Anna Foerster has booked another directing gig months before her feature directorial debut, “Underworld: Blood Wars,” hits theaters. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” helmer J.J. Abrams has hired the longtime director of photography to direct “Lou” for Paramount Pictures and his production company Bad Robot, Mashable reports.
The dramatic thriller “follows a young mother who teams up with a mysterious older woman to help recover her abducted child,” the source writes. Abrams will serve as one of the project’s producers.
Mashable speculates that “Lou” could put the “helmer into contention for bigger action projects down the road.”
“Blood Wars” is the first “Underworld” film with a woman director. This has been a long time coming, as confirmed by the trailer’s press release. A “series about a powerful female lead deserves a powerful woman behind the camera!” it states.
Foerster’s previous directing credits include episodes of “Outlander” — including the famous “The Wedding” — “Criminal Minds,” and “Unforgettable.” She has also served as the cinematographer on “White House Down” and “Anonymous.” Foerster was the visual effects cinematographer on “Independence Day” and “Godzilla.”
“Lou” isn’t the only project on Foerster’s plate. She’s also set to direct “Source Code 2,” the sequel to the 2011 Jake Gyllenhaal sci-fi film, and “Secret Hunter,” a thriller centered on a young American who becomes involved in a Neo-Nazi terror plot.
“With Hollywood on the lookout for experienced female directors, Foerster has to be in consideration for top jobs around town now that she has a fanboy-friendly feature under her belt,” Mashable writes. “And now that she’s working with Abrams, perhaps Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy will add her to the list for future consideration in the ‘Star Wars’ universe.” (Note: Hollywood doesn’t have to look very hard to find experienced women directors. There’s plenty of them ready to work. As for high-profile, big-budget projects, women aren’t going to get experience in this realm unless they are hired for these jobs.)
As we reported, Kennedy recently made headlines when she claimed that hiring a female director for the franchise was a priority. The problem is that she seems to be putting requirements on women that don’t exist for men. “We want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do ‘Star Wars,’ they’re set up for success,” she said. “They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.” Basically, Kennedy wants to groom an up-and-coming female director for the gig. But this sentiment completely ignores the fact that plenty of male directors are given the chance to direct big budget films without such grooming, or are fresh off of helming smaller indies. There’s also precedent for male directors with zero experience getting hired for big directing gigs.
Abrams has committed to making systemic changes at Bad Robot with the goal of making Hollywood more inclusive behind the scenes and onscreen. Bad Robot is working with its agency CAA and studio partners to address the under representation of women and people of color in the film industry by requiring that both are submitted for writing, directing, and acting gigs in proportion to their numbers in the U.S. population.
The “Underworld” movies are a lucrative blockbuster franchise. The four previous installments have grossed a combined $458 million worldwide. Hopefully “Blood Wars” is a big hit and puts Foerster on Kennedy’s — and other Hollywood bigwigs’ — radars, though they should already be aware of her.
“Underworld: Blood Wars” stars Kate Beckinsale and opens in theaters January 6, 2017.
