h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes that rings a bell with me too.

He played the lead roll in an excellent episode of the Muppets once too. Albeit as Luke Skywalker


To be fair, even if he'd had a Marlon Brando-esque career post Star Wars, I'm still not sure why he would need consulting over a possible sale of the franchise.

I don't think he did "need" to be consulted. Maybe it was just a talk over dinner between old friends about the future of something that was very important in each of their lives.

So then, who if attached to Star Wars 7 as director would get you excited abotu new film?

Top of my list, and by a country mile, would be Guillermo Del Torro.

I'd also be delighted if it was:-

Chris Nolan
Duncan Jones
Matthew Vaughan
Nicolas Refn
Brad Bird
Joss Whedon

FB

Not as director, but I'd be happy if Kevin Smith worked on the script. That way we know that all the fanboys wouldn't be disappointed by silly discrepancies from the earlier film minutia.

I want to get excited by Joss Whedon, early Buffy was good, early Angel was good, Firefly was good and Serenity was good. But later Buffy was meh, later Angel was daft, and whilst Avengers was good, I couldn't help thinking it could have been better.

Same with Guillermo Del Torro too, earlier stuff was amazing... but Kung Fu Panda?

Chris Nolan's Batman stuff was very good, but I'm not sure if it'd follow the series to do it justice.

What we've got from 1 to 6 is Muppets turning into 70s cheese. So episode 7 I think would be best directed out of that era. I can't help but think that I'd *really* like to see Ridley Scott take it on, but I also wasn't that impressed with Prometheus.

A Kevin Smith and Simon Pegg collaboration, with Ridley Scott as executive director.

I'd pay to see that. A few times hopefully.

Del Toro didn't direct Kung fu Panda. I think he might have done some production. i think his Directoral Ouvre stands comparison with anyones.

And his is especially brilliant at physical real world effects. Whether or not you like the films but the "look" of Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy films is spectacular and would be great for Star Wars.

Also anyone who doesn't like Pan's Labyrinth is a flipping idiot and therefore has nothing of value to say about anything ever. FACT!



FB

Pans Labyrinth is a glorious film, it truly is. But he was the executive producer of Kung Fu panda 2, which kinda lets him down I'm afraid.

But an EP credit on an unashamed Kids franchise isn't the same thing as a Directoral credit.

I think you can only really judge a director by what he/she does as a director.

And judging someone on their Kids films is also a little unfair. I love many of the films of Robert Rodriguez, but I wouldn't hold Spy Kids against him.

FB

Ah, but I judge people as a person. If you only judge them by one thing, then it's a rocky road

Another name i'd chuck out there would be Alfonso Cuaron pretty much on the strength of Children of Men and Harry Potter 3. Again a great visual style which I think would translate very well to the Star Wars universe.

And in a choice that would never happen in a qudrillion years, but would be great, would be Terry Gilliam.

FB

Scorsese?

FB, I love the Mr. Plinkett reviews, but I reckon the best way to enjoy them is stright off their own website: http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/
FWIW, I see this whole development as George Lucas opening the wine-box, removing the bag and squeezing out the last couple of glasses*. People blame Hollywood, but Star Wars was his personal cash cow right from the start: people have mentioned the merchandising already, and it really was ground-breaking in that way.
I'm also not pessimistic about what Disney will do to the franchise. There is plenty of room for caution - people have cited the Marvel movies, but that train was well in motion by the time Disney jumped on board - but I still think they tend not to do bad work. I totally disagree that the modern Disney animations are targeted at kids exclusively, with nothing of interest to older viewers. If anything, the trend in recent feature-length animations is to have *too many* sly winks to the grown-ups that the kids simply won't get. Do you remember 'Shark Tale' from about 10 years ago? How many 12-year-olds will watched 'Goodfellas', or any of the Scorsese films that film references?!
Compared to that, Disney have been, at worst, an exemplar of solid, reasonable quality film-making. Yes, the publicity machine gets into full gear, but at the centre of it all is still a film which can be judged on its own merits, and those merits have been there to see.
My final conclusion is that, as people have already said, it all depends on the director and writers they bring in. It won't be Joss Whedon, he's far too busy. Del Toro is disaffected with the studio system, and has been a bit erratic recently about bringing projects to completion. Chris Nolan is so huge right now that he can write his own cheques, so I think the only way he will get in on it is if *he* approaches *them*.
Duncan Jones is a good shout. My nightmare scenario? Gore Verbinski.

* There's always more in there than you think...

Verbinski.... shudder....

FB

How about Ang Lee?

There was a mention of Ridley Scott* and Prometheus. I saw this article the other day and it hints that the Alien universe is the same one as in Blade Runner. http://www.firstshowing.net/2012/does-this-prometheus-easter-egg-hint-at-a-blade-runner-tie-in/



*Ridley Scott was my first favorite director. I loved Alien and refuse, to this day to consider the sequels as such. On their own, they're enjoyable and have had very talented directors even when the scripts were crap. Blade Runner, Black Rain, Legend... I loved them all. Then Scott did just started making films that I really didn't like at all. Thelma and Louise, G.I.Jane, Gladiator. Yeah, I am completely disillusioned with him now. I haven't watched Prometheus yet, but I'll give it a chance. That said, considering how I feel about the entire Star Wars canon now, let him have at it.

I thought Prometheus was flawed but really interesting. Watched it twice and for me the good about it outweighs the bad.

Bottom line is if he does another ill be watching it on the day it comes out, even if I am doing so with trepidation.

FB

I liked Prometheus to start with, I like the way it really did try and set the universe up for Alien, and then it went back on itself. In Alien the "gunner" was in the chair when they went into the broken spaceship, yet in Prometheus they bring him out of it.

Ridley Scott was the Exec Prod on the recent TV
mini-series of Ken Follet's 'World Without End'.

Production values were enough to keep me hooked
in spite of the constant torture, murder, rape and
assorted other celebrated 14th century perversions
normally not to my taste.


~jwf~

Well I asked if Anthony Daniels had been consulted but it seems it's Kenny Baker (R2D2) giving it the seal of approval

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20156816