This weekend Brad Bird tweeted that he wouldn’t be directing Star Wars: Episode VII, which makes me a sad panda. Around the same time, Film School Rejects found an interview from June that suddenly seems less cryptic now that we know that Colin Trevorrow is one of the directors being considered by Lucasfilm. In the interview, Safety Not Guaranteed director Trevorrow tells Spencer Fornaciari of The MacGuffin podcast about the mystery project he’s working towards. In retrospect, this definitely sounds like he could be talking about Star Wars:
“I can’t speak with any specificity as to what the next thing will be. There are amazing opportunities that have arisen as a result of this. One of them, I will say, will probably create a good deal of ire against me on the Internet when people find out what it is. So, I just want to say in advance that I promise you, for all those who love the mythology that I will be tackling, trust that I love it as much as you do. And I will respect it, and hopefully make it not suck.” [transcribed by Film School Rejects]
This, of course, doesn’t mean he was talking about Star Wars, or that his plans from June haven’t changed, but it is another thing for us to obsess about. I’m skeptical that they’ll hand over Star Wars: Episode VII to a guy with so little directing experience, but perhaps there’s another reason he had a meeting with Lucasfilm:
It is worth noting that Trevorrow doesn’t explicitly say he’s directing; that he does have writing experience; and that Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas have mentioned there being multiple writers involved, somehow. [Bleeding Cool]
Man, I am starting to get burned out on all these will-they-or-won’t-they Star Wars rumors. If this drags out any longer, I’m going to be like Obi-Wan:
Colin Trevorrow talks about this mystery project at the end of this video (21:45 to 22:24) if you’d rather hear him say it than read the full statement blockquoted above: