Rian Johnson to write and direct 'Star Wars: Episode VIII'
Looper writer/director Rian Johnson is expected to be announced as the writer and director of Star Wars Episode VIII.
Initial reports said he was going to direct Star Wars Episode IX as well, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. He will, however, write a treatment for that third episode.
Whether he’s doing Episode VIII, Episode IX or both, this is a huge step up for Johnson, and a big statement from Lucasfilm. Hiring J.J. Abrams made sense in a way. He was already a blockbuster filmmaker. Hiring Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank, too, made sense because they are each making, or had made big movies.
Johnson’s first film, Brick, cost $500,000 and was a unique, dense, teen crime drama. His second film, The Brothers Bloom, was a slightly bigger caper film starring Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody. Then there was Looper, a $30 million sci-fi time travel film that showed a huge evolution in both Johnson’s writing and directing style. He also done some of the best-ever episodes of Breaking Bad.
