BYO Auteur: Who Should Direct Star Wars IX (For Now)?
Now that the next STAR WARS movie needs a director again, we can finally reverse a historical tragedy: Give it to David Lynch.
— Bilge Ebiri (@BilgeEbiri) September 5, 2017
So Lars von Trier’s phone must be ringing right about now. https://t.co/iQpo09CakS
— Maggie Serota 🐈 (@maggieserota) September 5, 2017
How about F. Gary Gray? I got a list of PoC directors –> Colin Trevorrow Out as 'Star Wars: Episode IX' Director https://t.co/VVBFRo4NKj
— ReBecca Theodore (@FilmFatale_NYC) September 5, 2017
You know who I think should direct STAR WARS IX? Whoever is on the approved Lucasfilm director shortlist that is available and interested.
— Keith Calder (@keithcalder) September 5, 2017
I'm currently being honored by the Kennedy Center for merely mentioning that Ava DuVernay should direct Episode IX.
— John Magary (@JohnMagary) September 5, 2017
Lucasfilm needs a director for "Star Wars: Episode IX" and Guillermo Del Toro wants do direct a Star Wars movie.. pic.twitter.com/Rx7ENlIYGM
— Denizcan Targaryen (@MrFilmkritik) September 5, 2017
stop your search, this is it. this is the new Star Wars: episode ix director https://t.co/qn6zNyrnYf
— alexis (@lukeorgana) September 5, 2017
If Kathleen Kennedy is looking for a new Star Wars IX director, I hear the guys who did 21 Jump Street and the Lego Movie are available
— Eric Wen (@eric_wen) September 5, 2017
my picks for new Star Wars director? Glad you asked: Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird or Edgar Wright
— Conrado Falco (@CocoHitsNewYork) October 31, 2012
David Yates, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron.
Vincent Gallo
Sigh….well here we go again. Before the nutty predictions start (NOLAN!! SPEILBERG!!) let’s look at this rationally. They clearly want someone they can micromanage the HELL out of; hence the parade of one indie hit/one blockbuster relative newbies. Abrams was the anomaly to get the ball rolling. The only way I can see them getting someone big is if it’s someone in director jail who will follow orders because his last two-three would be blockbusters were massive bombs (Oh Hi Ron Howard!). Start with those guidelines and place your bets.
The call will be in to Rian Johnson, absolutely. But does he want to spend another two years on Star Wars? Ehhhhhhhhh. We will see.
Speaking only as someone who loved Brick and Looper, and who could not possibly care less about the Star Wars Infinite Universe, my hope is that Johnson is itching to get back to his own material as soon as he’s done promoting this one. His voice is too unique to be sublimated within a brand name product any longer than time already served.
I guess if Johnson had a good time on Last Jedi he might want to do the finale, but damn, that’s another two years with nothing in between. Sure Nolan did the full Dark Knight Trilogy but he had a break in between to do passion projects (Prestige, Inception). Johnson will have to have really loved it! OK, or be offered ridiculous money. That works too.
Would Abrams come back if asked? I honestly can’t tell. Everyone was shiny and happy in the press of course but I just get a….vibe.
And what’s with the Ava DuVerney push on twitter? Not saying she couldn’t do a good job but has everyone forgotten about Wrinkle in Time? She has months of FX, editing, and then promotion to go. All exactly when Episode 9 is supposed be in pre-production and start filming. And of course Patty Jenkins name pops up. More possible. Hurry up and lock that down WB!
Jenkins might have time before they get WW2 up and running, the person who mentioned Yates above might have the right idea, he has handled a big effects franchise and films on a large canvas. The safest choice is probably Joe Johnston who has a previous relationship with both Kennedy and Disney.
Six years ago, if you’d asked me who might be in the best position to direct a Star Wars pic, or in his case Bond, I would’ve thought another Gareth than the one who’s worked on the projects, Gareth Evans. I was blown away by The Raid: Redemption, which is something I can’t say about any of the Star Wars films.
Then I saw The Raid 2 and it was all I could do not to go out and find the bloke and strangle the ever-loving life out of him. Like, seriously, what the hell was he, his agent, film producers, anyone thinking? That was double-A ball set to propel him straight to the majors. Some sort of King Kong, high octane, alien invasion, shoot-out heist film, studio back pocket tent pole was his. Baring catastrophe, Star Wars would be his. But no, he head-scratchingly delivered a pizza with anchovies. Now I see they’re planning on remaking The Raid but he’s not going to direct it. Ouch, that seems a bit unfair.
