John Williams Praises The Force Awakens. George Lucas’ Initial Plan for the Sequel Trilogy and What Part of Michael Arndt’s Script was Used.

Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair posted online their full article on The Force Awakens from their June issue. There are several interesting bits of information that were not covered in their previous report. Read on to find out John Williams’ opinion on the movie as well as what part of Michael Arndt’s script was actually used, and what was the initial idea of George Lucas for the Sequel Trilogy…

 

 

Excerpts from Vanity Fair’s article:

 

 

George Lucas’ initial plan for the Sequel Trilogy:

 

He [Lucas] sketched out ideas for episodes VII, VIII, and IX, to be set initially several decades after Return of the Jedi, and approached Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill about re-upping. He shared his story outlines with Disney during their courtship phase. But after the deal was done, “Disney and Kathy decided they should consider other options,” as Abrams (not then involved) diplomatically put it. He said Lucas’s treatments had centered on very young characters—teenagers, Lucasfilm told me—which might have struck Disney executives as veering too close for comfort to The Phantom Menace and its 9-year-old Anakin Skywalker and 14-year-old Queen Amidala. “We’ve made some departures” from Lucas’s ideas, Kennedy conceded, but only in “exactly the way you would in any development process.”

 

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As he [Lucas] told Bloomberg Businessweek while his new Star Wars ideas were still on the table, “Ultimately you have to say, ‘Look, I know what I’m doing. Buying my stories is part of what the deal is.’ I’ve worked at this for 40 years, and I’ve been pretty successful.” But another part of the deal was that he was paid a handsome sum to cede control, and however he felt about having his story ideas rejected, Lucas (who turned down an interview request for this story) is by all accounts supportive of the new films and eager to see them for the first time in theaters like any other audience member. “I talk to him and see him frequently,” Kennedy said. “And I’m telling you, every time I say, ‘Is there anything you want to know?’ And he’s like, ‘No, no, I want to be surprised.’ ”

 

 

Michael Arndt and the issues with the first script.

 

Summer of 2015 was the release date for the first picture—a very quick turnaround for an effects-heavy movie that didn’t even have a wisp of a story. “I was the one raising my hand and saying, ‘Ah-ah-ah, might be a little difficult, as nothing’s in place, including a script, a director, a plan,’ ” Kennedy said. She began by assembling what would become a formal story department, charged with generating ideas for the new movies along with TV series, games, and other Star Wars products. “I would say it took a good year, to be honest, in the early development stage, where we immersed ourselves in Star Wars, understanding the values George used to create the mythology, understanding what it meant to him, understanding what it means to all of us.… 

 

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But there was still the matter of what would actually happen on-screen. “We were struggling to come up with a story,” Kasdan, 66, admitted. “There were elements that we would come up with and say, ‘Oh, that’s good! That’s strong!’ But it was not coming together.” With Abrams now part of the development team and the already tight summer 2015 release date looming ever closer, Michael Arndt was having difficulty finishing a script within the necessary time frame. “There was a ton of ideas and outlines, a lot of cards on the wall, a lot of writing on whiteboards,” Abrams said, but no screenplay.

 

With pre-production chores already well under way in London, where much of the film would be shot at Pinewood Studios, Abrams and Kasdan took over the screenwriting process, starting more or less from scratch. “We said, Blank page. Page one. What do we desperately want to see?” Abrams told me. Though Abrams said both men had pet ideas from the development process they wanted to incorporate, and did, Kasdan made the process sound like more of a teardown: “We didn’t have anything,” Kasdan said. “There were a thousand people waiting for answers on things, and you couldn’t tell them anything except ‘Yeah, that guy’s in it.’ That was about it. That was really all we knew.”

 

 

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This was in early November 2013, six months before filming was now scheduled to begin, in May of 2014. (This was when the release date was pushed back to December 2015.) By mid-January, Abrams and Kasdan had a draft, most of it hashed out in plein air conversations recorded on an iPhone as they walked and talked for hours at a time.

