We heard during the week that Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) was rumoured to be set to write the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII, and now it’s official.
With a small announcement from the franchise’s official website, Lucasfilm are confirming that Arndt will be writing the screenplay for the first film in the coming trilogy.
When the report first surfaced during the week, Arndt was said to have already had a forty- to fifty-page treatment, and that he’s been involved with the project for a few months now, which hopefully means that writing the full script itself will be following shortly, cementing Lucasfilm and Disney’s plans to have the next episode in cinemas in 2015.
For the time being, there’s still no confirmation on who will be taking the helm. The first rumour to start the mill spinning was Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class), soon followed by Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed). And the aforementioned report also noted that the studio would be looking to put the script on the desks of Steven Spielberg, Brad Bird, J.J. Abrams, and directors of a similar stature.
Spielberg and Abrams have since gone on record saying that they won’t be taking the helm, and Bird will likely be too busy with his secretive project, 1952, at Disney to make a 2015 release date.
Regardless of who’ll be taking the helm, it’s great to see a rising writer like Arndt will be penning the script.
Arndt took home an Oscar with his feature debut as a writer, penning the screenplay for Little Miss Sunshine. He went on to pen Toy Story 3 for Pixar, and has since scripted the Tom Cruise- and Emily Blunt-starrer, Oblivion, as well as having a hand in the coming The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Now the Oscar-winning writer can add another immense string to his bow, having officially been handed the job of writing Star Wars Episode VII. It’s a big undertaking, with plenty of expectations, and I think we’ve every reason to expect Arndt will rise to the challenge.
Star Wars Episode VII is currently set for release in 2015, and is naturally expected to be one of the biggest films of the year, if not the decade. More as we get it.
“As pre-production of Star Wars: Episode VII begins, Lucasfilm has confirmed that award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay for the new Star Wars film. As revealed in the ongoing video series posted here on StarWars.com, Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas have begun story conferences with Arndt. Arndt won an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay for writing Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing Toy Story 3 (2010).”
