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Star Wars Episode 7 - Thread of Pre-Production

Even ignoring the fact that Nolan has long lost his directorial touch, Nolan would never take the job. And Lucas/Kennedy would never offer it to him.

Although I don't think he's lost his touch (though TDKR, Inception, and even TDK were sloppy), he did make his best movie, The Prestige, in 2006. Give him at least a decade before he's lost his touch!

Also, I don't think Nolan is even of a visual effects guru to handle Star Wars. Not even talking "special effects in every shot!!!"...he's a visual storyteller, but not the right person for this.
 

jtb

Banned
Although I don't think he's lost his touch (though TDKR, Inception, and even TDK were sloppy), he did make his best movie, The Prestige, in 2006. Give him at least a decade before he's lost his touch!

Also, I don't think Nolan is even of a visual effects guru to handle Star Wars. Not even talking "special effects in every shot!!!"...he's a visual storyteller, but not the right person for this.

Plus, he and Pfister are big on film. Lucas has taken great relish in killing film.
 

andycapps

Member
Well, largely the jedi are supposed to be calm and reserved. In Episode I, Obi-Wan is still young, so he's more emotional and excitable, but Ewan McGregor moves toward how Obi-Wan acted in Episode IV as the series progressed.

There's a difference between calm and reserved dialog, versus just shitty, wooden dialogue. Most of the prequels were the latter. Though his Obi-Wan character did have some good moments and he definitely had the look. Like most of the main actors in the prequels, they've done great performances outside of the prequels, just not there.
 
There are plenty of very good actors who need direction--most or all of them, in fact--and McGregor is probably one of them. There's this absolutely bizarre line reading in Ep 3 where he says "Did I miss SOMETHING?" with the wrongest inflection ever. Either it was the fifteenth take which he never expected to be used or he was completely lost by then.

In general he's serviceable to good in parts where the script isn't terrible, and weak where the script is weakest. The old guard British actors (McDiarmid, Lee) seemed to have better luck wrapping their mouths around even the worst lines, for whatever reason. Well OK, even McDiarmid couldn't manage the end of Sith.
 
LOL. McGregor is a great actor, but throughout Episode 2 and 3 he clearly does not give a single fuck about these movies.
His speach to Annakin at the end of 3 brought tears to my eyes.

He clearly cared.

There is a part of me that's still amazed Lucas tapped out. He admitted the franchise needs to move forward, yet he could not do it himself. Amazing.
 
There is a part of me that's still amazed Lucas tapped out. He admitted the franchise needs to move forward, yet he could not do it himself. Amazing.

That was pretty cool. He gained lots of respect back from me for letting go of Star Wars, besides the fact he was going to donate the money. Unexpectedly humble.

***************

I'm sure Lucas is to the blame for McGregor's performance. The delivery of some lines is terrible while others are passable.
 

Anth0ny

Member
Which is why we're still raging about them a decade after the fact, have 90 minute videos dissecting their failures, and documentaries about how Lucas screwed the fans.

I should have added "besides when we reflect back on how bad they were, AND when we're forced to remember them with complete box sets that include them."

The clone wars animated series has been hugely successful. Prequel era won't be forgotten. And it will always be included in the massive boxsets. It's quality isn't up there with the rest but being part of the franchise means it will always be there. It's like saying the Roger Moore era of James Bond will be forgotten. The prequels are 3 films in a massively popular franchise and will be in every boxset from here on for the rest of our lives.

More like the Timothy Dalton era films, which have been all but forgotten, besides the reminder when they release a new box set of the entire series.

Despite his roll over 3 films, Ewan McGregor will not be remembered as Obi Wan like Sir Alec Guinness. There is no "That's no moon" or "These aren't the droids you're looking for" or "I know" memorable lines in the prequels. We sure as hell won't be remembering guys like General Grievous like we remember Boba Fett.

I'm curious to see how kids who grew up with the prequels will look back on them after growing up, after seeing the Plinkett reviews. I was 7 when The Phantom Menace came out, and I thought it was dogshit then, and even worse now. I understand I'm in the minority when it comes to kids' reactions to the films, but who knows. I feel like when those Jar Jar loving kids grow up, the Prequels won't be the films that defined their childhood like the original trilogy did for so many of us older folks.
 