Anyway, are we looking at Waterworld now? Perhaps the gen pub doesn’t know or care too much about the revolving director chair but it seems like there’s too much negative airing on the direction of these films that nothing will be able to live up to the scrutiny? “For the money they spent, I better see some serious sh#t!” “For the hassle of creative differences, I better see some creative work of art!”
Some of you may have forgotten, when they announced Rian Johnson would direct TLJ. They stated, he would also write episode IX… then fucking Jurassic World happened. Everyone vouched for Trevorrow, and he gets a fucking Star Wars movie.
He uses his Jurassic World collateral, makes fucking Book of Henry, and here we are. He always seemed like the odd man out, and now he is. While, I’d love some fucking diversity casting. This film, needs Rian Johnson, to finish this trilogy. Anyone else, even JJ, ignores a couple of things. 1) Alan Horn and Company, have watched fucking TLj FIVE TIMES, and can’t shut up about it. 2) Rian Johnson brought the Wolf on the set. JJ, thought Kasdan understood Star Wars, but no… the Wolf does. He is the apprentice. 3) He also, gets along with all of those folks, and Rian’s vision is needed for Star Wars. I’d love for him to do other projects, but Star Wars needs a David Yates, and he’s epically more proficient than David Yates.
Anyone but Rian, is a let down, and possibly won’t finish this story the right way. He was supposed to write it anyway. LFL might as well ask him… if he wants to direct it.
ETA: Fuck LOOPER! The Brothers Bloom, is one great, and underappreciated movie.
Also, Triple, Raid 2 is superior, in every way, to Raid. Here’s a blind girl, a baseball bat guy, and a dude in a military jacket to explain why.
but creative works of art seems to be the opposite of what they are going for and anyone who strays anywhere outside the lines seems to get axed or have the project taken away. I can see why the Lego boys were sent packing, they might have been too irreverent, but Tevererereow? How do you have creative differences with the guy who delivered the dinosaurs in the nice shiny package? He was hired because he did the assignment and didn’t add that Barton Fink feeling.
But this certainly isn’t Waterworld, They are getting out ahead of this before anything is shot. At worst this is illustrating just how much of an assembly line product they are trying to make these.
The short list should only be three people long:
Rian, Ava, and Brad
What if Colin was fired simply because last Jedi is just that good?
I believe Lucasfilm wants someone who can follow orders, like Joe Johnston, Mike Newell, Chris McQuarrie or Doug Liman. David Yates would be a great guy for this project.
Hcat, I disagree with you in totality. Here’s why! Miller and Lord, decided to go into business for themselves, and make something other than the movie they agreed to make. This led to them, getting booted from the film. They were also hired, like Edwards and Trevorrow, because they were hot shit. This was just fucking dumb. Seriously.
Rian Johnson, may have made Looper, but he wasn’t one of these BIG BLOCKBUSTER GUYS! He just did his three, reasonably priced movies, and he was given this larger platform. Trevorrow, Edwards, and Lord and Miller, were the hot shit, and LFL jumped all over.
What LFL has finally realized, is that the hot shit isn’t right for Star Wars. Star Wars, needs a certain aesthetic, a certain point of view, and those guys weren’t those guys. Rian? He’s that guy. You read about him discussing Star Wars, you listen to him talk about it, and you just know he gets it. Sure. It may not work for everyone, but he seems to understand what Star Wars is about, and how to put it on film.
Rian, is the best decision LFL made… until they hired Ron Howard. If they are smart. They made this decision last month, and Rian is already working on Episode IX. JJ and Kasdan, may have laid the foundation, but Rian is the one building the fucking house. LFL, should let him finish the house.
And never forget: Rian works well with the Wolf, and the Librarian. The story group likes him, and that’s reason enough to keep him.
Yea, The Raid 2 is fucking awesome.
As for who should direct this….I dunno. I’m glad Trevorrow is out though.
It’d be great if they brought in a woman or person of color. But I don’t expect that. I just hope whoever does it has a somewhat unique voice.
Aw fuck, just give it to John Carpenter. Dude would make a wacked-out Star Wars film. Maybe Big Daddy Mars would appear.
Who the hell are The Wolf and The Librarian? Tarzan was the first Yates movie I’ve seen and I kinda liked it. Had a cool look to it I thought.
Filoni and Pablo, and you’ve never watched the HP movies, BL?
Richard Benjamin? Isn’t that who they get when things like this happen?
“David Yates, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron.
