Today in Star Wars rumors: The next Star Wars movie may have found a writer already
Rumors have been flying faster than a Disney-trademarked jump to hyperspace about who may be a part of the next generation of Star Wars movies besides "not George Lucas," and today Vulture passes along a particularly intriguing one. According to "informed sources," Episode VII may have found its lead writer in Michael Arndt, known for his Oscar-favorite screenplays for Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine, as well as his upcoming scripts for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and the Tom Cruise sci-fi pic Oblivion, and whose "40-to-50-page treatment" for the film—apparently written before the deal was even officially announced—has already impressed producers.
Promisingly, Arndt's credentials go beyond crafting some of the strongest scripts of the past decade. He's also somewhat of a storytelling expert, regularly hosting can't-miss seminars on the art of story structure at places like the Austin Film Festival—seminars that just so happen to include a discussion of why the finale of the first Star Wars represents one of cinema's great endings, resolving all of its story and character arcs flawlessly and near-simultaneously, and leaving the audience "euphoric" and thoroughly satisfied.
If Vulture's report is accurate [UPDATE: And Deadline has chimed in that it is], Arndt may be looking to the first Star Wars film for inspiration in more ways than one: Building on those recent reports of Harrison Ford not tremulously seething when approached about it, and this video of Carrie Fisher being harassed in the street, Disney is reportedly hoping to bring back (the obviously much older) Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia for the next film, aiming to recapture the satisfying euphoria of the original trilogy by totally screwing with it. All joking aside, at the very least, Arndt is a reassuringly strong candidate to be "at least one of the writers" on the project that is happening whether you want it or not, and reportedly it's his treatment that will soon be pitched to potential directors like J.J. Abrams (right), Steven Spielberg (uh-huh), and Brad Bird, the lattermost of which will make this guy very happy.
In a related story, Zack Snyder has said he would not be interested in directing Star Wars, in case anyone was thinking about asking him, so there's some more promising news.