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The Force is with Gareth Edwards...

Written by (Editor) on 23rd May 2014

After your 'Godzilla' scores gold at the box-office, what do you do next? Apparently you head to a galaxy far, far away... the Force is strong in Gareth Edwards...

Gareth Edwards to direct Star WarsWell, we already noted that Gareth Edwards had come a long way in his movie-making career... jumping from low-budget Monsters to Godzilla and almost a shoe-in for the Godzilla sequel after the first movie made so much on its opening weekend.

However it's unlikely many people would have predicted the news that was to follow that - and which makes the Godzilla sequel seem small by comparison. Edwards, it seems, will be helming the first Star Wars movie that follows J J Abrams outing. The plan, as we've previously noted, is to have a main Star Wars movie approximately every two years. In between those movies will be what are being referred to as 'stand-alones', films set within the Star Wars universe but concentrating more closely on individual characters. It is this first 'standalone' for which Edwards will be heading to the director's chair and which is scheduled for a December 2016 release in 3D.

For some this will seem like an obvious step for a director who has brought in a massive amount of box-office cash and who ahs a genuine love for the fantastical.Others may think the exact opposite. While there is no doubt that Edwards has proven himself a deft hand in getting the most out of his budgets, the director also told us of being over-awed on the set of Godzilla and finding it a compeltely different experience in scale, crew and time-management that he was not initially prepared for. The move from Godzilla to Star Wars is probably another quantum leap for the director with tar Wars being arguably the most iconic and generationally resonant big-screen franchises in modern cinema history.

When I asked Edwards about his immediate plans earlier this month - and specifically whether he wanted to continue his momentum with big-screen ventures or wanted to also exercise his passion for smaller independent and more personal features, he was pragmatic about his upcoming pursuits...

"I can do a personal film and I’m lying if I say I don’t want that to be as popular as possible. It’s a pointless exercise if you do a passion project and no-one sees it. If you do a commercial, popular film then you want to make that as personal as possible, as artistic and creative as you can," he acknoledged. "Whichever end of the spectrum you’re coming from, you’re heading for the same place. So I don’t know what will end up happening next, but the goal is to get to that sweet spot where people really like the movie AND you’re proud of it. People are lying if they claim they aren’t trying to combine the two..."

In a statement released today,  after industry-site the Hollywood Reporter was one of the first to break the story, Edwards was more specific.

"Ever since I saw Star Wars I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life - join the Rebel Alliance! I could not be more excited & honored to go on this mission with Lucasfilm," 

There is no word on which character the standalone film will feature, though speculation is that it will be a character from the main era of the stories and  could be Yoda or Boba Fett.

Will this affect the plans for the Godzilla sequel? Thomas Tull, producer on Godzilla congratulated Edwards in a statement and seemed to suggest that it wouldn't stop Edwards' involvement - though it isn't specifically clear if there has been alterations to the timing or schedule for the sequel as yet.

“Gareth’s filmmaking talent makes him one of his generation’s most creative and visionary directors. The plan has always been for Gareth to direct a different film before we started on another Godzilla, but who knew it would a Star Wars installment? We have a great plan in store for Godzilla fans and I am looking forward to seeing Gareth’s imprint on the Star Wars universe.”

Now, what we'd really like to see next is Gareth EVANS direct a jedi-knight epic.

Written By

John Mosby

Editor

John Mosby

Born at a early age, creative writing and artwork seemed to be in John’s blood from the start Even before leaving school he was a runner up in the classic Jackanory Writing Competition and began...

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