Vincent Gallo”
to be fair, this was my twitter parody answer…
Well, it appears I’m not going to be able to let this go. Raid 2 had all the potential and buzz of a red carpet affair and then stumbled over itself trying to climb out the backseat of an uber ride. In the first one, there was so much more tension. Segments built upon each other. Action and sets were creative. You never knew what was going to happen next. Raid 2 was a horror movie. What’s wrong with that? Nothing if it’s scary and clever. Which I can’t say the second was either. A horror movie in this case was also a step backwards. The low budget horror movie is the movie you make in order to be able to make The Raid.
I barely remember baseball bat dude or the blind girl. Intriguing, I will say. I can picture them, vaguely some fights in a restaurant and alley but the whole film was forgettable. So, sorry, I’ll admit can’t properly defend my pov w/out substantial evidence because it’s fallen so far out of my brain. But any of you Raid 2 Bielivers care to offer an explanation as to why it failed to deliver at the bo or why none of the principals’ career have really flourished? (Yes, I know it’s not always a one-to-one correlation but in this case I don’t think these things are incidental)
If he wasn’t so busy with Lion King and Jungle Book 2, I would recommend Jon Favreau. I think Zathura is an under appreciated gem. And you get the sense that he gets pop culture and if his version of Star Wars, turns out anything like the first Iron Man, then that would be a damn good movie.
And if I may through another name out, it would be Chris Columbus. I don’t think he receives enough credit for launching such a successful start to one of the most popular and difficult from page to screen adaptations of all time, Harry Potter 1 & 2. If the first one was bad, it would have doomed the rest. Another guy that I think gets it.
Promises written in twitter…
JS is on scorching form today. Couple of great posts. My take, by the by? I’m not sorry to see Trevorrow go. We can prevaricate on this all we want,throw out all the names we want, but ultimately it’s going to be Johnson. And that’s great. It’s worth noting that TLJ was originally scheduled for May 2017 and would have followed the production and FX schedule accordingly. Johnson himself has said that TLJ has more or less been picture locked and ready to go since August, and has alluded that he would start working on his next project (conspicuously unnamed) around this time. Note also that Trevorrow was suspiciously cagey when asked about Star Wars during the Book of Henry promotional. My hunch is that Johnson has been on-board and shepherding Episode 9 unofficially for quite some time.
Eh, Kathleen Kennedy may as well just go ahead and direct at this point since she’s the auteur of these things now anyway.
If it’s rian, his has been in negotiation because while they held an option on his ix script they probably did not as director. That means he’s probably getting a lot more compensation to direct ix since he has he leverage if he knows they want him.
I’ll add that I kinda don’t care who it is, mainly because I’m convinced we’ll never get another really great Star Wars movie, just as I’m convinced we won’t get another really bad one. Mediocrity and brand stewardship is the bar now.
I’ll throw my hat in for Cuaron. The man has been an auteur within the studio system before (Harry Potter 3), and he can do effects with the best of them (Gravity).
But yeah, I agree with JS. I’ll take Rian Johnson anyday, especially if he’s already in the mix. (I also have no idea who the Wolf or Librarian are.)
Since this is a BYOB, can we please talk those MOTHER! reviews for a hot sec?
“…the kind of viseral arthouse experience that comes along very rarely and spits you out into the daylight dazzled, quasy, delirious and knock-kneed as a newborn calf.”
“…easily the most ambitious film to come out of a major studio since Kubrick died.”
“A devouring and restless experience: a creative surge that’s like the lancing of a boil, releasing a torrent of despair and disgust for the greedy chaos of society today as well as a self-loathing portrait of the artist as an emotional succubus.”
Okay then! Even as a massive Aronofsky fan, I’ve got to say….were they pouring non-stop Limoncello at critics screenings because of technical difficulties? It’s been years and years if ever since I’ve seen such over the top reviews, and I do realize this is an over the top movie, but even Joseph Kahn and Alex de la Iglesia’s movies don’t get this kind of bonkers reaction.
Gonzalo, Doug Liman is a guy who can follow orders? Not sure if you’re serious here…
Since EtGuild2 brought up MOTHER!, how come all the folks who blew a gasket over Javier & Jennifer’s age difference are quiet over the 20+ gap between Tom Cruise & Sarah Wright in American Made?
Chronological order. Mother is being released first.
What, is Alan Smithee busy?
Apparently the age difference in Mother is used as a plot point, according to one review I read. How much of a plot point remains to be seen.
I’m excited for it.
If a financier ripped Doug Liman from limb to limb, they would find his entrails have the word GONZO written across them.
I’m also someone who thinks The Raid 2 is a far better film than the Raid. I found the original to be so one-note that by the 2/3 mark I was totally ready for it to be over. Yes, the fight scenes got boring.
