ST JJ Abrams to direct Episode VII

Ah, but LotR's is a speshal magic oh-so-perfect paragon of cinematic perfection made by that Gentle Genius Sir Peter "Geek Bless Him" Jackson, The Great & Sainted Chosen One. Those (grrrrr!!!!) awful nasty rotten terrible Jar Jar filled prequel things are the reason we have poverty, disease, war and erectile dysfunction in the world and they were made by He Who Shall Not Be Named, the Accursed One. Big difference.



Oh and for the record: almost from the beginning of the TPM doco people are giving GL 'negative' feedback, starting with John Knoll. GL and RM congratulated him and gave him a promotion. But maybe I imagined that part . . .

 

I agree - I see absolutely no evidence to suggest that Lucas is an autocrat and hires only 'yes men'... quite the reverse in fact. I think what's more likely is that those without a really strong opinion on something probably defer to Lucas' (given that this is the man who created Star Wars and helped shape popular cinema). However, saying that, the documentary evidence seems to show colleagues/collaborators speaking their mind.

 

I agree, although the ROTJ story conferences indicate that Marquand had nothing to offer but praise or agreement to anything the others said. Kasdan really pushed Lucas here and there, but it's Lucas' vision and he has the make the final call. As it should be.

 

One thing I will thank Marquand was his suggestion to cast Ian Mcdiarmid as Sidious

 

J.J. Abrams on Lawrence Kasdan, Filming in the UK and More.

http://www.starwars7news.com/2013/11/jj-abrams-on-lawrence-kasdan-filming-in.html

 

As usual at this point, a big bowl of nuthin'.

 

didn't he also suggest some major points for Luke's rescue of Han, such as R2 smuggling in Luke's lightsaber?

 

Hey Marquand talked GL out of cutting the Ewoks. That makes him a God in my book!

 

Aw, they're still Jar Jar bashing after 14 years. How . . . sad. I wonder how many people will be asking the new director of Star Trek 33 how they will kill off Keenser.

 

"Yep, yep, yep...yep".

Sadly, I don't even think that fans loathe Jar Jar as much as they claim, as unfortunately he is just a tiny part of a much larger scale hatred aimed at many people's disposition to the prequel trilogy, and sadly I don't even think that fans despise that as much as they claim, as unfortunately the PT as a concept just didn't match up with other fans' fan-fiction...'twas all a downward spiral, doomed to fail from the get-go because of nearly insurmountable expectations.

 

I wish people still bashed Tom Bombadil.

 

Aw, they're still Jar Jar bashing after 14 years. How . . . sad. I wonder how many people will be asking the new director of Star Trek 33 how they will kill off Keenser.[/quote]

Sadly, I don't even think that fans loathe Jar Jar as much as they claim, as unfortunately he is just a tiny part of a much larger scale hatred aimed at many people's disposition to the prequel trilogy, and sadly I don't even think that fans despise that as much as they claim, as unfortunately the PT as a concept just didn't match up with other fans' fan-fiction...'twas all a downward spiral, doomed to fail from the get-go because of nearly insurmountable expectations.[/quote]

I agree with much of what you say especially that the Jar Jar venom is part of a bigger parcel. However, I don't ever want to give the impression that I think GL isn't to blame for some of the PT's lack of success with certain audiences: his strengths are not as a dramatist and he really left the audience behind in some crucial areas in his pursuit of so many different aims (all of which are interesting to me) when his big target was A Good Story Satisfyingly Told. However, having said that, if audiences are expecting well told, satisfying story from JJA . . . yeah, I'll just leave that alone . . .

 

"By any means necessary."

 

Absolutely. GL himself has stated time and again that he isn't a writer. He's more of a dreamer, conjuring up idea after idea, but famously doing so as if on a whim, during the course of production, which as you said left some notable inconsistencies in the plot. Having said that though, I feel it's worth mentioning that there has been a single instance in which GL hasn't been at the helm of a Star Wars film, and that was The Holiday Special. So let's just hope that JJA can accomplish something less ill begotten than THS.

Oh, I trust that he does. Hunger Games: Catching Fire is still receiving rave reviews, and great box-office success at present, and as such it would seem Kasdan still rocks.

 

He did... Well that just makes him even more awesome

 

Michael Arndt didn't eat his apple.

 

Arndt wasn't fired, he's working on 8, Abrams, and Kasdan are working on the shooting script.

A new interview with JJ

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1718092/jj-abrams-star-wars-episode-vii-infinitely-better.jhtml

 

"Before I even came onto the project, they were talking about 2015, and they made this announcement very early on, which I understand. I understand why they'd want that, but it didn't necessarily have anything to do with the reality of where anything was creatively."

Yeah, the vibe I get from that is apparently the whole Lucas-overseen pre-production on Episode 7 pre-Disney sale wasn't as quite deep as we all thought since they're taking another whack at the script.

 

Evidence?