I am alright with this.
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Star Wars Episode 7 - Thread of Pre-Production
- Thread starter Ape Gone Insane
- Start date
I am alright with this.
Extra Sauce
Member
We don't know that Lucas is heavily involved. For all we know, the producers are going to look at his outlines and think "this is crap" and largely disregard them. They can totally do that if they choose to. Of course they're not going to come out and say it publicly, that would be bad form. But people need to stop worrying that Lucas is going to ruin the movies. He's just a resource that they can go to. If the movies suck, that's on Disney, not him.
Until you realize that it's all about the politics of the post-war transition and the nation building that ensues from the fall of the Galactic Empire. Again, this stuff's for babies.
shira
Member
BREAKING: Robert Pattison officially interested
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/11/15/robert-pattinson-hearts-jar-jar-binks
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/11/15/robert-pattinson-hearts-jar-jar-binks
rpat said:
Ape Gone Insane
Member
BREAKING: Robert Pattison officially interested
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/11/15/robert-pattinson-hearts-jar-jar-binks
Another Hayden? No fucking thank you.
Messypandas
Member
we need Jar Jar Gabor
Not necessarily. Set it to... what, about 50ABY, that's still unfilled time. These sequel movies could fill the gap beetween the novels set before 50ABY and the Legacy comics.
The issue with this, of course, would be the amount of events and new characters. How to explain these to new viewers? To old viewers who don't follow EU? Etc. issues.
Mark Hamill and co. could easily portay older versions of their characters, they're about the same age as their character's in-universe, no?
shira
Member
Oh so you only update the OP with info you are interested in dorito pope?
Ape Gone Insane
Member
Aha... Updated.
Hasn't he done a couple movies outside Twilight where he's actually a somewhat decent actor? How was he in Cosmopolis?
Warm Machine
Member
People were all up in arms when there was a rumor that Leonardo DiCaprio was going to be Anakin. Now many people regard Leo as a very good established actor.
Ape Gone Insane
Member
He was decent in Cosmopolis. A complete non-entity in all the others.
Great stories that honestly most don't know/give a fuck about.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
This is probably really close to the truth. Lucas handed over what materials he had to Kennedy awhile back. Arndt used those materials and came up with a 40-50 page treatment covering the entire 7-9 trilogy. From that treatment, he gets to write the script for the first movie.
Lucas gets a "creative consultant" credit, which is nice, but doesn't necessarily mean anything. In fact, it's entirely possible that title is there solely to appease any shareholders who still believe in his power as a storyteller, and any fans who feel they need to be reassured that Lucas will still have some measure of control.
But if he really wanted control, he wouldn't have sold it all. He knows what giving it to somebody else actually means. Those notes are Disney's now. Those companies are Disney's now. A guy who wants to keep some semblance of control doesn't put his entire life's work up for sale when he already has 3 billion in the bank.
I'm betting his "Creative Consultant" credit will mean just about as much as Glen Larson's "Creative Consultant" credit did on Ron Moore's "Battlestar Galactica," or Kaz & Fran Rubel Kuzui's "Executive Producer" credit meant on any of Whedon's Buffy properties outside of the movie.
This is Kathleen Kennedy's show to run. She's chosen Michael Arndt as her writer, and we'll probably find out who the director is by the end of the week. Lucas as "Creative Consultant" is a thing that is trotted out in these early days, and will then be forgotten about as production goes forward, until the movie starts playing and we see his name in the end credits and go "oh yeah."
edit: The Johnston hate is weird, to me. He's not great, but he can do a damned good Spielberg impersonation when asked (Captain America, The Rocketeer, parts of October Sky). Otherwise, he's just kind of a middle-of-the-road workman/journeyman director. His bad movies aren't atrocious or anything, just garden variety boring/uninteresting.
Other journeyman directors who have directed Star Wars movies.
Irvin Kershner
Richard Marquand
Now, I personally think Return of the Jedi isn't very well shot, or paced, but most people don't bring up Marquand's name, or his direction, when they start discussing Jedi's flaws. And we all know about Kershner.
Despite Breaking Bad's amazingness, Gilligan would still be seen as too unproven for the job. Rian and Drew, though. 'Twould be gobsmackingly terrific if that played out.
(With a Bear McCreary soundtrack, of course.)
Marquand didn't have full creative control in ROTJ. Lucas ghost-directed alot of scenes from the film, in particular anything featuring special effects, and the throne room scenes, which are the best scenes in the film.
shira
Member
Eurghh. If Lucas redoes the EU - that would create an entirely new EU.
EU2 of which to sell more books/games/merchandise
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Lucas won't be redoing anything. He has zero actual say in Star Wars anymore. Yeah, it's possible Kathleen Kennedy will check in with him - but I doubt it. I dont' think she took the job just to be puppeteered by a man who technically doesn't even work there.
I love that all the blame on Crystal Skull goes to Lucas when Spielberg is no pushover and has as much say about what goes in Indy as much as Lucas. Spielberg is as much responsible for the Indiana Jones films as Lucas is.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
That's being generous. Spielberg had some bad ideas as well. Ford didn't turn in much of a performance.
That's not to let Lucas off the hook: There shouldn't have even BEEN an Indiana Jones IV. But to say its failure is solely due to his story seems like an exaggeration to me.
I agree, I blame Spielberg too. But I don't think anyone challenges Lucas anymore to push him to do the great things he's capable of. I don't think Spielberg had any passion in the making of Crystal Skull, it seems like he just made a lot of mis-judgements on certain aspects and didn't really try (that or it's hard working under the immense pressure of a Indy sequel). And if I remember correctly, Lucas would not budge a inch on his outline ideas, i.e. the nuke fridge, vine swinging, ect.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
The fridge was Spielberg, not Lucas. It was something he liked from early drafts of Back to the Future.