 

At any rate, whatever Abrams and Kasdan came up with apparently pleased everyone concerned—though everyone concerned may have had no choice but to be pleased at that point. Kennedy described the script’s mix of old and new characters in terms of audience expectations: “It’s sort of like going to a concert where you want to hear the new stuff that they’ve written, but really you want to hear some of the old songs. 

 

 

Abrams & Williams

 

John Williams praises The Force Awakens.

 

The movie’s P.R. campaign is still being worked out, including an as yet nebulous Star Wars presence at San Diego’s Comic-Con in July. But given Disney’s and Lucasfilm’s combined expertise in this arena, the summer and fall promise to be one long, exquisite tease for anyone with a HAN SHOT FIRST T-shirt in his or her closet. If skeptics will accept a not disinterested view of what Abrams has accomplished, they can take the word of composer John Williams. When we spoke in April, Abrams had shown him about three-quarters of the movie in a rough assembly, and he said, “What I have seen is absolutely delightful and witty and funny and engaging. The extensions of the mythology are very cleverly and beautifully written, I think. If I can quote Steven Spielberg”—citing one of the director’s favorite phrases—“J.J. has hit it out of the ballpark. I’m having a lot of fun with it.”

 

 

And last but not least, here’s a footage description from the movie shown to Vanity Fair’s Bruce Handy.

 

The several minutes of footage I saw backed Williams up, as much as any several minutes from any movie could. Case in point: At the effects session, Abrams was demonstrating his commitment to the more retro, more tactile filmmaking Kasdan had talked about. One scene featured an alien creature that abruptly pops up out of the desert landscape with glowing, flashlight eyes that make it look like a distant cousin to the Jawas of A New Hope. Abrams later called it “a classic, old-school seesaw puppet. We just buried it in the sand, and Neal Scanlan, the creature guy, pushed down on one side and the thing came up on the other side.” At the session, the scene, with the alien suddenly sticking its head over a dune, got a big laugh. Some perfectionist suggested a few digital polishes, but Abrams was wary. “It’s so old-school and crazy,” he said. “We could improve this thing, but at some point do we lose the wonderful preposterousness?”

 

The question was tabled, but “wonderful preposterousness” isn’t a bad descriptor of the Star Wars ethos at its best. Reviewing another scene, with spaceships blasting away at each other with phasers or whatever, Abrams could briefly be heard making ray-gun noises, the way a kid lying on his bedroom floor and drawing his own spaceships might. That galaxy far, far away appeared to be in good hands.

 

 

Really fantastic article, make sure to head over to Vanity Fair and read the full piece HERE. December 18th can’t come quick enough…

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

84 thoughts on “John Williams Praises The Force Awakens. George Lucas’ Initial Plan for the Sequel Trilogy and What Part of Michael Arndt’s Script was Used.

  • May 19, 2015 at 7:02 pm
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    Can’t wait to see this MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!

    • May 19, 2015 at 7:03 pm
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      Big whoop

    • May 19, 2015 at 7:47 pm
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      Me too my friend, me too It seems like were going to get a classic Star wars movie *Que the people arguing about what is a real Star wars movie*but yeah this really seems like it’s going to be fun ! I’m going to get my popcorn,sit back in my chair eat a little and enjoy a good movie ! I’m excited about all the little like 80’s touches,with the creatures and the puppets and what not ! N thank god John Williams is still scoring,its going to feel like a classic Star wars movie.N I wasn’t born in the late 70’s or 80’s,so this is going to be fun for me.Like a blast to the past !

      • May 19, 2015 at 9:29 pm
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        A real Star Wars movie transcends “movie” and becomes something bigger, more powerful. Only a select few movies are able to become so iconic. A few are “Star Wars” and “The Empire Strikes Back”, and a few are almost on that level, like “Return of the Jedi”. ;p

    • May 20, 2015 at 6:11 pm
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      ahh settle the fuck down. IT IS JUST A MOVIE.

