Open Forum Friday: Who Should Direct the New Star Wars Movie?

Posted by on November 2nd, 2012   Filed under: Open Forum Friday

Let’s be honest, no one seems to be interested in discussing anything this week other than Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm and the announcement of a new Star Wars movie. Fans continue to debate whether the news is ultimately a good thing, but I think most of us can at least agree that Star Wars was in dire need of some new blood and a different approach. The thought of a different director taking on the next movie is intriguing to say the least, but who would Disney trust with such a valuable property? More importantly, who would be willing to put their reputation on the line and take over one of the most beloved franchises of all time?

Some of the obvious choices being floated around the web include Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan and Joss Whedon, but it seems much more likely that they would hand it off to a talented newcomer (think Joseph Kosinski with Tron: Legacy). Sources are saying that the next movie will be an original story and that it will not draw from any of the existing Star Wars novels, which would obviously allow for some creative freedom, but many fans are calling for a straight up adaptation of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy. What would you like to see in a new Star Wars movie? Are you disappointed that they might not adapt any of the novels? Who would you like to see direct Star Wars: Episode VII? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.



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  • Film Ape

    McG

  • Rian Johnson would be my first choice. Duncan Jones and Brad Bird would be interesting too.

  • Colin

    Obvious choice: J.J. Abrams

  • Jack Burton

    It should be directed by Chris Nolan and star Nathan Fillion, Robert Downey Jr. and Bryan Cranston. -The Internet

  • kyri

    ..Sean you king of all trolls, ;) you got me again …. I want either the Wachowskies or Tommy Wiseau. -Nobody else.

  • Jack Burton

    They’re probably gonna give it to a starry eyed noob fresh out of film school. They’re trying to reinvent Star Wars. They don’t want any big names bringing baggage and presumptions with them.

  • Steve Kroodsma

    David Fincher, Then again, I want him to direct everything. The Wachowskies would be a very good choice.

  • adam lenehan

    Terry Gilliam

  • Boris Karloff

    Star Wars doesn’t need any big names attached to it.

  • Owozifa

    Not Joss Whedon. Seriously what is with that guy and his fans? I think Serenity is cool but he is a total mismatch.

  • I

    Spielberg/Kasdan/Fincher

  • patrik

    Joss Whedon is awesome, that’s whats with him and us fans. But I agree that I don’t want him to do it, he can do other stuff instead.

    Fincher would be cool, Spielberg always wanted to do one right? That could be good. Edgar Wright maybe.. There’s so many options.. I guess that’s what’s best about this whole thing, it should be relatively easy for them to get a good director.

  • 4 words. John. Carpenter’s. Star. Wars.

    Bam. Thread over. :P

    Srsly tho, I’d be highly interested to see what Fincher could do with a Star Wars film.

    Maybe Neil Blomkamp would be an interesting choice as well? Hmm.

  • Dirrrrtyfrank

    Gotta be del toro. Easy choice

  • Steve Kroodsma

    Peter Jackson would be good.

  • RussSully

    Who’s the guy who did District 9. I think he would be perfect. Kinda make it low budget type of style. Industrial. A Star Wars that looks like district 9. Just my too sense

  • Boris Karloff

    How does Fincher fit the bill?

  • scott

    Guy who did die hard 4.

    scott
    http://www.reconditepictures.com

  • Xidor

    Not Spielberg. I would like to see a fresh take on the trilogy. The last Indiana Jones movie makes me not want Spielberg attached to another Lucas movie.

  • Nathan

    Apparently nobody here has read the Thrawn trilogy, or they would be begging for it to be made into episode 7 like me. Disney took all the wind out of my sails when they promised it wouldn’t be based on any of the books. Some of the books were really, really good.

  • Kyle

    brad bird

  • Glendon

    Edgar Wright

  • I was hoping no one had said Duncan Jones yet, but that was one of the FIRST names dropped. While it’s impossible to find anyone in the last three and a half decades that hasn’t been influenced by Star Wars, I’d prefer something that looks and feels a little different, or at least something that won’t come off so much as a love letter to Star Wars, which I think we’d run the risk of seeing with a Whedon or a Wright. I think one of the great things about the original trilogy was that each film had a different director, and while everything fit right in place, each installment still had kind of a different look and feel. The completely Lucas-directed Prequel trilogy just looked like a cartoon.

    I would be so, so happy for Episode VII to be a blank slate, to ignore the extended universe stuff, or at least not to pattern itself directly after one of the storylines, because for the FIRST time in my 34 years, I have the opportunity to go into a Star Wars film with absolutely no fucking idea of what’s going on. Like never before, I have the chance to ignore the rumors and leaks and whatnot. Sure, I could have done that with the prequels too, but even if I would have done that, I still knew where it was all ending up. The classic characters in a NEW adventure? Fuck. Yes.

  • Tum Tum Tyranus

    Calling it now, Disney will choose Gore Verbinski to direct the new Star Wars film.

  • Tahir

    Seeing as Avengers 2 and Star Wars 7 are set to be
    released on 2015 I think Joss Whedon will be too busy
    to do both.

    Fincher has a certain style of film making which I don’t think fits well a Star Wars film.

    Speilberg is too old.

    JJ Abrams or Damon Lindeloff….They’re Star Wars geeks, might work.

    But I’m going with Neill Blomkamp (District 9).

  • La Menthe

    JJ Abrams.

  • La Menthe

    Some people in here must be trolling. Nolan? Fincher? This is Star Wars, not a dark-toned thriller.

  • Stinker

    What about Steven Spielberg?
    What about Steven Soderbergh?
    What about Michael Davis? (No Joke)

    Please NOOOOO Michael Bay (too old to direct a Piece of shit on a table – coming soon…. Shit – The Movie)
    Pleasee Nooooooo J.J. or Joss, let them run what they got….otherwise it will be “coming soon” till doomsday

    Whoever they will choose, it will be a safe bet, not a wild card, but then again it will be a safe movie. No Risik and no i´m afraid no much fun.

