How Collaboration Between Directors is Shaping the Future of Star Wars (Abrams Praises Johnson’s Episode VIII Script)
So here we are, just hours from the world premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and a mere few days until the film makes its worldwide debut. While it may seem that everything has led up to this moment; soon, the moment will be gone – and we’ll be left with one question: What’s next? A recent article from Slashfilm details the collaboration that is taking place between directors J.J. Abrams (The Force Awakens) and Rian Johnson (Episode VIII) and how that collaborative effort is shaping the future of the saga.
At the Star Wars: The Force Awakens press junket, Slashfilm’s Peter Sciretta sat down with Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy and Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams to learn how the future of the Star Wars saga is being created. They revealed that there has been no small amount of collaboration between directors Abrams and Johnson, and Johnson was actually involved in some discussions during the creation of The Force Awakens, giving his own input and criticisms in light of the big picture and the story they are telling with the new trilogy.
Kathleen Kennedy mentioned again how Johnson (pictured below) started working on the script for Episode 8 a year and a half ago and that he’s been in prep for a year with the shoot scheduled to begin at the end of January 2016. According to Kennedy, it is important that they are working a couple years out in front of the start dates for each film, at least in terms of script. Kennedy says that Rian came in “very early and he read, and came and visited the set,” and that “J.J. and him had a lot of conversations”.
It should come as no surprise with the level of collaboration (and the fact that Abrams is producing the other films in the trilogy) that he is also involved in Johnson’s project as well. Of course, we can’t say this definitively (without having seen The Force Awakens), but for the moment, I have a really good feeling about the future of the saga, especially given J.J.’s involvement and based on what he has shown us so far. Furthermore, Abrams has read Johnson’s script for Episode VIII, and had this to say:
When Rian who I admire enormously and adore, came on board, we met and talked with him about all the things we were working on and playing with, and he as a spectacular writer and director has taken those things and has written an AMAZING script that I think will be an incredible next chapter, some of which incorporating things we were thinking of and other things are things we could never of dreamed of.
Kennedy went on to say that Colin Trevorrow (pictured above) will probably have the same type of collaboration with Johnson as the latter had with Abrams, which makes sense with Trevorrow at the helm of the third film in the trilogy which will bring about its conclusion. Read the full article here.
Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.
Come on baby, don’t let me down!
They couldn’t have picked two more different directors. I’m hoping the “homages” are kept to a bare minimum with the next two.
It also sounds like the things I really want to see will happen in VIII not VII like….
– Rey in a duel and being trained as a Jedi
– The possible resurgence of the New Jedi Order
– Luke Skywalker taking a more active role and as a mentor
– Lando Calrissian?
None of those things seem like they will happen in The Force Awakens, I’m sure 8 and possibly 9 will be better films but hopefully they are not outclassed to the point of embarrassment like Revenge Of The Sith with TPM and AOTC.
Revenge of the Sith is probably the worst of the 3.
You have absolutely no taste
I like men. Seriously though, its like making someone choose between eating three donuts that have been in a trash heap for a week. no win.
I wouldn’t pay too much attention to this Dudley troll. I’ve seen a couple of his comments here and there in previous articles and yeah, he’s pretty much a no-life troll that likes to rile people up (out of some sense of self-satisfied) with his irrational & delusional ramblings.
At least my comments are the truth- you are just mean to people. I am talking about bad movies. settle down…
Seems pretty low to attack another person via comments- but I guess people with lives think that is a good idea. According to you I wouldn’t know about that. Thanks for the free lesson. You are a gem!
Obvious troll is obvious
lol you are funny- if anything anyone said on here were anything more than opinions they would making these films not wasting their time on a message board. Troll on bro~
Truth to you as they are OPINION.
exactly, opinion is truth.
No Jar Jar lines or shit jokes elevate it for me over the other two prequels. Supposedly he’s not in good health but he was always a con man and not an action hero. I’d be happy with him in it as long as Luke is supposed to in this new one otherwise people will wonder since he was a major character in the last two,
Revenge of the Sith was a giant video game with a few human beings pasted in.
