Speculation Who do you want to direct Episode 7?

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayl...e-7-screenplay-pre-production-begins-20121109

Frank Marshall discussing the Director search:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1697258/star-wars-director-frank-marshall.jhtml

They would all be out.

Abrams is the only one of those guys who has definitively ruled himself out. Being attached to another project might make someone an unlikely candidate but not impossible. Directors jump from project to project all the time. GDT has said there has been no approach yet (which suggests there won't be for this episode) but has said he would be open to discussion if such an approach is ever made.

Thanks, Echo. Good to get the initial reports back up. If they are correct then whichever Directors are being approached will be reading the 40-40 page doc. I wonder if guys are pitching their take on the material or if they are targeting the short list in wish list order.

I doubt it's because of the treatment, seems they're either busy with other projects or not interested due to the immense challenges presented in helming the future of SW.

At this point I'm thinking it may be some Disney or Pixar person we've not focused on much. Either that or some young fool next-gen director without much to their name but a whole lot of passion and good ideas.

GDT is already in heavy production in a couple of films, I doubt he would drop them at this point. How would Whedon do it?

Plus a tv show he's producing on FX. He's pretty busy.

Had a thought - they wouldn't let Stanton near this after John Carter, would they? Because I think he worked with Arndt on the Toy Story franchise, didn't he?

Even though I didn't think it was a bad movie. I thought it suffered from poor marketing. I still don't think he gets near a movie for a while again.

"Boba Fett Time travel flik."

well i can certainly see how that will turn out.

I'm not saying Whedon necessarily can do it, just that it remains possible if he were to jump from Avengers 2 to SW 7. It's not even rare for directors to switch projects. He's a massive SW nerd too. Firefly/ Serenity was practically the Han Solo adventures.I'm not saying he will, just that if he, LFL and Disney felt it was the right choice, it could happen.

I doubt that it will, but seeing as he hasn't definitively ruled himself out yet, he remains a (very) wild card.


I happen to think it will be one of Favreau or Johnston, with Trevorrow or Darabont as outside bets.

I'd agree with three of those being the most likely. Out of those three I'd prefer Favreau, who i think is good with actors. The tone of Iron Man was similar to ANH for me and I would like VII to bring back the fun and joy of Star Wars rather than stoic and infantile humour.

I just can't see Disney allowing Whedon to jump ship for this one as it could be perceived that they favour SW over A2. Especially as this is not a one shot opportunity and he can have VIII or IX.

Which is a shame because I think Stanton would be a great choice. Arndt and the Pixar guys have worked together on various movies. Arndt and Brad Bird did some re-writes and re-shoots for Tron Legacy for example.

Still pulling for Whedon and hoping the current wait is Disney/Marvel and by extension Whedon and Feige screening replacement directors for Avengers 2 while Whedon stays on as only a co-producer like Feige.

But doesn't Whedon now run the Marvel film side of things? It's he in charge of the tone and plots of the movies? Why would they change that up?

That could be the reason this is taking so long. Disney might be maneuvering to get a director to drop a current project.

I don't want Joss Wheden. Unless Disney clones him, he cannot physically do this, anyway. For a start he’s doing The Avengers 2, a film with a pretty long pre-production process I would have thought. Also, he’s very busy with the SHIELD television series. And, last but not least, I thought The Avengers was incredibly overrated. It was a good film, for sure, but it wasn’t “great” or “game-changing”, which are phrases I’ve seen a lot throw about since it was released. I thought the start of it especially suffered from incredibly TV-looking cinematography. The nothing-but-long-shots almost made me question what on Earth I was watching. Luckily it improved.

I think the only director that will read the treatment will be the one who signs on for the job. Come on, we're talking about Stars Wars here, we all know the great lengths they went to in the past to keep things under wraps; they're not gonna let every director who is interested take a look and decide if he would direct. Directing Star Wars is the job people would sell their firstborn for; Lucas calls the shots, you don't just walk in there and tell Lucas whats what. You hope you make a good impression on him so he hires you and shows you whats what.

All the directors that have been mentioned are pure fan speculation. And some are just ridiculous. I mean, anyone with half a brain knows Quentin Tarantino isn't gonna direct a Disney movie. Speilberg was mentioned because of his close ties with Lucas but he shot down that rumor right away. Ben Affleck was mentioned because he just directed a successful movie. This is all talk. Then I gotta hear about Ben Affleck is endorsing JJ Abrams? Shut your stupid face Ben Affleck, no one cares about the opinion of a wooden actor.

Stuff like this happens all the time. It's like when an interesting role in a movie is up for grabs: alot of people say Johnny Depp is a top contender if he doesn't already have the job.

Anyhow, as much as I would love to see Del Toro direct, I know that's not gonna happen, so I hope Ron Howard gets the job. Or Joe Johnston. But I'm sure neither have read the treatment.

Feige does that. He has always done that and been in charge of that. Joss signed on to be something akin to the same role already, which he can still maintain and do easily with time and energy while stepping away from actually directing A2.

As far as his responsibilities to SHIELD...its the exact same position he already has in collaboration with Feige as far as Marvel properties in film/TV. Other than that, he's only directing the SHIELD pilot, and has already passed on showrunner responsibilities to his brother and his brother's wife. If it's easier to process, Whedon's role with SHIELD is equivalent to JJ Abrahms and the 3-5 TV projects he always comes up with every year where he writes/directs maybe the pilot and then passes it on to the real showrunners/writers/producers, e.g., LOST, FlashForward, Fringe, Revolution, Person of Interest, Alcatraz, etc.

I wouldn't worry about cinematography, as Star Wars already has a very definitive style when it comes to Set Design, Cinematography/Photography, and Editing. Whomever works in any of these departments, no matter what their own style/tastes/tendencies are will have to replicate the Star Wars film template or else this next trilogy is not going to "match" the other two.

Whedon is signed to Marvel Studios until June 2015.

Ron Howard

He did take a meeting with Disney 2 weeks ago...

I did not know that. Nice.

Any contract can be renegotiated. It's even easier when the two companies negotiating are both owned by the same parent and lose little to nothing.

Ron Howard would be good, but I don't think he counts as nextgen. But his very close friendship with Lucas and Lucasfilm, itself, lend weight...probably far more than Joe Johnson.