      • May 21, 2015 at 4:03 am
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        You are on the wrong site for “it’s just a movie”

        • May 21, 2015 at 8:19 am
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          Star Wars posts about creating movie magic more like the original trilogy and only the better parts of the prequels should know J.J. Abrams and not George Lucas is now the master of what us Jedi fans expect – especially since he has the proven original Star Trek apprentice training.

  • May 19, 2015 at 7:13 pm
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    So Arndt´s work was thrown down the garbage shoot?

    • May 19, 2015 at 7:35 pm
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      “What an incredible smell you’ve discovered!”

      The impression that I get is that Arndt never really got all that far with his script, and that it was more ideas and concepts than a cohesive story.

      I’m sure we’ll all have a much better idea of how the process went by this time next year when we’ve got some “making of” stuff to pore over.

      • May 19, 2015 at 7:44 pm
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        Exactly! One of my favorite parts of the Star Wars movies is the concept art and making of stuff.

          • May 19, 2015 at 10:44 pm
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            Wow! Really I don´t know why there´s always someone who want to say loudly how bad is George Lucas in telling stories….ok. His stuff was not about children. But we finally have this crystal clear – they started from blank page one. It´s not Lucas´s story. It´s J.J. ´s and Kasdan´s story. Period. FOr some of us it will be great news and for some of us it will be bad news….

          • May 19, 2015 at 11:31 pm
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            It’s not garbage journalism… it’s george lucas constantly contradicting himself + the article was published in a magazine, I’d imagine the layout had to be done before the Tribeca festival. They are going from what everyone involved in the film production said… the author isn’t psychic.

          • May 20, 2015 at 12:37 am
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            Also, vanity fair wouldn’t have taken a third party interview and added it to their article. Hen lint od the article was to sit down one on one with the makers of the film. He declined to participate in an interview with vanity fair. So they left it at that. That is professional journalism.

          • May 20, 2015 at 1:04 am
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            I’m not even sure GL was talking about the ST characters when he said that. He said the saga was about the father(PT) the children(OT) and the grand children(ST). Then said the children were in their twenties. I’m sure it’s just GL not thinking he needed to be too specific but it’s a possibility he meant the OT characters since he said children instead of grand children. Probably just a slip of the tongue though.

    • May 19, 2015 at 11:10 pm
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      Sounds like Arndt didn’t have much anyway.

      • May 19, 2015 at 11:40 pm
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        Concur. Sounds like they were scrambling after seeing just how BAD George’s sequel trilogy was. (And to think Rinzler has stated for years that those were some of the best ideas.. LOL) It was really not Arndt so much as it was a collective failure of the three to get something together by the deadline, and someone had to force-choked.
        “You have failed me for the last time.”

  • May 19, 2015 at 7:31 pm
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    I think they are definitely playing the PR game on this one and don’t want people to be grabbing their pitchforks and burning down the studio IE what most people are doing to Sony with the Paul Feig travesty of Ghostbusters.

    • May 20, 2015 at 12:48 am
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      Any entertainment interview whether it be for a writen article or video is always done for PR. They want to promote their product and put it in a positive light. There’s nothing cynical or deceptive about it. It’s a part of the business of making movies. Why bother putting a negative spin on every public interaction they make? BUT OF COURSE, if they had decided to skip this Vaniy Fair interview and break a tradition that they started 16 years ago, I’m sure you would be right here spinning that around to be “Lucasfilm must be hiding how crappy the movie is”. It’s people like you who they can never please and they shouldn’t waste their time trying.

  • May 19, 2015 at 7:46 pm
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    I’d like to listen to those iPhone recorded sessions

    • May 21, 2015 at 5:30 pm
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      I’d rather read to GL’s sequel treats.

  • May 19, 2015 at 7:47 pm
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    ‘At the session, the scene, with the alien suddenly sticking its head over a dune, got a big laugh. Some perfectionist suggested a few digital polishes, but Lucas was wary. “Heh. It’s so old-school and crazy,” he chuckled. “We could improve this thing, but at some point do we lose the wonderful preposterousness?” ‘

    I WISH. :/

  • May 19, 2015 at 7:57 pm
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    Well, this helps to clear things up a bit concerning the story. Lucas even said he only had a rough outline and needed for the rest of the story to be filled in. Sounds like Arndt shit was completely trashed.