I still prefer it to the fart jokes of I and the “love” story of II.
I am not worried at all about JJ and Johnson’s work. I am not that sure about Colin. Hope all three will bring us a coherent and a visually good trilogy.
Colin is hot garbage.
Yeah I’m worried about him too. To be honest I’ve only seen Jurassic World but it was just a pretty bland, big, often incoherent, action movie. I just don’t see anything in JW that gives me much hope he will manage to bring anything particularly original or cool to Episode 9. Hope I’m wrong of course. Marquand didn’t manage to make such a great film with ROTJ. It was decent, and saved by the emotional climax of Luke/Vaders story but it definitely was the weakest directed of the three. Hope we don’t get the same again. I want every film to be as good, classy and visually striking as Empire, but maybe I’m hoping for too much. TFA is shaping up very well so it will at least kick start this new trilogy the right way, we hope!
in JW he obviously was out of his depth. He let the previz team run the visuals/ shot choices and because he is credited as one of the screenwriters I have to think that he has some type of mental issues. Terrible movie.
100 % agreed. thats why if he gets to write this with no kasdan it will be awful
Johnson is writing it as of now.
Can Episode VIII come out already!!
seriously. as much as I am excited for 8- I am scared to death by 9.
Almost there……
Stay on target…
Loosen up!
I CANNOT WAIT FOR EPISODE 7! I can’t believe they’re actually going to show previews for movies like Batman v. Superman and Captain America in front of it. The audience will be in NO MOOD for any of that. I bet they BOO those previews. I bet they boo anything that doesn’t begin with “A long time ago…” I’m sure I will LOL
I definitely won’t be booing. This new star wars is just a culmination of all the quality geek movies that have been over the years. It’s only fitting that Star Wars is allowing these movies to pay tribute to its grandeur. It’s a celebration of geekdom. Star Wars helms it but everything else is very welcome as well.
That would be kind of funny. I’m sure it would “good-natured booing” though, followed by some laughter.
The reason VII is so good is a tribute to all the collaboration. It makes the trilogy really interesting to see each film in a new directors hands. It also means each director will not be thinking too much on three movies but will focus on his one directorial moment in the Star Wars franchise.
One of the issues with Superman was the director was thinking about Superman V Batman while making Superman. Thinking about the whole arc is great but directors need to focus. This is also a credit to Kathleen. She is running this well.
Not to be ‘that guy’, but:
“The reason VII is so good…”
You know this how exactly? It might be spectacular, or it might be a very mediocre piece of entertainment product (TM) – nobody knows yet, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves; it was no fun in ’99.
Only Qui gonn was good…
Sigh…I wish people would stop praising Abrams and TFA at least till we’ve actually watched the film.
Many have a postiive attitude and I have read and watched every interview with him I can. If you think he hasn’t tried his best and doesn’t care about SW, and is not concerned about making it well loved a to touch people, you’ve lost your mind.
Being positive is not the same as being naively optimistic, just like being realistic is not the same as being negative. Moreover, being positive won’t make the film any better than it really will be.
Think Lucas didn’t try to do his best with the PT? Think he didn’t (and still doesn’t) care about SW? I don’t give a damn about Abrams doing his best or caring about his vision of SW, not mine or yours, but HIS vision of SW, get it, genius? My only concern is that the guy made a good film, period.
The risk of the film disappointing is still there. Not my problem that you can’t or won’t understand that people are entitled to their own opinion, whether you like it or not. Twisting people’s words around, only because you don’t like what you’re hearing, now THAT is losing your mind.
And guess what? What you think of it is all subjective! Good or bad is indeed a point of view, what’s good or bad to you may be opposite to someone else. If you think them or anyone else on this planet making the movie can please everyone, I got a bridge for you.
