Who should be the Director for Star Wars Episode 7?

[tighr]

T'Baio wrote:

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Brad Bird I could get behind. But Lindelof? I think I'm gonna' be sick...

Ugh. Well, I guess I'll be boycotting Episode VII, now. That dude is like the Midas touch... at first it seems golden, but then it turns into a curse.

[Starkers]

I guess it depends if its just him or if he's part of a team of writers. I mean I didn't like what Logan did with Nemesis working alone, but he's worked with Purvis and Wade on Skyfall and for the most part it's worked out well!

[Donald Draper]

I would think some of the guys who write the Clone Wars could be the one of the writers. They already have worked with Lucas personally and their work is popular.

[Mach5]

Judge Death wrote:

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I mean I didn't like what Logan did with Nemesis working alone, but he's worked with Purvis and Wade on Skyfall and for the most part it's worked out well!

IIRC, Logan's script for "The Gladiator" was so bad that Russell Crowe insisted on changing a bunch of lines which he considered too stupid to say on screen. William Nicholson was eventually brought on to do a thorough rewrite, which got them an Oscar nomination.

[T'Baio]

Mach5 wrote:

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IIRC, Logan's script for "The Gladiator" was so bad that Russell Crowe insisted on changing a bunch of lines which he considered too stupid to say on screen.

That's hilarious.

Too bad the actors in Prometheus didn't do the same thing to Lindelof.

[Starkers]

Mach5 wrote:

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IIRC, Logan's script for "The Gladiator" was so bad that Russell Crowe insisted on changing a bunch of lines which he considered too stupid to say on screen. William Nicholson was eventually brought on to do a thorough rewrite, which got them an Oscar nomination.

I didn't know that.

He must have some talent/be good for something given he's apprently still gonna be on the team for Bond 24. Maybe he makes a really good cup of tea? Or maybe he's good with plot and bad with dialogue?

[Kegg]

^
Well the guy did - as observed - co-write the screenplay to Skyfall, so I kind of assume the positive reception that film has got is what he's making his case with. Yeah, Nemesis sucked, and maybe he wrote bad dialogue in Gladiator, but he's not fishing for the job of Gladiator II or the next Star Trek movie.

T'Baio wrote:

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Rumours are starting to circulate that the Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird's top secret project "1952" that they recently, supposedly, "brought to Disney" and was intended as a tentpole, franchise, theme park and merchandising extravaganza is actually Episode VII.

Interesting rumour. As I said upthread, my only concerns about Bird are how well can he transition to live action filmmaking. Ghost Protcol is okay, but it's not exactly the brilliance of Incredibles or Ratatouille.

On the other hand given the huge amounts of CGI your average Star Wars film uses he's halfway there already (although there's some interesting articles on how Stanton's work at Pixar did not prepare him for the transition to a live action schedule, so there's that.)

As for Lindelof don't know him beyond Prometheus, which I did generally like. The only big issues about that film was its somewhat convuluted handling of its central mysteries, and since a Star Wars trilogy is unlikely to build itself on Big Mysteries like that (one assumes), that may not be a problem.

[T'Baio]

Kegg wrote:

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^
As for Lindelof don't know him beyond Prometheus, which I did generally like. The only big issues about that film was its somewhat convuluted handling of its central mysteries...

Did you really think that the behaviour of the characters made complete sense and that they behaved like people with distinct personalities the whole time? You thought the plot contrivances were within the bounds of suspension of disbelief? And I'm not talking aliens or black goo or anything...I'm talking things like being a premiere scientist and getting onto a spaceship and going into hibernation and travelling light years away because...well, we'll tell you when we get there.

[Mach5]

T'Baio wrote:

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Did you really think that the behaviour of the characters made complete sense and that they behaved like people with distinct personalities the whole time? You thought the plot contrivances were within the bounds of suspension of disbelief? And I'm not talking aliens or black goo or anything...I'm talking things like being a premiere scientist and getting onto a spaceship and going into hibernation and travelling light years away because...well, we'll tell you when we get there.

Oh God, don't let this turn into a Prometheus thread. It's a terribly written shitfest that makes Star Wars Prequels seem like three premium pieces of cinema. That's all from me.

