Star Wars director search down to 'couple of candidates'

The search for a director for the new 'Star Wars' sequel is reportedly down to 'a couple of candidates', according to veteran producer Frank Marshall.

But Marshall, who is a co-chairman at Lucasfilm and married to the company's president Kathleen Kennedy, would not go into any further detail over who those 'candidates' might be, though it seems that he knows.

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“I do,” he told MTV, “but I can't reveal it, or I won't be alive tomorrow.”

Among the likely candidates are Brad Bird, director of 'The Incredibles' and 'Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol', Joe Johnston, who directed 'Captain America' and began his career as a concept artist on the original 'Star Wars' films, and, supposedly, the inexperienced indie director Colin Trevorrow.

Other names which have been circulating include JJ Abrams, Matthew Vaughn, Guillermo Del Toro and Jon Favreau.

Several have already ruled themselves out, with 'Man of Steel' and 'Watchmen' director Zack Snyder saying that he wouldn't be interested, and Quentin Tarantino – hardly a frontrunner – saying: “I could so care less.”

But Tarantino might not have been such an odd choice, if recent news from cult director David Cronenberg is to be believed.

“A long time ago I was approached for one second to do a Star Wars movie, which at that time was called 'Revenge of the Jedi' and then it became 'Return of the Jedi',” he told Digital Spy.

“I was approached by Lucasfilm about that and it didn't take them long to realise that maybe that wasn't a good idea.”