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J.J. Abrams Thinks Ava Duvernay Would “Kill It” at Directing a Star Wars Movie

The two planned follow-up films for The Force Awakens already have rumored directors on board: Rian Johnson for Episode 8 (he’s also the screenwriter), and Colin Trevorrow for Episode 9. Sounds like that isn’t set in stone, however! The LA Times reported a few days ago that “four female directors and three female writers” were in talks to come on board the Star Wars creative team. Today, The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams told Nerdist who his own top pick would be: Ava Duvernay, the director on Selma:

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The knee-jerk reaction, if I had to [choose], is Ava Duvernay, who I think would just kill it. She is as much a fan of genre movies, and hearing her talk about not just ‘Star Wars,’ but… those kind of films is evidence she would just kill it… Look at her work in Selma, which was as well told and as sophisticated and humane a film as I think has come out in the last decade. I mean, she is someone — if she can do that story that well — there’s no question she’d kill this movie.

DuVernay seems open to the idea, given that she tweeted this in response to Abrams’ quote:

I think most of us would respond to this with a resounding, “YES, PLEASE.” Am I right?

(via Nerdist, image via Wikipedia)

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Maddy Myers
Maddy Myers, journalist and arts critic, has written for the Boston Phoenix, Paste Magazine, MIT Technology Review, and tons more. She is a host on a videogame podcast called Isometric (relay.fm/isometric), and she plays the keytar in a band called the Robot Knights (robotknights.com).

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