EDITORIAL: The Sad State of STAR WARS Directors

EDITORIAL: The Sad State of STAR WARS Directors

While Marvel is taking risks that pay off with guys like Joss Whedon, Shane Black and the Russo Bros. Lucasfilm is apparently taking the safe route like DC with a narrow-minded idea of potential Star Wars directors as well as just trying to mimic the original trilogy without doing anything fresh or new.

Editorial Opinion
By themcdougalbugle - Jun 05, 2014 04:06 PM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
It hasn't been easy, but Iv'e accepted the reality that we can never count on any inspired, risky, unconventional, out-of-the-box directors for future Star Wars movies. We'll never see anyone on the level of George Lucas before Star Wars, Irvin Kershner before Empire Strikes Back, Richard Marquand before Return of the Jedi, Peter Jackson before Lord of the Rings, Alfonso Cuarón before Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, David Yates before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Rupert Wyatt before Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Brad Bird before Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Bryan Singer before X-Men, Christopher Nolan before Batman Begins, Jon Favreau before Iron Man, Shane Black before Iron Man 3, the Russo Brothers before Captain America: The Winter Soldier, James Gunn before Guardians of the Galaxy or Sam Mendes before Skyfall direct a Star Wars movie. The only people we can expect to see are directors of at least one big summer tentpole blockbuster with special effects and established characters that was released in IMAX 3D within 5 years prior to their tackling of their Star Wars film. Lucasfilm is playing it as safe as possible. But sometimes I like to pretend. Sometimes I like to imagine a world where these were the directors of the upcoming Star Wars movies.
2015 Rian Johnson - Episode VII
2016 Jim Mickle - Boba Fett Spin-off
2017 Rich Moore - Episode VIII
2018 Nat Faxon & Jim Rash - Darth Vader Spin-off
2018 Jeff Baena - Han Solo Spin-off
2019 Jon Wright - Episode IX
2020 David Lowery - Obi-Wan Kenobi Spin-off
Hell get Ron Howard or David Fincher! Spike Jonze or J.C. Chandor! Lenny Abrahamson or Jeff Nichols! Somebody! Anybody with a distinctive style of their own and vision that the current mainstream generation hasn't been exposed to! An animation director, an indie director, a TV director, a romantic-comedy director, an Oscar-season-drama director, a director who hasn't made a big film in many many years and is struggling to pay the bills. Somebody with something to prove! Somebody who can make Star Wars an Oscar contender!!! AURGHRUGHGHGGH!!!! I rest my case. Not the director the Star Trek reboot, the Godzilla reboot or the director of the Fantastic Four reboot. Notice a trend here? Nothing but directors of big-budgeted reboots of established well-known properties released in IMAX 3D and within the past few years.

In other news, Doctor Strange has a director and sadly, I doubt I'll have the same positive response as I did for that piece of news as I will for any future Star Wars director announcements.

I for one dig the selection of Scott Derrickson as the director of the Doctor Strange movie. Good job as always Mr. Feige! I know I can always count on you to find somebody who's never made a movie released in IMAX 3D to deliver something fresh and exciting unlike a certain other president of a Disney-owned company. This is relativity new territory for Mr. Derrickson. We've seen he can tackle horror elements very well. So I have no doubt his style will benefit major elements that make up Doctor Strange. His biggest film was The Day the Earth Stood Still remake which was very mediocre, but that's not his fault as I blame the screenplay. His direction of Sinister was nail-biting and tense. He understands build-up and appears to be a fan of the source material even if his fandom hasn't shown itself in his prior works. It's not easy to make a respectable horror film these days, but I'm at least interested to see how this turns out. Now we just need Craig Johnson, the director of the Skeleton Twins to direct Ant-Man.

 

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Poolio
Poolio - 6/5/2014, 5:11 PM
How has James Gunn paid off if we haven't even seen GOTG yet?
MrBlackJack
MrBlackJack - 6/5/2014, 5:21 PM
So, they aren't taking any risks by hiring new and young directors who have untapped potential and more to show, but would be taking a risk by hiring proven and famous directors.....

Makes sense.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 6/5/2014, 5:37 PM
Why on Earth would Vader need a spin off film? He's already had 6 films dedicated to him. Sure, Luke was a huge part of the original trilogy, but make no mistake, all 6 of the Star Wars films were about Anakin's journey from becoming a Jedi, falling to the dark side, and then redeeming himself.

Enough with Vader, even though I love the character.

How about a Yoda film? Show him as a Jedi Knight, going on missions and tearing stuff up.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 6/5/2014, 6:06 PM
I've never understood the mindset of fans, where they somehow have the ability to pick and choose which individual director will work for a specific movie.

Don't get me wrong, I totally get why one would choose people like Joss Whedon for a superhero team-up film, or James Gunn for a comedic Star Wars-esque space adventure, or heck, JJ Abrams for the continuation of an icon property (and I have to add, Abrams is probably the one and only instance of Lucasfilm playing it safe and going with the obvious choice).

