ST Rian Johnson to write and direct Episode VIII (and also new SW Trilogy - see page 194)

A Return of the Jedi directed by Spielberg would have really been something. With the prequel backlash, I think Spielberg is smart enough to stay away from the franchise.

 

Rian Johnson could save Star Wars. Should have done all three, but ensuring the series goes off with a bang is not a bad idea either. JJ can deliver the bang, I'll give him that, but he's about as deep as spilled water on a kitchen floor. SW will need some substance if you're going to keep the interest for 3+ films. Kasdan is another one who's conservative nihilism will not be missed in the long run.

 

Honestly, Kasdan's recent track record has been so mediocre-to-bad lately that EP7 having as good a script as we seem to be hearing is kind of a fluke in his career as it stands these days. Johnson's got talent, he's got the USC Film School connection that both Lucas and Kershner had, and since they've given him the job I think it's pretty clear that Kennedy, JJ, et al, are probably happy with the stuff he brought to them. As for IX, that's so far off who knows what's going on with it. Will probably have a better idea in a year or two.

You must be remembering a different critical response to Avatar than I am, and also what does that have to do with anything?

Looper's script it almost perfectly internally consistent. Maybe it doesn't make sense compared to most people's ideas about causality, but that's not important, because time travel isn't real and it's just a movie. It establishes its rules and plays by them. And Johnson is more than just Looper.

 

What a weird thing to say....

I don't even know if Kasdan is conservative and if he is one.. then I like him more.

 

Are you people serious? Kasdan was a primary writer on V and VI.... clearly he is talented.

 

No, that would be Kathleen Kennedy.

 

No, JJ has already said he won't direct VIII or IX. He didn't even want to to VII because of the London shoot, but they managed to talk him into doing the first one. He said he doesn't like shooting in overseas studios because it takes him away from his family.

That is why JJ is only doing VII, and then handing off to Rian

 

Kasdan IS talented. He's also the talented director of Mumford, French Kiss, Wyatt Earp, Dreamcatcher, and Darling Companion, none of which are paragons of cinematic excellence. As I said, at this point in his career the fact that the story sounds good is a surprising rather than expected.

 

I thought I read that he moved his family to London for 6 months or something. JJ's got plenty of dough so that isn't a problem for him.

 

Politically he's probably liberal like most Hollywood types. Don't know one way or the other.

Conservative as in "rigid OT purist". JJ also suffers from that, but in his case it's more about buying into the online hate wagon that says everything in the OT is better than sliced bread. And that's not half wrong, but you don't recreate the OT by simply repainting an X wing, visit snowy landscapes and reuse the Millennium Falcon. Lucas used desert, snow and jungle to portray somewhat alien worlds, ie stuff you don't see in the midwest or the east coast, at an affordable cost and visual realism. But once he got the resources and technology to go past that he certainly did. Gungan city, Coruscant, Kamino, Kashyyk etc. He always made sure to introduce cool new designs, to keep things fresh and to manifest his vivid imagination. He didn't shoot in Norway or Tunisia because they are all that exciting places. They are just passable as foreign environments. There's no reason to be that boring in 2014 with money and technology to make anything you want. Unless you're playing it safe, not treading any new road. And that's exactly the type of hack mind set that will not work for an extended period of time. People will be glad to have a big ol OT party for one film, but as with Star Trek the excitement will die down fast because there really isn't much there to bite your teeth in.

 

Yeah this really doesn't warrant it's own thread.

 

I hated Looper. It started out so strong. As soon as he stepped on that god damn farm it all went to ****.

Still. I'm not worried. Rian Johnson is a talented guy, he directed Ozymandias, greatest episode of Breaking Bad.

 

It's still a problem for his family as they enjoy moving around. Money's not a concern for them.

ahh I was hoping that perhaps he would consider doing IX if VII went over well.

I do hope that they find somebody else for IX. I don't have anything against Rian Johnson, I just think that minus a select few, nobody should be in charge of multiple movies. You get one, make it count, if you do a great job, your career is made, and perhaps you'll get to do a spin-off or movie in a separate trilogy, if there are more. I'd just rather have two separate directors giving it their A++ game rather than the same dude giving it an A++ effort then having some fall off (due to fatigue, burden of expectations vs. previous excitement of opportunity, or whatever the reason)... not that there aren't continuity advantages towards keeping one.

 

It's not the money, it's the inconvenience. He doesn't WANT to move them so often.

 

Did not know he directed Ozymandias. He has my respect.

 

Kathleen Kennedy is the new Lucas of the Disney movies.

 

I think the set locations do matter. I would much rather see the desert landscapes of Tunisia (or the new place), or Norway, than the CGI variants of those. The desert scenes in AOTC were just so unlrealistic, same with Coruscant and Kamino - just looked like a video game. There is no reason you cannot use a nice combination of both though, and I think that is what you will see in these new movies.

And you cannot compare the Star Trek movies with these. Star Trek isn't and never will be Star Wars. JJ did an awesome job with the first Star Trek and it was much better than any of the PT movies. However, the average moviegoer does not bond that well with Star Trek, and I think that is why you saw the drop off in sales for the second movie.

 

Star Trek reboot- $150 million - $385 million box office.. Into Darkness: $185 million - $467 million box office.

Your point makes no sense. The second ST was marginally MORE successful than th efirst.

 

I really liked Looper, was it the best movie ever made?, No, but It showed that Rian Johnson can write good stuff and can come up with a creative Well Written fun story!!! and like Abrams he uses 35 millimeter film and blends Practical Effects with CGI really well !!!!

 

Your point makes no sense. The second ST was marginally MORE successful than th efirst.[/quote]

Admittedly, I am only familiar with the US box office, which was in fact less than the original. And usually that is what American made/produced movies usually base their success or failure on. And while i'm not going to go posting links in here, you can use google and find out for the most part into Darkness was not considered a great success.

 

Emily Blunt on Rian Johnson directing VIII
You were in "Looper" a couple of years ago and now your director, Rian Johnson, is going to direct the next two "Star Wars" movies. Have you talked to him about it, like, "You know, I can really handle a lightsaber"?

I'm like, "You know what, I fought with a helicopter blade... I know how to handle a saber." No, I haven't had that conversation. I feel like his cast is well established and I just think he's going to be brilliant. He's such a visionary and has such a unique vision, and that's what the franchise needs -- somebody like him. It's cool.
http://news.moviefone.com/2014/12/22/emily-blunt-into-the-woods-meryl-streep/

 

Sayeth whaaaaa?

 

Meaning Johnson is probably sticking to the TFA cast. As expected.

 

OK but Abrams and Kasdan are simply evolving a script that was written by Arndt, who IMO is a fantastic writer/storyteller who gets character development and heart as well as thrills. So you can't really compare this writing gig to anything Kasdan wrote from the ground up. He didn't pull TFA out of the garage, he's a substitute who's polishing, adding to and bringing the script home. And I think that's a big strength of Kasdan's.

 

Still fins weird that there is no trace of Kasdan on the writting side and no trace of Abrams at all as a producer.