Posted on by Dunc

Report: Fincher, Favreau both want in on Episode VII

Buried at the end of a post on Hollywood types acting badly online, Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. writes that both Jon Favreau (Iron Man) and David Fincher (The Social Network) are both interested in directing Episode VII.

Favreau “panting after this job” is anything but a suprise – it’s right in his wheelhouse and he’s already expressed excitement about the sequels, and having voiced a character on The Clone Wars probably won’t hurt his chances.

Fincher is a bit of a wild card – I didn’t know that he worked at Industrial Light & Magic in his early days (or that he directed Alien 3 – ouch) but I do know that his Girl with the Dragon Tattoo failed to ignite what many thought would be a promising film franchise. Still, he’s a director with plenty of respectable films (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , Se7en, Fight Club) and a pair of Oscar nominations under his belt.

5 Replies to “Report: Fincher, Favreau both want in on Episode VII”

  1. What happened with Alien 3 wasn’t Fincher’s fault at all. He got studio screwed on that one. I think his involvement with Kennedy and Lucasfilm makes him a real likely candidate who was at least under consideration at one point.

  2. I think I’d be ok with Fincher as well. However, the three good films of his you noted there all featured Brad Pitt. While I have nothing against Brad Pitt as an actor (actually, usually enjoy his performances) I really don’t want to see him in Star Wars.

  3. Well, I did mention The Social Network up top. No Pitt in that, I think. Or in Dragon Tattoo. How do you feel about Daniel Craig and/or Rooney Mara? ;)

  4. Fincher has a good visual eye and he gets enough out of his actors to probably make a decent Star Wars film. I guess the only question I would have is could Fincher step out of himself a bit to fit into the confines of the genre. It won’t matter if he’s doing the Dengar movie, but if he does Episode VII, for instance, he’s going to have to be able to work within pre-established confines. I’m sure he can, but you never know.

    Still, I think I like him doing one more than any director I’ve heard of so far.

  5. Hmm. They’re both interesting options, to be sure, and I’ve liked enough of their work on both sides…I’m not sure that I would trust either of them to go as big as Star Wars really needs to go. neither has demonstrated any great ability to portray things on the massive scale of a Star Wars space battle (just as an example). I know that Fincher did some World War One(?) bits in Benjamin Button, and Favreau has handled some of the larger action set pieces in Iron Man and Cowboys & Aliens…but those aren’t really the same thing. Fincher is at his best when ratcheting up the tension between two or three characters, and Favreau’s action is competent but he seems to have little luck incorporating an ensemble into that.

    Not saying that either couldn’t pull it off, god knows we’ve never really seen them try, but I would consider them to be…surprising choices, to say the least.

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