JJ Abrams Takes 'Star Wars' Gig, Triggers Studio Controversy
by EG
After Lucasfilm fired Colin Trevorrow as director of Star Wars Episode IX, the ultimate quality of the project was in doubt. Then JJ Abrams, director of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, stepped in to take over, and all seemed well. All wasn't well with Paramount Studios, however, with home Abrams has a contract to direct a new film. With Star Wars keeping Abrams busy for at least two years, Paramount's CEO is reportedly furious.
If there is one thing Paramount chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos could use right now, it's the hope of a few hit movies. He inherited a pretty bare cupboard when he took over the studio in April, and the crushing failure of Darren Aronofsky's mother! over the Sept. 15 weekend did not help in terms of revenue or perception.
One promising thing Gianopulos found waiting for him at the studio was the prospect of a movie directed by J.J. Abrams. The filmmaker has made his home at Paramount since 2006 with a deal now said to be worth a hefty $10 million a year in overhead and development. It is very possibly the last, richest deal of its kind. But if Gianopulos hoped that pact soon would bear fruit in the form of an Abrams-directed project — which Paramount hasn't had since Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013 — he soon learned that it was not to be.
His predecessor, Brad Grey, had tried to ensure that such a film was next on Abrams' dance card. Grey was known to be furious when Abrams, in January 2013, signed on to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens for Lucasfilm and Disney. He didn't understand how Abrams' generous deal with his studio could allow the director to take the job. So once Abrams finished his duties on Force Awakens, which was released in December 2015, Grey entered into a renegotiation obligating Abrams to direct his next movie for Paramount.
Jump forward in hyperspace to Sept. 5, when Lucasfilm parted ways with Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, who was supposed to write and direct Star Wars: Episode IX. With the movie scheduled for a May 2019 release, Lucasfilm needed a replacement fast. "The question was, who can drop into this world and get it done?" observes one source with knowledge of the situation. There also were the optics, with Ron Howard having just been brought in to take over the young Han Solo spinoff after Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired. Lucasfilm did not need a prolonged who-is-going-to-direct-this-movie debate on the internet.
The solution was Abrams, 51, and though the release date was pushed to December 2019, the pressure remains. With the script still unwritten, Abrams is going to be occupied for the next two years. (His deal at Paramount runs through summer 2018, long before he finishes his work in a galaxy far, far away.) The director declined comment, but a source in his camp says he was enticed by a "once-now-a-twice-in-a-lifetime opportunity," and all parties understand that.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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