[Captaindemotion]

Kudos to the original poster for coming up with a good shortlist. Took me a while deciding on my final 4 (and I'm still not sure about it!).

I voted for Brad Bird first off and without hesitation. Great sense of spectacle and humour and is good with character dynamics. I would totally squeal like a girl if he was to do it.

I also voted for Neil Blomkamp solely on the strength of the amazing District 9. Like Lucas, I think he'd have no problem coming from doing a more gritty and adult-orientated sci-fi movie (like THX-1138) into a poplulist crowd-pleaser. And Sharlto Copley as a scuzzy alien lowlife? Yes please.

Duncan Jones with the keys and budget for something like Star Wars? Hell yes. As long as he doesn't cast his dad in it.

Final vote, possibly a little too subjective, having seen Skyfall a few days ago, was for Sam Mendes. It would be something new for him. But he proudly boasts that there is no such adjective as 'Mendesian' and I think he'd have no difficulty in tailoring his style for something like a SW movie.

Others I'd like to see would include Spielberg (who I've been hoping would make a SW movie since I first read in 1985 or so that he was going to make one) and Joe Johnson, who largely replicated the fun of Raiders with Captain America and who I think could do something similar with a SW movie (but replicating SW, rather than ROTLA). Kenneth Branagh might also do something interesting with it.

I'd have no problem with either Joss Whedon or JJ Abrams making a SW movie - but I'm quite happy with them to remain at the helms of The Avengers and Star Trek franchises respectively.

[Kegg]

^
Oh man Sharlto Copley would be amazing as... I don't know, anything. A stuffy bearaucrat. A cowardly low-rate criminal that provides actually funny comic relief. I don't care. Just cast him.

T'Baio wrote:

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Did you really think that the behaviour of the characters made complete sense and that they behaved like people with distinct personalities the whole time?

No, I thought the writing was awful, his character material meandering, inconstant and incoherent, his reveals mundane, his sense of pacing downright abysmal and I don't see why anyone would want the guy responsible for the first season of Walking Dead in charge of Star Wars films.

But cheap shots about Frank Darabont aside: Yeah, the characters in Prometheus behaved like people with distinct personalities. You don't get the impression that Noomi Rapace's character is interchangeable with Charlize Theron's. Some scientists are in it for the money, others the science, and Idris Elba as the ship's captain really isn't engaged in that side of it at all.

I'm talking things like being a premiere scientist and getting onto a spaceship and going into hibernation and travelling light years away because...well, we'll tell you when we get there.

Well yes, actually. To be precise it's a level of disbelief you expect with a Star Wars movie, like the real identity of the right hand man of the Galactic Empire being so little known that the statement of it comes as a shock to his son.

Prometheus is not a great film, and neither Lindelof nor Bird are my first choices for heading up Star Wars. But they're definitely people I can live with.

[T'Baio]

You've kind of lost me with comparing the suspension of disbelief involved in the objective reality that they attempted to create in Prometheus...a film which is supposed to be science fiction and based on humans from Earth in our future, a film that within itself tries to set itself up as realistic as possible within its conceits...versus a fantasy film that has wizards and magic.

But to each their own...we disagree often, and that's cool.

[stj]

Mach5 wrote:

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I say Micheal Giacchino. He's got that sorta vintage style, and his work on Super 8 was somewhat reminiscent of Williams'.

My #2 choice would be Jeremy Soule, the composer of the first KOTOR OST. Fans of the game love him, I think. And he really is good.

Kegg wrote:

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You'd want someone who can write pretty solid neo-romantic classical music with leitmotifs by the bucketload. So my first thought is obviously Howard Shore.

Both Giacchino and Shore are possibles, as is James Horner, John Barry and Bruce Broughton (assuming the latter two are still in good health.)

Not that Williams is still out of the question, of course.

But there is romantic and there is reminiscent of Williams and the two aren't quite the same.

I don't know enough of Rachel Portman and Clive Mansell but they might be good choices?

[Starkers]

I'm afraid John Barry died a few years ago

Shame, I loved his work, especially the sweeping music he composed for a lot of the Bond space scenes.

[USS Triumphant]

Composer: Blake Neely or James Newton Howard

Director: Roxann Dawson or (new suggestion) Anthony Hemmingway (lots of good TV, plus "Red Tails")...

OR KEVIN SMITH.