Zack Snyder to Direct a Star Wars Samurai Movie

Posted by on January 14th, 2013   Filed under: Action, Drama, Rumours, Sci-fi
Source: Vulture

We’ve haven’t really had any updates or rumours regarding the new Star Wars trilogy since before Christmas, but now this week it appears that the plot has thickened. Back in November, there were many directors who claimed to have been approached by Disney or who were rumoured to be on their shortlist. One of those directors was Zack Snyder, who told the L.A. Times, “I don’t think I’d be interested in [directing it]… I’m a huge Star Wars fanatic. I just think doing [episodes] seven, eight and nine is just a slippery slope. It’s a whole other mythological experiment I’m excited to see, but it’s a lot of effort.” Well, it appears that he wasn’t exactly lying about that, but as it turns out, he may still be directing a new Star Wars movie after all. Hit the jump for the details.

According to Vulture, Zack Snyder is indeed developing a new movie for Disney that will take place in the Star Wars universe. It won’t, however, be a part of the new trilogy that is being written by Michael Arndt, Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg. This will be a standalone Star Wars film of a different sort: a Jedi-oriented samurai film that draws inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.

It’s a well-known fact that Seven Samurai is one of George Lucas’ favourite films, and Star Wars itself was partially based on Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. It’s easy to see how this could work, but is Zack Snyder the right man to pull it off? Either way, it sounds like the floodgates are open and Disney is willing to lend the Star Wars license to just about anything at this point… which could be both a good and a bad thing. Does this sound like a good idea? Are you excited to see Zack Snyder get a chance to play in the Star Wars universe?



  • Colin

    This is gross.

  • La Menthe

    For a minute there I thought the headline suggested that this idiot was going to direct the new trilogy. Boy, am I happy that wasn’t the case…

  • csidle

    The idea of having various directors try their hand at a Star Wars film is amazing and this should, at worst, be pretty killer.

  • Pretty weird.

  • antho42

    HMMMMMM……………..

  • Rick

    its out of george lucases hands, and that’s whats important.

  • La Menthe

    The article talks about a “Jedi-oriented samurai film” influenced by Akira Kurosawa. But wasn’t the concept of Star Wars itself inspired by samurais, and wasn’t the plot taken from one of Kurosawa’s films?

  • patrik

    Why the heck not. I think it sounds like a cool idea and I like most of Snyders’ movies.. Man of Steel looks pretty awesome so far so maybe he’s stepped it up a notch too.

  • La Menthe

    In over 100 years of filmmaking, you manage to put Inglourious Basterds, a three year old film — and it’s certainly a superb film — on your nr. 1? Are you fucking kidding me? And don’t get me started on Parenthood on nr. 2 and Pee Wee on nr. 3! Surely you must be trolling, Frank!

  • Jonny Ashley

    Yeah, I wonder if he’s going to push the samurai thing over-literally…

  • I am actually pretty curious about this. The visuals for the prequel trilogy are so bland and uninteresting – at least with Snyder helming a Star Wars film we’ll have something interesting to look at. Not to mention he’d be using the tried-and-true Seven Samurai format, so hopefully he won’t have a ton of opportunities to ruin it.

  • I do like the idea of multiple stories and arcs, along with stand alone films. It’s kind of odd though to just expand a universe and let everyone have a shot at it. I guess if they try this tack there will be shitty efforts mixed in with stellar efforts.
    All that said…we all wanted to see other people try it…we’ve gotten our wish it seems?

  • MrHorse

    ..seven samurai, no less!!
    bligh me

  • lm

    Is La Menthe a crack addict? Most of the time no one knows what the hell you’re talking about.

  • Christian

    Hahahaha, what’s that supposed to mean? Are you talking about me referring to Snyder as an idiot, which he is, or the comment that I accidentally posted on the wrong article (too bad you can’t delete or edit your posts).

    What other times is there where you don’t know what I’m talking about?

  • Jonny Ashley

    I am honestly sick of Kurosawa remakes. If you’re going to ape a classic director from film history class, there’s a much bigger pot to draw from. Why not throw lightsabers into an Ingmar Bergman film?

  • Brendan

    I’m wondering how they would market this, so as not to confuse moviegoers with the direct sequels. Could this be animated? Snyder did direct Legend of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga’hool. If it were animated, it would be easier to separate it from the rest of the franchise.

  • #14,

    I’ve almost posted that statement so many times, I couldn’t count.

  • HFD

    Snyder: “I don’t think I’d be interested in [directing it]…

    “Wait, how many zeroes is that on the offer sheet? Of course I’d be glad to do a new movie!”

  • Stinker

    Seven Jedis, well what about The Great Death Star escape, Castaway on Dagobah, Alderan Graffiti or George of Tatoine.

    WELLLLL, hope not.

  • patrik

    #7 Did you even read what Sean wrote?

  • swarez

    So this rumor is apparently bullshit.

