JJ Abrams wants Selma director Ava DuVernay to do Star Wars: 'She'd kill it'

And she hasn't said no.

When asked which female writer/director he'd most like to add to the franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams responded with admiration for Selma's director, Ava DuVernay.

In conversation with the Nerdist's Dan Casey, Abrams said, "To me, the knee-jerk reaction if I had to [name someone] is Ava DuVernay, who I think would just kill it. She is as much a fan of genre movies ... and hearing her talk about, not just Star Wars, but hearing her talk about those kinds of films is evidence that she would just kill it. When you look at her work in Selma, which was as well told, sophisticated and humane as I think has come out in the last decade, I mean, she is just — if she can do that story that well, there's no question she'd kill [a Star Wars] movie."

Hear, hear. Selma certainly proved the director had an incredible knack for building narratives in a manner which could hit home maximum emotional impact with its audience. Reflecting on one of the film's key scenes, the recreation of Bloody Sunday; you can see DuVernay intricately interweaving the absolute horror concealed within the smoke, as police attacked peaceful marchers crossing the bridge into Dallas country, with its dissemination through television broadcasts across the country; highlighting this critical, yet deeply tragic turning point in the civil rights movement. A historical moment DuVernay also expertly demonstrates is still so heartbreakingly relevant today.

There's no question as to why the director should be in such high demand, and it's clear she'd be able to bring vibrant, compelling storytelling to the Star Wars universe. This, however, does come off the back of her departure from Marvel's Black Panther movie; she told the Hollywood Reporter, "I loved meeting Chadwick and the writers and all the Marvel execs. In the end, it comes down to story and we just didn't see eye to eye. Better for me to realize that now than cite creative differences later."

An understandable move considering Marvel has a reputation for being rather creatively possessive with their movies, leading many to suspect it's the reason Edgar Wright left production on this year's Ant-Man. Yet, there's no talk of such tensions within the developing Star Wars movies; and DuVernay's tweet about Abrams' comments doesn't exactly say no either.

Very few women have historically been included in the production of the Star Wars movies, and DuVernay would mark the first woman to take the director's chair. Leigh Brackett penned an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back, and Abrams also took a moment to praise Lucasfilm's current president Kathleen Kennedy.

Kennedy herself confirmed earlier this year that Disney was attempting to reverse internal prejudices by "very much support[ing] the fact that we are trying to grow in the workforce the number of women in executive positions", and the Los Angeles Times were reporting that there will be meetings with "four female directors and three female writers on upcoming Star Wars films." It's wonderful to see Daisy Ridley's Rey take a prominent position in front of the camera; let's just hope Disney follow up the positive talk and hire some women behind the camera, too.

The current line-up directors: Gareth Edwards for Rogue One (2016), Rian Johnson for Episode VIII (2017), Christopher Miller and Phil Lord for the Han Solo spin-off (2018), and Colin Trevorrow for Episode IX (2019).

Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits cinemas on 17 December.