Discussion James Mangold’s First Jedi Film

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Mangold's challenge for Dial of Destiny was that he really was clearly trying to do his version of a Spielberg Indiana Jones film. And I'm guessing Harrison Ford had ample sway in ensuring it felt similar to the previous films. He was the one who most advocated making a fifth film.

I think Mangold's going to get quite a bit of latitude for Dawn of the Jedi and that's exactly what he's expressed since this film is so far removed from everything else. It will definitely be an interesting tightrope to walk in terms of expanding the visual language of Star Wars to seriously set it apart, yet also not go too far so that it isn't unrecognizable.

 

I've said different versions of this many times, but as long as we can tell that it takes place in the GFFA, it'll be Star Wars enough.

 

Its fair to say it makes sense to try and replicate spielbergs work for indiana because he was making a final movie for series that had spielberg all over it. But i also think there is a touch of Logan in there too which might be more mangold.

 

Well I guess it's only natural that Mangold consciously attempted to both pay homage to the previous films, and to ape some of the stylistic/aesthetic choices. It's just that I think the focus was in the wrong place. It's a bit like TFA for me i.e. in the relevant parts it kind of looks and sounds like Indiana Jones, but beneath the veneer it's all a bit hollow. And it's not like Mangold deliberately set out to make a hollow film, or a film seriously lacking... it's more that (similar to the ST) they fundamentally underestimated what goes into them and the critical influence Spielberg and Lucas played. The elephant in the room was also Harrison's age.... and of course they had to factor that into proceedings, which isn't easy when the concept is predicated on an 'action' hero. And like I said earlier, I'm not sure Mangold can do action in the same vein as Spielberg and Lucas. He's much more a more personal/dramatic director.

 

I want cross guards at least! Maybe they will go back to the broad sword style that ANH went for in any duels

 

Well I hope DOTJ is a more considered, smaller film… where Mangold has the opportunity to focus on character and character based drama… as that’s his clear strength IMO. I’d worry if DLF wanted this to be a balls to the wall action film. However, I’m also not blind to the fact that many fans will want it to be a big action adventure film, and I’m sure DLF will want it to be very successful financially. It’s whether the two can meet i.e. smaller, character based drama SW film but also hugely popular for general audiences.

 

I'm sure it will still be another freedom fighters type of movie against whatever is ruling the part of the galaxy that is part of the Star Wars story at that time.

 

We know there is an ancient Empire that is around in time of the Dawn of the Jedi, the Rakata

 

The Rakata? Are they on the planet of Ratatouille?

 

They can easily ignore and overwrite that if they think it will make for a better movie.

 

I think you’re thinking the lactose moon Raclette in the Switzertooine system.

 

Sure but we already got mentioned of them in Andor as the idea of a long time ago Rebellion against an oppressive Empire.

 

Bringing the Rakata back wouldn't require them to have existed at the same time as in the original stories though.

Even more so since name-dropping something can be just for fluff, and doesn't mean that you plan to do more with what stands behind that name.

 

Sure, but it makes the most sense. Even if not in the Dawn of the Jedi movie. Be in the Sequels of it.

 

I realize this is Star Wars so that means you just have to go with it sometimes but 25,000 years is an awful long time for relics to be around and for people to have knowledge of what was going on politically. Considering in real life ancient Egypt was only about 3,000 years ago. 25,000 years ago for us would have been when people were just learning how to use stone tools. It would make more sense for people in Star Wars to not have any knowledge of what was happening 25,000 years in the past. Just weird drawings and myths or legends about what those drawings meant.

 

That’s the problem. You’re thinking about it from our point of view. We’re still in the very beginning of having advanced technologies. The GFFA is a lot further along as a society than us. So 25,000 years ago for them isn’t the same as 25,000 years ago for us. In order for the Republic to exist (which we know it does) they would have already had advanced space travel for example. So even if technology isn’t as advanced as we see in the Skywalker Saga it would still be far more advanced than what we have.

 

We know droids and lightsaber and Hyper space travel been around 25 000 years. If we go by Legends Hyper space go between 30 000 - 100 000 before the Saga

 

The filmmakers have no obligation to go by Legends. They'll go by whatever they thinks will make a good story.

 

Yes but there is no harm in looking at source material

 

I think Mangold probably has the mandate to create this from the ground up I.e. he doesn’t need to consider or adhere to anything… unless it has already been established in canon (or live action content)… and even then, he probably has license to change it as he sees fit. But yes, there’s a lot of existing material out there to explore and mine. ‘Pinch with pride’ is what I say… whatever makes for a better film.

 

Limitation is one of art's best friends. If elements of established canon somehow affect the era and subject matter of his film, JM should just treat them the same way he would treat historical facts when writing a period piece.
That could mean occasionally tweaking or ignoring them for the sake of drama, of course.