Update! J.J. Abrams on Lawrence Kasdan, Filming in the UK and More.
In the latest issue of Total Film magazine, J.J. Abrams talks about hiring Empire Strikes Back screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan to help him rework Michael Arndt’s Episode VII script. Also Abrams briefly talked about Star Wars at the Symphony Space art center while promoting his new book “S”…
(11/25/2013)
From TotalFilm:
“Working with Larry has been one of the most surreal joys of my life,” Abrams says. “We’ve had a lot of fun working together. He’s an incredible guy and an inspiring and spectacular writer.”
Abrams adds that he’s looking forward to shooting the film in London.
“It’s something that I’ve always intended to do,” he says. “But I’m torn because I have done everything I can to keep the production of my projects in Los Angeles. Yet the opportunity to work with UK crews is something that has always been a dream of mine.
“Of course, that dream existed prior to me being married and having a family, so the reality of making a movie like that for any period of time becomes much more difficult when there are other people that you desperately love and care for involved.”
J.J. Abrams was at the Symphony Space art center discussing his new book “S”. Check out his funny reaction when asked about Jar Jar and when he realizes that the moderator has never seen Star Wars.
Update! (11/302013)
A longer video from the discussion:
@JediNews2010 Abrams only mentioned #StarWarsVII once last night, talking about collaborations… Kasdan has made him raise his game.
— Paul [o . o] (@TK10815) November 23, 2013
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
JJ & Kasdan are a good pair to write Episode 7
I don’t think we could ask for anyone better, to be honest.
Yes 🙂 the force lives on…
I allways thought a lot of people over-reacted when they heard Arndt had left the project. I don’t think Kasdan was brought in to start things from scratch, but rather to fine tune the groundwork Arndt had begun. It sounds like JJ and Kasdan have a good working relationship and enjoy each others company, so things are in safe hands.
The only people over reacting about that news are people who don;t understand that screenplay rewrites are daily standard practice in Hollywood.
I’m still waiting for something negative to happen because far to much is going right! I’ve never seen such a steady stream of awesome revelations.
Seriously… if episode 7 sucks at this point no one could do it.
Could just make episode 7 Heir to the Empire, then nobody has to do any work at all.
Isn’t that a huge reason as to why they’re not doing it that way?
that’s a negative on heir to the empire, just go re-read your books. make a motion like that in the senate where it belongs…this just in: no EU…
absolutely agree!!!
admiral thrawn would be a brilliant character in episode seven
No, he won’t.
Yes, finally, a logical person. He’s set in the perfect time for it, There are tons of actors out there who could easily play him, in fact, the production team is looking already for a “military like 40 something” or whatever. I’m sure there will be a sith in the movie, but that is thrawn.
Get over it man, it’s not going to be Thrawn. Maybe someone sort of like him (40-something yr old military type), but I can almost 99% guarantee that no EU characters will be present in the seuqel trilogy. Be content with the fact that these new movies are going to be a brand new adventures, new surprises, new beloved characters. The EU is best left as fan fiction; an idea of what could have been, sort of like the Marvel “What If?” comics, just more expansive. Isn’t it so much better going to the theaters with the anticipation of not knowing what’s going to happen? And with an awesome team like the one we have for Ep VII, this trilogy will kick the prequels right in the pants. I know we’ve all been let down before, but it’s about time we Star Wars fans mustered up our faith in new installments, because I have no doubt that these movies (without ANYTHING from the EU) will be nothing but absolutly incredible.
“Working with Larry HAS BEEN one of the most surreal joys of my life,” Abrams says. “We’ve HAD a lot of fun working together.”
it looks like they’re done with script !
Wait, I’ve come up with another possibility for that specific casting call I was just referencing. Ardus Kaine. The Pentastar Alignment would be a great choice for a villainous stronghold. You could then from there add a sith from Korriban(obviously completely fictitious), and set the stage for further movies involving possibly thrawn, the Yuuzhan Vong, or Roan Fel and Darth Krayt.
JESUS ALLMIGHTY CHRIST!!!!!! NO E.U.!!!!!!!!!
Yep, no matter how many times Lucasfilm say it will not be based on EU people just won’t or can’t accept this. It will be a whole new story folks.
The only thing Lucasfilm said about the matter was that it won’t be based any any SINGLE EU novel. I never heard them say it will not contain EU characters. Considering the fact that Disney now owns Lucasbooks, I can’t see them not exploiting these dozens of stories. Think about how Disney approached Marvel comic books.
“The only thing Lucasfilm said about the matter was that it won’t be based any any SINGLE EU novel. I never heard them say it will not contain EU characters.”
Including characters from the expanded universe IS a way of basing the new story off of the EU, which they have said quite a few times they are not doing. Episode VII is going to be a fresh, new installment of its’ own nature. It doesn’t matter if they own Lucasbooks. In order to include the characters you’ve listed above they would have to follow a pre-set direction for the story. For example; for Emperor Fel to be included, they’d have to make it so that the Empire survives passed the destruction of the second death star, and to include Darth Krayt, they’d have to make it so that the sith (somehow) return after Vader and Cidious are destroyed. You see, even by including characters from the EU and not basing episode VII enirely off of one book series, you’d still have to include vital plot points for it to even make sense that those characters are present and, like I’ve said above, Abrams has told us that the new movie will be an entirely fresh story. That means no EU characters, no EU plot. I don’t see why they’d have to exploit those stories in the film just because they own everything Lucas now, especially the Yuuzhan Vong. Worst Star Wars villain ever. There are far better things that Kasdan and Abrams could come up with for an opposing, antagonistic force. The only similarities between the EU and the new movie will be that both sets of writers referenced some amount of Lucas’ original outline for the post-ROTJ story, but Darth Krayt? Really? The guy looks like he belongs in Mordor. I would not want to see him as part of the legitimate Star Wars universe.
