Ava DuVernay Isn’t Interested In Directing Star Wars

Director Ava DuVernay has revealed that she doesn’t have plans to direct a Star Wars movie in spite of making a suggestion toward J. J. Abrams about the climactic lightsaber duel in The Force Awakens… And perhaps that’s for the best.

 

Not that long ago, we heard rumors that Lucasfilm is quietly looking into some directors and writers to handle future Star Wars projects, but there’s not a plan to reveal them just yet because Lucasfilm isn’t ready to announce the plans it has for Star Wars movies after Episode IX. One of the only names that were publicly discussed was DuVernay’s, with her movie A Wrinkle In Time apparently serving as a litmus test to see if she was capable of handling a bigger movie, as the company has proudly stated that it is the first $100M+-budgeted movie to be handled by a nonwhite, female director. And many a fan has included DuVernay as a pick for their “Top Whatever People To Direct A Star Wars Movie Next”, so it almost seems natural to assume that she’d be right for the project.

 

Unfortunately, regardless of whether or not DuVernay passed Lucasfilm’s internal litmus test, she just revealed that she doesn’t think she’s right for Star Wars through her Twitter:

 

 

 

Thus far, DuVernay’s most recent (and most expensive) movie A Wrinkle In Time has received mixed reviews from critics, with the visuals and creativity used to bring the world to life being praised, yet elements tied to the story itself coming up short of the promise she’s shown with her earlier work like the MLK biopic Selma or the documentary 13th. Perhaps a more lukewarm reception to her film has cooled her on the idea of doing another major tentpole picture for a while, or perhaps DuVernay wasn’t as invested in the Galaxy Far, Far Away as we were previously led to believe. Audiences might be more supportive of her film, but ultimately, it’s her call to make whether she looks to develop a movie for this iconic setting. We at SWNN wish Mrs. DuVernay the best of luck in her future endeavors all the same.

 

 

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Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

63 thoughts on “Ava DuVernay Isn’t Interested In Directing Star Wars

  • March 8, 2018 at 4:36 pm
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    Well, that sets the record straight. Now everybody will set their hearts on Patty Jenkins.

    • March 9, 2018 at 9:44 am
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      Yay! “Barely competent Star Wars that poops the bed in the third act, and that everyone praises entirely out of proportion to its meager merits” – gimme some of that action!

  • March 8, 2018 at 5:34 pm
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    After A Wrinkle In Time, I don’t think I’d be setting my sights on a star wars film just yet either.

  • March 8, 2018 at 6:12 pm
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    “Mixed reviews”? It’s tanking so far. I’ll still give it a shot, but Hollywood really needs to understand that enough SJW is enough (Oscars with the poorest rating ever should give them a clue)

    • March 8, 2018 at 6:20 pm
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      Yes, keep those ethnics and women off the screen, right?!

      I mean, what is the world coming to where such people expect to be acknowledged as existing?

      • March 8, 2018 at 6:21 pm
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        And hire another white guy to do the live action tv show. Sigh.,…

        • March 8, 2018 at 7:11 pm
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          Well, the white guy is Jon Favreau who has plenty of talent and has made so much great work then i think we should be glad, specially when the only real argument against him is the color of his skin.

          As things stand right now he is a much better choice than Ava Duvernay for any future Star Wars project, that’s for sure.

          • March 9, 2018 at 12:27 am
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            Favreau is a fantastic director. I’m biased because I very much love a lot of his movies. Even flicks, like Cowboys & Aliens which is not good.

            And really him attached to Star Wars is something I always wanted to see for out of any major director, I truly believe he can do a phenomenal job. And while I am happy he’s doing a live action TV series, him doing a character piece, like Obi-wan would have been perfect.

            For really, what made Favreau famous was movies, like Elf and more so Iron Man. Single character driven pieces.

