Last week we reported that Michael Arndt, the guy responsible for the scripts for Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3 had written a 40-page treatment for Star Wars: Episode VII. Well, those 40-pages must have been pretty good, because the guy has officially been hired as the writer of Episode VII.
This is probably a good thing — as Robo pointed out, Arndt seems to be a guy who understands story structure and character, two things badly lacking in the prequel trilogy. Just a warning, this guy managed to make movies about living toys and a junior beauty pageant totally emotionally harrowing — Episode VII is going to make you cry. Prepare your manly tear ducts.
So, we’ve got a writer, but who’s going to direct? That hasn’t been decided yet, but we know who’s not going to direct…
Spielberg apparently thinks Lucas still owns Star Wars — “No! No! It’s not my genre, it’s my best friend George’s genre.”
Zack Snyder thinks it sound like too much effort man — “I don’t think I’d be interested in [directing it]… I’m a huge Star Wars fanatic. I just think doing episodes seven, eight and nine is just a slippery slope. It’s a whole other mythological experiment I’m excited to see, but it’s a lot of effort.”
Quentin Tarantino just hates Disney (even though they indirectly funded most of his films) — “I could so care less…Especially if Disney’s going to do it. I’m not interested in the Simon West version of Star Wars.”
So yeah, if you’re a director who’s even a little bit established you’re running as fast as you can from this project. Nobody wants to risk becoming sad, post-prequels George Lucas.
via Hero Complex & Bleeding Cool