45 minute interview with Dave Filoni (the person running Star Wars) on George and his Heir to the Empire movie

M

ManaByte

Banned


He still talks to George when he has a question, but the guy's 80 and trying to finish his Museum of Narrative Art.

He hasn't started writing his movie.

He's working on Ahsoka S2 right now (and other stuff not announced) and helping Favreau with Mando & Grogu

But writing Ahsoka S2 has given him an opening for the Heir to the Empire movie that he likes.
 
We're reaching a point in Star Wars where all it can do is die. The reason is, anyone with actual talent and vision won't want to be tied to it. They'd rather blaze their own path. I don't see how they get out of this. The only people who will be willing to take these jobs are going to be people who are terrible at their own. No one else will want to deal with the absolute avalanche of girl boss bureaucracy that Disney no doubt aims in your direction upon signing the contract.
 
simpatico said:
We're reaching a point in Star Wars where all it can do is die. The reason is, anyone with actual talent and vision won't want to be tied to it. They'd rather blaze their own path. I don't see how they get out of this. The only people who will be willing to take these jobs are going to be people who are terrible at their own. No one else will want to deal with the absolute avalanche of girl boss bureaucracy that Disney no doubt aims in your direction upon signing the contract.
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Realistically, the only way out of this is to do a full on reboot of everything from 2015 and on. After that hire competent writers and hire a head of Lucasfilm who actually loves the IP, not someone who hates it and it's entire fan base. Disney will never do this though, so the IP is basically dead going forward. 5-7 years from now no one will care about Star Wars.
 
Drake said:
Realistically, the only way out of this is to do a full on reboot of everything from 2015 and on. After that hire competent writers and hire a head of Lucasfilm who actually loves the IP, not someone who hates it and it's entire fan base. Disney will never do this though, so the IP is basically dead going forward. 5-7 years from now no one will care about Star Wars.
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I certainly don't. But I'm apparently the one killing Star Wars, not Disney.
 
let it go. Star Wars is dead. Filoni is not the root of problem, just part of the symptom. This pathetic garbage is what Disney wants. They keep attacking and blaming the diehard fans. They keep alienating families with "the message". These two demographics has been their biggest paying customers, yet they insist on pandering to deranged snowflakes.

Disney is no longer an entertainment company. It's a propaganda one.
 
simpatico said:
We're reaching a point in Star Wars where all it can do is die. The reason is, anyone with actual talent and vision won't want to be tied to it. They'd rather blaze their own path. I don't see how they get out of this. The only people who will be willing to take these jobs are going to be people who are terrible at their own. No one else will want to deal with the absolute avalanche of girl boss bureaucracy that Disney no doubt aims in your direction upon signing the contract.
Click to expand...

Star Wars was three movies in the 1970s and 1980s. The idea that they are now to be some sort of eternal, perpetual universe of content is pretty insane if you think about it, and this really is a new way of thinking. For the most part people create their own stuff that is reflective of their times, it is enjoyed by people of their times, and then it gets discarded unless it is truly, truly, truly great (like, Shakespeare or Beethoven tier great). George Lucas made films that were reflective of the times they were made, they were popular... and that's it. The fact is we don't need new Star Wars, we never did, and the fact that Disney made such a hash of it is proof of that. Even the prequels were largely unnecessary.
 
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Stars wars? And for that reason…
Im Out Shark Tank GIF by ABC Network
 
simpatico said:
We're reaching a point in Star Wars where all it can do is die. The reason is, anyone with actual talent and vision won't want to be tied to it. They'd rather blaze their own path. I don't see how they get out of this. The only people who will be willing to take these jobs are going to be people who are terrible at their own. No one else will want to deal with the absolute avalanche of girl boss bureaucracy that Disney no doubt aims in your direction upon signing the contract.
Click to expand...
Of course not, they know they will be attacked by fans no matter how talented they are, just like the creator of Star Wars himself was attacked for 2 whole decades.
 
newtypepilot said:
let it go. Star Wars is dead. Filoni is not the root of problem, just part of the symptom. This pathetic garbage is what Disney wants. They keep attacking and blaming the diehard fans. They keep alienating families with "the message". These two demographics has been their biggest paying customers, yet they insist on pandering to deranged snowflakes.

Disney is no longer an entertainment company. It's a propaganda one.
Click to expand...
Funny, a few years ago everyone loved Dave Filoni 🤷‍♂️
 
I really dislike most of his stuff. Mandalorian is OK but it's really just the vibes I like; the writing / plotting is goofy.

