STAR WARS: EPISODE VII Pre-Release - Page 19

This announcement has me less enthused than Arndt made me. Kasdan is so far past his prime. He hasn't done anything interesting since Wyatt Earp almost 20 years ago. Simon Kinberg just says "Meh" to me. He writes big action moviees, but nothing special. His "Star Wars" is what I picture as the bland "worst case" Star Wars of not bad/not memorable.

But I really wonder if this whole thing is real.

Here's the thing - regardless of anything else, it's pretty much certain that these 3 movies will have one central story-arc between them. IF that's the case, HOW do you start writing the second (and especially a third) movie BEFORE you've written the first one? I get where you might write the first one, get a finished shooting script, and THEN start on the second one before the first one is completed.

The only way this makes sense to me is if you are thinking of forming something like the Pixar brain-trust - call it the Star Wars writers room. More like a television series works, where you have multiple writers throwing out ideas, yet each writer is credited with a specific episode.  I am not saying this would even work in Hollywood, but where they get together to hash out story points, and then each in turn "write" the script. (Even as I suggest it, I am thinking it's mostly a terrible idea.)

So, I'm write back to that this doesn't even really make sense to me. You really hiring a writer for a movie coming out in 7 years? That's like 14 Marvel movies away!

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Originally Posted by Stale Elvis 

I'm certainly not feeling dread

Oh, I misread your posts then. Sorry 'bout that.

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Originally Posted by Untitled 

It would have been cool if the Vader being Anakin twist could have been hidden somehow too.

How would that work? Everybody's known about Anakin's fall to the dark side and becoming Vader since Empire...

I was thinking of Anakin and whatever villain he's fighting both seem to die in whatever epic battle happens in the second episode. Shortly after that Vader would come onto the scene. I'm not sure how well it would work but at least putting the effort in to have the two trilogies work off each other would be nice. The prequels we have already assume that everyone has seen the original three and no effort is made to give the two trilogies a natural flow with each other.

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Originally Posted by Workyticket 

"Smelly monkey paws"? That's no way to talk about a master action director.

Lucas the writer is different than Lucas the director.  We're talking about a guy who hired a someone to direct everything except the action on his WWII fighter-pilot dream project.

I don't think it's some great mind-fuck conspiracy by Disney to hire Kasdan - anyone with common sense and a rudimentary understanding of SW could figure out that Kasdan's absence ended up being a huge factor in the critical response to the prequels.  Whether or not Kasdan has lost his touch is up for debate - as has been mentioned already, some people think "Wyatt Earp" and "Dream Catcher" aren't that bad, and that's after a solid decade of top-shelf hit-making in the 80s.

Kasdan's return to film-making after ten years though isn't going that hot so far though:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/darling_companion/

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Originally Posted by chrknudsen 

How would that work? Everybody's known about Anakin's fall to the dark side and becoming Vader since Empire...

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Originally Posted by Untitled 

I was thinking of Anakin and whatever villain he's fighting both seem to die in whatever epic battle happens in the second episode. Shortly after that Vader would come onto the scene. I'm not sure how well it would work but at least putting the effort in to have the two trilogies work off each other would be nice. The prequels we have already assume that everyone has seen the original three and no effort is made to give the two trilogies a natural flow with each other.

It's only with hindsight (or at least showing the script to objective people before finalising) can we see what a missed opportunity Anakin's/Vader's fall was.

Personally (warning, Fan-fiction) I would have strayed far away from having Anakin/Obi-Wan as the main focus. Instead focus on a new gang who are fighting in the wars a long way away from the front line. Anakin and Obi-Wan could be posterboy heroes whose exploits and heroism uplift and bolster the other troops' morale. Then the news that they've both fallen in battle under mysterious circumstances and soon the tide of the war changes with news of a new enemy, a dark lord who is decimating the Jedi. And thats it, prequel ends on a doom note.

This keeps Anakin's/Obi-Wan's/Vader's story a secret but again, through suggestion rather than showing it raises them as heroes like the OT did.

Instead, thanks to the way the PT were written Obi-Wan is now nothing more than a manipulative liar - everything from "I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan" to the whole reveal in his hut is a lie.

Lucas you bastard.

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Originally Posted by skierpete 

This announcement has me less enthused than Arndt made me. Kasdan is so far past his prime. He hasn't done anything interesting since Wyatt Earp almost 20 years ago. Simon Kinberg just says "Meh" to me. He writes big action moviees, but nothing special. His "Star Wars" is what I picture as the bland "worst case" Star Wars of not bad/not memorable.

 

But I really wonder if this whole thing is real.

 

Here's the thing - regardless of anything else, it's pretty much certain that these 3 movies will have one central story-arc between them. IF that's the case, HOW do you start writing the second (and especially a third) movie BEFORE you've written the first one? I get where you might write the first one, get a finished shooting script, and THEN start on the second one before the first one is completed.

