In the Works: Vaughn Rumored for New ‘Star Wars’ Installment; Ford Interested in Revisiting Han Solo
One of the exciting prospects for veteran Spielberg poducer Kathleen Kennedy as the new president at Disney-owned Lucasfilm is that she is more than capable of developing a strong script and luring gifted filmmakers to the planned “Star Wars” franchise reboot. Even without a script on hand, directors are lining up.
Director Matthew Vaughn (“Kick Ass,” “Layer Cake” and “X-Men: First Class”) is rumored to be in talks to direct the newly announced “Star Wars: Episode VII,” having recently dropped out of the next “X-Men” installment (old hand Bryan Singer is taking the reins). The news of “Episode VII” came last week during Disney’s announcement of the major purchase of Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion.
Meanwhile, Harrison Ford says he is open to the idea of playing Han Solo again in “Episode VII,” which reportedly takes up decades after 1983’s “Episode VI” left off. Presumably the older trio would hand off the story to a younger generation, a tried-and-true approach to rebooting a franchise, much as a senior Spock (Leonard Nimoy) did in J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek.”
EW reports that not only Ford, but “all three”–including Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia–are interested in being involved with the upcoming Star Wars film. EW speculates that if Ford were to draw up a new contract, it would involve a mandatory death scene for Solo. The character was originally meant to die in “Return of the Jedi,” but according to Ford, his bankability as an action figure kept Solo alive.