'Star Wars' Stand-alone Movie Hiring Oscar-Nominated Writer (Exclusive)
3:58 PM PST 1/26/2015 by Borys Kit, Austin Siegemund-Broka

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the latest scribe headed to a galaxy far, far away is Chris Weitz, whose credits include the 2002 film About A Boy and Disney's upcoming Cinderella.
He will replace Gary Whitta, who exited the Lucasfilm/Disney project earlier this month after he completed a first draft.

Weitz is both a screenwriter and a director, not to mention an author. He received an Oscar nomination for his adapted screenplay for About A Boy, which he also co-directed. His other directing credits include the Oscar-nominated Demian Bichir drama A Better Life, The Golden Compass (he also wrote the script adapting the Philip Pulman YA fantasy) and — perhaps most notably — The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

He's also in the middle of writing a YA trilogy set in a post-apocalyptic world, with the first book, titled The Young World, having hit shelves last summer. He is repped by WME.

His hiring on Star Wars isn't the first time the franchise has seen a change of writers. Michael Arndt worked on a treatment and script for what would become Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens before leaving it more than a year after commencing. J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan took over the scripting duties.

Edwards' Star Wars movie is heating up and is in the early stages of casting. Actresses were testing in Los Angeles last week.

The movie is one of two spin-offs Disney and Lucasfilm have in development, with Chronicle's Josh Trank set to direct the second.

It has a release date of Dec. 16, 2016, a year after The Force Awakens hits theaters.

'Star Wars' Stand-alone Movie to Star Felicity Jones (Exclusive)
10:47 AM PST 2/3/2015 by Borys Kit

After a series of hush-hush readings and tests, Lucasfilm and Disney have zeroed in on Oscar-nominated actress Felicity Jones for the female lead in the Star Wars stand-alone film.

Jones is now in talks to star in the project, which Gareth Edwards is directing and Chris Weitz — who was just hired last week — is writing. Weitz is replacing Gary Whitta, who penned the first draft.
Actresses were meeting, reading and testing last week in Los Angeles for the role, with Tatiana Maslany and Rooney Mara among those in the mix.

The secrecy surrounding the project is thicker than the mists of Dagobah, and it is even unclear which character the stand-alone is focusing on. Sources say that Aaron Paul and Edgar Ramirez are on the interest list for the male lead.

Disney had no comment.

The movie has a release date of Dec. 16, 2016.

Jones is currently making the awards season rounds for The Theory of Everything, for which she snagged a best actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Jane Hawking, the first wife of physicist Stephen Hawking.

True Story, in which she stars with James Franco and Jonah Hill, just premiered at Sundance, and she is also shooting A Monster Calls, a family fantasy directed by J.A. Bayona that also stars Liam Neeson and Toby Kebbell.

She is repped WME.

This morning at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, across the street from Lucasfilm, Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger hosted a shareholder meeting where he announced news regarding the first Star Wars stand-alone movie as well as Star Wars: Episode VIII.

Rogue One is the title for the first film in a unique series of big-screen adventures that explores the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga. Rogue One will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) and written by Oscar nominee Chris Weitz (Cinderella, About a Boy, Antz). The first actress cast is Felicity Jones, who garnered an Academy Award nomination and critical acclaim for her performance in The Theory of Everything. The idea for the story of Rogue One came from John Knoll, an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic. He will executive produce along with Simon Emanuel (The Dark Knight Rises, Fast & Furious 6) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin, War of the Worlds). Kathleen Kennedy and Tony To (Band of Brothers, The Pacific) are on board to produce and John Swartz (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) will co-produce. The film starts shooting this summer in London and is due for release on December 16, 2016.

In addition, Iger confirmed that Rian Johnson will write and direct Star Wars: Episode VIII. The film, which continues the saga after the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is set for release on May 26, 2017 — forty years and a day after the release of Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977. Johnson is widely considered one of cinema’s most gifted young filmmakers, having directed the modern sci-fi classic, Looper, as well as Brick and The Brothers Bloom. He was also behind the camera for three episodes of the critically-acclaimed TV series Breaking Bad, including “Ozymandias,” which series creator Vince Gilligan named as the best installment of the show. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman, producer of Looper, Don Jon, Brick, and The Brothers Bloom, are on board to produce.

http://www.starwars.com/news/rogue-o...s-episode-viii