So, are they basing the new movies on the Thrawn Trilogy?
No. The original cast is too old for this.
viral hide is correct, way past the 5 year mark or whatever the thrawn trilogy was set, but on the note of the cast being too old, i have seen other remarks about not wanting the original cast is the new films too much because of their age and i do not get this. in the SW universe, people live longer and age slower thanks to better technologies. couple that with stand ins for all of the flips, falls, and forced throws and i think the original cast could look as good in action as they did when they were all in their 20’s & 30’s. Christopher Lee in the SW chapters is a perfect example as well as the success of the Expendables movies.
Applying logic to the nature of the new movies works for me. Basing any wholesale on old novels is not a good marketing move – the stories are well-known with no surprises and no particular anticipation for what happens in sequels other than dwelling on the technicalities of which actors are playing the characters. As the new owner of Star Wars, Disney will be keen on making its own mark and nurturing lots of brand new trademarks, so drawing heavily on characters and situations created before its era will seem like it has less confidence in its own imagination. Of course what’s gone before provides a solid foundation, but upon it new structures have to grow if the Star Wars mythos is to provide lots of future surprises. Beloved characters like Thrawn … if he’s only to be used as a name-check, detached from the stories he already featured strongly in, then all we’re left with is a blue-skinned guy with tactical genius unlikely to have any new story value which is a disservice to his legacy. Much more respectful to leave him and other characters from his era rest in the past, and create a largely new, fresh and unpredictable cast, less about kindling nostalgia and more about pushing boldly into new territory.
@John Caliber, couldn’t agree more. Lots of these people are so bent on including characters that they’ve become familiar with over the years that they don’t see Disney’s reasoning behind why they really don’t want to include any EU characters or plot points.
Grand Admiral Thrawn is just a blue skinned and red eyed Grand Moff Tarkin.
No…He really is not. Thawn is not inherently Evil. He is a master Tactician and strategist. He only joined the Empire because his own people did not believe there was a threat outside of the galaxy coming to wipe out everyone. I wish people who have not read the books, would kindly not open their gobs about stories and characters they know nothing about..and BTW..Disney doesn’t need your permission to make the movie they want to make. Studios lie, and misdirect, as much as professional magicians. Just when you think you know…You don’t.
I’ll agree about the possible strategic misdirection, but if you’ll read @John Caliber’s comment above:
“Applying logic to the nature of the new movies works for me. Basing any wholesale on old novels is not a good marketing move – the stories are well-known with no surprises and no particular anticipation for what happens in sequels other than dwelling on the technicalities of which actors are playing the characters. As the new owner of Star Wars, Disney will be keen on making its own mark and nurturing lots of brand new trademarks, so drawing heavily on characters and situations created before its era will seem like it has less confidence in its own imagination. Of course what’s gone before provides a solid foundation, but upon it new structures have to grow if the Star Wars mythos is to provide lots of future surprises. Beloved characters like Thrawn … if he’s only to be used as a name-check, detached from the stories he already featured strongly in, then all we’re left with is a blue-skinned guy with tactical genius unlikely to have any new story value which is a disservice to his legacy. Much more respectful to leave him and other characters from his era rest in the past, and create a largely new, fresh and unpredictable cast, less about kindling nostalgia and more about pushing boldly into new territory.”
As you can see, it’s just not a concievable option for Disney to base the new movies off of any EU series.
Agree totally with the view that the sequel trilogy should have very little – if any – link with EU storylines or characters. I don’t think Disney would have paid over $4 billion to make movies where the plots are known in advance. These new movies are going to be roughly based on George Lucas’ story treatments and he himself has said that the EU went in a direction that he would not have chosen.
here, here Greedo, well said. not sure why the Eu fans go crazy when you say that Lucas did not care for a lot of the EU, it’s a stone cold fact. don’t get me wrong, i LOVED a lot of the EU, really i did…i just do not want to see it in the new legacy that Disney is building. a character here, mention a story line there from EU is fine, i DO NOT WANT a rehash of the thrawn trilogy or any other already done storyline. i liked the Fett EU origin, but i liked Ep 2 Fett origin way more.honestly, i will watch SW even if they borrow heavily on EU, but i am much more excited on the possibility of an all new original story…on a fan note, i would love to see Fett return from the great pitt of carkoon…
This is exactly what I’ve been talking about for way too many weeks now. The EU is great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s so much better left as fan fiction; a picture of the Star Wars universe how it could have been had certain events occurred before, during and after the PT and OT. I’m so much more content with knowing that these new movies will be brand-spakin’ new. A whole new opportunity for Star Wars to be awesome again. I know, I know, we don’t have the best history of new installments, but GL is not heavily involved with the production! The people hired to put this whole thing together are true, die-hard Star Wars fans and really know what they’re doing. I’m ecstatic to see the fruits of Abrams and Kasdan’s labor; how their skills are combined to portray the continued adventures in the galaxy far far away, who wouldn’t be? Star Wars has never been a series based off of any pre-written novel, it’s always been about the shock factor: having questions long-asked be answered in surprising ways. That’s what Star Wars strives on.
Just seen that James Blunt may have “confirmed” that Carrie Fisher has signed up for Ep7. Apparently they used to share a house.
I see that Marvel has released the first teaser trailer for Avengers 2. Must be nice to be a Marvel fan.
How can you say no Jaja Binks? He’s one of the best characters.You can’t move on from Luke, Darth Vader or Han Solo. I think they slhoud re-launch it with the same story line just make it better and definitely make Luke less of a pansy.