JJ Abrams Reportedly Hired to Direct Star Wars VII

Zach Idiculla

OMG THEN IT WILL ACTUALLY BE GOOD

Jan 24 - 02:59 PM

King Simba

This would be fantastic news, but I'd like some confirmation first.

Jan 24 - 03:05 PM

Janson Jinnistan

Boring director for a boring project.

Jan 24 - 03:10 PM

Gordon Terry

nooooo waaaaay . . . Star Trek is AWESOME! (Abrams is the best director/editor working in Hollywood - he deconstructs a scene and inter-splices the remnants of that scene into other scenes [listen to the audio commentary on the Star Trek DVD to see what I mean] )

Jan 24 - 04:42 PM

Janson Jinnistan

Not biting.

Jan 24 - 04:45 PM

Mark Marquis

He makes populist films.... good populist films. And since Star Wars is the King Daddy of populist entertainment, this is kind of a no brainer. If this were all so boring you certainly wouldn't have been paying attention, now would you Janson?

Jan 24 - 08:12 PM

Infernal Dude

I would rather see him do Star Wars than Star Trek. I was not fooled by ST and its problems. But SW, it needs the gloss and cheese that JJ is perfect for.

Jan 24 - 09:09 PM

Janson Jinnistan

@Mark - I agree. It's a no-brainer. It requires no thought whatsoever.

Jan 24 - 09:13 PM

Gordon Terry

Biting or not, STAR WARS VII: THE EMPIRE'S RESURGENCE is an Exciting project, in need of an "Exciting" director -- Lucas planned nine films and sadly his talents didn't survive that long. Star Wars: a New Hope's strength was in its editing (and motion control camera and special effects) and it was George Lucas' wife who edited Star Wars; in 1983 George Lucas divorced Marcia and as a result Return of the Jedi suffered partly due to bad editing. Women make better editors: Verna Fields edited Jaws, Sugarland Express, American Graffiti; Sally Menke edited Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill vol 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Inglorious Basterds, Death Proof; and again Marcia Lucas edited Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, THX 1138, and Taxi Driver . . . Women Make Better Editors (so it would appear).

Jan 25 - 03:56 AM

Janson Jinnistan

"Star Wars" strength was in the Joseph Campbell "hero myth" narrative structure. State of the art FX certainly helped, but the story shouldn't be overlooked. And some of your details are fuzzy. "Taxi Driver" was edited by Tom Rolf and Melvin Shapiro, with Marcia Lucas in a supervising role (which means you might as well credit Spielberg, who also supervised the editing), but it's all moot because everyone knows that Marty is hands-on in the editing room, and all of the editing is done at his direction and to his satisfaction.

None of this addresses the fact that Abrams makes dull entertainment that glitters enough to fool people for a few months before the empty calories start to show. I don't think it's a coincidence that his "fame" has been solely in the service of pre-existing franchises, because I doubt he has the imagination to tell any truly original stories. It's almost artful how he dodged the blame for "Lost", palming it off on Damon Lindoff, which everyone now knows was pulled out of their asses. What are his story contributions? "Gone Fishin'"?

Jan 25 - 11:32 AM

scifi mark

I dont know how he can really do both franchises to be honest. Until this is confirmed im skeptical.

Jan 24 - 03:27 PM

Michael Baldelli

Let the flame wars begin.

Jan 24 - 03:46 PM

L B

Begun, the flame wars have.

Jan 25 - 11:07 PM

Dave Mart

Oh, no... Now they're not only disrespecting the canon, but they're also hiring a Trekkie to do it?

Jan 24 - 06:57 PM

??????? ?????

JJ is SW fanboy since he was young.

Jan 24 - 08:42 PM

Scott Seals

Disrespecting the canon? Man, I'm an intense EU fan. I grew up with the Solo kids. But even I can recognize that the new movies would only be hindered by the EU. It's unreasonable to expect them to adhere to so much supplementary material. Our books aren't going anywhere. Just enjoy a good movie for being a good movie.

Jan 27 - 02:42 AM

Dave Mart

You misunderstand me: Disney already said they are not considering the timeline set in the EU, which is pretty much EVERYTHING Star Wars is. Fortunately, Abrams might just respect canon as muchly needed.

Jan 28 - 12:47 PM

John Noto

Meh, I can't see how this is necessarily a bad thing. Abrams movies are not always great but enjoyable in many respects. Can't say the same for Lucas

Jan 24 - 08:27 PM

greg baltzer

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Hated Star Trek!

Jan 24 - 09:33 PM

David Nguyen-Tri

Eh, count me as a skeptic on this one: not a big fan of anything Abrams has ever done, and I loathe pretty much anything anyone involved in the creation of Lost has ever done since then.

Jan 25 - 05:55 AM

Martin Tam

I think Abrams has to make Star Wars drastically different than Star Trek. There is a certain mythology and energy to Star Wars that needs to be captured. I trust the writers of Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3 to do a good job with the script.

Jan 25 - 10:22 AM

Dave Mart

HALLELUJAH!!

Jan 25 - 09:05 PM

jj l

I would rather see Abrams work on his own projects. Hard to see Star Wars being salvaged at this point after the damage done by the new trilogy and the changes to the original, unless it were rebooted (which of course could never happen, given how established the SW universe is). Shame to waste Abrams' time and talent.

Jan 25 - 10:28 AM

Dave Mart

What??? Can't believe this travesty of human being is allowed to exist.

Jan 25 - 09:06 PM