Star Wars Episode 7 update

Picture Courtesy of StarWars.com

Disney completed its acquisition of Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC., on December 21, according to a company press release.

So what role will Star Wars creator George Lucas play now?  “When Lucas passed the torch, so to speak, by selling his company to Disney, he really meant it when he said he was moving on. He’ll be there as a source of canonical information, as someone who may know the details or relationships of certain characters that perhaps were only briefly touched on in the six films so far, but the new scripts will tell a new story and the new director will direct without answering to Lucas,” according to Screenrant.

“As pre-production of Star Wars: Episode VII begins, Lucasfilm has confirmed that award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay for the new Star Wars film. As revealed in the ongoing video series posted here on StarWars.com, Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas have begun story conferences with Arndt. Arndt won an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay for writing Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing Toy Story 3 (2010),” according to StarWars.com.

“Director Kevin Smith recently tweeted an endorsement for director Jon Favreau to head up Star Wars: Episode 7 after re-watching the first Iron Man.  Smith, who himself is an avid consumer and lover of all things geek culture, suggests that Favreau crafted “a great family flick” with Iron Man, and that same sensibility could translate well to the Star Wars universe. We have no idea if Smith caught wind that Favreau is “panting after” the Star Wars: Episode 7 job and sought to help his case, but many fans have already rallied behind Favreau as a worthy director,” according to ScreenRant.

Other directors under consideration include David Fincher and Matthew Vaughn, according to Yahoo.

Original Star Wars producer Rick McCallum had this to say about new Star Wars producer Kathleen Kennedy: “There’s only person in the world who could do this, and that’s Kathleen Kennedy,” he says. “There’s no one more suited who is able to bridge the worlds of elite filmmaking within a studio context. The Star Wars saga will always be taken care of under her leadership. She is truly one of the greatest producers in America as well as being a great friend,” according to StarWars.com.