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

No, that's okay Pym I don't want to stop any comments or make anyone delete theirs. I'm just realizing the boards are entering a pattern they invariably do these days, and so I should take a break. Probably. Thanks for thinking of my sanity. At least one of us is.

BTW I had the older version of this thread opened in another tab, so if I may, I'll quote your (entirely worthwhile) post.

Good stuff.

 

This thread is becoming a beat-for-beat rehash of the misery we've endured for close to 18 months. Let's move on...

 

We all know each others moves...

 

By the way, if anyone wants to get an idea of what Rian Johnson is like as a screenwriter, he offers the full and unabridged screenplays for Brick, The Brothers Bloom, and Looper on his website.

http://www.rcjohnso.com/

 

I stay with it that I have no single movie of Rian that stands out so much to understand so much praise. I hope TLJ proves me wrong, but so far nothing points into the direction.

 

Again my personal favorite response for that debate topic

 

What are your top 5 non-Star Wars films? The people who enjoy Johnson's work I'd guess have slightly offbeat taste.

 

It's poetry - it rhymes

 

My non-Star Wars top 5. Take what you will about me as a person from this.

In no particular ranked order: Raiders of the Lost Ark, (500) Days of Summer, Her, The Producers (the 1968 original), It's Such a Beautiful Day

 

Anyway, I hope (and believe) that TLJ will be "my" film of the ST.

 

I'll second this. I have such a good feeling about The Last Jedi. I love The Force Awakens and I think Abrams did an great job with it, but I really feel Rian Johnson is going to knock it out of the park and into another field.

However, I feel like "my" film out of this new era is going to be Lord & Miller's Han Solo film, funny enough.

 

1. Gran Torino
2. Crimson Tide
3. Interstellar
4. The Birds
5. Unforgiven

There are a lot more movies I enjoy like Superman 1 and 2, Poltergeist, ET, Die Hard 1 and 2, Taken 1, 12 Angry Men, Terminator 2, Lawrence of Arabia and many more (most are older movies).

 

I like that they are using younger and possibly more bold directors like Johnson and Gareth Edwards for some of these films (heck, I kind of think the Han Solo movie has the potential to be a train wreck... but the Lego movie guys seem like a GREAT choice.... I feel much better about that project since they were announced).

Nothing is ever guaranteed. Even guys like Steven Spielberg have made bad movies.

 

Except that no matter what party you voted for to lead your country, you are are very likely to only get a different flavor of the same crap that you got for the last two decades.

 

nightangel I find it interesting that Unforgivien is one of your favorite films. I see potential parallels for Luke and Bill Munny. A long ways back I suggested that Luke might be somewhat like Bill in that he has long ago hung up his 'gun', but reluctantly gets back into the fray.

 

That's actually a pretty interesting list. A lot of them are my favourites, too. All I can say is, give Rian a chance--I think he'll provide the depth that will elevate Luke and the entire film to where they deserve to be.

Edit: And TK327 is right--I think Eastwood's characters on your list give a sense of how Luke can be handled while adding more depth. There's a humanity there.

 

The choices they've made for their directors, save for Trevorrow, are a huge part of the appeal of these new films for me. I didn't just want to see Episode VII, I wanted to see what a Star Wars film directed by JJ Abrams looked and felt like. Same for Edwards. Same for Johnson. Same for Lord & Miller. These are people who grew up with the original films, and in almost every case were inspired to become filmmakers because of them. You just know that every film has at least a few images that these directors have been carrying around in their heads for years, put there by countless afternoons of playing with their Star Wars toys as kids and making up new stories with them just as often as they reenacted the films they knew.

Hell, parallels can even be drawn between Luke and Clint Eastwood's character in Gran Torino. Just, you know, with less racism.

 

Yes, I wondered about an Unforgiven aspect to Luke.

 

I'm a big Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman fan, like my father was too.

 

Honestly, he could write the greatest SW script of all time, and it would still end up as a Star Wars script that follows the story JJ and friends created in TFA and pre TFA. It could be written by God herself, and it would still have the Empire 2, Vader 2, Emperor 2, Hermit/ Sad/ Jedi Ender Luke, Regressive Han, Rey Hope ETC. my point is that it really doesnt matter how good of a writer Rian is, as he has to continue the narrative that JJ and the story team came up with. JJ Abrams just never should have had as much say as he has. that will prove to be the great barrier of this Sequel Trilogy. i think TLJ will probably be a solid movie. maybe a great one even if Luke is out of character. but i think because we are following this particular story, it simply wont live up to the OT. not even ROTJ. in fact i think when all is said and done there will be more prequel fans than ever because people will continue to go back and see what made those 6 films SW. I think too much damage is done in terms of what happened off screen pre TFA and there is nothing that can amend that. we got what we got.

 

It's only been 18 months?

 

they shoulda Had Rian create the narrative for the sequel trilogy. JJ coulda directed but he had absolutely no business in the story department.

 

There have been consistent rumors that Rian has quite a bit of influence over the entire ST.

 

Gran Torino was even the most difficult movie for me to ever watch in my whole life. You know how you feel when you see your own father portrayed onscreen who died some years ago. And that's so hard. But it will be forever my number 1 movie away from Star Wars.

 

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Dr Strangelove
3. Jaws
4. Ratatouille
5. All About Eve
Not nearly as good as @nightangel's list, but there you go.

I've had a very limited exposure to RJ's work. (the only thing I've seen of his is Looper) But I think one of the reasons that movie received critical acclaim for the intelligence of its writing. i.e. Young Joe's redemptive actions at the end of the film, occur as a result of meeting his future self, which causes him to have an epiphany that Old Joe does not, and potentially cannot. I think?

I'm interested to see whether having Johnson on board affects this film's critical reception. Assuming that some critics will be regarding it as the latest offering from Rian Johnson, as well as the next SW instalment.