By Chris Kavan - 01/26/13 at 04:17 PM CT
As the huge Star Wars nerd I am, I have been following the "whose-in-whose-out-whose-potentially-on-board-to-direct-the-now-Disney-owned-Star Wars Episide VIII" fracas that has sent fans into states of shock, denial and all manner of rumor mongering. It seems at one time everyone in Hollywood was mentioned as a potential director for this project, and some of the possibilities, as far out as they were, seemed plausible to a point.
That has officially ended as Lucasfilm has officially announced that J.J. Abrams is going to helm the next Star Wars film. This actually makes me quite happy - Abrams has been involved with some huge projects: Star Trek, Super 8 and Lost.
I was also surprised at what other projects he has been involved in that have impressed me: executive producer for Fringe (on 100 episodes) - quite possibly the best sci-fi program of the last decade. He also served in that capacity for Person of Interest, Revolution and Alias.
Obviously the story is still under wraps and Abrams is quite keen on keeping things pretty locked up, so I have a feeling there is going to be a long wait before we hear about what direction this film is going to take, but I do think the series is in good hands. In fact, out of the many, many, MANY, people mentioned, perhaps Joss Whedon is the only other person I can think of that I would trust with this series.
I know a lot of people didn't like the new Star Trek movie (and the use of lens flare) but I didn't have any major problems with it (and am quite looking forward to the sequel). Granted, it's kind of strange for one person to work on the two biggest sci-fi franchises of our time, but something tells me that Abrams is going to be able to pull it off.
I mentioned this earlier, but one of my biggest hopes is that Abrams sticks with John Williams for the score. I know he has worked with Michael Giacchino on Lost and Super 8, but, man, I just can't see this being the same without him. But, even if he goes another direction I guarantee you this will be a Midnight Movie for me - the return of Star Wars is happening, we have a director, and now things are going to get really interesting.
Comments
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 01/29/13 at 09:40 AM CT
Gotta agree with you Chris on John Williams. Just hoping the script would be better than the awful Episode I & II! SW was one of the few films that really got me interested in movies (saw it on betamax too hahaha). Not sure if there are a few fanatics here who still know what it is. Good news, fans are hopeful, the force is strong.