    The article is a bit vague though. “some departures” from Lucas’ story could mean many different things…from a certain point of view.

  • May 19, 2015 at 8:03 pm
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    Bullshit, George has alreday declared more than a month ago that the Grandchild were in their 20 !!!

    • May 20, 2015 at 5:24 pm
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      George contradicts himself 5 times each day probably before breakfast.

      Which probably means there is tv dinner breakfasts, cereal, real ham and eggs and blue milk, regular milk and pink milk.

  • May 19, 2015 at 8:16 pm
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    Old school strikes back! I don´t want this movie to be great, I want it to be AWESOME. This year, I just want to sit on that red chair and watch the STARWARS title passing by, with that wonderfull song and those wonderfull feelings. And in the end of it,when I have read all the credits with John Williams orchestra dropping the drumm beats, I will say, as louder as I can: THIS IS STARWARS!!!

  • May 19, 2015 at 8:44 pm
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    GOod stuff. thanks!

  • May 19, 2015 at 8:48 pm
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    Wasn’t there a rumour waaaay back stating that JJ thought that the Arndt script didn’t have enough of the old crew in it so he re did it with Kasdan to give the OC a proper send off before passing over the torch properly in eps 8+9,or was that bullshit?

    • May 19, 2015 at 9:56 pm
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      You are right.But that point is not the only difficulty for JJ,Kasdon to take over GL treatment. There must have be another issue. Since GL would not like to stick to old idea or character, I am wondering Firest Order , Clome trooper thing are not in the original GL idea.

  • May 19, 2015 at 9:10 pm
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    Fascinating. Of course everyone involved is going to be positive about it. I just hope we aren’t all hyped up by amazing trailers only to find out the final product isn’t at all what we wanted. It’s a damn fine trailer though… the leaks all point towards something at least decent.

    *Fingers crossed. Legs, arms and eyes too*

  • May 19, 2015 at 9:11 pm
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    that shot of daisy ridley on the top…

    • May 19, 2015 at 11:04 pm
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      Boyega is hotter

  • May 19, 2015 at 9:12 pm
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    Iam sure a lot of Georges ideas are still in the new movie’he is the father of star wars after all.will be good to give the old crew a good send of’but think how many great movies we could have had since return of the Jedi with the main stars its feels a little to late and a big waste’better late then never but amazing films iam sure we missed out on.but can’t wait for the force awakens.

  • May 19, 2015 at 9:21 pm
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    If teenage factor was the only problem, Kasdan and Abrams would not have started from scratch. There must have an another element which Kennedy , JJ, and Kasdon could not accept from GL original treatment.

  • May 19, 2015 at 9:25 pm
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    “Kennedy described the script’s mix of old and new characters in terms of audience expectations: “It’s sort of like going to a concert where you want to hear the new stuff that they’ve written, but really you want to hear some of the old songs. ” – Sounds like Luke is in more than just one scene.

  • May 19, 2015 at 9:28 pm
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    Somebody’s obviously lying. First, Lucas said months ago that his main characters were in their 20s, not teenagers. Second, Kennedy’s notion that they only “made some departures from Lucas’s ideas {…} but only in exactly the way you would in any development process” is obvious nonsense, since it’s contradicted by the entire rest of the article where people say they “didn’t have anything” and were starting “from scratch,” and were “struggling to come up with a story.”

    • May 19, 2015 at 10:56 pm
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      It´s like the game of the “quiet mail” – the first will whisper something to the ear of the second and so on, and the last one will say what heard loudly and usually it´s something completely different from how it started. I assume this is the same situation. That means Lucas said the truth and time, KK, JJ and LK made it something different….

  • May 19, 2015 at 9:33 pm
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    Can’t this movie just be finished and get out already gorram

  • May 19, 2015 at 9:50 pm
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    I would love to see Han blast a villain then look over his shoulder at Leia and quip, “What? He shot at me first!”