Raid 2 mixed things up a bit with the crazy gangster storyline and added things like a fantastic car chase and more variety in the fight scenes.
Neither film is all that great though, IMO. I’m not sure why the fanboys got into such a lather over the first one. Right place and time I guess.
Cuaron is a great, and yes, I know he did Potter, but he works too slow for the franchise factory. Gravity took three years to make for Pete’s sake.
“Cuaron is a great, and yes, I know he did Potter, but he works too slow for the franchise factory.”
But he did turn around Potter in good time so he could do it when called upon. Ironically though he is the only director that only directed one Potter film, as opposed to every one else, David Yates technically got three films I guess if you count Deathly Hallows 1 & 2. I wonder if it was because Azkaban grossed less than the previous installments and they figured it was too dark. It does remain my favorite though.
Cuaron took a long time because he was writing it and also waiting for the invention of new special effects. With an existing factory like SW I think he can work faster.
The low gross was definitely a problem but he did also make the best one.
MarkVH, you may be surprised this Xmas.
Triple, if you don’t remember the three main assassins from Raid 2, then are you sure you actually watched Raid 2? Come on! The baseball kid assassin, has just one of the most visceral, and brutal fight scenes in the history of film. Watch the movie again. It’s worth the time.
Ethan, the reaction for a movie, that It is going to make an afterthought. If it’s this INSANELY GREAT! They should have, probably, opened it away from IT! 13.5 Million overnights for IT, should scream 100m weekend, right?
I hope I am! Like Rian Johnson a lot. Not sure if it’s possible to create a great sequel to the mediocrity that was The Force Awakens, but I’m hopeful.
@js it sounds aggressively, maybe even confrontationally uncommercial. It’s going to be one of those rare movies that could get an 80 Metascore and D+ Cinemascore. I’m not sure it would matter when they released it.
So it’s J.J. again. Alright. OK. It will be…entirely adequate. I’ll like it fine….*shrug*.
Night Owl, I am thinking the same thing, but it can’t be. Episode IX, has to set up the next decade of Star Wars film. It has to set up another trilogy, or even hint that there is more on the horizon. If he just does his best, then we are stuck with a movie… where the talent has to rise above his limitations again. Hell. I hope to fuck, that fucking Kasdan doesn’t help him write it, and maybe Rian will write it with him.
Whateverthecase, Kathleen is so scared of failure, that she went back to the executive producer, to do something he said he never wanted to do again. Oh yeah… FUCK THE REVIVAL! No. Sorry. FUCK THE MYSTERY BOX!
And Disney loses their May “Star Wars” date once again. My thoughts and prayers are with toy stores everywhere.
The need for set up is a big part of the problem isn’t it J.S.? It’s one of the problems with Star Wars becoming an ongoing series and is one of the reasons I’m lukewarm on most Marvel. Do they continue with these characters? Well the next trilogy will be very soon so if that’s what they’re doing any triumph or happy ending will be moot when the characters’ lives are utterly destroyed in the next film in order to set up the next conflict. Hell at least the original three got a few decades of relative happiness before it was all awful.
Or do we say goodbye to these characters and get a new batch next time? I’m thinking they might go that way. They don’t seem to be setting up the “make big money eight films from now like Marvel” for the actors. Just a hunch. Don’t get me wrong I’m not crying for them, even the one and done (I think? Who knows with Lucasfilm.) Rogue One actors will have made more money in bonuses and backend than everyone posting on this blog will see in a lifetime. Either way, it’s Abrams, so it will be fun but bland and make only minimal sense.
Felicity Jones, doesn’t have to work again, because of her Star Wars contract. That’s how much they overpaid her, and they did it because she was going to be in more than one movie.
That aside, I am sorry Night Owl, but Finn, Poe, and Rey are a part of Star Wars royalty now. Rey, is a hero to girls everywhere, and who doesn’t love Oscar or Jon? Seriously?
Also, have you watched a Marvel movie recently? The last four, really didn’t set up anything… other than Tony like Pete, and Doc talking to Thor. Other than that; your ideas about Marvel, seem a bit out of date.
Nevertheless, the Skywalker Saga will continue, because what’s left for these three characters to do? Grow older, and REBUILD THE REPUBLIC! REBUILD THE JEDI! That’s another trilogy right there, and that’s what JJ has to setup. I hope he can do it.
JJ is a hack who blows up planets just because he can’t write himself out of a wet paper bag. He’s the Zack Synder of space opera, all half baked ideas partly executed. At least the long version of BvsS answers a few questions, you can tell Zack’s a fan and when WW turned out to be a better told story he had the good sense to step aside.
JJ on the other hand is a hack.