One of most influential and successful directors of the modern day, Christopher Nolan, is currently promoting his highly anticipated film, Oppenheimer, which is slated to release on Friday. During a recent interview, the director was asked if he would direct a Star Wars movie, and the director gave an interesting response.
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During an interview with Hugo Décrypte, the Interstellar filmmaker was asked a series of quick fire questions by the interviewer on various topics and informed the writer-director that he could simply pass on questions that he did not want to answer. Nolan responded ‘pass’ to multiple questions that included the possibility of life existing outside of earth, if Interstellar is his favourite movie he created, if he’d be making movies in 2050 and finally, the reason you’re reading this, if he would direct a Star Wars movie, “Pass”.
Many fans online have been excited by Nolan’s decision to pass on the Star Wars questions, perhaps hoping that it means it’s something that he’s considering. Nolan was quite open in the interview and flat out rejected the idea of directing another superhero movie after his triumphant Dark Knight trilogy. However, I think this comment is a whole bunch of nothing and Nolan decided to pass on the question simply because he didn’t want to answer, he didn’t know, or that there could be more to say on the topic but couldn’t as it was a quick fire round in which Nolan was giving one word answers.
The Dunkirk director has been open in the past about being inspired by Star Wars, as are many filmmakers of his generation. In 2014, Nolan expressed his fear of ever handling a Star Wars film, telling the Daily Beast that he’d be “afraid to touch it” and that he’d rather explore his own concepts and ideas rather than, “carrying the weight and expectation of the entire world, particularly 40-somethings like me who live and die with each new bit of information about Star Wars.”
Of course it would be very exciting to have one of the most celebrated and accomplished directors of the past fifteen-twenty years be onboard a Star Wars film, and many fans would most certainly welcome the idea. However I don’t believe it will ever happen, and I’m quite happy that it isn’t as I’d personally rather see the director craft his own stories detached from a wider universe. That being said, the director is a constant subject of online speculation in regards to the possibility of The Prestige director helming the next James Bond flick, as the director had expressed a desire in the past to direct a Bond picture.
Currently there are at least five Star Wars films in development – a follow up to The Rise of Skywalker which continues the story of Rey Skywalker (Daisy Ridley) as she attempts to build a new Jedi Order which will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel), Dave Filoni’s ‘MandoVerse’ crossover event film, James Mangold’s (Logan) Jedi origin flick, and films from Taika Waititi (Thor: Love and Thunder) and Shawn Levy (Free Guy).
During the aforementioned interview, Christopher Nolan stated that the film and television industry are currently in their “Oppenheimer moment” with the growth of AI in the industry. Currently the Writers Guild of America (of which Nolan’s part) and the Screen Actors Guild are both on strike with some key sticking points being fair wages, residuals from streaming services, and artificial intelligence. Disney CEO, Bob Iger, who is currently looking to earn $27M this year claims that the demands of the guilds are “not realistic” and “disruptive.” You can support the actors on strike in various ways including donating to the DSA-LA who have been providing those on the picket lines with food and water along with the Entertainment Community Fund which supports those in the industry that are in need of emergency financial assistance.
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