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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

ST J.J. Abrams to direct and co-write Star Wars: Episode IX (see warning on page 34 before posting)

Discussion in 'Sequel Trilogy' started by soul8luos, Sep 12, 2017.

  1. Nipuhanipera

    Nipuhanipera Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 25, 2014
    I'm trying to be positive about him coming back. I really do. It's not working yet, but I'll keep trying. :)
     
  2. Ender_and_Bean

    Ender_and_Bean Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 19, 2002
    Honestly, different for the sake of different isn't always good, folks. I've read many write "It's an uninspired choice." Sure, for us film geeks who like to show off our film knowledge by suggesting rising filmmakers like Jeff Nichols (my low budget choice prior to the announcement). However, it's not an inspiration competition. It's about ensuring Star Wars doesn't fail or bomb. As much as we all cede the benefit of the doubt to our favorite young filmmakers it's entirely possible they are not up to this task and that they would fail if Disney allowed for a story that didn't work to make it to the big screen (Kennedy is taking the Pixar/Miyamoto approach and demanding perfection or pushing changes and delays if she doesn't get it which bodes well) but it's also clear Kennedy has been disappointed by these young guns too much. And to be honest... yesterday's hot indie film director could be tomorrow's failure. Trank had hype. Look at him now. Trevorrow was hyped. Look at him following his last dud. Edwards was smart enough to be a team player or he might have hurt his career too. It's a what have you done lately world and every young rising filmmaker is a couple missteps away from losing all fan cred. So, maybe we should check our egos a bit on our ability to predict just how well some of our favorite young filmmakers could step up to this. Or that they weren't just one or two idea writer/directors whose next works will not be as good as their first couple.

    JJ said many times when asked about the familiarity to plot beats in ANH that it was his job to reintroduce Star Wars to new fans. He made Star Trek more like Star Wars. The guy loves Star Wars. He's quite clever. He's good with actors. He created some terrific scenes and sequences that stand up with the best of Star Wars. He's a professional that's a student of the masters. He's reliable. Competent. And he's probably self-aware enough because of all of these things to make IX less about Star Wars past and more about the continuation of what Rian has expanded to. He loved Rian's script and said he wanted to direct it after he read it. He's clearly inspired. Perhaps he wants to show fans like those jaded that he's one of you on a certain level, too, and that by being free from the constraints of the setup and making people fall in love with Star Wars again he can instead think about that the perfect ending to this saga looks like. He can take some more risks (and he did take some in VII that his critics tend to ignore).

    A lesser known person wouldn't have the baggage but could have been doomed to fall into the same mistakes JJ did initially as a result while learning on the job and fearful of failure. JJ is through that. He's heard the complaints. If anyone can find the sweet spot between what people love about VII, wish VII did better, will love about VIII, wish VIII did better, and incorporate that into IX it's somebody who's been there and heard it all good and bad. I'm optimistic and feel relieved that I don't have to worry about another young director in over his head in the step up from medium budget to Star Wars level filmmaking because the jump is immense. Plus, the cast loves him. They'll trust him and go to war for him and he knows what they're capable of.
     
  3. 2Cleva

    2Cleva Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 28, 2002

    [​IMG]
     
  4. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    I'm excited for this. I enjoyed TFA immensely, and I still have optimism towards this franchise.
     
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  5. Krueger

    Krueger Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2004
    I, too, can’t understand the sheer animosity towards this decision. I think it makes perfect sense. He wasn’t my number one (that was RJ), but he was a close second. Just like if they went with RJ, I think this decision lends the ST a sense of authorship, which I like.

    I think Abrams is a very good director. He clearly knows how to communicate with actors, as he pretty much always manages to pull good or great performances out of them. He also knows when to shut up and let silence do the talking. I think the death of Han is one of the best scenes in the SW saga. TFA, IMO, has quite a few of the best moments of the saga. Critically, I don't think he's had a dud.

    This will ruffle a lot of feathers, but really, I think its fans and Internet dwellers that hate him the most.
     
  6. zam wesell2005

    zam wesell2005 Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2015
    Yeah it is, and when it's done we will we see if one was clearly the best of the 3. ROTS, and Empire Strikes Back being one of the best sci-if movies ever made. If I was laying a bet, one being clearly the best, I would not say vii or ix.
     
  7. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

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    Nov 20, 2012
    I would support an open ending.
     
  8. Organafan

    Organafan Jedi Padawan star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 14, 2017
    Since 2010, I've been expecting J.J. Abrams to return to the LOST universe.
     
  9. Xael

    Xael Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Feb 1, 2015

    Also Rey's intro IMO. No dialog, just beautiful imagery
     
  10. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    THEY GOTTA GO BAAAAACK
     
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  11. zam wesell2005

    zam wesell2005 Jedi Knight star 3

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    Oct 23, 2015
    Adam's acting was great. The way JJ shot that scene was not great at all, imo. Hit you over the head with what was coming. It's Han Solo, but that scene should have been more real even subtle.
     
  12. Strongbow

    Strongbow Force Ghost star 5

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    Nov 6, 2014
    One of the best Star Wars sequences ever.
     