Pretty sure the vine swinging was Spielberg, too. Could be wrong. But the fridge is Spielberg's call, definitely.
Soyongdori
Member
They should keep making the movie until the Legacy saga.
Whaaa, really? Then I concede to you. My Lucas hating lens I've been looking through for a while has impaired my memory it seems. Alright, maybe he isn't that bad.
MisterHero
Super Member
It would be interesting to find out what would happen if they decided to ignore the CGI advancement and acting pools from the last 30 years. No fake groundhogs and no Shia Lebouf.
I wonder if modern audiences would be more accepting of stilted puppet performances and aliens with non-moving mouths. Maybe they can accept Star Wars the way it was originally accepted.
I'm not fond of all the franchise leveraging behind The Clone Wars but maybe that's what people like now.
I wonder if modern audiences would be more accepting of stilted puppet performances and aliens with non-moving mouths. Maybe they can accept Star Wars the way it was originally accepted.
I'm not fond of all the franchise leveraging behind The Clone Wars but maybe that's what people like now.
Are you sure it was Spielberg? The refrigerator scene is one of the things that made it over from Lucas' old Indiana Jones and the Suacer Men from Mars script.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I loved the fridge scene actually (aside from the CGI chipmunk or whatever) and the great shot that followed.
Anyone got this in higher res?
I don't have a higher res screenshot, but I have an interview with Janusz Kaminski about how he created that shot, and 9 other shots from the Spielberg movies he's been DP on.
http://www.vulture.com/2012/11/how-...ographer-janusz-kaminski-got-these-shots.html
Speaking of which, for me, finding out who will edit, photograph, and score this movie is equally as important as who is directing it.
Secret Fawful
Member
I love Crystal Skull in spite of its flaws, really, and that shot is just one of the reasons. People act like it's the biggest travesty this side of Attack of the Clones, but it's nowhere close.
Then again, even Attack of the Clones had a couple good, RARE dramatic moments. Jango Fett's rolling head.
Then again, even Attack of the Clones had a couple good, RARE dramatic moments. Jango Fett's rolling head.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
lol
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Keep Lucas OUT. I swear he's gonna force Ahsoka in the movie...
Again - he's no longer a part of Lucasfilm. Kathleen Kennedy runs that company now, and makes the executive decisions regarding the films. Lucas has no power to force anything on anyone.
I'm getting the sense that there's a lot of habitual shitting people are going to need some time to break themselves of. I'm not saying the man might not have earned himself a fecal fleck or two. But people are so used to instinctively opening their bowels in the goitered ones direction that they missed the part where his naming Kennedy the president and selling all of his Lucasfilm holdings to Disney means he doesn't get to actually MAKE decisions any more. At best, he gets to consult on other people's decisions, and that's if they care to ask him.
Watch the Plinkett review for Indy. It sounded like Lucas kept throwing all these god awful ideas at Spielberg, and he was just like "ugh... fine whatever" to all of them.
Here's the thing though, the movie needs a strong director that can push back if need be. That's my main worry about some of the smaller directors in that Lucas will backseat direct even if he has no actual authority and Kathleen Kennedy will just allow it to happen. Do we know about her preferences anyway like whether she liked the prequels or not?
Bobby Roberts
Banned
If Lucas gave a shit about backseat directing he wouldn't have sold Lucasfilm. He consciously made a decision to relinquish all authority/control over this for 4.05 billion dollars. He's tired as fuck, obviously. Look at him in those interview videos.
Kennedy is not the kind of person to vacate her position as a major power player simply to be George Lucas' puppet. And Lucas knows better than to hire someone like Kennedy and think he can just cede all authority to her and still puppeteer her like she was Rick McCallum.
And just how is this supposed to absolve Spielberg of responsibility?
I'm not. I wish he would just **** off.
Extra Sauce
Member
Count me in as someone who loves the fridge scene.
It's been said by Mythbusters that surviving a nuclear blast by hiding inside a lead-lined fridge is possible, just not as close to the point of impact as Indy was. So it's definitely a stretch, but not that much of a stretch for a pulp adventure movie. It's perfectly acceptable to me. Many great movies have exaggerated the rules of physics in the past, which I think is different from disregarding the rules of physics completely.
It's been said by Mythbusters that surviving a nuclear blast by hiding inside a lead-lined fridge is possible, just not as close to the point of impact as Indy was. So it's definitely a stretch, but not that much of a stretch for a pulp adventure movie. It's perfectly acceptable to me. Many great movies have exaggerated the rules of physics in the past, which I think is different from disregarding the rules of physics completely.
Edag Plata
Banned
That's why I'm crossing my fingers and toes that if he can't do it Michael Giacchino will score it. He's the only one who can do the same grand, sense of wonder scale of music these days that Williams used to do.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Like, say, for example, a movie where three people jump out of a moving plane in an inflatable raft, fall hundreds of feet only to softly land on the side of a mountain and slide down that mountain in the raft, off another cliff, falling another hundred or so feeet all the way to a river where they safely wash up after going through some rapids.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KPSe67iwR0
I'm not the biggest fan of Nuking the Fridge, but nobody seems to ever hold Temple of Doom's plane jump in anywhere near the same regard. Or, for that matter, the scene where the plane gets its wings sheared off by a tunnel and then skates past the car as the pilot and Indy do double takes at each other.
Adam Scott Aukerman
Member
Yeah, I've never really had a problem with that scene. And don't forget, this is a series of films that have featured melting nazis, invisible bridges, immortal knights, mind control, and a little boy competently driving a car.