Briefly: As much as I hate reporting on the non-news that someone is no longer working on a project they were originally attached to work on, if it involves Star Wars, it's still worth mentioning. StarWars.com and Variety are reporting that Lucasfilm has officially announced and confirmed that Josh Trank (director of Chronicle and this year's Fantastic Four reboot) will no longer be directing a Star Wars spin-off movie. Not long after Gareth Edwards got the first offer for Star Wars: Rogue One, due in theaters late 2016, Trank landed the gig to direct the next spin-off solo Star Wars movie due in 2018. However, he's been booted and Disney/Lucasfilm are going back to the drawing board - no replacements have been named yet. Interesting…
The full statement from Josh Trank himself, as released on StarWars.com - this one is rather long:
"After a year of having the incredible honor of developing with the wonderful and talented people at Lucasfilm, I’m making a personal decision to move forward on a different path. I’ve put a tremendous amount of thought into this, and I know deep down in my heart that I want to pursue some original creative opportunities. That said, the Star Wars universe has always been one of my biggest influences, and I couldn’t be more excited to witness its future alongside my millions of fellow Star Wars fans. I want to thank my friends Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart, Simon Kinberg, and everyone at Lucasfilm and Disney for the amazing opportunity to have been a part of this. May the Force be with you all."
And here's the statement from Lucasfilm regarding Trank's departure making everything sound nice:
"It was a privilege to collaborate with Josh," Lucasfilm said in a statement. "We are grateful for the energy and love of Star Wars that he brought to the process, and we wish him all the best."
We can't say this news is a complete surprise, considering there have been rumors and rumblings that Trank has been running into problems with Lucasfilm while working on this. I've even heard that he was quite a hassle on the set of Fantastic Four, and maybe those troubles have continued while he working on Star Wars, but it sounds like they're moving along and everyone is going their own way instead of butting heads any further. I am still very curious to see how Fantastic Four turns out, and Trank probably will be fine wherever he ends up, especially if his next movie is any good. As for Star Wars, Disney likely has plenty of director back-ups lined up so stay tuned for the latest once the details arrive. For now, this is just the latest update regarding the next set of Star Wars movies in the works. At least The Force Awakens isn't delayed.
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