Ever since Disney created quite a stir with its purchase of Lucas Films for a whooping $4 billion and announced its intention of launching the next trilogy of the epic Star Wars series, the buzz on the internet has not seen any respite. Will we see the return of Luke Skywalker? Will Harrison Ford reprise his role of Hans Solo? Where does Darth Vader now feature in all this? The actors of the previous two trilogies have expressed their desires to feature in the new series. The fans have not been far behind in voicing their opinions on where the franchise should move. And with all this buzz, including a writing team being put in place to release the seventh installment for a 2015 release, the most iimportant question still remains unanswered. Who will direct the next episode of this saga? Surprisingly, we do not know yet.
Names have been floated by whosoeverer has an opinion. And in all this drama we have been led to is a long list of famous directors who will not be filling the director's seat for Star Wars: Episode VII. Guillermo del Toro is the latest name who has mentioned about a telephone call enquiring on his availability which he politely refused. Brad Bird has ruled himself out. So has Quentin Tarantino, though I am not sure if he was asked for such a movie in the first place (Star Wars with a cowboy theme, maybe?). J.J. Abrams has opted out calling himself too big a fan and wanting to only savour watching the movie. Steven Spielberg has dropped out. George Lucas is of course been made too rich by Disney to need any sort of job.
So what's causing this dilemma? What is stopping the best of the lot from taking up one of the most talked about movies of this decade? I was given an opinion that this movie is too big a deal already, too hot to touch. But that made me wonder, wouldn't the best in the business be up for the challenge? A great director would hardly fret over living upto the duel that the series brings with it. Over managing to satisfy fans of three and a half decades. The reasons could lie somewhere else. Maybe the timelines are too tight. Disney is looking for a summer 2015 release and it is still working on the framework of the story. These directors are likely to have projects for the next one - two years available with them that leaves lesser time for a Star Wars flick. With Star Wars being a not-so-ordinary movie, the effort and the time to be put in by the director would also have to be not-so-ordinary. The deterrent for some could also be the fact that all said and done, this would be the 7th instalment of a movie series which they did not create. Most of these great directors are known for building their own projects, not continuing someone else's work Or maybe, in some weird way, it is not challenging enough. Knowing that it is likely to rake in the dollars with such a large fan base, it might not be the legacy that these directors are looking out.
There are still a few well-known directors whose names have not been thrown in the hat yet, or else it might just be the destiny of some lesser known one to take up the mantle that others have so far refused. Whichever way it goes, this is a story worth keeping eye on. And to whoever dons this much-talked about role, May the Force be with You!
No comments:
Post a Comment