In a story jumping on the J.J. Abrams-for-Star Wars rumor mill, Slashfilm claims that not only was X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn considered for the job, but that he met with Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy and fleshed out his pitch with the name of his chosen lead: Chloë Moretz.Moretz, of course, starred in Vaughn’s comic book adaptation Kick-Ass, as well as Dirty Sexy Money and the upcoming Carrie remake. She’s quickly becoming one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood, and her turn as Hit-Girl will get her even more screen time in this years’ Kick-Ass 2.Here’s the story as Slashfilm sees it:”Our sources have been telling us for a while now that Steven Spielberg was really pushing Kennedy to hire Abrams. The story goes that Abrams was the first filmmaker approached after Spielberg, but was very hesitant. Kennedy talked to other directors including Ben Affleck and also Matthew Vaughn who may have pitched to have Chloë Grace Moretz in the lead role. Our sources say that Spielberg was instrumental in convincing Abrams and Kennedy to make it happen.”There seems to be a theme developing that most of the directors named as “favorites” to make Star Wars Episode VII, who then turned up to deny involvement, really were called in to pitch at some point in the process. After rumors appeared online that Steven Spielberg, Matthew Vaughn, J.J. Abrams and Guillermo del Toro had been courted for the film, each of them came out and said “It’s not my job.” del Toro was the first to admit he actually had been approached, and declined to pitch, but now it’s looking like Spielberg, Vaughn and Abrams were all approached.It also seems to confirm rumors that Star Wars Episode VII will feature a female lead, something that came out a while back. The obvious choices are Mara Jade, or one of the Skywalker’s offspring. Depending on which one it is, one could make an assumption about the odds of getting the original cast back together; if someone as young as Moretz was set to play Luke’s eventual wife, for instance, it seems unlikely we’d see current-age Mark Hamill.