It's amazing what is possible when you have an actual outline for a trilogy before making the first.  Not that Star Wars has ever been made this way.  But clearly they have some sort of idea in place for what the overall story will be, and while it seems a bit wonky to be hiring writers now for a 2018 release, I don't view that as a negative after the distinctly first-drafty feeling prequels.

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Originally Posted by WendellEverett 

  Whether or not Kasdan has lost his touch is up for debate - as has been mentioned already, some people think "Wyatt Earp" and "Dream Catcher" aren't that bad, and that's after a solid decade of top-shelf hit-making in the 80s.

 

NO ONE thinks Dreamcatcher is "not that bad".

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Originally Posted by Stale Elvis 

 

 

It's only with hindsight (or at least showing the script to objective people before finalising) can we see what a missed opportunity Anakin's/Vader's fall was.

 

Personally (warning, Fan-fiction) I would have strayed far away from having Anakin/Obi-Wan as the main focus. Instead focus on a new gang who are fighting in the wars a long way away from the front line. Anakin and Obi-Wan could be posterboy heroes whose exploits and heroism uplift and bolster the other troops' morale. Then the news that they've both fallen in battle under mysterious circumstances and soon the tide of the war changes with news of a new enemy, a dark lord who is decimating the Jedi. And thats it, prequel ends on a doom note.

 

This keeps Anakin's/Obi-Wan's/Vader's story a secret but again, through suggestion rather than showing it raises them as heroes like the OT did.

 

Instead, thanks to the way the PT were written Obi-Wan is now nothing more than a manipulative liar - everything from "I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan" to the whole reveal in his hut is a lie.

 

Lucas you bastard.

I whole-heartedly disagree with this. The interesting thing about prequels is that you know more or less how things are going to end up. Lucas played to that strength by having Anakin's fall not be a surprise that it could never really be, but an inevitable tragedy that doomed a love story and shone a bittersweet light on everything (like the sinking of the Titanic). Lucas' overall ideas were solid, it's just that his exectution was horrible.

And ending the PT completely unresolved "with news of a new enemy, a dark lord who is decimating the Jedi" seems like a really poor idea to me. The few redeeming qualities in Revenge of the Sith is that we finally get to the meaty parts that we have waited 2½ movies to get to -- you want to take all of that out? It seems to me that you want to have Anakin's fall happen completely offscreen between trilogies. How is that interesting?

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Originally Posted by chrknudsen 

It seems to me that you want to have Anakin's fall happen completely offscreen between trilogies. How is that interesting?

Remember back in '77 when we knew cock-all about Vader, except that he was a bad-ass and a fallen jedi knight?

Remember back in '80 when we knew cock-all about Boba Fett, except that he had a bad-ass beaten-up suit and was the only person to get the drop on Han Solo?

Kinda like that. Less is definitely more.

Hahahaha, if there's one thing that might have been able to draw more hate than the prequels we got, it would be the most anticipated epic adventure of all time somehow coming out as the Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Bantha Fodder trilogy.

Dreamcatcher catches the dreams of hopeful moviegoers and transforms them into nightmares filled with Stephen King puking on your face and Morgan Freeman beating you repeatedly with a dead penguin.  

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Originally Posted by Stale Elvis 

 

Remember back in '77 when we knew cock-all about Vader, except that he was a bad-ass and a fallen jedi knight?

 

Remember back in '80 when we knew cock-all about Boba Fett, except that he had a bad-ass beaten-up suit and was the only person to get the drop on Han Solo?

 

Kinda like that. Less is definitely more.

Agree on the Boba Fett part, but this trilogy was about showing Anakin's downfall and transformation into Vader from day one. If you're not going to show that, you need an entirely different backbone as the overall arc of the trilogy. You really can't have a trilogy be about Anakin's downfall and then have him be a hero in the background for three movies with the actual downfall happening between trilogies. It doesn't make any sense.

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Originally Posted by chrknudsen 

 

Agree on the Boba Fett part, but this trilogy was about showing Anakin's downfall and transformation into Vader from day one. If you're not going to show that, you need an entirely different backbone as the overall arc of the trilogy. You really can't have a trilogy be about Anakin's downfall and then have him be a hero in the background for three movies with the actual downfall happening between trilogies. It doesn't make any sense.

I'd argue that the downfall would happen at the end of the secon...

...oh fuck it. There are a million ways they could have played this, any one of them more interesting or believable than the I had a bad dream storyline that was shoehorned in.

Fuck it. Fuck fuckity fuck fuck.

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Originally Posted by Stale Elvis 

Fuck it. Fuck fuckity fuck fuck.

No argument here!

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Originally Posted by Stale Elvis 

 

Remember back in '77 when we knew cock-all about Vader, except that he was a bad-ass and a fallen jedi knight?