Ahsoka was just terrible to me.
 
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diffusionx said:
Star Wars was three movies in the 1970s and 1980s. The idea that they are now to be some sort of eternal, perpetual universe of content is pretty insane if you think about it, and this really is a new way of thinking. For the most part people create their own stuff that is reflective of their times, it is enjoyed by people of their times, and then it gets discarded unless it is truly, truly, truly great (like, Shakespeare or Beethoven tier great). George Lucas made films that were reflective of the times they were made, they were popular... and that's it. The fact is we don't need new Star Wars, we never did, and the fact that Disney made such a hash of it is proof of that. Even the prequels were largely unnecessary.
Click to expand...
We needed the thrawn trilogy back in the 90's.
 
Days like these... said:
We needed the thrawn trilogy back in the 90's.
Click to expand...

Back in the 90s George had no desire to make a sequel trilogy. That died when he got divorced during ROTJ and he decided to end the trilogy there.

In 1999 Gary Kurtz posted the nine-movie outline George had prior to 1980:

  • EPISODE 1: Was to focus on the origins of the Jedi Knights and how they are initiated and trained
  • EPISODE 2: Introduction and development of Obi-Wan Kenobi
  • EPISODE 3: Introduction and life of Vader
  • EPISODE 4: There were seven different drafts of the film. At one point, they pursued buying the rights to Hidden Fortress because of the strong similarities. At one point, Luke was a female, Han was Luke's brother, Luke's father was the one in prison (interesting point for some debates) and the film featured 40 wookies
  • EPISODE 5: Once written, the screenplay of Empire is almost exactly what is seen on screen. The only cut scenes were those involving wampas in the rebel base (cut because of time and unsolved technical glitches) and about two minutes of Luke/Yoda Jedi training with no real dialog.
  • EPISODE 6: Leia was to be elected "Queen of her people" leaving her isolated. Han was to die. Luke confronted Vader and went on with his life alone. Leia was not to be Luke's sister.
  • EPISODE 7: Third trilogy was to focus on Luke's life as a Jedi, with very few details planned out.
  • EPISODE 8: Luke's sister (not Leia) appears from another part of the galaxy.
  • EPISODE 9: First appearance of the Emperor.
When Kurtz told Lucas to shove his toys up his ass and didn't make ROTJ in favor of Dark Crystal, George threw out the plans for the sequels and ended everything with ROTJ. He made Leia the sister, didn't kill anyone off, and gave it a happy ending.
 
ManaByte said:
"KK should step aside and let Dave Filoni take over"

Dave Filoni takes over

"Fuck Dave Filoni!"
Click to expand...
I remember when the internet made those crazy conspiracy theories that Filoni and Favreau (the 'saviors of Star Wars') would do a coup on K. Kennedy and take charge of Star Wars :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Or that the Luke cameo in Mandalorian was filmed secretly without her knowledge.
 
ManaByte said:
Back in the 90s George had no desire to make a sequel trilogy. That died when he got divorced during ROTJ and he decided to end the trilogy there.

In 1999 Gary Kurtz posted the nine-movie outline George had prior to 1980:

  • EPISODE 1: Was to focus on the origins of the Jedi Knights and how they are initiated and trained
  • EPISODE 2: Introduction and development of Obi-Wan Kenobi
  • EPISODE 3: Introduction and life of Vader
  • EPISODE 4: There were seven different drafts of the film. At one point, they pursued buying the rights to Hidden Fortress because of the strong similarities. At one point, Luke was a female, Han was Luke's brother, Luke's father was the one in prison (interesting point for some debates) and the film featured 40 wookies
  • EPISODE 5: Once written, the screenplay of Empire is almost exactly what is seen on screen. The only cut scenes were those involving wampas in the rebel base (cut because of time and unsolved technical glitches) and about two minutes of Luke/Yoda Jedi training with no real dialog.
  • EPISODE 6: Leia was to be elected "Queen of her people" leaving her isolated. Han was to die. Luke confronted Vader and went on with his life alone. Leia was not to be Luke's sister.
  • EPISODE 7: Third trilogy was to focus on Luke's life as a Jedi, with very few details planned out.
  • EPISODE 8: Luke's sister (not Leia) appears from another part of the galaxy.
  • EPISODE 9: First appearance of the Emperor.
When Kurtz told Lucas to shove his toys up his ass and didn't make ROTJ in favor of Dark Crystal, George threw out the plans for the sequels and ended everything with ROTJ. He made Leia the sister, didn't kill anyone off, and gave it a happy ending.
Click to expand...