        • March 9, 2018 at 12:50 am
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          He’s *producing*, not necessarily *directing*. This is a clear distinction that I think a lot of people have failed to make thus far. Favreau having the job does not prevent women from working on it.

          There are sadly few women producers on TV that have handled projects as large as Star Wars, and I think it makes sense that they hire someone with experience to take a shot at this.

          – Pomojema

      • March 8, 2018 at 6:46 pm
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        I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

      • March 8, 2018 at 7:26 pm
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        Your words, not mine, I’m going more in the direction of “be faithful to the source material and don’t force the casting for the sake of it” but whatever floats your boat, white knight.

        • March 8, 2018 at 7:33 pm
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          Who is “forcing” which casting exactly Mr. Blue?

          • March 8, 2018 at 7:35 pm
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            Read the book that the movie is based on.

          • March 8, 2018 at 8:01 pm
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            Yes, of course, I’m going to go away and read an entire book just to seek an answer to my question. Or, ya know, you could just take the more mature approach and answer the question.

          • March 9, 2018 at 1:54 am
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            God forbid you have to read a book, right?

          • March 9, 2018 at 3:46 am
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            God forbid you have the courage kids to answer the question and save me the time, right?

          • March 9, 2018 at 6:38 pm
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            This is not about courage to answer, is about doing your own research man, stay informed, sustain and validate your opinions on other things than mere feelings or social conventions. Besides, I’m pretty sure you know what they did, if I tell you the novel was written in 1962 and what I said before: “forced casting”. Now draw your own conclusions or do some research.

          • March 9, 2018 at 6:46 pm
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            It would take you a couple of minutes at most to post a distilled answer.

            Why can’t you do it?

            You’re being a coward by saying “I won’t answer unless you go away and read a book, by which time I’ll hope you don’t come back to the discussion”.

            Grow a pair and just give me a distilled answer.

          • March 9, 2018 at 7:52 pm
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            LoL, like I will respond to online bullying.

          • March 9, 2018 at 8:11 pm
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            Asking you to qualify your own statement is not “bullying”.

            But thanks for confirming you were just embarking on a knee jerk whine.

          • March 10, 2018 at 12:57 am
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            “Don’t have the courage” “Grow a pair” That’s not quite polite where I come from, Lol. Anyway, this is getting surreal, so bye now.

          • March 10, 2018 at 1:14 am
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            Add “bottled it” for the sake of completion.

      • March 9, 2018 at 5:02 am
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        so the albine dwarfs will never have their chance ?

    • March 8, 2018 at 6:47 pm
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      Oscars “ratings” don’t matter. All award shows are all dying and they have been for a long time. They only matter to the nominees as it means their next paycheck will likely be higher.

      • March 8, 2018 at 7:27 pm
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        Indeed, and they are dying because they’ve lost focus, it’s supposed to be entertainment, not politics or social studies.

        • March 8, 2018 at 7:48 pm
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          No, they’ve been dying long before identity politics for a multitude of reasons. Chief among them being that people don’t care about watching stars getting awards, time to watch more YouTube cat videos. That and cord cutters like my self who couldn’t get the broadcast if I wanted too.

  • March 8, 2018 at 6:28 pm
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    According to the “A Wrinkle in Time” reviews i say thank God!

  • March 8, 2018 at 6:51 pm
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    That’s fine. Someone who makes a Star Wars movie should want to make a Star Wars movie.

  • March 8, 2018 at 6:53 pm
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    Colin Treverrow got shot down from making a Star Wars film for far less than the fiasco that A Wrinkle In Time is becoming.

    • March 8, 2018 at 7:01 pm
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      How on earth can you know what sort of movie he was going to make?

      • March 8, 2018 at 7:07 pm
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        Because we saw Jurassic World and Book of Henry. If that guy is doing Star Wars then i’m glad the replaced him.

      • March 8, 2018 at 8:14 pm
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        At least The Book Of Henry was original material.