 

Remember back in '80 when we knew cock-all about Boba Fett, except that he had a bad-ass beaten-up suit and was the only person to get the drop on Han Solo?

 

Kinda like that. Less is definitely more.

Speaking of that, does anyone remember if some fan magazine revealed Luke's true parentage before Empire came out?  I now have this hazy playground memory of my first sense of what it feels like to be spoiled.

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Originally Posted by Bailey 

Speaking of that, does anyone remember if some fan magazine revealed Luke's true parentage before Empire came out?  I now have this hazy playground memory of my first sense of what it feels like to be spoiled.

I distinctly remember reading about it in some rag before the movie came out.

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Originally Posted by WendellEverett 

anyone with common sense and a rudimentary understanding of SW could figure out that Kasdan's absence ended up being a huge factor in the critical response to the prequels. 

Yet Kasdan wrote Return of the Jedi.  Not bad, but incredibly weak compared to the earlier films.  It's possible Lucas had alot to do with that script, and therein lies the problem.  Kasdan wrote Empire, but writers don't write in a vacuum...there is alot of input from the director, producer, actors, and studio...and especially with Lucas being an overwhelming presence in the OT.  We don't know exactly how much he contributed to either Empire or Jedi.  Same with Raiders.  In those story meeting notes that leaked online, Lucas came up with the majority of the good ideas.  

So this idea that Kasdan coming aboard is going to make these sequels better doesn't make sense to me.  All evidence is that Kasdan is long past his prime.  I'm aware of the Kasdan that exists today not the guy who was involved with the OT tons of years ago, who's exact contribution to those flicks isn't even known.  And I am not trying at revising history or anything, but honestly screenwriting is a fluid process with lots of contributors.

Well, you know, he did write "Accidental Tourist", "The Bodyguard", and "The Big Chill", all of which were popular with audiences because they resonated real, human emotions (even if they had pretty "Hollywood" characters) not really present in the prequels, and those were after Jedi.  He also has a kid who can write movies with real characters with real emotions, but I know that's not a real argument ... I just like the Kasdans and I think they can write.  That being said, unless the new SW movies are written by Shane Black, David Mammet, or QT, there's really no way to be sure if the story will be any good until the day they come out.

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Originally Posted by WendellEverett 

Well, you know, he did write "Accidental Tourist", "The Bodyguard", and "The Big Chill"

Lots of writers and directors do great work early on and then something stops.  Those are all fine films, but they were quite some time ago and his work of late is not of the same quality (some of it being outright horrendous), God bless the man.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.  

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Originally Posted by Ambler 

I guess we'll have to wait and see.  

Isn't it pretty to think so?

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Originally Posted by WendellEverett 

I just like the Kasdans and I think they can write. 

For some strange reason, I read that fifth word as "Kardashians" and had the fleeting image of a much, much worse Star Wars than any of the prequels.

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Originally Posted by Ambler 

.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.  

Wait and see?  NO, this is the internet! We must judge everything based on rumors and innuendo!

In light of the recent Star Wars news have decided to start a blog. It's something I have been meaning to do for a long time and today I finally sat down and did it.

Have a look and please let me know what you think. I'm going to be adding entries when I can and will be charting the build-up from now until the release of the new film (and maybe beyond).

So have a look if you get a chance! Thanks.

http://starwarsherewegoagain.blogspot.ie/
 

I'd be shocked if Vaughn wasn't attached and dropped out before this thing started shooting.

He's certainly the best choice out of the list of potential directors. Here's hoping it works out.

Also heard that Rick McCallum has left Lucasfilm. 

I really like Vaughn (in fact, now that I think about it, I've enjoyed all of his movies) and think this would be a good move. However, at the end of the day, it comes down to the writer. You can't turn shit into gold. I hope the script is a good one and, if Vaughn does indeed get selected as director, that they let him show it to Jane Goldman. 

I think Vaughn would be a good choice.  I'd certainly prefer him over Favreau (who I still like).  I think the only person who would have given me more confidence is Bird.

I think all the people saying they need a solid workman director are correct.  There was nothing in Kirshner's filmography before (or since) Empire that would lead you to believe he could pull off that movie.  But it was a great script, loads of prep time with tones of storyboarding for certain sequences, and the brains to spend the time on the performances when they count.

My own personal wish for these movies is that they would half the FX shots of the average film today.  Less shots.  Better shots.  Make them count.  EMPIRE only has 414 shots, and I certainly never felt cheated.

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Originally Posted by Shaun H 

Seen it before but thought this'd be a good share for those who haven't seen it. Ewan McGreggor recounts a funny story (and an indication of what plagues the prequels) from the Episode III shoot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I627rJ4V7UQ&t=527

"Look at the mooooons!!"

