The Ronin can independently confirm THR/Deadline’s recent report that Gareth Edwards has been hired to direct “Jurassic World 4,” aka, “Jurassic Park 7.” We had been tipped off just before the outlet dropped their report on the hiring. Edwards isn’t a stranger to working on existing studio IP he previously worked on “Godzilla” for Legendary helping them launch their Monsterverse lineup of films and did the “Star Wars” prequel film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” that spawned into two seasons of “Andor” on Disney+. The filmmaker also has an established working relationship with ILM, the visual effects company that works on the “Jurassic” franchise. Their recent film together, “The Creator,” was nominated for the Best Achievement In Visual Effects Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony going up against the likes of the scrappy Japanese film “Godzilla Minus One.”
UPDATE: Collider was able to get this quote from Edwards last night at their FYC event saying “This opportunity is like a dream” and said this was the only thing that would make him “drop everything” including his next movie idea.
“I was about to take a break and I started writing my next idea for a film and this is the only movie that would make me drop everything like a stone and dive right in. I love ‘Jurassic Park.’ I think the first movie is a cinematic masterpiece…so this opportunity is like a dream to me. And to work with Frank Marshall and Universal and David Koepp, who’s writing the script, I think they’re all legends. So I’m just very excited.”
Author Michael Crichton is the creator of “Jurassic Park” with two novels published before his death. The franchise focuses on a bio-engineering company that discovers a way to clone dinosaurs for a new amusement park attraction until human error leads to the aggressive creatures being freed from their electrified cages/pens. “Jurassic World: Dominion” had dinosaurs living off the island and cohabitating with humans in different parts of the world. We’re still waiting on concrete plot details but we likely won’t have to too much longer with an expected summer production to meet Universal’s set release date of July 2, 2025. Although, given that both “Fantastic Four” and “Superman: Legacy” are taking spots in that month, we suspect that Universal will either move up or delay the film’s release, It all depends on when filming actually begins as Edwards will now have to jump feet first into production design and prep for this next installment.
Director Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Thor: Love & Thunder”) had recently bowed out of the running to tackle a hypothetical “Thor 5” while stating that franchise star Chris Hemsworth was “talking to” Marvel about the next installment. However, Marvel and Disney have yet to officially announce plans for “Thor 5.” As soon as it was clear that Waititi wasn’t returning, suddenly an online rumor pegged Gareth Edwards (“Rogue One,” “Godzilla,” “The Creator”) as a potential contender. Well, that might not actually be the case.
The filmmaker has seemingly debunked this rumbling while appearing on Bro Bible’s Post Credit Podcast (via ThePlaylist). He was aware of the rumor making the rounds on the internet while suggesting it wasn’t real but it still amused him and clarified he’s more interested in “pursuing original sci-fi” instead of any other franchise projects.
“I saw those rumors too. I saw it and I jokingly sent it to my girlfriend. I just texted her the link and said, ‘I didn’t want you to find out this way.’ I’ve never heard anything about it. It’s totally… the internet is an incredible place,” said Edwards.
He added, “I love those movies. I love Marvel, a lot of my friends work on Marvel films. I’m very excited about the future of cinema, personally. I feel like everything we did differently on ‘The Creator’ is probably the strongest part of the film. And I just want to push that even further, so having the freedom and being able to take risks, being allowed to fail. I think that’s all an important part of any creativity.”
Pouring more cold water on the potential of him jumping toward the MCU.
“I love all the other movies and franchises, I go to see them. I have most of them on my DVD/Blu-ray shelf. But I really want to keep pursuing original sci-fi. Was that a very politically correct answer? I never say never. In the right circumstances, absolutely.”
Edwards never made much sense given his infamous experience with Disney/Lucasfilm making “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (the studio brought in Tony Gilroy to rewrite/reshoot scenes) and focusing his energy these days on original ideas with “The Creator,” which could lead to more budget-conscious projects that allow him to have way more creative freedom than being a hired-gun on an existing franchise.
