Simon Kinberg Helped Josh Trank Get the Second Star Wars Stand-Alone Gig.
Second Star Wars Stand-Alone movie director Josh Trank is currently working with Simon Kinberg on the new Fantastic Four movie reboot. /Film had the chance to talk to Simon Kinberg about Star Wars and managed to get an interesting confession that he helped push Lucasfilm to hire Trank. He also teased they would work together again in the future…
Here’s just a snipped of /Film’s full interview with Star Wars Rebels executive producer Simon Kinberg.
/Film: Josh Trank was recently announced as a spin-off director. You’re working with him now on Fantastic Four. Did you have a hand in making that happen?
Simon Kinberg: Yeah, I did. I spoke very highly of Josh to the Lucasfilm guys. They were interested in him because he, like Rian [Johnson, director of Episode VIII] and like Gareth [Edwards, director of a 2016 spin-off], is very much that next generation filmmaker. He comes from a background of making a big movie without a big budget. Which I think is also, not that these movies…they’ll have huge budgets, but the sort of the tradition that George [Lucas] started was somebody that came from making American Graffiti to making a huge science fiction movie. And so there was some of that sort of vibe I know Lucasfilm likes about these new filmmakers. But yeah, I definitely was involved in that process.
/Film: Do you think you guys will be working again?
Simon Kinberg: Me and Josh?
/Film: Yeah.
Simon Kinberg: [Smiles] I think we will, in one form or another, be working together again.
/Film: Okay. About a year ago, a Disney executive described the spin-off movies, one of which you’re writing, as origin stories. Would you say that was an accurate description of just maybe of one or two?
Simon Kinberg: I can’t talk about the content of what those movies are.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
What credibility does Kinberg really have? TCW was the worst thing to come from Star Wars since Jar Jar Binks and I’m almost certain that Rebels will drive the nail even further into the flesh. Disney doesn’t care about the fans, they never have. We’re nothing but numbers to them. Their decision making is entirely based on earnings. The way things are carrying on, the franchise is as good as dead to life-long fans. All of you prepubescent pipsqueak PT enthusiasts have no clue what it means to be a life long fan.
Help us Episode VII, you’re our only hope.
I don’t think Kinberg was related to the clone wars production was he? Who knows they might be good. Often when I look at film producers I enjoy, a lot of them make really good movies and really bad movies. Just take a look at Kasdan’s recent record… he made some sort of awful chick flick. Del Toro comes to mind too… Pan’s Labyrinth was pretty amazing… everything else? Meh.
Don’t you dare put Pacific Rim and the Hellboy movies in the “meh” tier.
and while you’re at it, don’t you dare put every movie that appeals to the female gender a “chick flick.”
Pacific Rim sucked rim. Asian triplets? Seriously? LOLZ
Could I see a raise of hands from all those who’ve seen “mumford” “darling companion” or “the bodyguard”? Now, if hands are still raised… how many of you enjoyed any of those films? Didn’t think so.
Keep in mind I’m not saying Kasdan sucks, I just think His talents are best put to use as a writing consultant as he was/is with star wars. It’s sort of like how Van Dyke Parks talents are best put to use in collaborative efforts as opposed to his solo stuff.
The Bodyguard was a huge film, and films like Titanic made money.
Now if only someone would make a movie about a Private girls school overtaken by zombies. And like the chicks get access to the grounds keeping equipment, chainsaws, weed eaters, etc
They could call it-
Machete Chicks…Parochial School Massacre!!
Yeah right. “Disney doesn’t care about the fans, they never have….”
….unless you’re a fan of the OT. Because everything Disney’s done since 2012 has pandered to the OT crowd.
…And your post surmises everything I can’t stand about the Star Wars fandom. Congratulations, I guess?
“What credibility does Kinberg really have? TCW was the worst thing to come from Star Wars since Jar Jar Binks and I’m almost certain that Rebels will drive the nail even further into the flesh.”
