'Rogue One' Scribe Wants Michael B. Jordan For Young Lando Calrissian Movie
Filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie had some what-if fun on Twitter during a rapid-fire Q&A.
Veteran filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie is having a moment. His last film, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation was a huge hit both critically and financially, and he’s apparently hard at work on a sequel to Edge of Tomorrow, another Tom Cruise actioner he wrote. He’s also the guy responsible for writing or directing hits like twisted crime classic The Usual Suspects, gritty Cruise throwback Jack Reacher, World War II thriller Valkyrie, and the first X-Men movie. Unofficial word in Hollywood is that he also used his talents as a wordsmith to punch up the script for the upcoming Star Wars standalone movie, Rogue One. But an interaction on Twitter the filmmaker had also hinted at what he’d like to actually do with a Star Wars standalone movie in the future.
McQuarrie sometimes uses his highly active and super clever Twitter page to hold a hashtag-labeled #McQandA, where followers can throw rapid-fire questions at the filmmakers and get some fairly honest answers.
People ask him all sorts of things like, what was the riskiest sequence he’s ever directed (The car chase in Jack Reacher or the massive plane opening scene in Rogue Nation); how to handle constant rejection (“Keep giving them you until you is what they want”); to what’s the closest humanity has ever come to a perfect film (McQuarrie answers with a laundry list of titles including American Graffiti, Cool Hand Luke, The Conversation, The Godfather, and more).
But in a recent #McQandA someone eventually asked him about making a Star Wars movie and what McQuarrie had to say is probably the best idea for a standalone adventure we’ve heard in a long time
While we can’t say this is some kind of unofficial confirmation of the third untitled Star Wars standalone movie planned for 2020, we’d love if this happened. Lando is probably the most major Star Wars character that would benefit from his own movie, and McQuarrie’s choice of Michael B. Jordan to step into the role made famous by Billy Dee Williams couldn’t be more perfect. Jordan wowed everyone that sat down to watch last year’s Creed, and he’s currently busy collaborating with Creed director Ryan Coogler on Marvel’s Black Panther movie. After that, hopefully he’s up for being the most charming dude in the galaxy other than Han Solo.
Granted, McQuarrie’s answer could just be a cheeky non-answer that side-steps whether he was responsible for helping add to the script for Rogue One or not, but thinking that way would just ruin all the fun. Fingers crossed for 2020’s Lando: A Star Wars Story with Jordan in the lead role.
