By Rise of the Planet of the Apes came as a bit of a surprise in that, well, it was actually pretty cool. Just goes to show that whenever Andy Serkis dons his mo-cap suit all doubt should be laid to rest. Yet even with its surprise success director Rupert Wyatt has been rumored to possibly be stepping down for the sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. As baffling as that may sound, much of the speculation is revolving around how pressured he may be by Fox to ensure the film gets out of the door by the proposed date of May 23, 2014. Honestly, it could really be any number of different things, so that’s all just rumor and here-say. What is a concrete fact, however, is that Fox is going to do whatever it can to ensure that this franchise continues to be successful. Thus we have a list of the studio’s most wanted directors to meet that very end. Of course, things of this nature should be taken with a hearty helping of salt, since movie studios are bonkers and would probably wear their underwear outside of their pants if someone hadn’t told them not to.
The list consists of Jeff Nichols, Guillermo Del Toro, Rian Johnson, Matt Reeves, Juan Antonio Bayona, Juan Antonio Bayona, and J. Blakeson. While all great directors in their own right, a couple of these choices seem a little strange. For instance, there’s really no reason for Del Toro to be up there because that guy is booked from now until the end of days. There’s no way he could meet all of his other commitments and have this film out by 2014. For the most part, everyone else on the list makes some degree of sense, except for maybe Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), who’s never handled a big studio project before. Rian Johnson is about to surf the success wave of his very anticipated Looper, and maybe after having dipped his toe into the waters of sci-fi he’ll be interested in continuing in the genre.
Who you like to see picked up for the Planet of the Apes sequel? One of these guys or someone else not mentioned? Share your thoughts in the comments!
[via Indiewire]