    Echo-07 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 9, 2012
    Many articles have stated thast treatments were already written by Lucas and Arndt. Probably separate treatements but this sis swhat was reported when the Arndst announcement came.
     
  25. Diggs

    Diggs Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 31, 2012
    According to the initial reports that first linked Arndt to the job, he's supposed to have written a 40-50 page treatment for the entire trilogy. GL may have given him some initial outlines to work off but it seems as if there is a good vision for the story that potential directors can read. Unless there is anything that debunks that?