ST J.J. Abrams (Director Of TFA & TROS) Discussion Thread—Now Finally Discussing: JJ Abrams

Critical mistake number 1. Letting each director decide what they want to do individually. Number 2. Each character from OT having a film on their story. 3. No defined ending from the start.
Each of these decisions hurt big time. Some of it was bad luck but still....

 

Considering how the ST went, and the fact that we’ve heard nothing from KK, and the fact that LFL will be “focusing on TV for now” with no movies announced (as if Marvel didn’t have several if both in development at the same time), I think it’s a sithshow bts at LFL and has been for a long time.

I don’t blame JJ for RoS. I highly doubt he appreciated chunks of CT’s Ep 9 being unceremoniously shoved into and messing with his story.

 

We’re well into Feb. now and still no official word on the ‘plan’. I guess that will come out when TROS stops playing?

 

What do you mean by “plan”? Going forward? Iger said LFL will “focus on TV” for a while, and Project Luminous will be announced later this month. Also, a few ST character comics and a Poe novel will be coming out mid-year, I think.

 

In terms of live action films/TV e.g. production schedules and release dates etc. I heard several weeks ago that Ewan was at the point of walking away from the TV show (due to other commitments). I’d like to see some clarification from Lucasfilm on the Kenobi show.

 

Ewan claims that shooting will begin as scheduled but he hasn’t been entirely truthful in the past so who knows. We’ve gotten Mando s2 and TCW s7 announcements.

No movie announcements, though, which is troubling. Maybe Disney is planning to bring down the hammer on LFL? Had it considered RoS a success I’m sure Disney/LFL would have assured the public that more SW movies are on the way.

 

I think the Kenobi show will be at risk until they actually announce a hard production schedule. Obviously the issue for actors like McGregor is that, if schedules are moved, they can become unavailable for 6-12 months. I hope that isn’t that case.
I’m very much of the opinion that Lucasfilm should take their time to properly develop the next film. However, I’d still expect them to communicate that approach formally. That they are not doing this leads me to think you are correct I.e. they are going to make some changes at Lucasfilm, that they need to put in place, before any development of new films.

 

This is one of the sequences as an example of what I think the st did very well. This is one of the (fewer) moments where music really played with the scene.

 

I’m also a little worried that Disney will lose faith in McGregor’s ability to open a movie. He’s coming off two rather embarrassing flops and hasn’t had a hit in years.

 

I suppose all us armchair critics would have done the ST all differently but how is it that all the producers , cast ect ect didn't say WHY CAN"T ALL THE FORCE GHOST'S COME OUT AT THE END INSTEAD OF JUST THEIR VOICES ! and even if that hadn't happened Anakin , Obi-Wan and Yoda should have been in that last shot with Luke and Leia - IT WOULD HAVE COST NOTHING ! the main hero/villain of EP 1 through 6 is not even shown apart from his voice - what's up with that JJ ???

 

So as much as I think bringing back the force ghosts of Anakin and Luke, in the final battle, would have resolved the scenes much better, I guess from Abrams perspective it may have made Rey appear as a weaker character??? Difficult to say without the insight.

 

I think, even if they wanted Rey to be the one to kill Palpatine, having the Ghosts be the ones to protect her from cultists or Palpatine's guards by creating a barrier would have been a fair trade. That way, the Ghosts have an active role in Palpatine's fall instead of just cheerleading exposition.

 

He won’t even answer why he didn’t reunite Luke, Han and Leia so good luck getting that answer.

 

That is the most disappointing thing in the whole trilogy ! I mean he could have done it in a flash back ! could KK not have had the gumption to say why couldn't you slip in a 2 min flash back where Han and Leia were handing over Ben Solo to Luke as they were about to go off and do his Jedi training ?

 

No one seems to be asking about the elephant in the room:

What if... there are no more movies?

 

When it comes to Lucasfilm and movies, they may look at a movie as a movie. So Star Wars or Indiana Jones aren't separate entities when it comes to film productions. So expect an official Indy 5 announcement next.

 

Indy and SW are distinct franchises. That’s the key. Audiences don’t see them as interchangeable.

I also strongly suspect that Project Luminous wasn’t originally a print-only project.

 

So I keep seeing the false notion that JJ was “forced” to do certain things in TROS to appease LFL/KK. This is just flat out false and an embarrassing misstatement. The biggest notion is that JJ was forced to redeem Kylo and that they forced him to do Reylo. There is so much evidence that shows that this isn’t true. Pablo Hidalgo on Twitter said that the last half of TROS stayed they same pretty much through production, where it was the first third of the movie that they had a hard time with and were changing a lot. Well the last half was redeemed Ben and Reylo, so that must have always been the endgame idea from the jump. Also all you have to do is read the CT script to realize that JJ could have done whatever he wanted. The scripts are nothing alike. CT was going to have Kylo be the big bad until the final second. JJ wanted to bring back Palpatine as the big bad to set up Bens redemption easier. JJ has always wanted to redeem Kylo since TFA. It’s just funny how far some reach to make false statements just because they don’t like something.

 

What you’re saying is that actually unless one of us is secretly an insider, we don’t know what happened bts.

Because unless you are said insider, you are certainly in no position to be so definitive.

Please don’t treat other like idiots for not knowing things you yourself don’t know either.

Thanks.

 

I believe there was some disagreement with the stories both CT and JJ came up with. KK had a say, I would think and went with JJ for reasons. That indicates she had some input direct or otherwise in the final product.

 

I’m not doing anything you are saying. I am basing everything I am saying based on what people that worked on the movie had said. Pablo Hidalgo, production team, and JJ’s crew have all come out and said what I said in my previous statement. Please don’t accuse me or put words in my mouth. Thanks.

 

You are making factual statements you cannot possibly actually know (and do not, in fact, back up with evidence) the truth or falsity of, and using them to talk condescendingly to others.

So you either mean what I said you did or you’re lying or you just have a reckless disregard for the truth. I chose to give you the benefit of the doubt.

(Oh and I believe you’re referring to the PH quote that said the first part of RoS changed more than the last part. Which is very different from saying that the second half of RoS stayed pretty much the same.)

 

I am just reiterating what staff, cast, and JJ himself have said. It’s far closer to the truth then some of the wild projecting in here that JJ was forced to do any one thing in the film. There is absolutely no proof of that other than people want to believe it based on not getting what they wanted.

 

I think JJ should have made for a more mature film. Call in help for a true epic to make that goal of bringing ben Solo back.

I picture that a scene like this would be necessary around the 1:20 minute mark to bring things full circle.