We still don’t even know if “Thor 5” is going to happen and will have to wait for Kevin Feige to share an update. Given that, even a hint of a sequel hasn’t come from Marvel. Then again, there are plenty of unused characters and Norse mythology for the studio to mine for a fifth installment such as the Midgard Serpent, The Einherjar (dead warriors waiting to fight in Ragnarok), the Light Elves in the realm of Alfheim, Ulik of the Rock Trolls, and Balder The Brave.
Director Gareth Edwards is finally back with a new feature film, “The Creator,” after the haphazard production of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” While on the press tour for the futuristic film about artificial intelligence, Edwards is trying to clear the record about what exactly did or didn’t happen during the filming and subsequent reshoots for the “Star Wars” film. Tony Gilroy famously was brought on to help with the extensive reshoot, and ultimately, led to him landing the chance to flesh out Rebellion spy Cassian Andor’s backstory with the acclaimed Disney+ series “Andor.” When Gilroy was brought on there had been rumblings that Edwards was replaced completely and stopped working on the film, according to the director that just isn’t true.
Speaking with the KCRW’s The Business Podcast (via GamesRadar), the British filmmaker denied speculation/rumors that he had been thrown off “Rogue One” by Lucasfilm. Countering that narrative by stating it was a collaborative situation until the “last minute” and hammering home that point by revealing the last thing they had shot was the Darth Vader hallway action sequence, which Edwards says he shot himself.
“The stuff that’s out there on the internet about what happened on that film… there’s so much inaccuracy about the whole thing, and Tony [Gilroy] came in and he did a lot of great work for sure, no doubt about it. But we all worked together till the entire last minute of that movie…”
“The very last thing that we filmed in the pickup shoot was the Darth Vader corridor scene,” Edwards added. “I did all of that stuff.”
After watching “The Creator,” a film with a lot of over-the-top violence with a focus on the visuals, it’s hard to argue with the man.
If you don’t remember the final events of the billion-dollar hit, the sequence in question saw Darth Vader being let loose on a group of Rebel soldiers/crew members as the Sith Lord is trying to get the Death Star plans back before they ultimately reach Princess Leia and directly into the start of “A New Hope,” the first film in the original trilogy. Some corners of the internet tried to push the idea that Dave Filoni (Only known for shooting animated scenes at this point in his career) had secretly directed the scene, not the case.
The action scene got such a segment of the “Star Wars” fandom pumped, and a handful of fans (alongside some blogs) began a small online campaign for Lucasfilm to make a solo Vader project simply based on that scene alone (Not exactly a great basis for a spinoff but okay). With that in mind, we did see prequel actor Hayden Christensen reprise the role of Anakin Skywalker in both “Obi-Wan Kenobi” (playing Anakin and Vader) and having some cameo scenes in the new series “Ahsoka” as well. Perhaps, the reaction to that sequence helped convince the studio to at least bring back Anakin/Vader? It’s a strong possibility given that it does seem that Lucasfilm does use internal polling to figure out what characters they should bring back or which ones could make the jump to live-action/canon.
“The Creator” is out in theaters and we recommend you check it out on the biggest screen available to you.
It has been a moment since filmmaker Gareth Edwards tackled an original project after helping to launch the lucrative Monsterverse franchise for Legendary with his “Godzilla” reboot and helped usher in the modern era of “Star Wars” thanks to “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” The last film Edwards worked on his own thing was “Monsters” back in 2010. Well, he’s coming back with a vengeance in his upcoming film “The Creator,” which he compares to a Vietnam War film with a glossy sci-fi paint-job.
During a recent Q&A (See videos below) session where they showcased some new IMAX footage from the film, the director explained to Deadline how the film’s lead, John David Washington, first met with Gareth and had to come clean about being a massive “Star Wars” fan even to the point he was mulling over not wearing his “Star Wars” mask to the pandemic-era meeting as not to offend but said it “wouldn’t be true to himself” as he had been wearing that mask consistently in that time.