I never said that the film will be good or bad. I only said I wish people stopped praising J.J. Abrams and TFA *before* watching the movie. Obviously, preferences and opinions vary. But this is not subjective; it is a fact that nobody can praise or speak ill of a film that we haven’t seen yet.
I think they just got lucky, and people happened to like it. But I know some people who like Empire the least. But it’s the online commenter’s darling.
not familiar with colin’s work beyond jurassic world.. and that itself is concerning. i found that film to be extremely mediocre and with him at the helm of the finale of this trilogy is concerning… but based on the amount of collaboration going on between the head honchos at lucasfilm and these directors, i have a feeling they’re going to knock this trilogy out of the park.
They should have let Johnson do 9 as originally planned.
Definitely.
It would have been impossible for him to write, prep, direct, and edit two in a row.
na, def possible, just not in the timeline they want to them to do it in.
Yeah, I was going to say that there’s at least three movies I can think of that demonstrate is certainly is possible. But absolutely not by releasing movies every two years, you’re right.
you film them together, ala LOTR.
LOTR benefitted from being an adaptation. It would require significantly more time to create multiple original scripts from scratch, design everything from scratch (much of LOTR’s look was adapted from preexisting illustrations), and wrangle the logistics of that many sets and locations (unlike LOTR, Star Wars has a tendency to hop continents; it’s already been announced that some of VIII will be shot in Mexico). You’re essentially talking shooting a couple different movies vs. shooting one movie split into separate acts.
Also, if this were one big production, what are the odds we wouldn’t have the whole thing spoiled long before Episode IX was released? That would really suck.
my idea was that j.j. comes back to do episode 9. obviously none of us have seen the film yet but judging by what we know so far, it’s most likely going to be incredible. maybe if it’s good enough, colin will quit and either jj or rian johnson will do it .. xD
if we are blessed trevorrow will break his leg or something so he cant write or direct it. were screwed if hes writing it, not so much if hes just directing , which on a machine like starwars, directing just entails getting good performances–the production design cinematography and storyboards will be in place for a novice like him so aesthetically it will line up with the first 2 but if he writes the script theres no saving it
I don’t know: Richard Marquand wasn’t, by any possible mean, a great director (actually, he was a mediocre one at best) and yet “Jedi” is a good movie. I think that, if the first two episodes are solid and work in establishing a good narrative and an interesting visual style, the third one only need a director that can do what he’s told.
I didn’t love Jurassic World but I think its biggest problems are in the script, so I’m not particularly worried about Trevorrow.
Not sure that’s a valid analogy though. Haters gonna hate, but Jedi was mostly in effect directed by Lucas who, after he felt Empire got out of his control, basically sat on Marquand’s shoulder every step of the way. Marquand was hired because he would do what Lucas told him to.
And your point is pretty much the reason for my analogy: Trevorrow will have Kennedy, Abrams (if he is still producing Ep. IX), and basically all LucasFilm and the Story Group on his shoulder, telling him what to do. I’m also pretty confident that he will receive more than an imput from Rian Johnson since – if I am not mistaken – RJ is writing the script for 9.
you should be because he might write the last one as well as direct. If richard marquand wrote jedi instead of kasdan we would have got an abomination of a movie
I don’t see the point in being worried about something that’s A) out of my control and B) in no way definitive yet.
In my experience, it works best to try and get as more enjoyment as possible from how things actually are, rather than whining because reality doesn’t bend to my will (which doesn’t mean being acritical but implies avoiding prejudices).
As of right now, Rian Johnson is allegedly attached to write the screenplay, or at the very least the story treatment, for Ep. IX – and writing really is one of his strong suits – while there’s no mention of Trevorrow as a writer.
(That said: except for a story treatment for “Nowhere to Run” [1993] we really don’t have anything to assess Marquand’s writing skills, so there simply is no way to know if he would’ve wrote an “abomination” or a masterpiece).
