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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

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

Discussion in 'Sequel Trilogy' started by Momotaros, Jun 20, 2014.

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  1. sls062286

    sls062286 Jedi Master star 4

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    May 10, 2016
    Sometimes stories can get mixed up. I highly doubt he wrote complete drafts of a script, but as he was writing and after the script was approved it wouldnt surprise me if JJ had just sketched out an idea of where he envisioned things going. I highly doubt JJ created this story and these characters and not have a preference for how things would go and express that to Rian in some form, and Rian chose to not use his ideas.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2018
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  2. A Chorus of Disapproval

    A Chorus of Disapproval Head Admin & TV Screaming Service star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Aug 19, 2003
    Oh, I can wholly imagine a scenario where JJ had the foresight to prepare an outline of a reasonable trajectory for the entire Trilogy. I can also imagine Rian using it to discard his chewing gum. But, entire scripts is just outrageous.
     
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  3. redxavier

    redxavier Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jan 23, 2003
    There are differences between an outline, a treatment, and a script/screenplay, and a 'draft' could apply to any one of these. Except there's no way that it would be referring to a script: JJ and Kasdan wrote TFA together and just about pulled it together in time, they simply could not have written scripts for 2 further movies on top of that.
     
  4. Satipo

    Satipo Force Ghost star 7

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    Mar 29, 2014
    Exactly. He struggled to get the one for TFA done in time. He didn't write two further scripts.
     
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  5. A Chorus of Disapproval

    A Chorus of Disapproval Head Admin & TV Screaming Service star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Aug 19, 2003
    This whole thing is just a continuation of the ancient "They admitted they had no longterm vision!!!" interpretations of "They know the destination on the map but are allowing each film to choose its own roads" approach.
     
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  6. Glitterstimm

    Glitterstimm Force Ghost star 6

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    Dec 30, 2017
    True, but either way it still leads to a valid question:. Who is the one filling GL's role as producer for the trilogy, and if no one is filling that role, is it a problem?
     
  7. Oissan

    Oissan Chosen One star 7

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    Mar 9, 2001
    No one really is, the job has been taken over by multiple people. And no, that's not really a problem. It's different, but different isn't the same as problematic.

    You don't necessarily need one person to make every decision to arrive at a solution that works. You might end up with different ideas along the way, some of which get discarded because they don't fit what the person in charge of the next movie thinks, but that doesn't mean that the outcome doesn't fit together. In a way, instead of George Lucas pondering ideas in his head and adding one here and discarding on there, you have the same thing, just between different people openly discussing things instead of Lucas thinking things through in his head.

    The approach is pretty similar, just with a broader range of ideas due to multiple people being less aligned with each other than Lucas on his own would be.
     
  8. Glitterstimm

    Glitterstimm Force Ghost star 6

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    Dec 30, 2017
    I agree with you in principle, but in the specific case of the ST, I think this method has failed.

    Actually, these two processes are not the same thing, they're entirely different.

    My interpretation is that JJ was initially hired to fill a very hands-on producer role similar to GL's, but somewhere along the way there was a communications breakdown, or maybe his responsibilities were never properly anticipated. The fact that he's having to come back and direct Ep IX seems to be evidence of chaos or at least poor planning.
     
  9. A Chorus of Disapproval

    A Chorus of Disapproval Head Admin & TV Screaming Service star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Aug 19, 2003
    All final ideas get filtered through one person: Kathleen Kennedy. Chosen for that specific role by Lucas, himself. Whether she has handled this brilliantly, moderately OK, or terribly is a matter of personal interpretation but the same system is still in place. Kennedy just does not carry around a "Fabuloso" stamp. Or have Rick McCallum telling us all how "****ing grim" everything is.
     
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  10. Glitterstimm

    Glitterstimm Force Ghost star 6

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    Dec 30, 2017
    But Kathleen Kennedy, correct me if I'm wrong, has never directed a film. She's certainly produced many and been active at all levels of the production process, but she's never actually directed. That is a major difference imho. But maybe it doesn't matter either, I'm no expert.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2018
  11. A Chorus of Disapproval

    A Chorus of Disapproval Head Admin & TV Screaming Service star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Aug 19, 2003
    Take it up with George. He chose her knowing her (totes lack of) qualification for the job.
     
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  12. Glitterstimm

    Glitterstimm Force Ghost star 6

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    Dec 30, 2017
    I definitely would not say she's unqualified. She has a tremendous amount of experience in film making. On the other hand, George is not infallible either.
     
  13. DarthPhilosopher

    DarthPhilosopher Chosen One star 6

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    Jan 23, 2011
    It's worth noting that Lucas's extremely in-depth role, in TESB and ROTJ, as basically a show runner, is pretty rare in feature films.
     
  14. Ender_and_Bean

    Ender_and_Bean Chosen One star 6

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    May 19, 2002
    Kennedy over the past 5 years:

    Brought in JJ Abrams, who at the time was firmly committed to Star Trek.

    Brought in Lawrence Kasdan to work on 2 films.

    Brought in 2 Academy Award winning screenwriters.

    Threw down enough money to get Harrison Ford to come back when he's been notorious about being done with Star Wars.

    Displayed quality control on RO and Solo where she's been willing to make big, highly publicized changes to get the film to a quality level she expect of Star Wars. Fired Trevorrow when the scripts for IX weren't strong enough and/or he was unable to adapt to the passing of Fisher. If she didn't care she would have let those films run their course as they were shaping up.

    Started a comprehensive Story Group approach to build a more unified canon from the ground up for her Lucasfilm vision.


