JJ Abrams set to direct next Star Wars film

JJ Abrams arrives at the Winter TCA Fox All-Star Party at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, California in this file photo. According to multiple reports, Abrams is set to direct the next instalment of Star Wars, which Disney has said will be Episode 7 and due out in 2015. Picture: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

New York – JJ Abrams will direct the next Star Wars film for Disney, taking stewardship of one of Hollywood’s most iconic and lucrative film franchises, an individual with knowledge of the production said.

Argo director Ben Affleck was also in contention, another individual with knowledge of the talks told TheWrap.

Ever since Disney bought Lucasfilm last year and announced it would make new Star Wars films, fans, members of the media and industry executives have speculated about which director would take the job.

Abrams’ name always came up, but he told Entertainment Weekly in November that he wasn’t going to take the job.

He did say Star Wars was the first movie that “blew my mind” in terms of special effects.

Lucasfilm Chief Kathleen Kennedy has been courting Abrams, one of the most successful directors and producers in Hollywood – and a man beloved by fanboys.

He runs one of the industry’s top production companies, Bad Robot, and created or co-created television franchises like Lost, Fringe and Alias. He has also directed film spectacles Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek and Super 8.

The lure of the Jedi was too strong, and it will no doubt complicate his relationship with Paramount, where Bad Robot is a top supplier. Abrams has been feverishly working on Star Trek Into Darkness, his second Star Trek film since he rebooted the franchise in 2009.

Into Darkness, still in post-production, opens May 18.

Though he has several producing jobs in front of him, Abrams had been uncommitted as a director.

He will have to jump right into Star Wars, which Disney has slated for a 2015 release. Little Miss Sunshine screenwriter Michael Arndt is penning the script.

Reached by TheWrap, Lynne Hale, spokesperson for Lucasfilm, declined to comment immediately.

Neither CAA, which represents Abrams, nor Bad Robot immediately responded to requests for comment.

- Reuters