  • Derek McFarland

    @Deven Science (#18) & @ lm (#14)

    lol……

    Considering how big the Star Wars Universe is, I think it’s about time to see some different stories and directors take on the stories , (not necessarily tied into the all “well” known episodes 1-6). Part of me feels, it was a great idea selling Star Wars to Disney…. Cause to be honest, aside from the animated Clone Wars series, all Lucas seemed to be doing for the most part was just reediting the old trilogy left and right; “trying” to make them seem better… only to end up just making fans long for the original versions of the trilogy. Now it seems that more artists will be able to take cracks at this universe….and I think Snyder would be a great candidate, along with
    Jon Favreau, Joss Whedon, and Peter Jackson
    When it comes to Snyder directing a stand alone Star Wars film, all I can do is smile my ass off. I think he would be a great choice for the directors seat, in a Star Wars movie… Definitely a better choice to direct than Lucas himself. Don’t get me wrong, Lucas has created one of the coolest sci-fi universes I’ve ever known….. however, I don’t think he’s a very grand director… (He just got lucky with A New Hope, which I don’t even feel was the best out of the 6 episodes). When it comes to Snyder wanting to make a Star Wars movie inspired by an old Samurai film, I really don’t see what the big deal is. Most filmmakers are inspired by other stories, they’ve either read or watched before. Elements from WW2 were one of Lucas’s inspirations for the original trilogy….Allan Quatermain & 007, were some of his inspirations for Indiana Jones films…..
    Inglorious Bastards was originally a 1978 Grindhouse film that took place during WW2 (the story was different from Tarantino’s recent version, but there were some inspirations, from the original…like the title & the war it took place in. Just about every film Tarantino has done, has been inspired by films he watched in his youth…. from martial arts & spaghetti western films to black exploitation & grindhouse movies. As for La Menthe A.K.A. Christian…. he/she is supposedly a serious hater of Snyder’s films….However…. He/she can’t seem to refrain from watching them whenever they come out. Whenever Something about Snyder pops up on this website,
    La Menthe tends to linger around it, trying to let everyone and there mother know how much of a terrible director he feels Snyder is; but only comes off sounding like an anal retentive (not a crack addict), that couldn’t do a better directing job than Snyder him/herself. La Menthe thinks Snyder’s an Idiot, but guess what….La Menthe will be there “paying” to see Man of Steel as well as Snyder’s stand alone Star Wars movie, just like every other Snyder film he/she has paid to watch before. you gotta wonder…who seems like the bigger idiot?…..Snyder getting paid to make these films, or La Menthe more or less paying Synder to watch these films, he/she supposedly hates so much?

  • Mrespony

    Did anyone not see this crap coming? Now that Lucas is out, the rumor mill is going to spin up into high gear.

  • La Menthe

    >>” As for La Menthe A.K.A. Christian…. he/she is supposedly a serious hater of Snyder’s films….However…. He/she can’t seem to refrain from watching them whenever they come out. Whenever Something about Snyder pops up on this website,”

    Back to the personal attacks, are we? Rather than focusing on my arguments, and attack them, you are instead attacking me as a person. Maybe it is because that’s your easy way out, as you can’t handle having a serious discussion with me. Just like the last time.

    As for me having seen Snyder’s films; I thought I already made myself clear on that point? I’ll just copy from our previous discussion:

    Did you ever bother to think that I can’t dislike a film until I have watched it, and that seeing as Snyder makes big blockbusters, that I have friends that wants to watch those films with me? I haven’t raved about watching any of the Harry Potter films either, or any of Michael Bay’s films. But I have still watched all of them.

    And the fact that I have watched all of his films is irrelevant to the point of whether I like the films or not. I clearly stated I didn’t like his films. Besides, being that I’m a more-than-regular film viewer, it’s nothing more than common sense that I have seen a large number of the most popular films to come out. Furthermore, how would I allow myself to criticize Snyder as heavily as I did, if I hadn’t gone through most of his, if not entire, filmography (which in this case is in no way large)? Would it be legitimate of me to criticize him the way I did, if I had only watched one or two of his films?

    >>”La Menthe tends to linger around it, trying to let everyone and there mother know how much of a terrible director he feels Snyder is; but only comes off sounding like an anal retentive (not a crack addict), that couldn’t do a better directing job than Snyder him/herself.”

    Again I have fooled myself in hoping that you had progressed when it came to making good and serious arguments. No, I’m not talking about your rude comments about my opinions being “anal retentive” but the fact that you are disallowing me to criticize Snyder, unless I can be a better director than him. If we were to take your argument seriously, the entire idea of critical analyses would evaporate. I bet none of us can make a better film than someone like Michael Bay or even Uwe Boll. And according to you, that disallows us to criticize them. The same goes for me criticizing a soccer coach unless I can be a better coach, or a head of state, unless I can run the country better than him, and so on and so forth.

    >>”a Menthe thinks Snyder’s an Idiot, but guess what….La Menthe will be there “paying” to see Man of Steel as well as Snyder’s stand alone Star Wars movie, just like every other Snyder film he/she has paid to watch before. …who seems like the bigger idiot?…..Snyder getting paid to make these films, or La Menthe more or less paying Synder to watch these films, he/she supposedly hates so much?”

    The only Snyder film I actually paid to watch was Watchmen…

    I apologize for criticizing a director you hold so dearly. But if you really find enjoyment in Snyder, you shouldn’t have any issue having a serious discussion with me about why he is/isn’t a good director. If you did that you would not only bestow yourself more support and prominence, but also actually affect me and my opinion. Neither you, nor this discussion, is receiving anything constructive out of you constantly throwing mud at me. You are only making a fool out of yourself and the discussions itself by doing that.