Oh, boy. Calling TCW crap is so 2008. Jar Jar hate is so 1999 – he was annoying, yes, but let it go already. Rebels bashing is so pointless until the damn show comes out. The truth is that TCW was critically-acclaimed by the time it came into its own (a few episodes into Season One), and has several Emmys to show for it. Rebels has several of the team of TCW behind it, plus Greg Weisman – whose work is widely considered to be awesome – which is a sign that it will be okayish at worst. Even then, those are just cartoons, and they’re not going to vomit all over your precious childhood.
“Disney doesn’t care about the fans, they never have. We’re nothing but numbers to them. Their decision making is entirely based on earnings.”
I’m pretty sure that everything they’ve said about Episode VII so far has been done to cater to OT purists specifically, and surprise, surprise, many of them aren’t acting grateful in regards to either the movie or the media that isn’t related to the movie, just as they haven’t been for the past seventeen years. Ugh, unpleasable fanbases are a pain.
“The way things are carrying on, the franchise is as good as dead to life-long fans. All of you prepubescent pipsqueak PT enthusiasts have no clue what it means to be a life long fan.”
But wait! It gets better! Now you’re saying that people who weren’t born in the seventies or early eighties (which, I might add, is an overwhelming majority of the fandom) don’t matter! Never mind that George Lucas has consistently said that he envisioned the movies as stories to appeal to young people across generations. That argument doesn’t even account for the fact that fans of Star Wars are eventually going to grow up, raise families, and bring the world Star Wars into the minds of their children. Saying they will never experience the feeling of being a life-long fan – directly contrasting with the fact that most of these fans have lived with Star Wars for most of their lives – is complete bunk.
You know what? If it means that I won’t have to read entitled posts like yours in the future, maybe it’s better if the franchise becomes “dead to you”.
You say help us Ep7, but down Disney. And what would Walt think of your statement?
I don’t know if I can trust Josh Trank. I enjoyed Chronicle, but he and Kinberg(and Fox, of course) is ruining the Fantastic Four, I have a bad feeling about that. But I hope he will make a great job.
If I were stuck working on the new Fantastic Four movie, I’d be ashamed to tell anybody about it.
I can’t say I’m looking forward to Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot – it frankly sounds like a mess.
Having a Black Johnny Storm paired up with a White Sue Storm and still having the two of them be biological siblings makes absolutely no sense – yes, I’m aware that children of mixed-race couple can have different skin pigments (however rarely that occurs) but Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara don’t look alike at all, which is *crucial* when it comes to siblings. I’m not trying to be offensive or anything, it just makes no sense considering that they’re going with the blood-siblings route – they should have cast both Johnny and Sue as people of the same race to actually make sense, and I think it could have worked for the better if both characters were played by a Black actor and a Black actress. Jamie Bell does not have the body type to play a character like Ben Grimm at all, and from what I’ve heard, he hasn’t particularly played any “macho” characters before – Tintin is the only thing that’s come close, and that’s kind of a stretch. The only part of the team that actually looks the part is Miles Teller (although he does admittedly look a little young to play the character), but one out of four isn’t really a good sign.
Not to mention that they have plans to make the film “grounded, gritty, and realistic”, which is the *complete* antithesis to what the Fantastic Four have been in the comic books (issue one had them fighting Mole Man, for crying out loud). Not to mention that they said that they aren’t going to base it on any of the comics, and that the actors aren’t even being told to become familiar with the source material. The goofy movies that came out in the 2000s were at least faithful to the spirit of the comics, even though they weren’t particularly good. The entire thing seems like a thinly-veiled attempt to keep the rights from going back to Disney, where these characters belong.
However, I’ve heard really good things about Chronicle, and I’ve wanted to watch that for a while. Maybe Josh Trank was just sucked into the mess that is Fantastic Four reboot and he’ll try to make the most of a really weird situation. After that’s over with, he could give us a Star Wars movie that lives up to the standard he set with Chronicle.