  • May 19, 2015 at 9:54 pm
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    …and What Part of Michael Arndt’s Script was Used? I guess none?

    If that’s what you’re trying to say, why not just put that in the title?

  • May 19, 2015 at 9:58 pm
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    Think Han might find his old clothes in the Falcon at some point after getting the ship back?

  • May 19, 2015 at 10:02 pm
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    I haven’t posted all year but I’m so excited! I was 5 when my dad took me to the Mann’s Chinese to see Star Wars and the goosebumps I had then are back! Let’s all enjoy the shit out of this. Grab the kids and have some good old fashioned FUN AT A STAR WARS MOVIE!!! Popcorn with double butter! Aaaaaaaaargh! Love u JJ! That is all. See u all there!

  • May 19, 2015 at 10:07 pm
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    First order, Clome trooper, new star destroyer which looks alike and remind the Old Good Empire from OT were not in the first treatment by Lucas. Because Lucas hate to stick to the old characters , setups even they are classic and masterful . He always likes to introduce new element , not always successful.

  • May 19, 2015 at 10:16 pm
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    We’re all lucky JJ said yes to this…We have Lucas to thank for building this world but all his latest movies have clearly shown his strength is NOT in producing and directing.

    You combine Lucas’s high level outline, parameters, and world building with JJ’s directing abilities and I’d be willing to bet any sum of money that even in a worst case scenario, the movie will be good. More likely, however, is that this movie is going to be something we are never going to forget.

    Can’t wait.

    • May 19, 2015 at 11:09 pm
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      Quite worried about JJ’s writing abilities though… Lawrence Kasdan, you’re my only hope.

      • May 20, 2015 at 1:29 pm
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        Regarding Henry was a good film that JJ wrote.

        “Star Wars: Regarding Solo and Who Shot First”

  • May 19, 2015 at 10:20 pm
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    I hope there’s a full plot trailer for comicon

    • May 20, 2015 at 12:39 am
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      Sounds like they shit on every idea he had for the ST…. GOOD. He throws out TPM like “oh well I didnt fuck up again and do that the same way..” Not word for word but basically the gist…

      Like we believe anything you wrote for the ST’s would have been any better.

      Thank God for Kasdan/Kennedy and JJ. Not saying its gonna work, but at least it has a shot now…..

      • May 20, 2015 at 12:46 am
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        For better and for worse, George Lucas is Star Wars.

        Without his creative input, at least in some capacity, is this new film really an authentic Star Wars production?

        Or is it just some EU-type shit?

        • May 20, 2015 at 12:59 am
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          GL is the PAST of Star Wars. He created it and willingly handed it off for others to continue. He didn’t have to sell Lucasfilm. He didn’t have to step down as president of his company. But he chose to. It is his will that they move on without him. He hand picked his successor. A woman who hadn’t been part of the company, who hadn’t fallen into the position. She was chosen by him because he was comfortable with any decision SHE would make moving forward. All Star Wars content coming out now IS Star Wars. That is the point of his decision making.

          • May 20, 2015 at 1:26 am
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            Lucas sold Star Wars with treatments for a sequel trilogy, with the understanding that they’d base a ST on those treatments. Now we’re not getting those stories. I, for one, am considerably less interested in a Star Wars without Lucas–but selling us a ST that *could have been* based on Lucas’ treatments is just kind of offensive. Moreso because then Kennedy blatantly lies about it.

          • May 20, 2015 at 1:57 am
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            “Lucas sold Star Wars with treatments for a sequel trilogy, with the understanding that they’d base a ST on those treatments.”

            It’s business. Money changed hands. There is no “understanding”. DIsney owes Lucas nothing, and your suggestion of offense is cute, and laughable.

            If i’m spending $4 billion, I do what I want with my purchase.

          • May 20, 2015 at 3:19 am
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            “If i’m spending $4 billion, I do what I want with my purchase.”

            Damn straight.

          • May 20, 2015 at 5:12 am
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            Disney has the right to do with their purchase what they want. And I have the right to be offended when they lie to me.