That was great, and yeah, very indicative as to the worst aspects of those films. Hey Disney - this time, give us some actual sets! We'll be hugely grateful.

It certainly sounds like Vaughn is emerging as the front runner here. Millar is a notorious gobshite, but Jason Flemyng dropped a couple of hints recently suggesting that Vaughn was being courted as well. Sure, Flemyng isn't exactly a cast-iron voice of authority but these hints from two close acquaintances of Vaughn's in such close proximity suggests that either a) The rumours are true, or b) Vaughn and co are campaigning pretty damned hard. Personally, I think he's be a bloody solid choice.

Anyone see the newest rumor than David Fincher could be in the mix?

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/david-fincher-latest-name-in-the-mix-to-direct-star-wars-episode-7-jon-favreau-reportedly-chasing-the-job-20121130

Not that I think it is really very likely at all, (Why in the world would he want to do it?) the idea is quite intriuging. Fincher doing a kids movie? I guess he's been talking doing 20,000 leagues for a while.

If it came true,  I imagine my desktop speakers fuzzing out with the sound of 1,000 internet geeks heads exploding all at once.

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Originally Posted by Workyticket 

 

"Look at the mooooons!!"

 

That was great, and yeah, very indicative as to the worst aspects of those films. Hey Disney - this time, give us some actual sets! We'll be hugely grateful.

That was a really funny story, but I'm actually really amused by the fact that moment in Episode III actually looks pretty good.

Since whoever directs this is pretty much guaranteed to make Fuck You Money, in  a perfect world, Del Toro would get the gig, then use the resulting clout to get ATMOM made the right way.  Don't look at me like that, I'm not insane, we prefer to be called "Differently Sane"  nowadays.

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Originally Posted by skierpete 

Anyone see the newest rumor than David Fincher could be in the mix?

 

90 takes of talking to a tennis ball in front of a green screen.  Fincher is the last person you want to direct this.  The actors would go mad.

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Originally Posted by BrickBurgundy 

Since whoever directs this is pretty much guaranteed to make Fuck You Money, in  a perfect world, Del Toro would get the gig, then use the resulting clout to get ATMOM made the right way.  Don't look at me like that, I'm not insane, we prefer to be called "Differently Sane"  nowadays.

If Pacific Rim makes a bajillion dollars at the box office, not only will he have his own franchise to play with but Universal will call him and say, "Hey Gui, remember that At the Mountains of Madness script of yours that we loved so much..."

All this fan casting and no one thought of the brilliant idea of superstar Corey Feldman as Han Solo's kid? For shame. Well at least Corey Feldman himself thought of it.

Yeah, cause Corey Feldman and Harrison Ford look so much alike. Oh wait, no they don't. At all.

But I like when Corey refers to himself in the third person.

http://www.movieweb.com/news/exclusive-corey-feldman-eyes-the-role-of-han-solos-son-in-star-wars-episode-vii

I'm fine with him playing Harrison Ford's son. What those two do in their private lives is none of my business.

Why didn't that have the headline: "Corey Feldman Fancies Himself"

 I actually liked The Lost Boys 3. I watch another DTV Frog Brothers adventure.

Cast him as a Gungan, and maybe that'll teach him to shut up.

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Originally Posted by User_32 

All this fan casting and no one thought of the brilliant idea of superstar Corey Feldman as Han Solo's kid? For shame. Well at least Corey Feldman himself thought of it.

 

Yeah, cause Corey Feldman and Harrison Ford look so much alike. Oh wait, no they don't. At all.

 

He must be confusing himself with his dead Stand by Me co-star...

Whatever Disney does it had better not have clones and Anakin 'cause I've had about enough of that shit. I even read the Star Wars books that portrayed early Vader so my cuppeth is fulleth. I've maxed out on the episodes I-VI time period. I would love to see them visit the Old Republic or even the period some years after Episode VI. Show Luke creating the new Jedi Order. Something different.

I'm actually totally down for him to come back as the voice of Donatello. He killed it 20 years ago.

In regards to filming, where do Disney currently film their live-action stuff? A lot of their PotC stuff was studio-based, but where? - US? UK? Or will Lucasfilm source the locations with the filming perhaps returning to Australia?

Think there's any chance the production will return to Elstree?

Historically - and I'm talking back to WALT Disney's days - Disney has shot a lot of live action stuff in England and overseas. Roger Rabbit was another movie that was shot in England. So there is a past there to say they might do it again.

The Pirates movies were filmed in a lot of different locals. Some Carribean, some Hawaii, a lot of the studio stuff was in Los Angeles. I think they may have done some of the tank stuff in Mexico. I recently read that Pirates 5 will shoot in Puerto Rico when they ever get around to making it.

Overall, I don't know that where it's shot really matters, but it will be cool if they could blend some actual real locations with CGI locations.

Wrong thread