Directors You'd Like To See Helm Star Wars

I disagree with a lot of this.

Avengers is an incredible effort by Whedon. Until then, no studio had been able to cross over that many movies so successfully with a coherent and natural story. It doesn't age as well because the genre is always evolving. Like comparing a Clint Eastwood western with on of the John Ford era. The genre evolved.

The nuance in many of the movies now (Winter Soldier, GOTGvol2, Civil War) is at or even above MOST Star Wars films.

Civil War contains a ton of politics and dealing with the hard questions in the fallout of a mass catastrophe. Yet fans ate it up while the PT tried to touch many of the same issues and failed to convey them in an even remotely compelling way.

 

Bon Joon-ho!

 

I don't know... I recognise that it did a good job when it comes to teaming up all the heroes naturally, but to me the story of that film is non-existent. It's like a pretext for them to fight some generic aliens. If somebody is invested in these characters, perhaps that's enough. It wasn't for me.

But aside from story and underlying themes, it annoys me how bland these superhero films are in terms of filmmaking. Maybe it's just me, but majority of them feel totally the same. There's something cheap about their look and something uncreative in the way they're directed. Or maybe they are meant to look the same since it's a series and after 20 movies it gets monotonous.

 

It's just you, well at least in a conversation between you and I
Winter Soldier is wildly different than Thor Ragnarok which is different than Civil War which is different than Iron Man 3 which is different than Guardians which is differen than Ant-Man...

 

I actually agree a lot with you on the first Avengers.

However, I think it kinda illustrates what I see in Whedon- even with so little story, he manages to drive a ton of success with his snappy dialogue (how original of me! Did you guys know Whedon writes snappy dialogue? What an observation! )

But seriously though, I could see him writing "Star Warsy" dialogue. And in a standalone movie he wouldn't be tied to the universe building and collecting that the Avengers and Justice League films were.

He may have his problems, and I think there have been some good points brought up against him, but just wanted to explain what I saw in him (sNapPy diAlOguE!)

 

I kid you not, there's something very similar about all of them to me.

Oh, well. Nevermind, I guess. It's cool you find the MCU filmmaking compelling. For whatever reason it doesn't get there for me.

 

The MCU has a ton of different "subgenres" that should feel more different, but I'd agree many feel a bit too samey. For instance, you've got the fantasy of the Thor movies, the comedy heist film in Ant-man, Dr. Strange was originally billed as partially a horror flick.

In the end, I don't see these films leaning into their respective subgenres as much as I'd like.

That being said, one of my greatest wishes for Star Wars spinoff films is to embrace that kind of philosophy, and I think with Rogue One's war movie and assuming Solo is a good space western, we're off to a good start.

 

They can only go so far apart before believing them as "same universe" is not something you can easily task the audience with.
Ant-Man and the Cap movies have to be believed as in the same world or the greater MCU doesnt work.

 

The sad truth is Steven had the chance to direct 2 or even more SW movies.

The first was Return of the Jedi, he wanted to do it but the stupid directors guild was against it for the worst reason ever. (Credits at the end. Its not like 80% of todays movies have the credits at the end lol)
The second was Phantom Menace , this time he pussied out, because of the immense expectations -- probably. (Same with Howard and Zemeckis)
Which is also not surprising since Steven is a filmmaker that takes criticisms to heart.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 27, 2018, Original Post Date: Mar 27, 2018 ---

I also think taika "Korg" waititi is the only director that could pull off a Jar Jar movie without getting stabbed.
The guy knows how to make a funny movie.

Or Del Torro, but it would be a more tragic take on the character. (Aftermath of the clone wars maybe )
Del Torro directing a mafia movie on tatooine would be really cool too. I like his weirdo style.

 

Spielberg would be my number one but I think the ship has sailed on that one. Very unlikely at this point.

Denis Villeneuve would be my second, but I think his version of a Star Wars film would be too divisive for a main series film, it would have to be his own story/characters.

 

That's almost hello in italian

 

A Quintology:

Started by Ryan Coogler (he could either go super down to earth ala Creed and Fruitvale Station, add some super cool afrofuturism ala Black Panther, or do something else entirely).

Patty Jenkins would pick up the sequel, as she's proven she can reintroduce an established character and fits with the optimistic tone of Star Wars. And her action scenes could be pretty slick too.

The third movie would be by Christopher Nolan. His would bring a heaviness that the movies would need, and his propensity to play mind games would serve the characters and audience well.

Fourth would be a toss-up between Ava DuVernay, James Bamford, or Lexi Alexander. The middle one does stunt coordinating for CW's Arrow but has directed episodes while the latter of the three mostly directs episodes there. I feel like they could handle a larger production piece by that point, and hopefully the cast and crew would be a well oiled machine by then (although I'm pretty sure they change crews for nearly every movie...so maybe not...).

