• empireonline.com NID=41353

"Looper's Rian Johnson To Direct Star Wars: Episode VIII - And he'll write a treatment for Episode IX"








A good choice for an Empire style sequel methinks

I watched LOOPER last weekend - absolutely fantastic film. Thumbs up for this guy!

Interesting that they announce this now.

I was curious what Abrams' role will be after Episode VII was complete and I think it's now clear that the plan is to bring fresh blood into each Episode, ala the OT (even though it's rumoured that Lucas basically took over the production of ROTJ).

As for Johnson: I thought Looper was a good film. A bit slow in parts, but solid. I just hope JGL doesn't end up in Star Wars. He's in so much shit these days that he completely takes me out of the fantasy of whatever movie he's in. He's part of the problem with Dark Knight Rises.

Now I guess we can speculate who's directing Episode IX. Affleck won't have time because of his Batman commitments. Would have loved to see an Affleck Star Wars because of how big a fan he is.

More "official news" that just happens to not be officially announced by anyone official.

Guilty of jumping the gun on that one Still, one can hope.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=11355271

Rian Johnson interview ... 35 minutes in.

Not a very revealing interview. Terrible nostalgia-fixated hosts who like to hate on perfection.

Rian whats-his-name and Terry Gilliam talking about stuff...

https://soundcloud.com/thetalkhouse/ter ... an-johnson

I heard from a guy at work that JJ was asked not to return to helm the trilogy because his ideas were less than great. Disney and Kathy Kennedy had to come up with a plan B and chose Rian Johnson. He knew plot details of the Episode VII's script and I asked him not to share them. Rumors and speculation is one thing. Actually knowing the plot wouldn't be fun!

Did you at least ask him if the plot leaks we've been getting match up with what he knows, or are they all BS?

I am actually the long lost brother of JJ Abrams. He gave me the script months ago. I just like coming here and chatting with folks so I don't say what I know.

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if J. J.'s ideas turned out to be shit. The guy is a hack writer.

He's a great action director, but he can't write for shit. Look at his fucking movies. Look at Lost! (I know he was not directly involved for most of that show's production, but he DID come up with the shitty ending.)

He should be contractually obligated to stay at least 500 feet away from the script of any movie he ever shoots at all times. The crew can just read it to him line-by-line or project it onto a wall.

I didn't mean to sound so douchey in my post, I swear. I "confirmed" a few of the rumors with my coworker but honestly they were confirmed elsewhere too. His source is a guy at AICN. They do a podcast together or will soon or something.

Either way, what he confirmed relates to Luke being gone for 30 years and Boyega being the hero on a journey. Yet Han Solo is a main character. And the Empire exists in pockets. So whoever is leaking this stuff is legit.

I suspect the real reason they chose Rian Johnson goes back to one of the early concepts George had for Star Wars being an anthology-like playground for other filmmakers' visions.

I heard from the voice in my sink that Jar-Jar was getting a sex scene with some ewoks in EP. VIII. The concept art was horrendous.