Brad Bird said no to “Star Wars” but may say yes to this film

Brad Bird is a talented director. He helmed “Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol” as well as “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille”. But despite fans campaigning for him to helm “Star Wars Episode VII”, Bird said he turned down the job in an interview with THR:

“I’ve known Kathy [Kennedy] for a while and I know George. And they did come to me. But the problem was, the schedule they had in mind made it impossible to do…unless I dropped Tomorrowland.…We had reached a critical mass where it would’ve thrown the furniture around from the train stopping. I really want to see this movie. I love the Star Wars films, and I can’t wait to see what J.J. does, but it meant I’d have to shut down one dream to participate in another. I feel like [with Tomorrowland] we’re making something that’s really special and unique.”

Bird is working on “Tomorrowland” and if the job’s available for “Star Wars Episode VIII” perhaps he could helm that one? Oh he’s also considering one big sequel:”The Incredibles”.

“I have been thinking about it. People think that I have not been, but I have. Because I love those characters and love that world. I am stroking my chin and scratching my head. I have many, many elements that I think would work really well in another [Incredibles] film, and if I can get ‘em to click all together, I would probably wanna do that.…I have many different films I wanna make. It’s like a big airplane hangar and I have different projects on the floor; half-assembled in my brain. I’m interested in all of them. You kind of have to move on the ones people are willing to pay for and the ones you’re most excited about.”

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

“Mission Impossible 5” officially a go

This is a surprise that this has taken so long, given that “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” earned $694.7 million worldwide, but “Mission Impossible 5” appears to be officially moving forward. Tom Cruise (“Oblivion”) has signed on to reprise his role of Ethan Hunt. No word on a director and who else may return. Brad Bird directed the last installment, but he’s busy with “Tomorrowland”.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Fox executives “freaking out” over “Prometheus 2”

Ever since “Prometheus” ended, the rumors have swirled about a sequel. Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender (at least his head) are the only two survivors from the and Ridley Scott’s sort of prequel to “Alien” seemed to be destined to see sequels. Except that might not be the case. Here’s a rundown on what happened so far. Jon Spaihts wrote the original draft of the script and had the film tie directly into “Alien” with the ship flying at the end being the one that Ripley found in that film. But Fox wanted more than one prequel so they brought in “Lost” writer Damon Lindelof to rework the script. Spaihts said he had talked with Scott about continuing the story, so it seems a little odd that Fox would remove him. Lindelof’s changes to the script have been met with mixed reviews. But here’s what he had to say about the film to Slash Film:

“The unglamorous truth is this: During the creative process of Prometheus, all involved (that includes Fox and Ridley) had a strong desire for this film to launch off in its own way so that by the end, it would not connect directly to the original Alien, but instead run parallel to it. This is something that I talked about many, many times in the press burst around the release of the movie. As you probably remember, there was a lot of interest as to whether Prometheus was a “prequel” — the answer was, “Yes. Sort of. But if there was a sequel to Prometheus, it would not be Alien.”

Taking the strong foundation that Jon Spaihts had already written, I worked on the script to this end — and yes, during that process, Ridley did occasionally riff on what he felt might happen next as Shaw and David’s Head ventured off of LV-223 in search of wherever The Engineers had come from.

After the movie came out and discussions began about a possible sequel, I was already neck deep in writing and producing Tomorrowland with Brad Bird. I have found, unfortunately, that if I take on too many projects at one time, there is a higher probability of those projects sucking. And contrary to popular belief, I do not want anything I work on to suck. I really don’t. I care about these stories deeply — not just as a writer, but as a fan. It might not always feel that way to the audience, but I swear to God it is true. It also so happens that Ridley was about to embark on directing his next movie, The Counselor, and had another one, Child 44 lined up right behind it. The conclusion was obvious — In the best interest of the franchise, it was best to take myself out of the running before I had to suffer the embarrassment of potentially not even being offered it.

And that it is the complete (if not somewhat boring) truth.”

The problem now is that apparently they don’t know where to take the story and Fox executives are freaking out about that.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Brad Bird’s “Tomorrowland” casts its villain?

People are still speculating about the plot of Brad Bird’s (“The Incredibles”) newest film “Tomorrowland”. But we do know George Clooney is set to star in it. And now reports are that Hugh Laurie (TV’s “House”) is set to play the villain in the film. As far s the plot goes, with Damon Lindelof involved, you can bet they will subscribe to the J.J. Abrams style of secrecy. But there are speculation that the film will revolve around Disney and UFOs. Check out more on that theory here.

Anyways, with a talented director who already made the jump to live action with “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” and two talented actors, I’m getting more and more intrigued by this project.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

Brad Bird’s “1952”gets a new title, release date and star

Brad Bird’s mysterious upcoming film “1952” has been renamed “Tomorrowland”. The Film will be released on Dec. 14, 2014 and will star George Clooney.

Obviously, Disney fans should be on to something here as it’s more than likely will be a movie based on the theme park ride. Which also means Space Mountain might somehow be involved.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.