Star Wars: Episode VII With Michael Arndt confirmed as screenwriter of the upcoming film,

With Michael Arndt confirmed as screenwriter of the upcoming film, and original cast members seeming pretty positive about reprising their roles, all that remains is finding a director. And there's lots of news on that front.

A few days ago, Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man) took himself out of the running and now even more directors are jumping off the bandwagon. So who's letting fans down easy? First, Steven Spielberg told Access Hollywood, "No! No! It's not my genre. It's my best friend George's genre." We assume that he doesn't mean science fiction (since he's made a bunch of those), but space opera. Unless Star Wars has become its own genre. [Access Hollywood viaFilm School Rejects]

Also, Zack Snyder went on the record with the L.A. Times, saying: "I don't think I'd be interested in [directing it]. I'm a huge ‘Star Wars' fanatic. I just think doing [episodes] seven, eight and nine is just a slippery slope. It's a whole other mythological experiment I'm excited to see, but it's a lot of effort." [L.A. Times]

J.J. Abrams didn't say absolutely not, but doesn't seem to be throwing his hat in the ring either: "Look, Star Wars is one of my favorite movies of all time. I frankly feel that – I almost feel that, in a weird way, the opportunity for whomever it is to direct that movie, it comes with the burden of being that kind of iconic movie and series. I was never a big Star Trek fan growing up, so for me, working on Star Trek didn't have any of that, you know, almost fatal sacrilege, and so, I am looking forward more than anyone to the next iterations of Star Wars, but I believe I will be going as a paying moviegoer!" [HollywoodLife.com]

And finally, Quentin Tarantino, who had not made all that many fan wish lists, said, "I could so care less. No, sorry. Especially if Disney's going to do it. I'm not interested in the Simon West version of Star Wars." [EW]

But meanwhile, Jon Favreau noticeably doesn't seem to be closing the door all the way when he's asked about it: "I am just giddy, first and foremost as a fan, to see what happens with it. I think there is a lot of question marks of how they are going to do it, and who they are going to do it with, and what the story is going to be about; but to say that I am not excited about it is definitely an understatement. We'll see." He also gushes about George Lucas, and how lucky he's been to be involved with Lucas' world, in various capacities. More at the link. [HollywoodLife.com]

But will Favreau's enthusiasm be enough to win the day? Here's a video interview with George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy from StarWars.com, in which Kennedy talks about what they're looking for in a director:

It's not going to be people who don't already have some affinity for Star Wars, probably. It's going to be somebody who really appreciates what Star Wars meant to them and is excited to dive in and be a part of this. That's the thing that I think will be immediately apparent are the directors who walk into the room and say, ‘I can't wait to be a part of this.'