He also talked about the other lead of the film. Madeleine Yuna Voyles is the youngster that was cast in the role of Alfie, the new artificial intelligence “threat” that Joshua aims to protect from human hands and Edwards explains how he came around to filling that key role. He was a bit worried that during her audition the actor was being too well prepped before doing an emotional scene that made them all cry, but ultimately ended up doing it again and realizing that she was indeed the actor they needed to play Alfie.
“I don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t found the right kid, we got really lucky but the version of this movie where we didn’t find Madeleine…I’m glad I live in the universe where that happened. I hate movies with little kids because they can be so annoying, that was my biggest fear making this movie…so it’s the biggest relief when she’s beyond her years it’s like she’s reincarnated or something,” Edwards said of discovering his co-lead that would make or break his movie.
The film focuses on the military threat of A.I. after it started dropping bombs and while the film’s setting is 2070, Edwards jokingly thinks he might have gone too far into the future.
“I have a trick with A.I. is to get the timing as a sweet spot window where it’s before the apocalypse and not after, which I think is in November — maybe December — and so, I think we got really lucky. The joke would be that when you write a film, especially a science fiction film, I try to avoid putting a date … at some point, you have to so, I picked 2070. Now I feel like an idiot because I should’ve gone for 2023 ’cause everything that’s been unfolding in the last few months is kind of scary and weird.”
It’s also a war movie where Edwards describes the pic as a mix between Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” and Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War pic “Apocolypse Now,” the latter is fitting since they shot on location in Vietnam. One of “80 locations” Edwards claims to have been used in the making of the film.
I have to gush a little bit about the potential of “The Creator.” Honestly, we don’t often see an original film of this scale get major backing from a major studio like 20th Century Studios/Disney after being originally developed at New Regency. I can’t express how important it is for original blockbusters to wiggle their way into the marketplace this didn’t used to be as uncommon as it is now in the era of cinematic universes/reboots. I don’t know how studios expect to get to the next “Star Wars” or “Avatar” without taking risks with original projects from visionary directors and screenwriters.
It also doesn’t hurt that there is some “Dune” and “Star Wars” lineage mixed in here with Hans Zimmer composing the film’s score and Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser having contributed to the film’s visuals as well.
As much as still enjoy the work of director Neill Blomkamp (“The Creator” certainly feels like it shares DNA with his work) after becoming such a creative voice within the sci-fi genre with “District 9,” “Elysium,” and to a lesser extent his visually brilliant pic “Chappie” (I still think most of the production design on the film is top-tier). It feels like he sort of has fizzled out after attaching himself to high-profile franchise sequels like “Alien 5” and “RoboCop Returns” potentially getting drained creatively trying to work within a frustrating studio system while developing his own video game and shooting a bunch of various short films on his own dime. However, he recently ended up with his first number one at the box office in a long time with his sports drama “Gran Turismo.”Rooting for more genre-focused material from Blomkamp, but I’m still grateful that folks like Edwards can pick up the slack and that studios like New Regency are still willing to make such fantastic-looking sci-fi that isn’t based on existing material when other studios/executives repelled by spending big bucks on original ideas (“The Creator” is said to have cost something in the neighborhood of $86 million).
We’ve already seen this summer what audience-friendly originals can look like at the box office with Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” out-earning “Inception” and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” (Not a sequel/reboot/remake) inching closer to becoming Warners’ highest-grossing film. It’s worth mentioning that 20th Century is indeed investing more than expected on various IP-focused sci-fi projects such as new feature film installments in both the “Alien” and “Predator” franchises in the shadow of something as massive as the “Avatar” films.
Amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua (Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Chan), is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself. Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child.
“The Creator” will be heading to theaters on September 29 and you can watch a neat featurette about the sci-fi pic below.