...but what is it about someone like Jim Mickle that tells you he'd be good for a Boba Fett spin-off, but not a Han Solo spin-off? Or Jon Wright for Episode IX, but not Episode VIII? Not trying to be snarky, I just find it distracting how weirdly specific your choices are haha.
Pasto
Pasto - 6/5/2014, 6:29 PM
You must be one of the most logical users on this site. As I read this I could feel the intelligence hit me in waves of understanding. Please, keep making articles...

*Sarcasm*
themcdougalbugle
themcdougalbugle - 6/5/2014, 7:35 PM
@MrBlackJack Are you just trolling or are you ideally dyslectic? How is J.J. Abrams a new and young director who has untapped potential if Rian Johnson, Jim Mickle, Rich Moore, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, Jeff Baena, Jon Wright, David Lowery are proven and famous directors? Every director Lucasfilm has hired has already directed at least one big summer tentpole blockbuster with special effects and established characters that was released in IMAX 3D within 5 years prior to their tackling of their Star Wars film. Might as well get Zack Snyder or Marc Webb or Michael Bay.

@SauronsBANE1 These are just examples, rearrange them as you may, but the point is these are the kinds of filmmakers they should be looking for.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 6/5/2014, 9:16 PM
Why, though? Why should relatively unknown, risky, inexperienced entities be the only people directing a massively big-budgeted, hugely anticipated, career-defining project? Wouldn't people who have actual experience with blockbusters be the ones most suited for something as big as Star Wars?

You deride the well-known directors of Abrams, Edwards, and Trank as:

"Nothing but directors of big-budgeted reboots of established well-known properties released in IMAX 3D and within the past few years."

But isn't that EXACTLY what Star Wars is, minus the reboot aspect? It's an established, well-known property, re-released in IMAX 3D within the past few years. And the properties that Abrams and Edwards have been involved with have been resounding successes. So why exactly shouldn't they be directing Star Wars films?
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 6/5/2014, 9:21 PM
Look, I'm the last person who should be defending people like JJ Abrams. I enjoyed his first Star Trek movie, seriously disliked Into Darkness, generally felt "meh" about his other movies, and I have almost zero expectations for this new Star Wars trilogy under his direction.

But I just don't understand this mindset of "Only inexperienced, unknown, up-and-coming auteurs should be directing Star Wars." Abrams made Trek relevant to a new generation of fans, Edwards worked wonders with the Godzilla reboot, and Trank has the opportunity to do the same with Fantastic Four. Though I have my reservations about Abrams, there's no reason to believe they won't do the same with Star Wars.
Wolf38
Wolf38 - 6/6/2014, 12:22 AM
Well, here we are. I am no great fan of JJ Abrams, but I understand--from Lucasfilm's practical perspective--his selection as a very safe choice for the first of these new films.

Edwards and Trank, however...I mean, c'mon. Edwards has only two feature-length films to his credit. I haven't seen Monsters, but I understand that he did a lot with a low budget and few resources. And Godzilla is IMHO an example of a visual effects-heavy film handled the right way.

Trank has one completed film to his credit, and I like that film very much.

Would it be great for Star Wars to be given to a weird/unconventional/auteur type director? Sure, I agree about that. But I can hardly see the sense in getting upset about that not happening. If we get Star Wars films that are good (and the directors selected so far have good reputations and seem capable of handling Star Wars) then it will be reason to celebrate. Going "AURGHRUGHGHGGH!!!!" about the recent selections seems a very strange and over-exaggerated reaction to me.

And lest we forget: George Lucas is not directing these films. With all due respect, that is a wonderful thing.
Wolf38
Wolf38 - 6/6/2014, 12:22 AM
"These are just examples, rearrange them as you may, but the point is these are the kinds of filmmakers they should be looking for."

That's arguable.
cbmf25
cbmf25 - 6/6/2014, 1:10 AM
to say that u are completely wrong about more risky directors would be a disservice to many potential directors out there.

however disney is first and foremost a BUSINESS and with that means they do not need critical hits to succeed, they need financial ones which means they are looking at directors who have a background with a FINANCIAL HIT within the last 5-10 years.

u may be on the right track with rian johnson although one could argue that looper would have not worked without jgl and bruce willis in the leads.

or rich moore with wreck it ralph, however thats animation which (1. will probably be getting a sequel which means he will be busy and (2. the last time disney gave a mid to high budget to an animated director the movie crashed and burned at the box office(andrew stanton doing john carter).

the rest of the directors no one really knows(i did an imdb search to find out who they were)and there movies were neither profitable or critical hits.

at this point i am burned out on the star wars love/hate bandwagon. its gonna take a REALLY GOOD FILM to reignite the passion for the franchise.

