Discussion Simon Kinberg to Write SW Trilogy of Movies

Puck’s Matt Belloni says Simon Kinberg’s Star Trek movie is on the verge of receiving a green light from Paramount so his SW trilogy work isn’t starting anytime soon. Belloni says Kinberg gave Paramount executives a heads up about the incoming SW news last week, it wasn’t like when JJ Abrams left Paramount in the dead of night which infuriated the leadership.

He also said Kathleen Kennedy is feeling the heat from Disney after the failure of The Acolyte and the resignation of screenwriter Stephen Knight. Kennedy, who normally rarely speaks to the media, has booked a series of lunches with media people over the next few weeks on the advice of her publicist.

 

Yes I was being tongue in cheek my friend

 

Like the ones I did as a five year old … which I consider “Hollywoods Big Missed Opportunity”

 

Actually, they're specifically your finger paint drawings

 

Well, flops put pressure on people in a success based economy. Not that surprising. The budget on The Acolyte also was a little excessive and for that kind of money the product took the wrong risks. So not surprising she is asked to make changes. Guess wasn’t that different at Marvel after The Marvels / The Secret War flops.

But I doubt any of these projects get made. I am not sure if that is even the point anymore. James Mangold is attracting gigs as if there was no Star Wars movie to be made. Filoni will do his movie after Ahsoka Season 2 which isn’t there for a couple of years … let’s be honest, a lot can happen between now and then, so this movie is more an idea than a plan. I am happy they work on getting anything with Daisy Ridley off the ground.

 

Just some wild speculation here, but I think this trilogy will in fact be episodes X-XII and will include Rey along with some new youngsters. I suspect Disney wants to reboot the franchise and bring back the glory years of 2015. I suspect Kennedy will also be passing the torch sometime next year if not this year.

My gut tells me the Chinoy movie will be decommissioned as it seems to be somewhat redundant or at odds with a new trilogy that includes Rey. I suspect the Mangold movie will also be scrapped, I think the fallout of Indy 5 probably had ramifications for its development which still haven’t come to light yet.

Stealing this assessment from Schneider but right now Disney has three main movie franchises in need of invigoration: Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars. Bob Iger supervised the acquisition of these properties during his first reign and wants them re-established before he passes the torch himself.

 

Belloni also said that the Obaid-Chinoy film has not been officially delayed but is definitely teetering. He also said that talent who work at LFL find the endless studio notes about the lore and canon to be insufferable.

 

Well credit to them on lore and canon. that stuff is important. If talent feels held back by working within lore then they shouldn't really be working on Star Wars.

 

Exactly.

"Don't tell me 'that's not how the Force works'."
"Bye."

 

Which is probably why Simon Kinberg was hired. He already knows a lot about the canon and won’t bristle when given notes.

 

Well, this is an interesting thought. I mean, if you invite a fairly normal screenwriter who isn’t a Star Wars fanatic he will do what every screenwriting book tells you about sequels. Expand mythology. If he has seen only the movies as preparation he will invent stuff to deepen mythology (Trevorrow had this Dark Side Cthulhu, Lindelof reportedly resurrected Kylo via reincarnation) which doesn’t fit canon so you gets lots of notes, but feel probably really restrained.
Might be an idea where this screenwriter rotation is coming from.

 

Wait…Lindelof resurrected Kylo in his script?

 

I have never once heard that rumour.

 

I can’t find the source, but I remember reading from a source I deemed credible that this was his first draft. Might be BS. But basically it was a new young actor playing a version of new version of it. But as I can’t find the source, take it with a grain of salt. Not wanting to spawn rumors here.

 

Maybe "company men" is exactly what Star Wars needs. Or more specifically, it needs Irvin Kershners and Richard Marquands, people who translate someone else's vision onto the screen while providing their own insights and stylistic choices within a limited framework.

I want onscreen Star Wars to feel like a coherent mythology. More like Tolkien's legendarium and less like the EU. I love the EU, but for some reason having multiple visions competing onscreen doesn't work for me. It's fun with books, comics, and video games. With movies and TV, they feel like high budget fan films.

Dave Filoni is the best at mythmaking that Star Wars has imo, both at being creative and at adhering to Lucas's underlying philosophy, and I think he should basically be the creative architect (i.e. essentially the new George Lucas on the creative end). I wouldn't say he's the best filmmaker or the best writer, but that is where the other writers and directors come in.

Basically anyone working on Star Wars should do it in service to the greater mythology. It isn't about them. It's about something larger.

 

Honestly, its either his Swamp Thing movie or his Star Wars film that he will shoot next.

I also don't think people are really all that exicited about seeing more Rey.

 

He's combining them. Star Wars: Swamp Thing will be set on Dagobah.

 

I am.

 

I sort of agree with that. You can ask yourself if they launched ESB and ROTJ today and what the reaction in social media would be if the directors they hired were called Marquand and Kershner. Not great i would assume. But at the same time….you should not rule out audience reaction. People are much more educated in how the film business works today and big director names ( like Nolan, Villeneuve, Cameron etc) gets the headlines and people have expecations based on the name alone. I did take notice that Star Wars got a lot more media attention last week, just because they are moving with another «Trilogy» concept again. Kinbergs name was in the articles, but not at the front of it. But much more attention than the 3 films launced last year on Celebration. Disney wants to up the concept for Star Wars again. Stories between the trilogies, and the Skywalker saga - is for Disney+. That is what will happen. And the new trilogy will have Rey in it. Kinberg will probably write a solid story and lay the foundation for a trilogy. He gets the lore.

 

I also said Dave Filoni is a good storyteller/mythmaker. They can follow his vision.

 

Hollywood Reporter: filmmakers are battling over who will control the character of Rey moving forward. Really interesting read.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/star-wars-rey-movie-simon-kinberg-1236059786/

 

Rey Skywalker is the future...