by Daniel Crooke
While rumors of internal discontent have swirled since the release (and subsequent critical evisceration) of his heartwarming revenge thriller The Book of Henry, the Kiss of Death for Colin Trevorrow in the Star Wars Universe may just have been the moment Sarah Silverman laid a wet one on a dying boy genius as a parting gift from the suffering of this mortal coil.
Of course, this is speculation. Despite the timing of his departure – mere months after the catastrophic miscalculation that was Henry, onscreen and at the box office – what we do know, per a statement from Disney, is this: Colin Trevorrow has parted ways with Lucasfilm, and will no longer direct the ninth installment of the Star Wars franchise...
After the smash indie success of his narrative feature debut Safety Not Guaranteed in 2012, Trevorrow inherited the keys to the kingdom for another beloved and recently re-exhumed franchise, Jurassic World, released in the summer of 2015. While some found numerous aspects of that film to be eye-rolling, stiff, or problematic – namely around the treatment of its female characters, and one infamously cruel character death that seemed to relish in the elongated demise of its victim for talking on her phone too much – Jurassic World was an undeniable winner for Universal, breaking box office records and finishing second in the year’s top grosses next to, appropriately enough, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It is the fourth highest grossing film of all time, and a vote of confidence for the filmmaker; although one could certainly argue that when it comes to reviving a cherished piece of nostalgia, the product itself sells tickets not the unproven director behind the camera. Regardless, Disney announced Trevorrow as its director for Star Wars: Episode IX by the end of that summer. Yesterday they announced his exit.
This gives Disney and Lucasfilm a unique opportunity to finally break the white boy mold in major studio franchise direction. Ava DuVernay now has a working relationship with the former – with her fabulous-looking sci-fi, A Wrinkle in Time, due next spring – and has proven she can go epic in scope and ensemble with Selma. Bong Joon-ho continues to dazzle audiences with inventive action set pieces, most recently with a truck hijacking for the ages in Okja. Personally, I’d give anything to see Mira Nair frame a colorful spectrum of vivid light saber hues.
Given Trevorrow’s departure, who is your choice to direct Star Wars: Episode IX?