        Di$ney had a license to print money with A Wrinkle In Time and instead they sacrificed it for weird mysticobabble, bad CGI and Oprah looking like a third-rate Aunty Entity knockoff.

    • March 9, 2018 at 12:17 am
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      I never saw Hardcore Henry so I cannot comment on that movie. Jurassic World, I thought it was okay. It’s very much like The Force Awakens as a retread and that hurts it. Still, I do love that final battle between the T-Rex and Raptor. Makes no sense but I loved it for the sake of being eyecandy.

      As for Episode Nine; I was genuinely curious to see how Trevorrow would have done with the movie. I believe in hindsight one director should have helmed the entire trilogy. Or have a decent plan. But Trevorrow; I do think perhaps had some awesome ideas.

      A shame we’ll never see them.

      • March 9, 2018 at 12:39 am
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        Hardcore Henry is some Russian movie. You’re thinking of The Book Of Henry.

        – Pomojema

        • March 9, 2018 at 1:18 am
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          LOL. You are right. I meant Book of Henry. It’s funny because I had watched Hardcore Henry recently so I guess that was on my mind. 🙂

  • March 8, 2018 at 7:49 pm
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    Good. Star Wars ain’t interested in her

  • March 8, 2018 at 8:19 pm
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    *phew* Dodged a bullet..

  • March 8, 2018 at 9:09 pm
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    Will the bombing of “A Wrinkle In Time” finally get the message through to Disney that we don’t necessarily all want “social justice” drivel rammed down our throats 24/7 ?

    Food for thought regarding future Star Wars films maybe, KK?

  • March 8, 2018 at 11:00 pm
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    The Scottish director Lynne Ramsay would be a very interesting prospect. She’s directed four feature length films, all of which (I believe) are very good. I’m very much anticipating seeing “You were never really here”.

  • March 8, 2018 at 11:20 pm
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    maybe just hire a good writer and director?

  • March 8, 2018 at 11:50 pm
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    Can everyone over at Collider shut up now?

    • March 9, 2018 at 12:22 am
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      I will never understand Collider anointing Star Wars, in the case of directors as the end all be all thing. Same with Marvel or any big franchises. There are just some directors who do not need, care or would fit those franchises.

      David Fincher is a perfect example. From Seven to Gone Girl, he’s directed I argue some of the greatest films of all time. Non-franchise, tentpole and are clearly his vision.

      While you could argue that directors do need blockbusters in the sense of more publicity/ access to the industry(just look at the MCU), not every director needs to go this route.

      Sometimes directors can just get acclaim by doing smaller, more personal projects as opposed to big blockbusters.

  • March 9, 2018 at 12:14 am
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    No True Scotsman fallacy: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/No_True_Scotsman

    Indeed, this site and many others online are a piss-poor indication of the entire fanbase.

    But your claim is not valid in that you redefine this subgroup as not being indicative of what you consider “real” fans. And really, there is no such thing. It’s an arbitrary, tribalistic label that seeks to confirm what you expect from someone who is a Star Wars(or really any fan) fan without actually acknowledging exceptions to your claim.

    And with all due respect, that comes off as dishonest. Now, I suspect you didn’t intend it that way. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt.

    But recognize that not all fans are alike. We all love Star wars and we come with our own perceptions, biases and aspects we’d dislike and like from this franchise. And trying to boil down undesirable elements in a generalization/ label does nothing to further discussions.

  • March 9, 2018 at 1:38 am
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    Glad she doesn’t want to do Star Wars. I don’t want her to. Look she might do a fine job but if she’s not into it and doesn’t understand or enjoy the property she most certainly shouldn’t be involved.

    • March 9, 2018 at 5:04 am
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      And it’s sadly looking like AWiT has turned out to be exactly what I feared it would – nice visuals, weak storytelling. Really not what this franchise needs.

      • March 9, 2018 at 4:00 pm
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        My wife and I saw that last night with friends. Though it was a Thursday night, we were still the only 4 people in the theater. It was a very weak adaptation of the book.