  13. Gigoran Monk

    Gigoran Monk Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2016
    It's funny. A little thing like putting alien pack animals outside Maz's castle (indicating that some bar patrons are locals), or just a tad more activity on the outside of the structure, would have made the interior feel less like a staged location in an amusement park. But I cut JJ some slack on the place because I believe Ford's injury led to some quick work on the set, and there was no time to add little flourishes. That said, the drama inside the castle is also a little perfunctory. Didn't flow as well as all the Rey, Finn, Han and Poe stuff that came before it.

    My hope is that JJ is inspired by Rogue One, TLJ and the Han Solo film (and his very own Jakku), and gives us a more organic world this time.
     
  14. Vasco_Rojo

    Vasco_Rojo Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2016



    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     
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  15. Darth Downunder

    Darth Downunder Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 5, 2001
    Why are people taking this as a confirmed fact?
    That may be the case but I think that would be JJ's intention regardless. Even shortly after TFA's release he had this to say:

    “[‘The Force Awakens’] was a bridge and a kind of reminder; the audience needed to be reminded what ‘Star Wars’ is, but it needed to be established with something familiar, with a sense of where we are going to new lands, which is very much what 8 and 9 do. The weird thing about that movie is that it had been so long since the last one. Obviously the prequels had existed in between and we wanted to, sort of, reclaim the story. So we very consciously — and I know it is derided for this — we very consciously tried to borrow familiar beats so the rest of the movie could hang on something that we knew was ‘Star Wars.'”
    - JJ Abrams http://www.slashfilm.com/the-force-awakens-and-a-new-hope-similarities/

    So I think he's acutely self-aware of the restrained creativity he employed with some aspects of TFA, as well as the need to go in the opposite direction for the next movies.
     
  16. Darth Nave

    Darth Nave Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 27, 2015
    What I like about this decision is that Abrams already has a good relationship with Kennedy, so he'd probably be more willing to cooperate with her if certain elements aren't working out the way he envisioned. I'm sure he'd have no problem with reshoots if necessary for example.
     
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  17. Strongbow

    Strongbow Force Ghost star 5

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    Nov 6, 2014
    One thing I want to hear from JJ when this is all over is that in light of doing IX, if there is anything he would have done differently in VII? It strikes me that having to come up with a satisfying ending when you didn't think you have to is both terrifying and incredibly exciting.
     
  18. manybothans

    manybothans Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2013
    Disappointing. Johnson would have been the more interesting choice. As has been pointed out, though, it would have been a rather daunting undertaking to jump from one horse to another mid stride. Still, I feel the original intent with these films was to mirror the way the original trilogy was made. Different directorial voices for each film (Marquanding not withstanding). But always with the intent of taking Star Wars somewhere new. Johnson can do that. Abrams, I'm not sure.
     
  19. Rodie

    Rodie Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 16, 2014

    I did kind of like the initial ideas which reversed the planets and had Rey living on a snowy junkyard planet, and Starkiller Base was on a desert planet. A planet that draws power from the sun makes more sense to be on a desert planet anyway instead of a snow planet IMO. Plus, having Rey scavenging through snow-covered Star Destroyers and living in a ship crashed into the side of a mountain would have been even cooler. And I like the visual motif and metaphor of Rey's destiny and path being frozen still at the beginning of the film when we see her on a really cold planet.

    I was also never clear from the film itself whether Jakku was actually a junkyard planet, as in, big ships and mechanical things were brought and dumped there, or was it simply that there had been a battle and the SDs and X-wings crashed and it therefore became a de facto "junkyard" as Han calls it...
     
  20. KitsterAKABobaFett

    KitsterAKABobaFett Jedi Grand Master star 3

    Registered:
    May 31, 2007
    A Johnson script directed by Abrams would be interesting. "A balance."
     
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  21. Gigoran Monk

    Gigoran Monk Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Agreed. I loved Jakku, but feel that it would have been even cooler if the junkyard planet was a snowy planet, with wet and rusty Star Destroyers glazed in ice. Like a Star Wars version of a modern Inuit community, with the husks of whales littering the frozen shoreline.
     
  22. Darth Downunder

    Darth Downunder Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 5, 2001
    I see what you did there :-B
    Good idea. Mind you the complainers would then say "Look it's Hoth 2.0. Jakku, more like Hothu...:_|".
     
  23. Alhazred

    Alhazred Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    May 8, 2016
    Abrams does not have to worry about setting anything up.TFA was good.Although Ep9 having been rewritten and rescheduled does not fill anyone with confidence.
     
  24. Satipo

    Satipo Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 29, 2014
    Yeah, I like the initial Tibet angles they were trying it. Or if you imagine Lahmu, all black earth and jagged rocks, and take our the greenery. That said, I love Jakku too. JJ's issues with TFA are pretty easily corrected imo (which is why it's a little frustrating they remain in the film, which for me is a whisker off being classic). Slightly bolder world design (though I like all the locations) would have been one correction.
     
  25. Gigoran Monk

    Gigoran Monk Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2016
    I'm glad it is being rewritten, and that KK wouldn't accept a crappy script from Trevorrow. Gives me confidence that quality control is high.