I seriously hope you don't go through life being as wrong about everything as you are this.

Well, not EVERYTHING.

Actually, this is a pretty safe thing to be wrong about. If only my worst mistakes in life were the ones I made bullshitting with fellow nerds on messageboards.
 

bill0527

Member
Well, not EVERYTHING.

Actually, this is a pretty safe thing to be wrong about. If only my worst mistakes in life were the ones I made bullshitting with fellow nerds on messageboards.

What i mean when i say the universe is huge and they don't need to remake anything is that they can do stuff go back to Old Republic days. Who the fuck among us wouldn't want to see a trilogy with Yoda as the central character when he was a young Jedi? Hell i think any kind of back story on Yoda would be interesting because we've gotten next to nothing on Yoda so far and Lucas has had his EU writers stay away from it, probably for a reason. What about Darth Sideous? We know nothing about his backstory other than a few lines in a creepy story he was telling Anakin in RoTS. They can tell new stories with the next generation of Skywalkers and Solos and no EU shit or book adaptations either. There are a ton of possibilities to make movies without having to redo something we have already seen.
 

rekameohs

Banned
Always thought Ian McDiarmid was the best thing about 1-3. Man was born to play Palpatine, and revels in it.

Dude single-handedly made Ep. 3 watchable. Everyone else sucked.

EDIT: Having him fight with a lightsaber was extremely stupid though. Same thing with Yoda.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Dude single-handedly made Ep. 3 watchable. Everyone else sucked.

EDIT: Having him fight with a lightsaber was extremely stupid though. Same thing with Yoda.

Actually thought Christensen finally got to shine when he became Vader. I never bought him as a nice guy, but pure evil? Natural.


I kind of liked the Palpatine/Windu saber fight, because of how obviously outclassed Palpatine was. He wasn't meant to fight.

Hence the Yoda one being kind of silly. Still had me hyped though.
 

effzee

Member
He saved Batman? That's why Dark knight rising didn't even sell as many tickets as Tim Burton's Batman movie did (http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/22/batman-89-sold-more-tickets-than-the-dark-knight-rises)? Oh and Batman didn't need saving. He already had Bruce Timm and Paul Dini telling the best stories of his existence.

If Nolan was directing the characters would be completely unrecognizable, the iconic music replaced with mundane Hans Zimmer esque crap, the lightsabers would be removed for not being "realistic" enough and there would be some dumb plot twist towards the end of the film like "Luke was dead the whole time!"


Whether you like his Batman movies or not, its pretty much fact that yes after the Shumaker movies, Batman on film was essentially dead. Nolan revived Batman with Begins and then with TDK made Batman arguably the most bankable character on the planet. Yet instead of comparing the commercial and critical success you bring up an IGN article about ticket sales? LOL. You can compare the economics of film, prices, and tickets from 20-30 years ago to now and make all sorts of assumptions but why go out of your way to do that?

Seriously you back up your argument that Nolan didn't save Batman by bringing up the ticket sales from the very first Batman movie made? You do realize that where Batman was left off after the Schumaker movies was a completely different place than where Burton started?

The rest of your post makes even less sense. Unrecognizable characters? Really? Especially when Burton and Schumaker completely twisted and reintroduced their own versions of the characters? When they butchered Gordon completely? Yet Nolan mishandled them? And twist ending? Which Batman movie had a twist ending? I think you are thinking of M Night.
 
The prequels were filled with good to great actors. Liam Neeson, Ewan MacGregor, Natalie Portman, Samual L. Jackson. Outside of Star Wars, these are memorable performers. I've heard that even Hayden Christensen is actually a pretty good actor, though I haven't seen him in anything else. But they were all horrible in the prequels. I think it was a combination of horrible direction, horrible dialog, green screen sets and CGI monsters giving them nothing tangible to react to, and just plain miscasting in the case of Jackson (his strength is not playing reserved, emotionless monks, Red Letter Media's take is spot on).