          • May 20, 2015 at 3:20 am
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            I don’t think some people understand the difference between a treatment and a script. There is no telling how far Lucas’ treatment was from being a bases for a movie let alone a trilogy. For all u know his line about the saga being about grandfather, children. grandchildren is as much though as he had given it.

          • May 20, 2015 at 5:06 am
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            I do understand the difference between a treatment and a script. And I doubt it being about the grandchildren was all there was to it–that wouldn’t be a treatment. Plus, wet know from am interview with Jetty Lucas from a while back that George spent quite a while working on those treatments.

        • May 20, 2015 at 1:08 am
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          It is now more than evident that the story of this ST is just EU.
          At this point there is no more doubt about it.

        • May 20, 2015 at 3:17 am
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          @Tim:

          I’ll take quality “Legends/EU” fan films over Lucas’ canon PT-quality films any day of the week!

          • May 20, 2015 at 6:35 pm
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            Here here!!

        • May 20, 2015 at 6:37 pm
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          Look Brother I will always love GL for creating Star Wars. What a huge part of all of our lives!

          But man its time for him to move on. The PT proved that. His ideas, his creation, the universe he created will always be there. Remember him everytime you see a XWing, or a Protocol Droid. Nothing wrong with that.

          Just dont want him writing and directing anymore movies in the universe he created.

      • May 20, 2015 at 8:03 pm
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        IMO the overall story of the PT is excellent. It’s the execution that failed. There were not enough people involved in the decision making. George had an idea and BAM! just like that it’s in the film. The PT wasn’t directed, filmed, cast, or edited as it could and should have been. Lucas’ “ideas” though were not the problem I don’t think.

        • May 21, 2015 at 7:46 am
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          “IMO the overall story of the PT is excellent. It’s the execution that failed.”

          I’ve heard this before, but I don’t buy it.

          A heavy emphasis on politics? Slave kid Anakin? Sidious is right under the Jedi Order’s nose the whole time, but no one senses it? TPM is basically a waste of time as far as covering the OT’s backstory? Qui-Gon’s a main character instead of a supporting one? The real Clone Wars doesn’t begin until AFTER Episode II instead of BEFORE Episode I? Vader turned to the dark side because of love rather than impatience and a lust for power? Padme is a 14-year old queen? Midi-chlorians? Boba Fett and the clone troopers were cloned from Jango Fett rather than leaving Boba out of this and having Sidious clone monsters by using the Force and secret Sith teachings? We get 3 piss-poor main villains across 3 PT films instead of one really well-developed one (Maul)?

          Yeah, you can do more with just the outlines, but I see them as crap, too.

          • May 21, 2015 at 5:53 pm
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            Dude, what could be more right than “Vader turned to the dark side because of love”? Men do stupid things over a pussy all the time! Anakin’s story couldn´t be more real than that! Padme was his first love and, because of that(her), he only made shit!

  • May 20, 2015 at 2:02 am
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    I really love Michael Arndt’s work and was really excited when he was announced, but it does look like he completely collapsed under the pressure. :/

    • May 20, 2015 at 3:21 am
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      Yeah, but who knows? Maybe Arndt’s contributions will eventually show up somewhere.

    • May 21, 2015 at 3:20 am
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      “Collapsed under the pressure”…

      The thing that worries me most about the way movies seem to get made is how little time a writer is given to actually WRITE!!! I imagine any writer saddled with the task of writing up a sequel to one of the most iconic pop culture films of all time would be going absolutely insane trying to get the chemistry as perfect as can be. A 6 month chunk of time can go by very, very quickly. I am skeptical about Disney’s agenda to crank out a Star Wars film in such a relatively short amount of time. It communicates to me that they are hungry to start turning over a profit as quickly as possible with an almost disregard for the most critical component that defines a successful film: the WRITING. Personally, I wouldn’t have objected to waiting a few more years to see a sequel if it ultimately benefited the story.

      • May 21, 2015 at 5:58 pm
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        Best comment of this topic. Positivate the user above and negativate the user below.

