ST Colin Trevorrow NOT directing Episode IX

creative differences. when you don't like their vision. it doesn't mean don't try visionaries. it's just not all visionaries and KK will agree.

 

Irvin Kirshner and George Lucas were quite at loggerheads during the production of ESB, too. There is not a single OT film that was not utterly FRAUGHT with personality conflicts, story problems and/or budgetary concerns.

These kinds of problems are part of the territory, and the stakes are very high. I put my trust in Kathy Kennedy, because she is the ultimate power, and she has against all odds delivered two both financially and critically successful films, so far.

Trevorrow was a bad choice, from the beginning, and it was very obvious that fans were worried immediately. KK tried working with him for two years, but eventually had to cut him loose. I see that as a source of strength, not weakness, that she saw the writing on the wall, and acted. This is a business filled with huge egos, and outsized confidence--Trevorrow was writing checks that his work ultimately could not cash. He was not worth the trouble.

 

Yup. This decision has cemented it for me: I trust Kathleen's judgment.

 

There is a middle ground between "Give an up-and-comer free rein" and "Hire a voiceless journeyman to implement a pre-established vision". I think Kennedy was hoping for these younger filmmakers to bring their own unique voices while still collaborating to ensure consistency with the larger brand.

 

Yup. And with Johnson and Edwards, that worked. Not with L&M and Trevorrow. And so she made decisive actions.

 

I mean, there's a middle ground to be had here. If the reports are true about how Lord & Miller's "vision" for the Han Solo film involved the titular character progressively acting more and more like Ace Ventura than who he actually is, then it's absolutely fair to reason that Kathleen Kennedy had a responsibility to steer the ship back into place. On the other hand, if you have a visionary like Rian Johnson coming in with something that's quite different from other entries in the Star Wars franchise but still manages to gel with everything in the grand scheme of things, that's still letting him implement his vision.

It's a very tight line for anyone to walk on.

 

I see all these firings as pointing in one very clear direction--> even if you are directing a Star Wars movie, and think you are hot ****, you still have to be professional and bring the goods.

Let this be a lesson to all aspiring young directors, who want a job in the SW universe: you will be working within a framework, it will be highly collaborative, you are going to have to bring your A game, and ultimately the final decisions will be Kathy Kennedy's. If you can't work that way, DON"T TAKE THE JOB.

 

Exactly. It's the latter two cases that bought into this forced, artificial dichotomy that says that you either get your way every time or you lose your directorial authority. Kennedy is not the one lacking nuance here.

 

Man, the full stories behind the making of all of these new Star Wars films are going to end up being even more compelling than the films themselves.

 

Ultimately the results will speak for themselves. As long as the films aren't too formulaic and predicable (i.e. they don't feel like they've been made via committee) then the stuff behind the scenes in irrelevant. People are always going to take the side of the etherial 'visionary director' over the studio, but if the results are superior to what that 'visionary' would have delivered then KK is making the correct decisions both corporately the narratively. There are always going to be people who say the unmade hypothetical film would have been better, but that isn't always the case and, ultimately, can never be proven or disproven to be the case.

Long story short if the films are good KK is making the right decisions. So far, in my opinion, she hasn't let us down.

 

I can well imagine. The reason for that likely was that George, amazing creative entity that he is, or was, got easily lost amongst the technology he needed to practically invent to realise his vision and forgot that amongst all the special effects, what really gives any movie heart are the characters and their interaction with each other in various circumstances. Kirschner understood this brilliantly, and gave his thoughts on one of the commentaries by saying (and I paraphrase because I don't remember the exact words, but near enough)

"I had to make the audience believe that these were ordinary people, in an extraordinary place, but who go through all the same emotions as we do, love, fear, hate, jealousy"

I hope Rian Johnson has taken this on board and emulates this in TLJ

 

There's a tendency to portray what's been happening as directors having their creative vision curtailed by a big studio who want to control everything and just want a puppet to do whatever they tell them. But what if the reality is less dramatic - what if the thing they were producing just wasn't very good? If KK has looked at what they're doing and realised it isn't good enough, and she's tried to work with them to fix it but they're either unable or unwilling to do so, she has to take action. Lucasfilm has a responsbility to make sure the films are as good as they can possibly be.

 

I think that's exactly what's happening.

 

I love how they throw the "yeah but they got rich" snark in there. All i'm seeing is that all these problems come down to serious communication issues. Something that should be the sole focus of any set of initial meetings.

 

The real message of that article is simply that Trevorrow wasn't nailing the script and story. Isn't it reasonable for LFL to want to get that right?

 

the picture actually being painted in vulture is that Trevorrow is a rich, entitled SOB and poor KK had no idea. LOL

 

i too believe everything i read on the internet. especially when it's negative. because i love hating people.

 

I don't believe anything on here, and I don't think that any of you are real except for maybe anakinfansince1983.

 

KK: Colin, you must make Rey Luke's daughter.
Colin: No, she is going to be like my dinosaurs in the lab. A combination of genetic hybrids of all powreful Force users. It worked in JW for the Indominous Rex. I got this!
KK: You're fired!!!!

I think after Episode IX is over, KK should be the host of the NEW Apprentice 2020 focusing on film makers. It can be called "The Jedi Apprentice"

 

Kennedy: Originally, Colin Trevorrow was supposed to be at the helm but his ego got too big and his previous film was a huge dud, so we mutually agreed to part ways because of creative differences.

 

The point is, you can get away with a bad attitude (to some degree, anyway) if you're coming up with the goods. If Trevorrow was nailing the script, he'd almost certainly still be there.