Could Selma director Ava DuVernay become the first female director to helm a Star Wars movie? J.J. Abrams certainly hopes so.
In an interview with Nerdist, The Force Awakens filmmaker championed DuVernay to helm an installment in Lucasfilm and Disney’s prized galaxy far, far away, claiming that the director “would kill it.”
[zerg]On the topic, Abrams claimed that DuVernay’s innate understanding of storytelling and character development would make her a perfect candidate to take on a Star Wars project, be that a mainline installment or a spinoff under the Anthology umbrella.
“I think she would just kill it,” Abrams said. “And she’s as much a fan of genre movies and hearing her talk about, not just Star Wars, but those kinds of films, is just evidence that she’d just kill it.”
Abrams lobbying for the Selma director comes only a few days after Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy acknowledged the inexplicable shortage of female directors and writers in the Star Wars universe, claiming that no female filmmaker has put themselves forward for the directing gig. Surely Lucasfilm will begin diversifying its roster of talent behind the camera sooner rather than later, right?
If DuVernay is to take point on one of Lucasfilm and Disney’s planned Star Wars projects, she’ll likely have to wait until at least 2019 now that both studios have mapped out a firm blueprint for the franchise for the next half-decade or so. That doesn’t necessarily rule DuVernay out, though if Lucasfilm and/or Disney really is to take heed of Abrams’ petition, it’ll be some time yet before we learn of any development.