UPDATE: StarWars.com confirms that Michael Arndt will indeed be writing the Episode VII screenplay.
Vulture’s Claude Brodesser-Akner reports today that “informed sources” say that Michael Arndt has “written a 40- to 50-page treatment” for Episode VII.
Their sources also tell them that the studio higher-ups want to bring back the older Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo, with “high ambitions” to sign Mark Hamill at least.
Arndt, who won the original screenplay Oscar in 2007 for Little Miss Sunshine, has used the original Star Wars screenplay in lectures to writers; Brodesser-Akner dubs him a “Star Wars expert.”
Arndt’s treatment will “cross the desks” of big name directors that include Brad Bird, Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams, Brodesser-Akner writes.
UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter has their own sources which corroborate the Vulture report.
Is he the man for Lucasfilm and Disney? Well, for all we know he could just be one of several writing such treatments, but he has the connections, the passion, and, as we learned in Toy Story 3, the ability to make grownups bawl like babies.
Arndt scripts currently in pre-production include The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside the Mind.
In other Episode VII ‘news’ that may sooth your mind, Sucker Punch’s Zack Snyder doesn’t seem interested. Phew.
I’d love to see them have Arndt write and Brad Bird direct. The writer for Toy Story 3 and director for The Incredibles? Sounds like a dream team to me.
Have to agree with MG. This could be good. Regardless, if the “higher ups” are pushing for a SW: The Next Generation (as I’ve started to think of it), I’d be thrilled. Much rather have this than recast Han, Luke, and Leia so the new movies take place shortly after ROTJ.
Why do I get the feeling that many grown men will leave the theatres with tears in their eyes? *startsstockinguponkleenex*