Does the new Star Wars already have a director?

Has a director already been found for the new Star Wars film?

When the news hit last week that George Lucas was selling his empire to Disney for $4.05 billion, it was not only remarkable that think of anyone making over $4 billion in one business transaction, but it also brought the surprising announcement that there will be three more Star Wars movies.

Immediately pundits all over the ‘Net were speculating as to who would be the right director to guide the Force in the future.

Many of the usual suspects came up, including Christopher Nolan, Joss Whedon, JJ Abrams, among others. Recently, a report surfaced on Collider that there may already be a director for the next Star Wars film, and it’s a filmmaker who just left another high profile sequel gig. Now at the moment, this is just a rumor, we know the Internet isn’t the most peerless source of accurate information, and you also know nothing’s officially going to be announced for some time, even if a director’s already been hired. That said, here goes…

As Collider tells us, Matthew Vaughn, director of X-Men First Class who just left the X-Men series and could use a gig, may be “in talks,” as they say in the biz, to helm Episode VII. Vaughn’s other credits include Kick-Ass, Stardust, and Layer Cake, and all this would make him a very interesting choice to take over Star Wars. 

As we’ve hoped before on TG, a left of center director could be what the new Star Wars flicks could need, and it did wonders for the best Star Wars flick in the series, Empire. The late Irvin Kershner had never directed a genre film before Empire, and he delivered a sci-fi masterpiece. (Unfortunately, he couldn’t deliver the same magic with RoboCop 2). Against type directing choices also did wonders for X-Men with Bryan Singer as well.

And as Collider also mentioned this could have something to do with Vaughn leaving the X-Men franchise. “Why would Vaughn abruptly drop out of helming the X-Men sequel…If Lucasfilm offered Vaughn the keys to Star Wars, that’s something he’d likely jump ship for.”

Again, who knows for sure if there’s any truth to this, but Vaughn would definitely be an interesting choice. As Collider points out, Vaughn’s a writer as well, although with Star Wars, the best writers and directors in the world will be more than happy to volunteer. Whoever gets the director’s gig, Star Wars Episode 7 is due in theaters 2015.