What does the future hold for director Joss Whedon? After writing and directing both "Marvel's The Avengers" and its upcoming sequel "Avengers: Age of Ultron," Whedon will likely have his pick of projects. As it turns out, he's interested in traveling to a galaxy far, far away.
Whedon told IGN that he would most certainly be interested in directing a "Star Wars" film as long as the franchise didn't cross over with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (both Marvel and LucasFilm are owner by the Mouse Overlord, Disney).
"Right now I'd be interested in a long nap! But are you kidding? It's Star Wars! It's always going to be Star Wars!" Whedon said.
"Star Wars" does not yet have a director for Episode IX, though J.J. Abrams is rumored to be returning for that film. LucasFilm is also planning a series of anthology standalone "Star Wars" films with the first, "Star Wars: Rogue One," hitting theaters next year. Whedon would be an interesting choice for either opening. But he maintains that he doesn't want Star Wars and the MCU merging together.
"I rule out nothing," he said. "But I think it would not be my choice. You have two enormously strong, very textured universes. To say we have just the one would be to in some way dilute them. I think it makes sense to keep them in their own time, which I believe was long ago and not so close by."
While Whedon admitted that he loves seeing all of this classic material from the past being reinvigorated, he also stressed that studios should continue to strive for original content. It's a sentiment we here at HNGN have expressed as well.
"It's pretty exciting - I have to say. I saw the new trailer for Star Wars as everyone else had. 'It's good to be home.' But at the same time, we're all painfully aware that at some point we'll be running on fumes. I love working with the characters I grew up reading about but we need to create the characters that other people are going to grow up reading about."
Film fanatics, would you like to see Whedon direct a "Star Wars" film? Do you agree with his take on originality in Hollywood? Let us know in the comments section below.
