I normally don’t talk about directors on this site. Or post news for that matter. But this is just too juicy to ignore. The franchise I love more than anything, which was ruined by 3 of the worst-written scripts in the history of large scale filmmaking, is back on track. It has Michael Arndt writing Episode 7 (or at least I think it does. The way that news was released always confused me) and now JJ Abrams at the helm. What’s interesting about this is that Abrams vehemently denied that he was going to direct Star Wars. Which, in retrospect, was kind of strange, because he LOVES Star Wars. He made Star Trek only because he loved Star Wars and it was his only chance to direct a “Star Wars-like” movie. So you’d think that, when asked, he’d be like, “Oh my God! I’d DIE to direct that movie. Tell Disney to call me.” The fact that he pushed it off like he’d never touch it in a million years was suspicious.
Anyway, after all this news that none of the big directors who were being approached wanted a piece of Star Wars, I started to get worried. Kind of like how an aging superstar basketball player hits the free market and one-by-one, teams say they’re not interested in him. It’s that horrifying reality that your time is up, that nobody thinks you’re good enough anymore. Did people think Star Wars wasn’t good enough anymore? Well, that’s a question for another time. But when you think about it, what other franchise out there could’ve survived 3 horrible movies? There’s Star Wars and….and well I guess Transformers and Twilight. Maybe it’s not that uncommon. But what I’m excited about is that JJ Abrams is going to inject some life back into these films. That’s his thing. That’s what he does best. He finds new ways into old ideas. I, for one, am ecstatic about this choice. What about you?
