Over the past couple of weeks there’s been a tonne of names linked to the vacant director’s chair on Star Wars Episode VII, although several of the rumoured candidates have moved to downplay their interest in succeeding George Lucas on the latest instalment of the epic space opera. Last week, Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), J.J. Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness), Zack Snyder (Man of Steel) and Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) all ruled themselves out of contention [see here], and now we can seemingly add Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim) to that list, with the ever-busy filmmaker telling Fanhattan Blog:
“You know, I saw it on the Internet, but I haven’t approached them, they haven’t formally approached me. I mean, I heard some rumblings, but to me it’s really — I have so many projects to discuss or think about. [For] something that is not a possibility yet, I don’t do that. You know, because I have so many things that I need to catch up with. If this becomes ever a reality, and there’s an approach to do it, I would then think about it, but — it’s like thinking if I want to date a supermodel. I don’t think about these things.”
A somewhat surprising inclusion among all the big names linked to Star Wars Episode VII was that of Colin Trevorrorow, director of the low-budget indie comedy drama Safety Not Guaranteed, and Trevorrow has also commented on the rumours about him being high on Lucasfilm’s radar during the Filmmixern podcast (via SlashFilm):
“I have very little to say about it. Certainly, no specifics about what’s going on behind the scenes in the selection of that person [a director]. I think that I can speak as a Star Wars fan, which is important to me. Whoever does do this movie, I think, just needs to have a fundamental understanding of why it’s important to us. We come from a generation who grew up with this as children, to us it’s almost a belief system. It’s harder for people who are older or who were already teenagers when the movie came out to understand how deeply it is our mythology. And there are a bunch of incredible directors who are up for this job. I think whoever gets it will have that fundamental understanding of why Star Wars matters so much to a billion people. It’s just incredible. So that’s all I can say about that. I’m equally excited about it… that’s all you’re gonna get!”
Meanwhile “industry insiders” have apparently told The Daily Express that Darth Vader will return in the new Disney trilogy, with the paper quoting an unnamed (and hopefully made up) source as stating that: “[Vader] is an integral part of the franchise. Replacing him is virtually impossible. The plan is for him to return and play a significant role in the new films. This is science fiction remember, Darth Vader will rise from the ashes.” Now, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hayden Christensen’s Force ghost popping up for a cameo somewhere, but if Darth Vader somehow returns from the dead… well that’s just poodoo.
Originally published November 13, 2012. Updated January 18, 2020.
