JJ Abrams has recommended Ava DuVernayas director for future Star Wars movie, suggesting the Selma film-maker would “just kill it”.
Interviewed by Nerdist, Abrams was asked which female directors he would like to see taking on episodes of the long-running space opera. “To me, the knee-jerk reaction if I had to [name someone] is Ava DuVernay,” he said. “She is as much a fan of genre movies … and hearing her talk about not just Star Wars but hearing her talk about those kinds of films is evidence that she would just kill it.”
Abrams, who is directing the forthcoming The Force Awakens, added: “When you look at her work in Selma, which was as well told, sophisticated and humane [a film that] has come out in the last decade … if she can do that story that well, there’s no question she’d kill [a Star Wars] movie.”
The force is strong with this one. xo https://t.co/FivfnY3Mud
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) December 9, 2015
His comments were made on the same day as a new report revealed that only 6.4% of Hollywood films were directed by women in 2013 and 2014. Disney has chosen an all-male team to direct its new series of Star Wars movies, with Looper’s Rian Johnson set for Episode VIII (2017), Jurassic World’s Colin Trevorrow taking on Episode IX (2019) and Godzilla’s Gareth Edwards in charge of next year’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story spin-off.
DuVernay later praised Abrams’ comments on Twitter. In July, the film-maker passed on directing the Marvel superhero epic Black Panther due to a difference of creative opinion with the studio, but she remains keen to take on genre fare.
Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg has revealed that, for him, Abrams was the only director that could take on the job of re-booting the franchise. Speaking on a CBS 60 Minutes Star Wars special, to be broadcast this Sunday, Spielberg apparently told producer Kathleen Kennedy before production on the film started: “Kathy, there’s only one director that really should undertake this daunting, epic task, and that’s JJ Abrams”.
In other Star Wars news, a new Chinese trailer for The Force Awakens features fresh footage of Daisy Ridley’s Rey talking to droid BB-8, Rey and John Boyega’s Finn piloting the Millennium Falcon.
