The young and talented director could add a little of his hit movie's mystique to the very un-subtle 'Star Wars' franchise.
Josh Trank has been revealed as one of the directors who will be taking on his own Star Wars standalone movie to complement the planned core trilogy. The filmmaker, who made his name with the gloomy sci-fi thriller, Chronicle, is the latest young director to be pinned to the franchise after Godzilla's Gareth Edwards was snapped up.
The 30 year-old movie-making whiz was aglow with excitement for his new opportunity, saying "The magic of the Star Wars Universe defined my entire childhood. The opportunity to expand on that experience for future generations is the most incredible dream of all time," in a release yesterday.
It seems like a shrewd move from LucasFilm and Disney to appoint two directors who until recently were very much at the fringes of big movie filmmaking. The hiring of the directors is decidedly a two-way transaction too: having a Star Wars movie on your C.V. at such a relatively early stage in your career is like being given a golden ticket to the top, whilst the films will almost certainly gain creative kudos with edgy, new talents at the helm.
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It's a risk for the studios to opt for comparatively fresh talent instead of well-established sci-fi directors but it will be a bonus for LucasFilm and Disney to be able to mould filmmaking's relative newcomers into their own image whilst extracting that youthful enthusiasm and creativity to better the franchise.
The Star Wars films have never exactly been famed for their subtlety which is why it will be interesting to see whether Trank in particular is given free rein to lend a little of the foreboding gloom and slightly disturbing mystery that made Chronicle such a success. If so, film fans who previously avoided George Lucas' most recent trilogy due to the seemingly constant, mindless action scenes may be brought back on board if a little more depth is promised.
More: More: JJ Abrams reacts to 'Star Wars VII' Millennium Falcon leak...but not how you'd expect.
And if it all goes to pot? Well, at least the films will only be standalones and can quickly be disassociated from the core franchise. It could be make or break for Trank and Edwards' future career prospects though: we're going to get ahead of the inevitable headlines here and "may the force be with them." Sorry.
'Godzilla' Director Gareth Edwards Will Also Be Stepping In For A Standalone.
Meanwhile Jj Abrams Will Take Care Of The Core Trilogy.
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