    Brought in a writer/director in Rian Johnson who just about every major exec in Hollywood probably wanted to attach to a blockbuster of some kind and he's now working on a trilogy.

    Has meet with a ton of the up and coming writer/directors in Hollywood to see who might be good for Star Wars.

    Brought in the Emmy award Winning showrunners of Game of Thrones.

    Brought in John Favreau to showrun a live action Star Wars TV series.

    And delivered 3 of the highest grossing films of all time, with tons of critical acclaim, in the process.

    It's hard to imagine Iger imagining anything but a raise for her, IMO.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2018
  15. AhsokaSolo

    AhsokaSolo Force Ghost star 7

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    Dec 23, 2015
    I really really can’t stand TLJ or what it does to the overall Skywalker Saga, but I think KK is a brilliant business woman and they would be crazy to let her go. She isn’t the writer/director. In terms of quality control, RJ made a well-made movie that made buckets of money. I like the Collider guy’s idea of putting someone else, like Filoni, at the top of the food chain for the overall creative story, to oversee all the canon and make sure it comes together, but for the business side and the quality movie making side, KK has done a phenomenal job.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2018
  16. Alliyah Skywalker

    Alliyah Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

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    Dec 18, 2017
    I think a Kevin Feige-like person, a creative head for a shared universe is generally a good idea. That man has done wonders for the MCU.

    In terms of the business side, I`m sure Disney would rather in the future they make sure they are on the same page with directors hired from the start. The firing of Lord&Miller after the movie was almost completed and thus having to do such extensive re-shooting was both costly and looked unprrofessional. That`s the stuff you`d expect from the DCEU and noone wants that comparism right now.
     
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  17. AhsokaSolo

    AhsokaSolo Force Ghost star 7

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    Dec 23, 2015
    I think the mid-stream firing (which has happened not just for Solo at this point, but with IX and in a halfway kind of way R1) only matters when the money stops coming in. If Solo is a huge disappointment financially, I might reassess my opinion of her performance.
     
  18. redxavier

    redxavier Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jan 23, 2003
    I'm seeing Filoni's name pop up everywhere lately as a 'replacement' and it baffles me. Is Rebels really an example of a superior job 'overseeing all the canon and making sure it comes together'? I get that Rebels is a kids cartoon and so it gets away with a lot of stuff, but it features stories or elements that are just like TLJ in terms of logic deficiency, character nonsense, or lore-bending.
     
  19. Ender_and_Bean

    Ender_and_Bean Chosen One star 6

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    May 19, 2002
    Rebels started the accelerated/instinctive Force power change first. Ezra displays considerable Force powers instinctively early on. The ST just followed its lead and justified it by her mind probe on Kylo Ren and her decade of using and training with her staff on Jakku to defend herself.

    Granted Rebels does get into the more traditional and slower teaching and lessons after that but it also has seasons to work on that and TV in general is better suited to slow and steady development than feature films. Ezra... like all young male Padawans so far... gets the incredible advantage of having a Jedi be the first Force user who discovers and takes an interest in him. An advantage Rey didn’t get because the Force user most interested in her from the start is a Dark Side user. I find it an interesting change to have the Dark Side user offering to teach first, personally though.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2018
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  20. Satipo

    Satipo Force Ghost star 7

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    Mar 29, 2014
    I cannot understand the free pass Filoni gets in some quarters. He's decent enough but has had 75 hours (a lot of which were filler) to weave his story, and his character work is exceedingly bland. I'd much rather RJ, JJ or even GE get another film before he gets one. Keep him where he is.
     
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  21. A Chorus of Disapproval

    A Chorus of Disapproval Head Admin & TV Screaming Service star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Aug 19, 2003
    I want him for the job solely because I want the forums to be blanketed under an endless barrage of "Felony" references to replace the nearly extinct "Luca$".
     
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  22. Satipo

    Satipo Force Ghost star 7

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    Mar 29, 2014
    He's able to slip under the radar with the TV shows. With a film, the scrutiny would be way higher. He too could get the chance to join the hallowed list of "people who have ruined SW".

    George Lucas.
    JJ Abrams.
    Rian Johnson.
    Kathy Kennedy.

    I'd say the only person not on the list is Edwards.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2018
  23. AhsokaSolo

    AhsokaSolo Force Ghost star 7

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    Dec 23, 2015
    Well for starters, between Filoni and KK, he is much more knowledgeable on the overall story. So yeah, that by itself would make him better equipped to oversee all the different mediums of story that LF puts out. He's a nerd and he can talk about the nitty gritty story stuff. KK focuses on the big stuff.

    I'm not going to play this, "insult LF employee A to defend LF employee/product B" game. KK is talented. Filoni is talented.

    Obviously it's simply a difference of opinion. I don't find his character work exceedingly bland in the slightest. I find Ezra bland, but on the whole, the Rebels crew is far more interesting to me in all of their dynamics than what we got in TLJ. It's tricky, though, because I preferred the characters in TFA to Rebels generally... except Ahsoka, who I think is a wonderful, stand-alone character that goes down as one of the overall great SW characters for me.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2018
  24. A Chorus of Disapproval

    A Chorus of Disapproval Head Admin & TV Screaming Service star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Aug 19, 2003
    Considering the target demographic his shows have been marketed to, it would be both a nice and tragic change of pace to have actual children bemoaning assault on their in-progress childhood.
     
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  25. Satipo

    Satipo Force Ghost star 7

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    Mar 29, 2014
    It would shake things up.
     
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