Very well said… the sad fact is that people do a thing called “psychological projection” a lot: they often lead disempowered lives, allow themselves to be manipulated by consumerism, etc., don’t have a spiritual life to nourish them – and then they expect that external things will make them happy. Everything from other people to belongings, personal posessions, etc. and certainly movies and video games too.
What you said is a very simple, common-sense way to live and be happy, but lots of people prefer to cling to their judgments and their projections instead because they just don’t know anything else…
Oh boy, we can’t really say nothing here beyond “how great is Star Wars and the entire universe”.
Really, when you care about something, you talk about it, you share your thoughts and others do. This is why this community exists. This is not a Yoga class.
Who is whining? Besides you, that is.
I was referring to the people already complaining about Trevorrow – but you read my comment, so you already now that, as well as you know that I wasn’t whining over anything, I was merely explaining why I don’t bother worrying about this kind of thing.
Nice try, though 🙂
Anything can happen between now and then.
Jurassic World was by no means crap – but it wasn’t fantastic, either. However, I suspect that JJ might make a surprise return, especially if TFA is brilliant. Michael Arndt didn’t go the distance – maybe Trevorrow won’t either?
he has no work, he has a milksop rom com indie and thats it
There’s those dastardly expectations: we seem to demand more of SW films than almost any other franchise, with only like two or three exceptions. I mean, I get it… but it’s also a little absurd.
I only care if the final product’s good… as has been pointed out, Kersh and Richard Marquand weren’t legendary directors but they did a fine job – well, TESB is amazing, really – and they came in after the fact, didn’t have a lot of story input, etc. etc… in other words, I think it’s too early to worry about Ep. IX.
What happened with Josh Trank is a positive sign, I think – I liked Chronicle but, by all accounts, he was in way over his head and had personal problems to boot, so Disney became worried and eventually couldn’t ignore the bad signs anymore. The Fantastic Four movie was heavily panned for a reason, and where there’s smoke there’s usually fire…
Crazy that JJ is like 50. Guy looks like he’s 36.
How about her, she’s 62!
Of course, that photo is like. Decade old, but stil…
I was watching Temple of Doom recently and saw Kathleen Kennedy’s name in the opening credits and I was floored. I had no idea she was that old. She looks 40.
She looks…how do I put this kindly…like a polished plastic ball with skin stretched tight over it. I suspect she’s not looking 40 exactly…naturally.
The Dark Side is a path to many abilities that some might consider….unnatural
Touche, good Sir.
50ish maybe, But 40, Not seeing that.
He actually does look like a solid 45 but that’s the thing, when you apply your youthesizer drug of fantasy and scifiness you always look and actually are younger! (Also the good life of living on millions of dollars)
Why is Trevorrow directing IX? the only reason Jurassic World’s director is doing IX could be because Frank Marshall (Jurassic World producer) is the husband of Kathleen Kennedy. Otherwise I don’t get it, as far as I consider Jurassic World a pretty bad movie, specially concerning character development, which is mandatory in Star Wars.
There were plenty of exciting options around. J.A. Bayona, for example.
Couldn’t agree more. Trevorrow does not have what it takes.
he sucks but so did richard marquand and i still like most of jedi–the real issue is if he gets to write the script, then it could truly suck–Jedi had kasdans script so it could only be mucked up by a lame director so much….if the first two are really good and trevorrow makes a crappy 3rd based off his script he will truly never live it down…his career will never get over “you screwed us out of a good ending” from the legion of angry sw fans
Why do you think Richard Marquand sucked? Eye of the Needle was good, as was his later Jagged Edge. If he hadn’t died so young, I’m pretty sure he could have made a good name for himself.
You’re totally right about what will happen if Trevorrow doesn’t deliver on Episode IX. Star Wars fans are not very forgiving 😀
Richard Marquand was, among all, a director of actors, and that’s why Lucas wisely chose him for a movie that had to close that story.
In Jurassic World, you have this teenager character who’s only thinking about chicks, and it’s embarassing all over the film. I can’t get over that.