Ava DuVernay is a blind spot to me. I haven't seen any of her movies and she doesn't seem like she'd want to direct a Star Wars film, but I think she'd be good at it if passionate.

Last would be James Wan. He's proven he can play in sandboxes as well as switch his style to whatever the movie needs/demands. With Furious 7 he proved that he can close out an arc/character with emotion and respect and isn't too bad on the action stunts either.


The outline would be written by Claudia Gray, with Ryan Coogler and Jonathan Nolan turning that into the movies we'd get on screen.



Outside of that, I'd like to see Justin Lin do something, as well as Miguel Sapochnik. Or Edgar Wright!

 

I want to see Terry Gilliam on one prequel movie.

 

Director Orson Krennick.
Oh, wait...

 

Clint Eastwood

 

Quentin Tarantino, Coen Brothers, Luca Guadagnino, Lenny Abrahamson

 

SW is a very weird animal in that I wouldn't want most of my favorite directors to work on it. I really think it's a collaborative universe now that Lucas is out of the picture, and most unique auteurs don't seem like a good fit. I mean, I can't imagine David Lynch (who I realize was the first choice for ROTJ) or Coen Brothers or Tarantino or P.T. Anderson making a SW movie that didn't feel wildly out of place. And many of my favorite directors growing up are, unfortunately, on the decline (Cameron, Zemeckis) or missed their best opportunity (Spielberg) or have lost their minds (Ridley Scott). At this point in time I think Denis Villeneuve or Alfonso Cuaron would be good fits, as they are stylish directors but not overly "art house". But I'd also be happy to see Gareth Edwards at the helm again, despite R1's difficulties. Another slightly leftfield choice might be George Miller, but I couldn't see that ever happening. At one point Brad Bird was my dream pick, but Tomorrowland really made me question if he can handle live action. Darren Aronofsky could definitely handle heavy religious undertones between Jedi and Sith, and has a great cinematic eye. Lastly, I honestly think Scorsese could still pull off a SW movie and it'd be mindblowing.

 

I would like to see a new creative visionary at LFL in 2018 or 2019, and they need to be an obvious SW fan who would oversee and coordinate everything. (Filoni is on top, but there may be others I am not aware of). Somebody that is positive and enjoys all things SW. I would expect everything to be highly collaborative in nature with these directors. I think that seat is the most important thing to properly fill right now for LFL. After that is completed, you really can put anyone in the seat if there are checks and balances. I wouldn't classify anyone as a favorite of mine or I need to see, but I am just trying to realistically come up with all options, generic or otherwise.


Group 1
Friends/past collaborators with Lucas who would probably try to honor what he did without really changing things up:
-Steven Speilberg
-Ron Howard (Yes again, where he doesn't inherit a problem)
-Joe Johnston


Group 2
Visually captivating, but require a great script - let them world build (as I would expect they'd want to), create creatures and vehicles as George would have, while coloring inside the SW lines. They will want to make their mark on SW.
-Luc Besson (while I didn't like his last movie, the visual space battles could fit into SW nicely)
-Guillermo Del Toro
-Denis Villeneuve w/Roger Deakins = Coruscant Underworld/Tales of Bounty Hunters
-Alfonso Cuaron - Future Young Jedi Knights?
-Peter Jackson
-Christopher Nolan - Knights of the Old Republic if B&W don't do it.
-David Fincher = Coruscant Underworld/Tales of Bounty Hunters


Group 3
Solid choices, but unsure of their interest in SW or how much they would want to expand the universe. I could see all of them directing a SW movie, however some would be more of a dice roll than others. They would require heavier oversight and good pitches for their vision(s) of SW.
-Frank Darabont
-James Cameron
-Ridley Scott
-Robert Zemeckis
-Neil Marshall
-Patty Jenkins
-Doug Liman
-Kathryn Bigelow
-Martin Campbell
-Paul Verhoven
-Antoine Fuqua
-Duncan Jones
-Taika Waititi
-Jordan Vogt-Roberts
-Tony Elliot
-Simon Wells
-Yeon Sang-ho
-Kim Jee-woon
-Bong Joon-ho
-Shusuke Kaneko
-Jonathon Mostow
-David Twohy
-Roger Spottiswoode
-Stephen Hopkins
-Jan De Bont
-Len Wiseman
-Ian Softley
-John McTiernan
-Stephen Sommers
-John Turtletaub
-Randall Wallace
-Lee Tamahori
-Pete Travis
-Kevin Reynolds
-Howard McCain
-Tommy Wirkola
-Roland Emmerich
-Jeff Renfroe
-Nimrod Antal
-Robert Rodriguez

 

Remember this?

Well, I've changed my mind. There's a director I want to see direct a SW film and that's:




BRAD BIRD!!!!!!!!

 

Denis Villeneuve