Discussion What We Do in the Dark Side: Taika Waititi to direct/co-write new Star Wars film

I agree. Simply don’t think a trilogy structure is the greatest structure.

 

I think Disney+ is the best place for Anthology-style stories, and that's currently what we're seeing. I'm not going to beat my fists if we get a standalone films in 2023, 2025, etc., and I do think the first film in whatever new story they tell should be largely self-contained a la A New Hope, but... I do really want to see an ongoing story, one where we can see the characters grow and change through tumultuous events every couple of years. It does not need to be constrained to a trilogy, however.

 

Agree 100%. The sequels could have been so much better had they been allowed to let the story develop organically.

 

I think a good tactic would be do the A New Hope style.

Tell a mostly one and done story but unlike say Rogue One...Keep the cast alive, have a victory yes but you know hero's alive Villain defeated but not dead and then you do your Sequel that can be part of a new LARGER story ala Empire strikes back.

 

Yeah - if they are going to continue with the curent crop of characters and timeline then no doubt they should use D+. IMO, anything with Rey & the "new" staoryline is of no interest. Im done, its over. The only character I found really interesting in the entire ST was Kylo and hes gone....or....unless they pull a Palpatine style regurgitation with him too, lol. The other issue is that what are they gonna do going forward that we havent seen multiple times now? Another First Order & Death star? More Jedis being trained with a few going bad? Sorry but thats run it course. I suppose they can go completely off the wall with some crazy atuff but Star Was does have a formula that works or has worked so you cant go screwing that up either.

I still say films that take place way before the prequels is where new films ought to be based from. No pre-conceived things to worry about. Tons of storylines to chase down.

 

I completely agree with you. The only challenge is, in this day and age, the studios need to either anticipate a sequel or not... given they'd need to sign actors up for multi-film deals etc (and doing multi-film deals for a single movie can be costly). Which is why the studios feel increasingly compelled to set up a sequel within the first film... which can be detrimental.

 

100% true - you cant just make a movie anymore. It has to spawn a trilogy. A new universe of sorts. Geesh. What a hassle. IMO it messes with the quality. Not everything has to be a 7-film saga. Someof my all time favorite films are singles and Id NEVER want them to ever have sequels or prequels or become a saga.

That being said, I am glad that Star Wars was 3 films and I also enjoy the prequels a lot. Rogue One is great too. The Sequels are OK as well, I guess.

 

I think he can make a one and done movie, but I would hope it would be part of opening up a new door.
Opening up the movie equivalent of High Republic... giving other movies a place to set themselves.
Don't care about the "when", after Episode 9 or before Episode One, as long as it is a new timeframe with a fresh feel to it.

Then other people can come in and tell stories in this new playground too.

 

Depends if Taikai is now doing whatever Benioff and Weiss were doing since I think they were essentially gonna be leading the charge for the next round of movie before they went to Netflix.

 

The high republic era or an earlier period of the Galactic Republics history is a great setting for a stand alone (with potential for a sequel) if Taikai goes that route.

World buildings is going to be very important, especially in a film not set in the Skywalker time frame.

A film set during the Old Republic is going to have its work cut out for it on world building. The Republic of that era is not the same as the PT era. The ancient sith and mandalorians exist and play a role in galactic affairs. Probably a film in this period will deal with a galactic scale war.

Also there should be significant visual differences for style compared to the Saga films since they take place 1000+ years ago.

On the other hand a film set during the High Republic (or an earlier period, maybe the era that precedes the High Republic) doesn't have as many differences in style/world building in relation to the Saga as the Old Republic era would have.

The Republic is the same Republic in the PT films, just in an earlier stage. No Sith Empire exists. Mandalorians exist but this would be set long after the conflict/politics of the Mandalorian Wars. No Galactic scale war until the Clone Wars happen.

Maybe pre PT era but still set during the Galactic Republics history should be given in film first before eventually heading to the Old Republic.

 

And that's the million dollar question isn't it...How far are they willing to go to create a entirely new Aesthetic for the big screen....Granted with High Republic they might have something to build off of if they wanna expand that era from books to movie.

 

It's a movie about Space-Brexit, essentially.

 

A Star Wars comedy?
I have a better idea: Mel Brooks to finally give us the sequel we need.
Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money

 

all star wars has comedy lets not kid ourselfs. And Taika is a real good director and writer.

 

When considering the potential tone for this movie, I think we need to remind ourselves of two things:

First, Waititi is able to juggle completely disparate tones really well, going from whimsical to drop-dead-funny to intense to horrific to sweet at the drop of a dime. He did this exceedingly well in Jojo Rabbit, and even in the season 1 finale of The Mandalorian, working off a script he didn't even write. His work is, in a word, human.

Second, the script is being co-written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who will probably be doing the bulk of the heavy lifting while Waititi is busy filming and then going into post-production on Thor: Love & Thunder. I don't think the screenwriter of 1917, an intense war movie, and Last Night in Soho, a forthcoming horror film from Edgar Wright, is the person you hire if you want a wacky, zany comedy version of Star Wars.

 

Swinging between silly and whimsical and then going heavy, is a standard part of the Star Wars playbook.
Jawas waddling about with silly robots, then they slaughter your parents.

And yeah, that's his usual character progression. Lovable weirdos who then get hit with real tragedy.

 

Plus it's just nice to have a female writer involved in Star Wars, which is something defiantly needed

He also didn't write Thor Ragnorok he just took the story beats and made everyone improve.

 

Yeah, I don't think silly and heavy together are something just anyone can do well. In fact, even Lucas had his challenges with it; ROTJ and TPM are my least favorite in their trilogies because they were excessively silly. That created (for me) an extreme tonal variation that was not as enjoyable. I still like those, but not as much as the others.

Mando has done a very good job of keeping the spirit of SW by balancing the two elements well, better than the ST for sure. The Baby Yoda was an appeal to kids and the "oh that is so cute" crowd, but never got silly to the point where I was put off or unable to suspend disbelief for enjoyment of the show.

We haven't seen many people get a crack at SW to this point, so there is plenty of room for optimism that new writers and directors can bring back the magic for the upcoming movies..

 

Stop it! I’m sick and tired of your completely rational posts.

 

He does go a little over board at times, I agree

 

That's what makes him interesting.
It's gonna be a rather silly, and that's going to annoy some people. YouTube videos will be made.
sigh.

I will have avoid large chunks of fandom. Again.

 

I really like Taika - But at best this film will be a silly sideshow piece. (Probably similar in style to the original direction of Solo)

At worse, another nail in the coffin. I'm just not sure Star Wars can take too jokey a tone. It very easily falls into Muppets and Flash Gordon.

Now, I LOOOOVE Muppets and Flash Gordon - But not in my SW. If he can keep the humour in-universe and in-character, he has a chance. If it gets in any way meta - it's doomed.

UKS