  • May 20, 2015 at 2:20 am
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    Of course KK and JJ would have liked to use the Lucas treatment to guarantee fan-boy approval.. It’s a no-brainer!! The truth is they had to actually deliver a product.. not just get the ball rolling, and the Lucas treatment just wasn’t up to snuff.. they’re not stupid

    • May 20, 2015 at 3:24 am
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      Exactly.

      I say “whatever” to the whole thing. Who cares if they take a little heat from some of the fans if it potentially means making a much better film?

      We’ll have to see, but I trust Abrams and company – not George Lucas. But at least he’ll finally get to watch a Star Wars film as a regular fan who’s in the dark on the details.

  • May 20, 2015 at 3:40 am
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    People look over the fact that these were treatments. Not completed scripts. The people complaining should read the “Making of” books for the original trilogy. Lucas had a treatment for Empire Strikes Back as well. And Kasdan ended up with a very different script when it was all said and done. Return of the Jedi was even more so. Thats why there is concept art for Jedi that is very different than what we see on film. The very banner image that this site uses is a perfect example of that. The redirection of a Star Wars story is nothing new.

    • May 20, 2015 at 5:10 am
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      Perhaps you should read one of those “making of” books. Lucas wrote several drafts for ESB after deciding he didn’t want to use Brackett’s draft. Then Kasdan did a couple of polishes.

      • May 20, 2015 at 7:00 am
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        Kasdan did way more than a couple polishes. He was a major contributor to that script.

      • May 20, 2015 at 1:56 pm
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        Lucas didn’t exactly “decide” to not use what she’d written. Leigh Brackett died. Lucas *had* to do the other drafts until another writer could be found to replace her.

      • May 20, 2015 at 5:29 pm
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        Kasdan did a lot.

        And then Kershner, Kurtz and Kasdan on set did a lot more.

        And then Kershner and Harrison Ford did even more on set.

  • May 20, 2015 at 3:56 am
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    Not to nitpick but c’mon Vanity Fair writer- when was a “phaser” ever used in a Star Wars movie? Or was that intended to be pop-culture ironic?

  • May 20, 2015 at 5:17 am
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    The truth is all the statement from Abrams.Starting from Page one , Brank. Enough said.
    His resume deserves more respect and trust from SW fan. Expecting to collaborate with RIan Jhonson.

  • May 20, 2015 at 12:59 pm
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    disney would not change storylines unless their sale contract allowed them and the team decided they needed it.

    I trust kathleen kennedy as a producer. look at her track record.

    There is a huge difference between treatments, screen plays, scripts, how the script is delivered and how it is cut, edited and put into a final film.

    that is why film making is so interesting and also hard to get right ever time. so many variables and opportunities to screw up. a bad performance, with a bad script (hayden) can screw things up. A great performance with a bad script (ford) can improve things no end. a great story with a bad script can still make a great film. a shit story with a great director can also make a good film. tick tock. here comes december.

    • May 20, 2015 at 5:31 pm
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      This.

      There is so much Harrison Ford probably did in ESB, even Carrie Fisher has said she didn’t know what her lines were going to be everyday on set between Kershner, Ford and Kasdan.

      And they went back and did reshoots after that, changing the “original script” even more.

  • May 21, 2015 at 3:10 pm
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    George Lucas is one of the greatest storytellers of all time. Where he’s made mistakes is recycling ideas like the Death Star, and poor character choices like Jar Jar and the Ewoks. The fact that they didn’t use his stories is troubling to me, though I’ve liked the trailers and story synopsis so far.

    • May 21, 2015 at 8:15 pm
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      I thank GL for recycling Death Star as it gave to us the most epic space battle ever!

  • May 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm
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    Oh no Kasdan is 66! Hopefully he won’t execute Order 66 on Star Wars!

    • May 21, 2015 at 8:52 pm
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      Mark Hamill was 62 when he reprised his role as Luke Skywalker, and John Williams is ’83.

      How appropriate. 🙂

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