When you're dealing with a project a high-profile as Star Wars: Episode VII, only the biggest names are going to talked about as taking part in it. Ok, maybe Colin Trevorrow(Safety Not Guaranteed) doesn't count as high-profile, but certainly Matthew Vaughn, Michael Arndt, Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, and Brad Bird do. Big names wishlists also tend to equal big name refusals, and now a couple of the guys up for the director slot have pulled their name out of the running.
Last night the Internet gave a deep sigh of relief when Zack Snyder revealed he didn't want anything to do with it, and now Spielberg and Tarantino have weighed in. When asked by Access Hollywood, this was Spielberg's response...
Spielberg: "No! No! It’s not my genre. It’s my best friend George’s genre."
Wha? Since when was he not a science-fiction guy? Whatever, dude. But Tarantino got downright Biblical in his response, even grinding another director under his boot in the process....
Tarantino: "I could so care less. No, sorry. Especially if Disney’s going to do it. I’m not interested in the Simon West version of 'Star Wars."
Ouch! What did West do to deserve that? They got a beef I don't know about? So where does this leave us? Michael Arndt has written a 50-page treatment that probably puts him as the frontrunner to draft the screenplay, and he apparently showed it to Bird, Spielberg, and Abrams in hopes they'd direct. That leaves two still in the running, not including Vaughn and Trevorrow.
I expect this whole thing will be over in a matter of days, but not before some other names emerge to muddy the waters a little bit. In the meantime, bask in the above poster with a fan's personal picks for who should star. Not a bad group, actually. [FirstShowing/Slashfilm]
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