Lucas Original Versions still sounds way better than most of Disney Star Wars
 
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Drake said:
Realistically, the only way out of this is to do a full on reboot of everything from 2015 and on. After that hire competent writers and hire a head of Lucasfilm who actually loves the IP, not someone who hates it and it's entire fan base. Disney will never do this though, so the IP is basically dead going forward. 5-7 years from now no one will care about Star Wars.
Click to expand...
Aren't you sure the people who hate Star Wars are the ones reviewbombing every movie/show/cartoon without watching them? :pie_thinking:

ManaByte said:
Oh they had wave that away and ignore it.
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Or the fact Lucas hated Mara Jade and didn't consider the extended universe to be canon.
 
Generic said:
Or the fact Lucas hated Mara Jade and didn't consider the extended universe to be canon.
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Well he approved her in Heir to the Empire but hated the concept of Luke being married. That made sense when he did the Prequels and Jedi weren't supposed to be married.
 
Dave is ok. His cartoons were fun. I think Star Wars will be on life support and someone will come dig it out of the ashes and save it.

disney has made their 4billion from it.
 
ManaByte said:
"KK should step aside and let Dave Filoni take over"

Dave Filoni takes over

"Fuck Dave Filoni!"
Click to expand...
I dunno, I think the "rot" in Star Wars started before Filoni had any power beyond the cartoons. TLJ was such a HUGE misstep, following up on the fun, but ultimately narratively confusing TFA that it really soured me on the direction LucasArts was going. Filoni has always had a fondness for the mystic stuff and Ahsoka was about as much of it as I can take, but NOTHING excuses the mess that was Book of Fett or the sloppy expanded script for Obi-wan, and those were all Kennedy I think. Why Lucasarts feels this strong urge to inject women into all aspects of Star Wars is a mystery. Other than S1 of Mando and Andor, we have not gotten a strong male centered story. Mando s2 is just the Bo-Katan show, Obi-wan diluted Obi-wan for all the Reva crap. Plus they keep hiring directors (many of them women) who just don't have the chops for an action show or Filoni, who also doesn't have the chops for a live action action show. I would have thought Robert Rodriguez was a perfect fit with his fast shooting style but even he is turning in duds. I think they let the budgets get too large and the scope too grand for the time they had to do it right. Mando s1 had the right balance, but then you have Vader vs Obi-wan in a junkyard and Ahsoka lazily swatting away blaster bolts as she strolls through CGI sets.

Anyway, eventually they will hire a proper action director and use a script written by a guy with an eye towards the male audience and it will be glorious and all the women who failed to support Ahsoka/Acolyte, etc will bitch and moan, rinse repeat.
 
I'd rather they just shelve the entire franchise for a good 10-15 years at this point. Acolyte? Shit. Boba Fett? Shit. Mando 3? Shit. 7, 8, and 9? Shit. None of them know what they're doing.
 
I like how Filoni is expanding the on-screen universe with stuff from the books and animated shows.

For whatever reason I never got deep into the Star Wars extended universe, and despite giving it the old college try, the only animated stuff I could stick with and enjoy was the weirder works like "Visions" on Disney+. So all of this stuff is new to me, and I love when these fantasy settings I enjoy add new things for writers to play with. That dimension with Anakin's Force ghost in Ahsoka (or echo, whatever he was), these demigods or whatnot that Baylan Skoll is seeking (also Ahsoka), additional Force using sects like these witches in The Acolyte. All good to me.

I'm looking forward to his movie. I am sure it's going to push boundaries and upset the purests, but hey, things change. I'm along for the ride Filoni is crafting.
 
ManaByte said:
"KK should step aside and let Dave Filoni take over"

Dave Filoni takes over

"Fuck Dave Filoni!"
Click to expand...

You'll have a hard time convincing anyone that Kennedy's influence over the product is not still very strong. She remains executive producer on all Star Wars product. She is the president of LucasFilm.

Filoni works to a brief set by her, of that there can be little doubt.
 
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LordCBH said:
I'd rather they just shelve the entire franchise for a good 10-15 years at this point. Acolyte? Shit. Boba Fett? Shit. Mando 3? Shit. 7, 8, and 9? Shit. None of them know what they're doing.
Click to expand...

It's far worse than that. There are three and a half good Star Wars films. Everything else is on a sliding scale of mid to terrible.
 
