Filmmaker Gareth Edwards is coming off his epic sci-fi original film, “The Creator,” a film that saved millions of dollars in VFX by essentially doing it all after the fact. Meaning instead of setting up expensive green screens, blue screens, and mo-cap suits to capture the spots where VFX would typically be inserted, Edwards and his team just shot the movie generally as one would in the wild and then basically Photoshopped on all the VFX afterward (that’s not the most technical version, but probably the most accurate the audiences will understand; read our ‘Creator’ review here).
Edwards has been doing the press rounds for “The Creator,” and as more and more interviews roll out, more bits of news trickle out, too. The latest comes from the Irish publication JOE.ie, “the voice of Irish people at home and abroad.”
After an extensive interview about “The Creator” and much of this VFX talk, if you want a more coherent explanation, the publication talks to Edwards about franchises and rumors. Obviously, Edwards has already directed two franchise films “Godzilla,” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the latter somewhat famous as a franchise film that went sideways and needed a lot of reshoots, post-production help, and a new writer/director in Tony Gilroy to help finish it.
Regardless, apparently, there was a rumor going around—or fan-casting wishful thinking, it’s hard to tell—that Edwards would direct or would want to direct a James Bond movie. Yes? No?
Edwards answer, when asked if he would want to direct a James Bond film, is essentially, no. In fact, his response suggests that Edwards may be done with franchise filmmaking, at least for now.
While Edwards doesn’t say no outright, his answer explains his position on it all. “I’ve been really lucky; I’ve won the lottery in [the] film franchise world,” he explained, referencing both his “Godzilla” and ‘Rogue One’ films. “And the last thing you should do when you win the lottery is spend your winnings on more lottery tickets. So, I feel like, let everyone else have a crack at stuff.”
“I don’t want to go back to the other way of making films,” he continued, potentially talking about the committee filmmaking that often clouds franchises, as Ava DuVernay recently pointed out—it’s always a compromise. “[‘The Creator’ was such an eye-opener with everything we took a gamble on sort of paid off. So I just want to make films in the same style and keep pushing it further if I can.”
So, not an exact no on Bond and or franchise filmmaking, but I think it might be safe to say Edwards will at least pause on making I.P.-based films for now—at least at the level of Marvel, James Bond, or “Star Wars” and likely try and continue this path forward that he’s made with “The Creator.” And hey, who can blame him if it was that good of an experience free from drama, like his last film? Watch the interview below.
