A director may finally have stepped on-board for “Star Wars: Episode VII”. A new report suggests that J.J. Abrams has been approached and, supposedly, agreed to direct the first film is the planned sequel trilogy, Eric Goldman for IGN writes on Jan. 24.
The Wrap was the first to report the big news, saying that Abrams has agreed to direct the upcoming film, “after months of being courted by new Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy.” Last month, Abrams was on record saying he was not going to do the film, “but, as the Wrap puts it, ‘The lure of the Jedi was too strong’,” Goldman writes.
Ben Affleck was also approached for the director’s chair. This next project may put strain between Abrams and Paramount Pictures, for which he has directed both the first and the upcoming “Star Trek” films. “Star Trek Into Darkness”, the second film in the series, is being released this summer. Abrams has also directed “Super 8” for Paramount, and he served as director of “Mission: Impossible III” and producer on its sequel, “Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol”.
The Wrap is a “very reliable source for news of this sort”, as Goldman puts it, and they credit “an individual with knowledge of the production. The Wrap had reached out to Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynne Hale, who didn’t comment on this information.
“The one note of caution here is the recent story about Zack Snyder directing a separate, stand-alone Star Wars film, which was first reported by the also-credible Vulture – only for Snyder’s reps to say it wasn’t true, even as Vulture stood by their sources,” Goldman concludes. “Lucasfilm is obviously being secretive with the Star Wars films as negotiations have been going on with directors, so we’ll all be waiting to see when they officially comment on this report that Abrams is the guy making The Movie We’re All Waiting For.”
For more information, check out Eric Goldman’s article on IGN.
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