Once the news hit that George Lucas was selling his empire to Disney, it must have taken all of five seconds before everyone wondered who would be direcingt the next three Star Wars flicks.
Yes, along with selling off Lucasfilm to the Mouse House, it was announced there will be three more Star Wars films, Episodes Seven, Eight and Nine.
While some of us wish the Star Wars films would just end, and we were under the impression they were indeed done forever by now, the next three will not be written or directed by Lucas, which frankly he should have done for the prequels. But now that the ball is rolling on Star Wars again, with Episode Seven due for release in 2015, speculation went nuts all over the ‘Net as to who should direct them.
On Entertainment Weekly, the list of “potential picks” included Christopher Nolan, Peter Jackson, Joss Whedon, J.J. Abrams, Catherine Hardwicke (Please God don’t let anything related to Twilight infect Star Wars), Guillermo del Toro, and Alfonso Cuaron. Meanwhile, Collider suggested Brad Bird, David Yates (Harry Potter), Matthew Vaughn (X-Men First Class), Sam Mendes (Skyfall, American Beauty), and Abrams again.
So going down the list of these potentials, and many of them are very obvious choices, your head starts spinning with possibilities. In the case of Nolan and Jackson, they just finished up their own franchises, and it would be funny to think of them taking on the Star Wars franchise after winding down a bit. In the case of Jackson, Nolan, Abrams, and Del Toro, it would definitely be intriguing to see what they would do with Star Wars if it was handed over to them.
Del Toro’s now tackling sci-fi with Pacific Rim that could be his own franchise, and Whedon has Avengers 2 coming 2015 as well, so he’ll probably be busy with those sequels for the rest of the decade to try and take on the Force. As risky as it would be, it would also be interesting to see what a newcomer director could do with Star Wars, much like Neill Blomkamp was going to helm Halo, but then proved his mettle as a filmmaker with District 9, his debut film. (Come to think of it, he’d be an interesting Star Wars choice as well).
With the best Star Wars flick, Empire, the late Irvin Kershner was an interesting left-field choice. Lucas knew him from USC, and he’d never directed a genre film before. Empire was also written by Lawrence Kasdan, who was a hot up and coming screenwriter who went on to pen Raiders, Body Heat, The Big Chill, Jedi, and more. Left of center choices to write and direct the new Star Wars flick, much like off the wall choices like Sam Raimi and Bryan Singer were chosen for Spider-Man and X-Men, would be very welcome.
There’s certainly going to be plenty of A-list writers and directors who will jump at the chance to helm the next Star Wars flicks, there certainly won’t be a problem filling those positions. But with the next three Star Wars flicks now an inevitability, whether the fans feel it should be given a rest or not, let’s indeed hope the powers that be will choose very wisely before picking who will officially steer the ship.