The acting in the original films is pretty underrated, in my opinion. Though, the beginning of the 'prequelitis' can be seen in Jedi, where Ford plays the zombie of Han Solo since his character has really nothing left to do and Lucas just wanted him around to sell more toys.
 
Whether you like his Batman movies or not, its pretty much fact that yes after the Shumaker movies, Batman on film was essentially dead. Nolan revived Batman with Begins and then with TDK made Batman arguably the most bankable character on the planet. Yet instead of comparing the commercial and critical success you bring up an IGN article about ticket sales? LOL. You can compare the economics of film, prices, and tickets from 20-30 years ago to now and make all sorts of assumptions but why go out of your way to do that?

Seriously you back up your argument that Nolan didn't save Batman by bringing up the ticket sales from the very first Batman movie made? You do realize that where Batman was left off after the Schumaker movies was a completely different place than where Burton started?

The rest of your post makes even less sense. Unrecognizable characters? Really? Especially when Burton and Schumaker completely twisted and reintroduced their own versions of the characters? When they butchered Gordon completely? Yet Nolan mishandled them? And twist ending? Which Batman movie had a twist ending? I think you are thinking of M Night.

Many people that have seen the movie were shocked when I told them Anna Hathway was playing as Catwoman almost everyones reaction was "oh that was supposed to be catwoman??". Bane is NOTHING like his comic counterpart, they stripped Ra's Al Ghul of what made him special, abruptly set up two face just to kill him off, and then threw some bizarre nod to Robin at the end of the third movie. And the twist ending im refering to?
Batman dies at the end of DKR but then it turns out he survived...or is it all in Alfreds head? Same crap he pulelled with Inception

And for the record, just about any director on their list would have "saved batman". They had Darren Aronofsky, Joss Whedon, David Fincher, etc. all lined up at one point or another. It was always going to be a more grounded "Year One" batman movie and audiences were always going to be hungry for it considering the schumacher films had already been long forgotten. It just happens that Nolan is the one that ended up making the film but it would have "saved the franchise" regardless and a different director may have even done a superior job.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Many people that have seen the movie were shocked when I told them Anna Hathway was playing as Catwoman almost everyones reaction was "oh that was supposed to be catwoman??". Bane is NOTHING like his comic counterpart, they stripped Ra's Al Ghul of what made him special, abruptly set up two face just to kill him off, and then threw some bizarre nod to Robin at the end of the third movie. And the twist ending im refering to?
Batman dies at the end of DKR but then it turns out he survived...or is it all in Alfreds head? Same crap he pulelled with Inception

I thought Hathaway's portrayal was pretty dead-on. Bane is different, sure, but it works. He's still a brilliant powerful character. Or did you prefer Batman and Robin's version?
 
or is it all in Alfreds head?

iOuzBRHoH3DDG.gif


I refuse to believe that anyone thinks this.
 

jtb

Banned
Eh I'm as big a Nolan hater as they come, but I can appreciate that audiences love what Nolan did with the Batman movies. It's just the right mix of pretentious and mass-market to really hit the right nerve with audiences and while that may sound like a backhanded compliment, it's not. People like being told they're smart, and Nolan films do that really well and that's clearly reflected in the box office.

Plus, Batman Begins is a legitimately good film. It's TDK and TDKR where the shit went off the rails anyways.
 

effzee

Member
Many people that have seen the movie were shocked when I told them Anna Hathway was playing as Catwoman almost everyones reaction was "oh that was supposed to be catwoman??". Bane is NOTHING like his comic counterpart, they stripped Ra's Al Ghul of what made him special, abruptly set up two face just to kill him off, and then threw some bizarre nod to Robin at the end of the third movie. And the twist ending im refering to?
Batman dies at the end of DKR but then it turns out he survived...or is it all in Alfreds head? Same crap he pulelled with Inception

No one I have ever met who has seen the movie was confused about who Anne was playing.

You either hang out with morons or making this up now. Lets see female character in skin tight suit, cat like ears, cat burglar, and oh yeah her name is Selina Kyle. I wonder who she is? Oh yeah constant references to being a cat? Man completely went over my head.

