Looks like J.J. Abrams wasn't the first choice to helm “Star Wars: Episode VII.” Brad Bird, director of 2011's “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” and Pixar films like “The Incredibles,” said Disney approached him to take the job, but he had to turn it down.
Bird, whose name was bandied about by fans as a possible directing prospect soon after Disney first announced “Episode VII,” was quick to deny those rumors late last year. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he explained why: he's busy at work on his latest project, a mysterious, Disney-set sci-fi flick called “Tomorrowland.”
“I've known [‘Star Wars' producer] Kathy [Kennedy] for a while and I know George [Lucas]. And they did come to me. But the problem was, the schedule they had in mind made it impossible to do…unless I dropped ‘Tomorrowland,'” Bird said.
He added that he worried the project, which was already deep in development, would lose momentum if he temporarily abandoned it in favor of “Star Wars” – “It would've thrown the furniture around from the train stopping,” he said -- and while part of him lamented the loss of “Episode VII,” he said that he was excited to watch Abrams's take on the franchise.
“I really want to see this movie,” Bird said of “Tomorrowland.” “I love the ‘Star Wars' films, and I can't wait to see what J.J. does, but it meant I'd have to shut down one dream to participate in another. I feel like [with ‘Tomorrowland'] we're making something that's really special and unique.”
Judging by Bird's track record, “Tomorrowland” is sure to deliver on that promise. And if that doesn't whet fans' appetites for his work enough, Bird also revealed in that same THR interview that he's open to the idea of making “The Incredibles 2.”
“I have been thinking about it,” he said. “ ... I love those characters and love that world. I am stroking my chin and scratching my head. I have many, many elements that I think would work really well in another [‘Incredibles'] film, and if I can get ‘em to click all together, I would probably wanna do that.”
[via THR h/t Cinemablend]
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