Several directors say "Nooooo!" to helming Star Wars Episode VII

With Disney and Lucasfilm having secured a writer for the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII in Academy Award-winner Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3), the big question now is, just who will direct the latest instalment in the Star Wars saga? From the moment that Disney made the shock announcement that a new trilogy was in the works, a host of big name directors have found themselves mentioned as potential candidates, but over the past couple of days several filmmakers have moved to distance themselves from the job.

During the premiere of his latest film Lincoln, George Lucas' good buddy Steven Spielberg responded to a question from Access Hollywood about the possibility of him directing Episode VII, stating "No! No! It's not my genre. It's my best friend George's genre." Along with Spielberg, J.J. Abrams was named as one of three filmmakers set to receive a copy of Arndt's treatment (the other being Brad Bird), although the Star Trek Into Darkness director has subsequently told HollywoodLife: " "I frankly feel that – I almost feel that, in a weird way, the opportunity for whomever it is to direct that movie, it comes with the burden of being that kind of iconic movie and series. I was never a big Star Trek fan growing up, so for me, working on Star Trek didn't have any of that, you know, almost fatal sacrilege, and so, I am looking forward more then anyone to the next iterations of Star Wars, but I believe I will be going as a paying moviegoer!"

Speaking to The Los Angeles Times, Zack Snyder (Man of Steel) revealed that "I don't think I'd be interested in [directing Episode VII]... I'm a huge Star Wars fanatic. I just think doing [Episodes] VII, VIII and IX is just a slippery slope. It's a whole other mythological experiment I'm excited to see, but it's a lot of effort." Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) went one step further, telling EW that he "could so care less" about the new movies, before expressing his displeasure over the continuation of the saga: "No sorry. Especially if Disney's going to do it. I'm not interested in the Simon West [Con Air, The Expendables 2] version of Star Wars." In fairness, I don't think QT would be top of Disney's shortlist for Episode VII anyway, unless Arndt's treatment calls for drawn out twenty-minute long scenes of R2-D2 and C-3PO hanging about the New Republic Senate chambers dropping pop culture references...

So, with Spielberg, Abrams, Snyder and Tarantino all out of contention, who would you like to see slipping into the director's chair for Star Wars Episode VII?