ManaByte said:
Filoni decides what is made, she signs the checks.
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Come on, dude. You seem to be invested more than enough in the way the industry works to know that's not true. This is rather like saying Vince McMahon had no influence over WWE product when HHH took over as CCO. Or that Jeff Bezos has no influence or control over Jennifer Salke. Or that Kevin Rowntree at Games Workshop doesn't directly influence the creative direction of Warhammer. I could go on...
 
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ManaByte said:
Filoni decides what is made, she signs the checks.
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Even IF that is the case, and I find it VERY unlikely that she has turned over all control of a project she has been involved with since the beginning, there will still be several years before a "Filoni only" creative process shows up on screen.
 
jason10mm said:
Even IF that is the case, and I find it VERY unlikely that she has turned over all control of a project she has been involved with since the beginning, there will still be several years before a "Filoni only" creative process shows up on screen.
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The three movies they announced at Celebration in 2023 and Mando & Grogu (due to the strikes affecting S4) are Filoni.
 
ManaByte said:
The three movies they announced at Celebration in 2023 and Mando & Grogu (due to the strikes affecting S4) are Filoni.
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Yeah, and the only one that even has a whisper of a release date is M&G, due in mid-2026, which can ABSOLUTELY slide. All those others....EASILY could end up as vaporware just like the Patty Jenkins film and so many others. The TV pipeline seems to be flowing ok, but the film one is slooooow, and hopefully that's a good sign.
 
jason10mm said:
Yeah, and the only one that even has a whisper of a release date is M&G, due in mid-2026, which can ABSOLUTELY slide. All those others....EASILY could end up as vaporware just like the Patty Jenkins film and so many others. The TV pipeline seems to be flowing ok, but the film one is slooooow, and hopefully that's a good sign.
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Mando and Grogu starts filming in a month or two.

Mangold starts his when he's finished with the Dylan biopic he's filming right now.
 
ManaByte said:
"KK should step aside and let Dave Filoni take over"

Dave Filoni takes over

"Fuck Dave Filoni!"
Click to expand...

Filoni is more adept at concealment while Kathleen takes the brunt of it.

An ex-Lucasfilm employee recently uploaded a couple of videos that pulled back the curtain, but unfortunately all of his videos have been scrubbed/privated. Here's a commentary with clips on what was said in one of the videos:



Here's an article that also talks about it:

thatparkplace.com

Former Lucasfilm Animation Employee Says He's Embarrassed And Ashamed To Have Worked At Lucasfim And On Star Wars After 'The Acolyte'

A former Lucasfilm employee recently shared that he's embarrassed to have worked on Star Wars in the wake of The Acolyte releasing to Disney+.
thatparkplace.com thatparkplace.com

This ex-employee stated that Star Wars hasn't yet hit rock bottom yet, so prepare for more pain. And he goes on to say that some of the most toxic fans actually are the ones working at Lucasfilm.

Filoni is in perfect lockstep with dear ol' Kathleen ... always two there are, no more no less something something dark side of the force.

Hopefully someone re-uploads those videos.
 
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Lord Panda said:
He probably still has contacts within Lucasfilm; and it would still be good to watch those videos that everyone is assuming Disney went after and had taken down.
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If he quit seven years ago he's still under NDA (they last for 10 years) so he likely removed them so they didn't sue him into oblivion.
 
FunkMiller said:
You'll have a hard time convincing anyone that Kennedy's influence over the product is not still very strong. She remains executive producer on all Star Wars product. She is the president of LucasFilm.

Filoni works to a brief set by her, of that there can be little doubt.
Click to expand...
Yeah...I was thinking the exact same thing. Dave pretty much helped rescue the prequels with his cartoons. Disney/ABC is the most committee run of all the big entertainment companies. The idea that Kathleen Kennedy didn't run star wars into the ground after George left is hilarious.

As soon as the mandolorian got popular everyone wanted to take credit. Which greenlit the horrible obi Wan show. That had design by committee all over it. KK has no idea how to run this IP which is funny since she was a huge part of it and Indiana Jones, another ip she decided to run into the ground.
 
I didn't mention in my rant how fucking stupid it would be to do a heir to the empire series now. They bastardized a 30 year old book trilogy already by having the emperor a clone in episode 9.

I thought it was bad in the 90s seeing all the dog shit star wars books. Besides Ken Anderson and the x wing books nothing after the heir trilogy was even decent.
 
ManaByte said:
Obi-Wan (like Solo and Boba Fett) was a movie before George Lucas sold the company. They just took the movie script and added padding to make it a series.
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Well that was a horrible idea then. The show sucked. Maybe they added the Leia chase cause they stretched it out.
 
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