Nolan came far closer representing Bruce, Gordon, Alfred, the Joker, and even Catwoman than any of the movies before.

Abruptly setting up and killing Two Face has nothing to do with an accurate portrayal of what is the essence of his character. Unless you forget the Two Face they put to film previously. Sure Nolan changed some of the characters, but so did Burton and Schumaker. And they took far more liberty with what they did to the Penguin, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, and pretty much every character than Nolan did.

And sorry no one with a brain cell was confused by the ending. No one thought it was a dream, there was nothing implied in the movie it was a dream, and the whole 5 minutes at the end are set up to blatantly tell you that he is alive. If you miss the very basic of what the movie is outright telling you than the problem is with you and not the movie.

Nolan's Batman world came the closest to the Batman most people read up on and wanted to see on film. Again your personal opinion is your own but it has no basis in reality.

And to keep this thread on topic this will be my last post on this topic. Sorry to even derail the thread but just felt compelled. I don't even think there is anything worth here to talk about considering where you are coming from.

I prefer the version depicted in comics, animation, and video games.

Right because all the characters have only one true depiction in the comics.

Argument falls apart right there.

Eh I'm as big a Nolan hater as they come, but I can appreciate that audiences love what Nolan did with the Batman movies. It's just the right mix of pretentious and mass-market to really hit the right nerve with audiences and while that may sound like a backhanded compliment, it's not. People like being told they're smart, and Nolan films do that really well and that's clearly reflected in the box office.

Plus, Batman Begins is a legitimately good film. It's TDK and TDKR where the shit went off the rails anyways.

Right so you didn't like it must mean the audiences are the actual dumb ones being fooled by Nolan into thinking they are smart. Yup must be.

And its not just reflected in the box office but also in the critical response. But hey those people must also be fooled.
 

DMczaf

Member
Eh I'm as big a Nolan hater as they come, but I can appreciate that audiences love what Nolan did with the Batman movies. It's just the right mix of pretentious and mass-market to really hit the right nerve with audiences and while that may sound like a backhanded compliment, it's not. People like being told they're smart, and Nolan films do that really well and that's clearly reflected in the box office.

lol it's like you are making a joke post based on what effzee was talking about in the TDKR thread, except you're serious.
 

jtb

Banned
lol it's like you are making a joke post based on what effzee was talking about in the TDKR thread, except you're serious.

Haha, it's a bit tongue in cheek (I <3 Memento). That said, making popular movies is nothing to be ashamed of. I don't hold it against Cameron and I don't hold it against Nolan!
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
What i mean when i say the universe is huge and they don't need to remake anything is that they can do stuff go back to Old Republic days. Who the fuck among us wouldn't want to see a trilogy with Yoda as the central character when he was a young Jedi?

Fuck Yoda. I'd watch a movie about Palpatine, though.

The prequels were filled with good to great actors. Liam Neeson, Ewan MacGregor, Natalie Portman, Samual L. Jackson. Outside of Star Wars, these are memorable performers. I've heard that even Hayden Christensen is actually a pretty good actor, though I haven't seen him in anything else. But they were all horrible in the prequels. I think it was a combination of horrible direction, horrible dialog, green screen sets and CGI monsters giving them nothing tangible to react to, and just plain miscasting in the case of Jackson (his strength is not playing reserved, emotionless monks, Red Letter Media's take is spot on).

If you can't sell a performance with nothing to react to, then you're a worse actor than Brendan Frasier. Brendan Frasier, FFS.
 

pel1300

Member
what is with neogaf and it's dumb nolan haters who think that nolan would try to make Star Wars just like his Batman movies?

The guy isn't retarded, if he directed Star Wars obviously he wouldn't go take the realism approach he did with Batman.

Neogaf lives in an alternate reality where Inception and TDKR were critical failures and bombed at the BO. And yet neogaf worships Guillermo Del Toro who has yet to make a really good American movie. And also neogaf praises hacks such as the Wachowski brothers? lol.

It's such a classic "I'm cool because I hate what's popular" case.
 