What bugged me most was the color grading. Jurassic World looked as if a color blind idiot had tried to grade it in adobe after effects.
I’m not on board for him either… but look at it this way… character development should be well cemented by the time we reach episode 9. So he’s really just handling the end. *Remembers the ending to JW*
Oh god…
Nah… I still have a tiny bit more faith just because it’s one massive collaboration. I’m hoping if any director does anything to crazy or bad others will step up and say… whoa slow down there! Rethink this or that.
You know Irvin Kershener didnt really do jack diddly before he did Empire.
Not much after to get huge praise for either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5mZbLWsEsE
Star Wars VII The Force Awakens : already changes !
JJ Abrams is going to the dark side ?
That’s a little process we movie buffs like to cal POST PRODUCTION. Yeah…
Not only that but all the TV spots are heavily edited even between themselves let alone the final cut. Meaning Rey’s dialog may have never been changed at all. Just for the TV spot to work.
Exactly. Trailers cut up audio and dialogue all the time.
lol, yeah… it’s kind of funny that you’re slicing the trailers waaaay thin, but appear ignorant of the fact that the movie has been in production (i.e. unfinished) until only a few days ago.
It’s just various shots that went to the bin and were therefore used in the trailers
I wasn’t to worried about separate directors until I saw Star Trek’s latest trailer. Wowza that trailers cinematography is just so much… less than what we’ve seen for Star Wars and even the Trek’s before it.
No offense to Justin Lin but you can just see the difference. Hopefully it’ll work out better for Star Wars between these three. As for the spin-off movies. Go nuts. I don’t care if they are completely different in tone and feel.
the one advantage SW has is that rian johnson has been involved almost from the beginning as opposed to being brought in after the fact. besides it worked out pretty well in the OT. 🙂
For me it was the screaming Beastie Boys in the background. I like them and all (esp. the Star Trek-themed video for ‘Check it Out’), but it was like nails on a chalkboard against a sci-fi backdrop…
Allright, 48 hours everyone! I’m ready to take the bets, my money’s on:
*Han survives
*Limited Luke screen time
*Lots of explosions and action, less of a story
*Rey and Kylo are siblings
Han dies
Extremely limited Luke time
More story than mindless action
Rey is Luke’s daughter, Kylo is Han and Leia’s son.
Doc comes back from the future
Says there’s a problem with Marty’s kids Kylo and Rey
Luke Tannen steals the sports almanac
-han dies: 33%
-snoke is plagueis: 66%
-rey/kylo related: 90%; siblings: 51%
-luke in more then 5 minutes: 10%
🙂
Regardless if The Force awakens is good or bad, all eyes are on Rian Johnson after this week. I hope he is ready for that
The most surprising thing in Slash Film article is Kennedy said there were no story treatment for episode 8, 9 and she left each director with freedom of story development. So JJ set up Snoke as new character in TFA, Rian could change him into Darth Plaguis.
Or he could change him into Darth Jar Jar.
Horray for the death of fore-gone conclusions!
I’m really afraid now that Finn will turn out to be a nobody as all emphasis is put on Rey, making the movie unbalanced and cointroversial. Let’s hope I’m wrong.
Who gives a shit?
I´ve already stopped complaining, let the carnage begins.
About Irvin and Richard discussion. Probably weren’t the best well-known directors, but they were filming in a great decade for FX with good stories.
Problem with Colin is the saturated cgi images in actual movies.
Nowadays lots of directors abuse of cgi and in wrong hands a movie loses interest. Recent Exemple, not judging the movie, just the trailer, Star Trek Beyond.
Other two ST movies are not produced by Abrams.
I’ve never seen anything Rian Johnson has made or worked on so this is totally a blank canvas for how Episode VIII might be. I feel quite optimistic though.
You should check out Looper. Not everyone’s a fan but I absolutely loved it.
Godzilla
I think that was Garreth Edwards who’s directing Rogue One.