as for now i am looking forward to abrams take but could care less for spin off films. peace out
cbmf25
cbmf25 - 6/6/2014, 1:17 AM
and a quick follow up. i was bored by gareth edwards godzilla up until the last 20 mins(i loved pacific rim in comparison) and i was not impressed by chronicle (which i saw online anyway).
so any hope for the spin off films has dissapeared for me no matter who the characters are.
kong
kong - 6/6/2014, 3:28 AM
1. Without new directors the movie industry would just stop. Why? Well George Lucas was like Josh Trank or Gareth Edwards when he did Star Wars.
2. Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank are awesome directors.
3. You said "The only people we can expect to see are directors of at least one big summer tentpole blockbuster with special effects and established characters that was released in IMAX 3D within 5 years prior to their tackling of their Star Wars film." Chronicle was not a blockbuster. The special effects were shitty in comparison to those found in blockbusters.
4. This is really badly written and was a waste of my time.
themcdougalbugle
themcdougalbugle - 6/6/2014, 5:42 AM
@cbmf20 Then how come Marvel can hire Joss Whedon who made Serenity which flopped at the box office? Did that stop Avengers from making 1.5 billion?

@cbmf20 Look at Brad Bird and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

@TheReddestHood No, George Lucas was not on the level of Gareth Edwards or Josh Trank. All he directed was THX and American Graffiti before Star Wars. Two very small, very different films. And I'm not talking about Chronicle, I'm talking about the Fantastic Four reboot. That's a big budget tentpole film.
QuestiontheAnswer
QuestiontheAnswer - 6/6/2014, 6:17 AM
Apparently award winning directors were risky choices.
MightyZeus
MightyZeus - 6/6/2014, 7:23 AM
I'm okay with the list of director's that the studio has chosen except for Trank because he's only directed one film which was filmed in the style of a found footage film. I'm okay with Abrahms and Gareth, but as for Star War's spin off movies i would just like to know as to how many there could be and would some of them be necessary.
AC1
AC1 - 6/6/2014, 10:45 AM
Nat Faxon and Jim Rash for a Darth Vader movie? They've made touching coming of age types of films, nothing that suggests the ability to make a movie about the most iconic villain in movie history. And Rian Johnson would be too dark for a main series Star Wars film - in fact, he'd be better for the Darth Vader movie, or a Boba Fett one.

I understand where you're coming from, but I do think JJ Abrams is the best choice for Episode 7 as it's almost certain he'll get the series back on track. Also, the best directors are the ones who have recurring themes, almost a signature on their films - the ones that you can watch and instinctively know who made them without needing to check any credits. You can't just throw those kinds of names around randomly, there needs to be a thought process behind it, where a director is suited to the project, otherwise you end up with a mess - e.g. Martin Campbell (a decent director when working on gritty thrillers such as Casino Royale) and the awful Green Lantern movie he made. Or David Fincher's Alien movie.

And aren't you taking a pretty pessimistic view of things anyway? Abrams aside, the two other directors you're bemoaning are very new directors, each of whom have only made a couple of movies at most. This could be a good thing, as it means they're more likely to be a bit more experimental than some more established directors may be.
CaptainAmerica31
CaptainAmerica31 - 6/7/2014, 10:03 AM
Yea cause Shane Black was such a " risk" didn't exactly work out though did it? IM3 was pretty bad, hard to watch without cringing. Marvel doesn't hire " risky, out of the box" types because they're risky out of the box types. They hire them because they're Yes Men. Marvel studio films aren't exactly top notch films, a lot of them are just alright( IM, Cap 2 are the exceptions). So idk why you think Star Wars should do the same, I want a spectacular Star Wars film not a mediocre one. Trank has one film to his credit, Gareth Edwards has two. They are up and coming directors in Hollywood who have made good films before. A college isn't going to except a 2.0 because it's " out of the box and risky" no, that's stupid. Why would you do that? Marvel hires yes men because it has a way of doing things. They don't want another director messing it up. So when you say marvel is taking risks that pay off you're off base when you mention " Shane Black" or even Joss Whedon who is FAR from a risk. If I were a studio Id hire the best director for the job, not take risks. Marc Webb was a risk, did it pay off? No! The guys who directed the second ghost rider film were a risk, did it pay off? No! Shane Black was a risk, did it pay off? NO! Alan Taylor was a risk, did it pay off? NO! Marvel isn't taking risks. It's hiring yes men to execute their vision. So this whole article is seemingly pointless. Good day sir
CaptainAmerica31
CaptainAmerica31 - 6/7/2014, 10:07 AM
Besides isn't Edwards and Trank big enough risks? Lol they directed 1-2 films, for all Disney knows they might [frick] up Star Wars because they still haven't been proven with big budgets.
CaptainAmerica31
CaptainAmerica31 - 6/7/2014, 10:08 AM
@Ac1 good point
CaptainAmerica31
CaptainAmerica31 - 6/7/2014, 5:46 PM
@deth well here's the thing. Fox bastardized X-men in almost every movie. But did it work? Yes it did. The last two X-men films can be compared to Nolan's TDK trilogy( their the only two CBMs that actually come close to the level of those films, we compare all CBMs to the trilogy and this comes closet) Fox goes WAYYYYY off from the comics but it's still a good movie. Nolan strays from the comics yet his films were amazing.
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