  • March 9, 2018 at 2:08 am
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    I think Peter Jackson, christopher nolan or james cameron could make good ol’ Star Wars.

    i would love Nicolas Winding Refn to take on a Kenobi or Fett movie. the atmosphere he set up in Drive and Valhalla Rising was amazing.

    • March 9, 2018 at 5:06 am
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      I think those are terrible choices frankly. Peter Jackson has absolutely no self control, Nolan is way, WAY too sterile a film maker, James Cameron is less interested in storytelling than tech development, Refn I don’t know, but Villeneuve is too cerebral. I’d counter with Brad Bird, Joe Johnston, and Dave Filoni as directors who have a) shown they can handle massive projects with a ton of moving parts and b) seem to have the right sensibilities for a Star Wars flick.

      • March 9, 2018 at 7:48 am
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        Partial like except the Bird/Filoni/Johnston stuff.

        • March 9, 2018 at 9:35 am
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          You can’t see Brad Bird taking on an anthology film? Dude, I think he’s got the perfect handle on the energetic, fun, light touch and tone required for a SW flick. Cap1 suggests to me that Johnston could handle one too, and Filoni has spent the last decade demonstrating he may have the best grasp of specifically what makes Star Wars work outside of the man himself. Curious if you’ve got an alternate three to put up on the big board o’ directors.

          • March 10, 2018 at 6:01 am
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            Interviewing Rian next week; I’ll ask him.

      • March 9, 2018 at 5:03 pm
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        Filoni would be a good choice for sure. i dunno the 2 others. people tend to hate Bilbo movies. the 1 was very good story telling. 2 and 3 sounds lazy and too cgi oriented. While you say Nolan is sterile i see a neutral perspective from the director. and the guy proved with Interstellar he knows how to bring emotions and emphazis for characters and to tell a story. My choices are not the best but would have been better than JJ or RJ. The only one i would take out would be Cameron.

    • March 9, 2018 at 7:47 am
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      I like your thinking with Refn.

      But, Del Toro did just win an Oscar…

      • March 9, 2018 at 9:39 am
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        I haven’t gotten around to Shape of Water, but I’ve lost a lot of faith in Del Toro over the last few years. I love the guy, but I just keep getting the feeling he’d be much happier left alone to doodle really cool monsters and robots in the margins of the 20 or so scripts on his desk that he’s never going to shoot than actually having to tell stories.

      • March 9, 2018 at 5:04 pm
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        thanks but i don’t see Del Toro making a SW. he would put too much of him like Rian Johnson i guess.

    • March 9, 2018 at 11:00 am
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      Peter Jackson committed career suicide with the execrable Hobbit trilogy, so he’s out of the running straight away.

      • March 9, 2018 at 5:07 pm
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        Yeah maybe Jackson and Cameron ere JJ like directors. i would stick with NWR, nolan and Villeneuve.

  • March 9, 2018 at 3:03 am
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    Joe Johnston should be given the reins of a new Star Wars movie.

    If ANYONE deserves that honor, it is he. A dozen times over.

    • March 11, 2018 at 8:12 am
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      He sadly said that he’s retiring after doing the next Narnia movie, though.

      – Pomojema

  • March 9, 2018 at 7:07 am
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    I haven’t seen the movie, but if the critics praise the visuals but bash the story then DuVernay did an excellent job apparently. The story wasn’t hers; it’s a book adaptation. Oh well, water under the bridge.

    • March 9, 2018 at 10:58 am
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      It seems you somewhat misunderstand the role of a film director!

  • March 9, 2018 at 7:45 am
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    I love it; all the talk about how we need a female director for Star Wars….and no one stops to think whether or not they’re interested.

    • March 9, 2018 at 10:57 am
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      But it sure gives Disney a chance to do some industrial-strength virtue-signalling in the press.

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