Gareth Edwards mentions Francis Ford Coppola and Ridley Scott as influences of his as he notes #TheCreator is “a mix of ‘Blade Runner’ meets ‘Apocalypse Now’” pic.twitter.com/QcXAaJCpFt
Gareth Edwards on the timing of #TheCreator, which follows a future war between the human race and artificial intelligence, being aligned with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes this year pic.twitter.com/9UM5zCc6N6
Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards is returning the science fiction genre with his new film True Love that has a fantastic cast that consists of John David Washington (Tenet, Beckett), Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians, Captain Marvel, Eternals), Benedict Wong (Sunshine, Prometheus, Doctor Strange 1-2, Annihilation, Shang-Chi), and Danny McBride (Alien: Covenant, Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Your Highness).
The Ronin has been able to confirm that True Love’s production will spend time in Vietnam, which has been used previously as a location for projects such as The Impossible, Kong: Skull Island, and Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. There is also the possibly that other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand could also be used.
Details on the project are scarce but is said to be set in a near-future setting, the title suggests a romance angle as well.
Gareth Edwards famously helmed Lucasfilm’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story before the studio brought-on Tony Gilroy to handle massive reshoots. Gilroy returned to the Star Wars universe to showrun the Disney+ series Andor starring Diego Luna, a prequel to Rogue One.
GODZILLA – Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe (Bryan Cranston). Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when Godzilla, King of the Monsters, arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco.
British director Gareth Edwards is set to return to the sci-fi genre after helming films such as Monsters, Godzilla (Legendary’s first Monsterverse installment), and Lucasfilm’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He’ll be writing and directing an original project titled True Love for New Regency and already has Tenet’s John David Washington attached as the film’s male lead.
There is news of a three more exciting additions to True Love’s cast, as Deadline says they’re in talks to have Gemma Chan (Humans, Captain Marvel, Eternals, Crazy Rich Asians), Danny McBride (Alien: Covenant, Eastbound & Down, This Is The End), and Benedict Wong (Prometheus, Doctor Strange, Annihilation, Sunshine, The Martian) take undisclosed roles in the secretive sci-fi flick.
Chan is playing Sersi in Marvel’s Eternals from Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao and the project will increase her profile with international audiences after briefly appearing in Captain Marvel before landing bigger MCU role, as Sersi is said to be the film’s main protagonist. We shouldn’t be shocked if Gemma Chan ends up playing the female lead opposite John David Washington.
Details on True Love is scarce but is going to take place in the near-future and I have to assume the title is alluding to a romance angle. It’ll be interesting to see if the film will have extensive special effects or slightly scaled-back than Edwards’ previous feature films. Gareth Edwards famously shot Rogue One for Lucasfilm only to have Tony Gilroy to come in at great expense to Disney as he rewrote and reshot multiple scenes, leading to Gilroy being tapped to oversee the Andor series (expected to get a second season) that stars Diego Luna as his Rebellion spy character Cassian Andor. Having more creative control will likely be important to the filmmaker and why it’s taken this long for Edwards to finally pick his next project.
Actor John David Washington has been gathering a lot of steam after his lead role in Spike Lee’s fantastic BlacKkKlansman showed-off his acting chops and charming personality., giving Hollywood some insight to his ability to play a leading man. Washington became the main protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s action flick Tenet last summer and joined the next David O’Russell moving alongside folks such as Christian Bale and Margot Robbie among others.
His next big project will be teaming up with Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards on his sci-fi flick True Love at New Regency, according to a report coming from Deadline. Details on the project are scarce at the moment but it’s setting is said to be “near future.”
True Love will be both written and directed by Gareth Edwards.
This would be the first big project for Edwards since the production/editing hiccups on Rogue One led Lucasfilm to bring on Tony Gilroy to reshoot a bunch of things in the first A Star Wars Story installment, including the third act as revealed by photos and earlier trailer footage. Seeing the filmmaker moving away from existing IP is likely going to allow him to be a bit more creative. Then again, he helped launch Legendary’s MonsterVerse cinematic universe back in 2014 with his impressive Godzilla movie starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
It’s unclear when they’ll begin shooting True Love.
THE RONIN 