In addition to naming Godzilla's Gareth Edwards as the director of the first Star Wars spin-off, Disney also announced that Gary Whitta (above), screenwriter of the excellent The Book of Eli and the not excellent After Earth. But one particular rant has us convinced Whitta is going to do his Star Wars movie right.
In this Tested.com podcast, Whitta explains how he would run Disney's Jedi Training Academy event:
Funny? Yes. Hilariously mean? Undoubtedly. Clearly something he's joking about? Also yes. But honestly, it's Whitta's obvious passion for Star Wars that has us excited. This is clearly a true Star Wars nerd here, and the fact that he's in charge of one of the scripts has us genuinely optimistic for the Boba Fett movie or whatever stand-alone flick he's writing (and if more Jedi babies get slaughtered during the film, that's fine with us as well).
Apparently, Whitta has also gone on many a Star Wars rant at the NeoGAF forums, mainly against the prequel trilogy and the Special Edition changes Lucas made to the last Blu-ray release. As a fellow old-school Star Wars nerd whose blinding love of the original trilogy makes the prequels have driven me similarly crazy, I can appreciate this — and if I could write screenplays, I'm definitely the sort of person who I'd want writing a new Star Wars movie.
Hat tip to Matthew Gallant!
[Via /Film]