  • Bas

    I think Joe Johnston is a SERIOUS contender. He recently made the pretty good Captain America movie for Disney, knows how to incorporate special effects, has a Star Wars connection (art direction for the OT, final design for Yoda & Boba, wrote a Droids episode, production designer for the Ewoks movies) and seems easy to work with (no ego getting in the way). Mark my words: Joe Johnston is getting this job!

    As for the actual story, I agree with Plan B: surprise us!

  • La Menthe

    @Bas

    The problem is that he is a bad director who hasn’t made anything good.

  • Bas

    @La Menthe

    He’s no visionary, but I certainly wouldn’t call him ‘bad’. I’m sure Disney wouldn’t have given him Captain America if they thought he was ‘bad’. Star Wars is not art, let’s not pretend it needs a director that treats it as such.

  • Scott

    The Cap sequel sounds awesome. Rather see him do that than Star Wars.

  • Scott

    But, the answer is obvious. Ridley Scott.

  • Joe Cornish or Neil Blomkamp would be awesome, but I’d bet money they go with Brad Bird or Joe Johnston.

  • Bob

    Ryan Connolly.

  • Liney

    Joe Cornish is a good shout.

    I’ll tell you who shouldn’t direct it. George Bloody Lucas. So whatever happens, it’s a step in the right direction.

    Perhaps more important though is who writes the script, and what their intention is. I’ve never read any of the books, but I’d quite like to see an aging Luke succumb to the dark side…

  • Derek McFarland

    Jon Favreau

  • Boris Karloff

    Joe Johnston sounds like the best bet so far to me. I’d like to see that movie. Though I’m positive it’ll be a nobody.

  • I can’t believe some of the names being thrown around here. David Fincher? Joss Whedon? Seriously? Remember, the original trilogy was mostly directed by guys for hire. Irvin Kershner, far from an auteur director, made what is arguably the best SW film. You DO NOT want to give this show to a director with a distinct style. It shouldn’t be a Fincher film or a Whedon film, it should be STAR WARS. Give it to a nobody out of film school, I don’t care. It’s gonna be down to the script and the level of talent.

  • Gerry

    I don’t think it matters who directs it, what matters is who writes it.

    The reason Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull was a weapons grade piece of shit and episodes 1-3 were fairly poor / underwhelming films was because of the piss poor writing by the man who’s relinquished control of the Star Wars films, Mr Lucas.

    I’d like to see a small team of proper writing talent write the 3 films and while I’d like to see Ridley Scott direct at least one of them (after his masterful direction of Prometheus) I think any of the names from the above comments would do a good job, providing they were kept far away from the writing.

    As for darkness, people seem to forget Luke’s aunt and uncle being burnt to a crisp by the stormtroopers.

    I’m all for a bit of darkness if it reinforces the idea that the empire is a tough nut to crack. I’ll take that over teddy bears defeating the empire any day.

  • patrik

    #39

    Yeah we wanna make sure we continue the quality of film making from the latest trilogy.. We’ve already had 6 movies, 1 animated movie and at least 1 animated tv show (to my knowledge) of “Star Wars”. Might be time to give it to someone with interesting ideas or an interesting take on stuff. Like Fincher.. Didn’t he come out of ILM btw? Didn’t think of Blomkamp, that could be cool.

    Obviously the script is the most important thing, but if you can get a good script and a great director then why not? Would you rather see some idiot like Ratner handle it?

  • Darksiders

    I think Tum Tum is right. If Lone Ranger does well they will hire Gore Verbinski.

  • #41

    All I meant was that I don’t see the Star Wars series as auteur films. If Fincher gets a great script, fine, although I don’t think space opera is his mettle. Yes, Empire was dark, but it was still heavily rooted in space opera tropes. Nobody says Star Wars can’t be dark. But it needs to stay FUN. It needs a director with a light touch.

  • Boris Karloff

    Yeah, no one’s really given a good reason why Fincher should direct other than “he makes interesting movies”. Remember how the only space sci-fi movie in his filmography turned out? Garbage. Granted, there was a lot of studio influences that probably caused that, but do you not think he’d run into those problems working with freaking DIsney?

    Fincher has never demonstrated the ability to handle big action. His strengths are in getting a lot of would-be boring exposition shot in an interesting manner.

  • Indianamcclain

    Not Wheadon that’s for sure. But I’d love to see a Peter Jackson Staf Wars since he uses practical and CG effects all the time.

  • Bas

    He already did Staf Wars: Gandalf vs. Saruman :)

  • dan day

    Neil Blomkamp, Brad Bird or the guy who made TROLL HUNTER.

    And ALIEN 3 is not garbage. It’s not a classic, but it’s very good.

  • La Menthe

    >”Remember, the original trilogy was mostly directed by guys for hire. Irvin Kershner, far from an auteur director, made what is arguably the best SW film.”

    Ummmm, since when did being an auteur (which basically means you can recognize a director’s work) become the same as good? I can easily recognize a film made by Bay, or Uwe Boll.

  • I just realized, if nothing’s changed in the last three weeks and WB is still targeting a 2015 release for JLA (HA!), things just got THAT much more difficult for them. Avengers 2, Star Wars 7, possibly Avatar 2, and who knows what else will get announced before they ever get anything for JLA ever set in stone. If a JLA falls in a crowded blockbuster year, does anyone hear it?

  • I never said an auteur necessarily means quality, but when you mention the term you don’t normally think of Uwe Boll.

    I just referenced it regarding some of the names that were mentioned.

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