Discussion George Lucas and the Anthology Films

*I apologize if such a thread has already been created.*

I was just thinking today about how George Lucas provided several story ideas beyond the ST to Disney, and how a Han Solo film was one of them, presumably an origin story (although that hasn't been confirmed), particularly given the quotes below.

Lucas talked in the past about his ideas for such a film (https://www.inverse.com/article/156...ght-come-from-an-old-empire-strikes-back-idea), as I'm sure many of you hard-core fans know.

We know that Lawrence Kasdan agreed to do the Solo film a few weeks before Disney bought Lucasfilm, after viewing Lucas' treatment of some sort.

So, I wonder how many ideas from that treatment will make it into the final film. Is it possible that Lucas could even get a story credit, and that TFA's "starting point" thing was just an anomaly and in the future they will stick much closer to the treatments as the story? That would be really cool (well, assuming the stories are good!)

I also wonder whether those two really old ideas made it into the treatment given to Kasdan.

I expect/hope that some more light will be shed on this, even though many questions may remain unanswered, as we get closer to release and all sorts of interviews start coming out.

In any case, I just wanted to start a thread, assuming again that one does not already exist, to discuss Lucas' influence on the anthology films. This thread need not only concern the Han Solo film; however, obviously we don't know much about the other ones yet -- I don't believe we even know if they will be based on Lucas treatments. Nor, for that matter, have they even been officially announced!

 

So this stepfather character would presumably be the Woody Harrelson character, assuming these story beats remain intact?

Also, wasn't it mentioned at one point that there was going to be an arc in Lucas' live action show dealing with Han? Maybe those drafts also featured into the creation of this story. We know Saw and the Church of the Force (and presumably other things) were originally created for that show and have found their way into Star Wars under the Disney banner.

 

Yep, that's what I thought as soon as I read it.

Ah, that reminds me of why I started thinking about Lucas and this film in the first place yesterday. It was because of this MSW report: http://makingstarwars.net/2017/04/a...e-linked-to-untitled-han-solo-star-wars-film/


It's mostly very speculative, but the concrete info is that Dryden Vos will be a major character. MSW speculates that perhaps that's an alias for Quinlan Vos, and then goes on to speculate that "Dryden Vos" meeting up with Han may have been one of Lucas' ideas for Star Wars: Underworld.

 

Interesting, thanks for that.

It's cool seeing how Lucas concepts get mines and show up in other forms as things progress. Maybe one of the reason the spinoffs so far have been set in the RotS-ANH gap has been because there is so much untapped content leftover from the Maker himself to really dig into and reinterpret.

 

https://d2pq0u4uni88oo.cloudfront.n...bc099ff22807fae210b1f2ad222_h264_high.mp4?_=2

Could this mean they're basically adapting that story in one movie?

 

I believe early drafts of ROTS also had a kid version of Han Solo hanging around during the Kashyyyk scenes. Thankfully, it never made it in the final product.

 

Was that ever scripted? I know Lucas ran that idea by the concept artists, but I don't know if it ever made it to the written page.

 

I honestly cannot recall. I feel like I remember reading somewhere that he was included in an early draft, but I could be mistaken. The idea did exist for sure, though.

 

I was surprised Rogue One did not say "Story by George Lucas and John Knoll." Knoll may have been the one to say "Hey, the rebels stealing the death star plans just before A New Hope would make for a great movie!" but it was Lucas who first wrote that the rebels steal the death star plans just before A New Hope in the first place.

 

Apology accepted.

From what I understand, GL had very vague ideas of the anthology films, according to KK. She also said that GL wanted the Saga and anthology films to be separate. Apparently, Knoll came up with the idea for R1 while working on ROTS. Going off memory.

 

I remember hearing that!!

 

KK also said that one of the first discussions her and Lucas had when she took over was about the origin of the Jedi and whatnot.

 

I know this won't happen but...I would love Disney to ask GL to direct an anthology film.

 

And whatnot? And what would that be?

I hope not. I'd rather see him finally getting around to those small films.

 

Not likely. They've fired the directors of both anthology movies which is a testament of their high standards.

 

Er...Edwards wasn't fired.

 

Cough Tony Gilroy cough

 

Cough Edwards wasn't fired cough

 

Maybe not publicly, but it's clearly the same situation as with Lord and Miller. He just accepted it.

 

Is there a cough going around?

I wonder how much of ROTJ GL shot.

I wonder how much of ROTS he reshot.

Again, I hope he finally gets around to those small films. And really needs to lose weight for his health's sake or he won't be around for much longer.

 

I think “fired” is the wrong word. That would imply he was given his marching orders, which clearly didn’t happen, as he was still there. The difference is he accepted help, whereas Lord and Millar refused. He directed the Vader hallway massacre scene, and that was only filmed four months before the film came out.

 

No, he wasn't fired privately either. Edwards accepted Gilroy taking the lead on the reshoots and the remainder of post-production. He was a fixer. But the film was ultimately Edwards' film, with his name on it as director.

Lord and Miller, on the other hand, were fired. And Howard is almost certain to get the directing credit.

 

Still seems like the same situation though. Both times they told the directors they were being replaced so they could fix the movie for them; one agreed, one (two) didn't. So they were fired. My point was still that the folks at Disney are pretty desperate to get the movies right that they replace fine directors really late in the progress.

 

Again, Edwards wasn't "replaced." Gilroy took the lead on reshoots, but Edwards was significantly involved. Including filming the Vader scene, mentioned above. I've never heard of a director who was fired, or replaced, directing a kickass ending to their film after being fired or replaced...

So a somewhat similar dynamic precipitated a new director being brought onto the team, but with a very different result.