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

I have to say with a lot of the rumors that have been surfaced I initially though "geez, what a crap", but then I´ve been warming up and I still want to see the movie as badly as the first day. Even when the story does not seem to be what I was expecting.

 

Gotta hand it to Abrams and Kasdan. They put together some interesting characters and ideas.... I'm totally diggin' the Chrome Trooper look, Kylo is oddly disturbing, the cast just feels really fresh and I just have a 'good' feeling about this.

So even if THIS movie doesn't do all the things we want it to do ( still hoping it does) they set us up with great stuff for the next movie, and Rian will be grateful for that.

 

Agree with 100% and I fear I must learn patience to see my first 'real' Star Wars movie after over 30 years in 2017.

 

That's the thing I find funny with the whole general consensus about Rian compared to JJ , if you're already dreading Abrams's more cerebral take on Star Wars as currently rumored , why do people get overly excited about Rian for? He's just as cerebral , if not more than JJ.(He is in fact) Don't get me wrong here though, he's a splendid director and I'm looking forward to what he'll do, but if people are expecting a more fan friendly SW film from him, I'm afraid some might end up more disappointed than with TFA.

 

Well I think we all expected Solo would bow out after TFA... Now if he dies doing something pernicious/mean, if he's depicted as returning to his selfish/outlaw ways, then I'd say that constitutes a 'bold' and progressive move in terms of characterisation. And as I mentioned in the other thread, if Luke is seemingly a tragic loner of a figure in TFA, I again expect that to be turned around soon afterwards. It's a bit like Kirk and Spock hating each other at the start of Star Trek 09 i.e. it's an interesting premise that doesn't follow through i.e. they make it up and become best buddies in only a way that Hollywood can write. I don't particular find that kind of writing bold, but rather contrived. I personally think Johnson would naturally take a bit more risk with characters and situations and look for less contrivances to create 'mystery'... but time will tell...

People think that Abrams take on SW is a more "cerebral one"? Who thinks that? Cerebral compared to Bay or someone similar? For sure.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Abrams had a hand in picking Rian Johnson to write/direct. I remember Abrams saying one of the scenes with the little boy in Looper was one of his favorite film moments in years.

 

I certianly think the casting is good. I just hope they are used well...

 

I think it's the best cast they've had in a Star Wars. Story debates aside, Abrams gets good performances out of his actors so I gotta say.....

One of the most exciting aspects for me is to see the performances from all these talented individuals within a Star Wars universe.

 

Pretty much from the cries Ive read throughout the rumor thread when the Luke rumors first dropped. My main point is though, Rian is a more cerebral director than JJ.

He wont just make a fan fest SW film. I initially thought that's what Abrams would do but if the current rumors are legit, he sure seems to be breaking the mold abit.

 

One of the first things Abrams said is ...we can't play it too safe, we gotta try and do new things while keeping it feeling like star wars.

 

Not at all. Hopefully he's following the non-mold mold that George always did. You do things that are very different but very Star Wars at the same time.

What the actual word definition is hard to say. It's being new and different but familiar at the same time.

Yes. Just like Star Wars.

No one could have imagined what the prequels would really be like because their frame of reference would inevitably be based on what had gone before. We'd never seen what actual civilized and populated planets looked like. We'd never seen the fantastic worlds that must exist in the galaxy just the ones that they could realize with their limited means to create them.

Now the limitations are imagination itself.

 

I got no problem with this guy, but what makes Rian Johnson qualified to make a Star Wars movie? He's only made 3 films before, and I loved Looper, but you'd think they would get somebody who's more proven & with more experience to make Episode 8. I'm a little biased since I like JJ, but at least he had a ****load of experience before he got the job, writing/directing since the mid 90s or so in TV & film.

 

He has shown his talent as a director in the small amount of films directed by him? Talent is just as important as experience.

 

That's one more than Lucas before he made ANH

 

Yeah, but Lucas created it. I see your point, but I think it's fundamentally different with GL himself. Fair point though.

Yeah, I guess I'm just not that convinced with such a small filmography. I mean, a lot of directors have put out 1-2 great movies and then put out a dozen stinkers after, look at M. Night Shyamalan (not ****ting on him too much, I love his first few films). I'm actually more worried about episode 8 than I am about 7, tbh.

 

poop lol

 

Add in Johnson's tv work and you're getting a pretty impressive body of work without a stinker among them...

 

See, this is the funny thing. I'm also, for lack of a better phrase, on Team Luke (though I love all the characters). Luke's the heart and soul of the OT, for me, and he's my favorite. And that's actually one of the main reasons I'm so excited by what I am hearing of TFA (despite not being a big Abrams fan). To me, it sounds like Luke is this legendary figure/ symbol that inspires hope, who is almost too legendary to muck around in the new, small plot of this introductory film. Only at the end is he epically introduced on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere, as Rey ascends to a higher plane, both physically and spiritually. This tells me that Luke has progressed well beyond the warrior of ROTJ. To me, the film seems to be elevating Luke to the level of a Buddha. And that makes me, as Luke fan, very happy.

 

Yeah, I think that had they gone with the rumoured take that Arndt had - luke "dying" in the opening, Leiua believing he was alive, sending the kids on the search for him, Luke coming in at the end, but sacrificing himself to save the day, that would have been Luke relegated to Force ghost level for the rest of the ST.

Even if the rumours about the Arndt approach are off and they went with Luke in the Old Ben role for 7 he most likely would have bitten it as well. Luke is no longer the protagonist. He's the mentor/ sage now. It should be Rey, Finn or whoever the main lead is that is saving the day, not Luke. He's saved the day twice now. He can and absolutely should play a key role in helping save the galaxy again, but I don't remember Old Ben or Yoda saving the day instead of Luke in the OT (nor do I remember anyone giving the heroes of the clone wars too much crap for hiding out in isolation with a long term plan for helping the next generation save the galaxy).

 

Man, the rumored Arndt draft sounds terrible. The main characters being privileged children sent by their mother to find their uncle? I have difficulty believing that was the story.

 

Arndt's a good writer. I think it would have been a good draft (I've heard rumours it was FWIW) also think a lot of the basic DNa from his draft will have been reworked into the later drafts. I don't but for a second that it was a page one rewrite.

 

What I never bought was the rumors of Luke dying in the first 5 minutes in the Lucas/Arndt draft.........yeah don't think so.

 

No he didn't die. We were meant to think he did. The whole plot revolves around finding him. So that seems to have been a fairly constant spine even if the details have changed.