Nicktendo86

Member
Many people that have seen the movie were shocked when I told them Anna Hathway was playing as Catwoman almost everyones reaction was "oh that was supposed to be catwoman??". Bane is NOTHING like his comic counterpart, they stripped Ra's Al Ghul of what made him special, abruptly set up two face just to kill him off, and then threw some bizarre nod to Robin at the end of the third movie. And the twist ending im refering to?
Batman dies at the end of DKR but then it turns out he survived...or is it all in Alfreds head? Same crap he pulelled with Inception

This is perhaps the most ridiculous post I have ever seen on GAF. How could ANYONE not realise that Anne was playing catwoman? Seriously?

Bane was a mix of the comic book bane and the mutant leader from Dark Knight Returns. Yes Nolan took a little liberty with the character but he had to to make him work in his story. End twist? How could anyone think that was anything like Inception!? It was a happy ending for Bruce's story, end of. I personally think it was a bit of a cop out but common, in Alfred's head?
 

Cheebo

Banned
Many people that have seen the movie were shocked when I told them Anna Hathway was playing as Catwoman almost everyones reaction was "oh that was supposed to be catwoman??". Bane is NOTHING like his comic counterpart, they stripped Ra's Al Ghul of what made him special, abruptly set up two face just to kill him off, and then threw some bizarre nod to Robin at the end of the third movie. And the twist ending im refering to?
Batman dies at the end of DKR but then it turns out he survived...or is it all in Alfreds head? Same crap he pulelled with Inception
.

You should honestly be embarrased to post this. Wow, what a terrible post from every possible angle.
 

Angry Fork

Member
It's still hard to believe this is happening. I hope the rumors about bringing Vader back are horrible lies. As long as they don't rape story stuff that much I'll see it in theaters. They have to ignore Episodes 1-3 though if they're serious about making Star Wars a decent franchise again, they should not be considered canon.
 

DjRoomba

Banned
Are we pro Favreau here?
I think he will be perfect for it. I guess some people did not like Cowboys and Aliens, but I did like it alot. Hes the right kind of director who does characters well and doesnt over do it with the cgi fakeness. I think someone with his sense of humor, mainstream relevance and filmaking style would certainly make an interesting star wars film.
And if the Fincher rumor is true as well then I admire Disneys' uncharacteristic balls for considering someone like him. Even though im not entirely sure his style suits it, no doubt he would make interesting film too.
 
Samuel L Jackson wants more money.

"I'm not surprised but totally geeked by the idea of there being more 'Star Wars,'" Jackson told E! News at the Spike TV Video Game Awards Friday. "It's like, okay, Obi-Wan was dead when episode four started, so maybe everyone thinks I'm dead and we'll find out what happened to Mace Windu. I can come back as one-armed or a one-handed Jedi that's still around that didn't actually die."

Sounds interesting, right?

When asked if he would definitely come back for the film, Jackson said, "Hell yeah!"


"I could do that or be a ghost hologram. I don't care," Jackson quipped. "I just want to stay associated with the franchise. Not that I won't because I've been in three of them."


Full article here


Also, this pic says it all about the prequels. Nobody looks happy. Except maybe R2.

 
Obi Wan was dead when EpIV started? So Jackson didn't actually watch any of the movies he was in or those thereafter? lol

People thought he died in the clone wars. Ben Kenobi was clearly alive. How people didn't put the two names together is something only George knows...oh yeah, he thinks the audience is stupid /Plinkett
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
People thought he died in the clone wars. Ben Kenobi was clearly alive. How people didn't put the two names together is something only George knows...oh yeah, he thinks the audience is stupid /Plinkett
Ive rarely thought of that. It's weird because most of the people of the republic/Empire know him as "General Kenobi". :p why just change the first name?
 

Forkball

Member
Ive rarely thought of that. It's weird because most of the people of the republic/Empire know him as "General Kenobi". :p why just change the first name?

Maybe Kenobi is like the Star Wars version of Smith.

It was pretty clear McGregor was just phoning it in, but to his credit he was given the prequel scripts and had to act in front of a green screen all the time. To his credit I think he said he had no idea what was going on.
 
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