CONFIRMED: Michael Arndt to Write Screenplay for Star Wars: Episode VII

LINK

Ah! Goddamn work browser, I can't load the site! Well well....will wonders never cease. Call this the first confirmed cast or crew for Episode 7 I guess! I find it a little scary to hear LFL talk about story dicussions in the present tense. They plan to put this thing into theaters in two years time (unless we see a "Christmas 2015!" release to keep it out of the way of Avengers 2); why have they just begun story discussions?

I think Ben's right: JJ Abrams would crush it. He lives to tell stories like this and he would absolutely create the Star Wars we've all been longing for. Abrams or Bird. Brad Bird might be just as big a stud. I think LFL needs to do everything in their power to get either Abrams or Bird on board. Anyone else would be second fiddle.

I disagree. His style is to run rampant with the camera - lots of fast pans and overuse of shaking camera work; that wouldn't suit Star Wars at all.

We need someone with an Indie background in filmmaking and someone who isn't already balls-deep, within the Star Trek universe.

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/11/20/e ... f610000014

Lawrence Kasdan (and Simon Kinberg) has been offered to pen Episode VIII or IX or both?

Disney is doing things right so far!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-v ... mon-393459

Confirmed: Kasdan and Simon Kinberg on board for the new trilogy and will act as producers for the films.

Bring back Han Solo and kill him off, Kasdan! I think Harrison would do it if that happened... and the paycheck.

Interesting. Lucas wanted Kasdan to help him out with TPM but he refused. Guess he needs some money now

Props on the hirin of Kasdan btw

Not that enthused about Kasdan. His output in the last 10 years:

Dreamcatcher

Darling Companion

I hope he hasn't lost it, but...

I'm worried about that too. He reached his zenith in the early 80s. As for Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, This Means War) - average action/romance/comedy stuff, not sure if he's suitable for Star Wars. At least Kasdan worked with Lucas and gets the style. I think Arndt is a better choice than either of them.

I'll believe the Kasdan news when I see it on starwars.com.

As for whether he is right for the job (whatever the job may be - script doctor, consultant, co-producer, etc), Kasdan is a very talented writer. What he's done in the past 10 years hasn't jumped out at me, but his works from the 90's are still among my favorites. Grand Canyon comes to mind. You don't have to be a "sci-fi-fantasy writer" to be able to do this. He understands writing, he understands character development, and he understands Star Wars.

The Dreamcatcher wiki page says his career took a dive after that movie failed. Kind of makes me wonder if he's doing Star Wars because he has nothing else on the table.

I don't think it's fair to write Kasdan off after one failure. He was never the most prolific guy and has had some hits outside of Empire and Raiders, plus he got a young Mary Louise Parker to show off her breasts in Grand Canyon so Kasdan's a-okay in my book.

I'm less interested in his motivations to take the job and more interested in Kennedy's motivations in offering him the job. Did George have a hand in bringing him onboard? It just reeks of cynicism on LFL/Disney's part, "The fans kept saying, 'Just get the guy who wrote Empire to write the prequels' so let's get the guy who wrote Empire to work on the sequels."

I agree. If anything, he has proven he understands the SW world but can deal with it objectively.
It would be too easy to bring in people who are Star Wars/Sci-Fi "fans", but Kasdan is the kind of guy who seems to wring out the real-world touches that these things so desparately need.

Personally, I still think that the best thing that can happen is that people who are grounded outside of the sci-fi/fantasy genre are involved. I suppose Kasdan is famous for Empire and Raiders, but it always seemed to me his task was to take all the sci-fi stuff that was already there and make it more human. Develop the characters and bring out the drama.
I don't really approve of most of the names that are being thrown around as directors to be honest.
It seems like anyone who has made a sci-fi/comic book movie in the past 10 years is under consideration. I'd much rather someone was chosen on the basis of them being able to make good, thought-provoking films rather than them having landed a box office success within the genre.
Of course, that could lead to an Ang Lee's Hulk scenario, but I'd still rather see them take that gamble than churn out another identikit sci-fi movie with SW branding.

You bring up a good point Treadwell. Sometimes a capable journeyman filmmaker can produce the best work in a franchise. Take a look at Skyfall. I mean there really isn't much on Sam Mendes filmography that suggest he'd be able to pull off a Bond picture but he managed to do a great job and created a more "classic" Bond than we've seen in years, all the while maintaining the shift in tone the series has taken since Casino Royale.

By contrast, there's Quantum of Solace where Marc Forster completely misfired. That might not be entirely fair considering the writer's strike, but it's fair to point out that he totally misunderstood the style that characterizes the series. He wasn't equipped to handle the action or the pacing.

The Bond series itself provides a perfect example of the benefits of going with a "tried a true." Martin Campbell did a pretty good job re-establshing Bond with Goldeneye. The series dissolved into ridiculousness and he came back to reboot the franchise, creating arguably the best film of them all in Casino Royale. There's real value bringing a director that understands a genre's intricacies.

Could a journeyman filmmaker do well by Star Wars? Sure. It just might be a bit of a risk. I would prefer a director that is more likely than not to kick the door down and kill it.

The "thought-provoking" part should come from the script first of all. The director should be able to imitate the visual style of Star Wars (with convincing performances, hopefully). And it's not Star Wars without tons of exciting action. So I think a director with experience handling critically acclaimed blockbusters would probably be preferrable to Disney.

To some of you: story and screenplay are different things. Lucas will still provide the story.

Well, I can't really comment on Bond - Roger Moore is what Bond is all about as far as I'm concerned. Those new ones just look like every other contemporary action film to me. I'm sure they are great, but it's not really my thing. I prefered the old cheesy gimmicks and tongue-in-cheek nonsense...

Roger Moore? I'd rather watch Jar Jar's antics.

Say what you will but Timothy Dalton is the only Bond who pulled a wheelie in a tractor cab!

Kasdan really is a great part of the equation. Admittedly a lot of what made ESB great came from Kershner (who was not an action director by the way) however Kasdan saved what could have been a very weird script from Leigh Brackett. Imagine ROTJ with a poignant sacrifice by Han Solo and a Wookiee uprising against the Empire instead of the final product that was tainted by the marketing department. Kathleen Kennedy has a so-so record when it comes to artistic integrity so I think it all comes down to pairing a really good director with Kasdan's story sensibilities.

Then again his involvement hasn't been officially confirmed has it?

I think Quantum of Solace's problems went well beyond Marc Forster's direction, namely a weak screenplay, bland antagonist and a theme song that was almost as bad as Madonna's Die Another Day. Almost.

All signs point to Kasdan's involvement as being legit. I think the reason we haven't seen anything up on starwars.com is because of the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States. I suspect the LFL employees on Twitter and Facebook have been ordered to keep mum on the subject until it's announced on the site.

[web]http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/jj-abrams-set-direct-next-star-wars-film-exclusive-74596[/web]

it's gonna be a pain in the ass getting spoilers/spy reports out of that guy's locked-down production!

Simon Pegg must be happy

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This is really great. I have complete faith in the project under his direction. I wouldn't worry about his stylistic choices. He's capable enough to adhere to the established rulebook.

While it's a good choice, I think all of JJ's films suffer from pacing issues, especially in the second and third acts. There's always a lull for exposition, the intensity gets lost and a climax is non-existent. That's a problem for Star Wars. All the lens flare and other stylistic stuff aside, this is what JJ is going to have to fix if he's going to deliver an excellent Star Wars film.

That all said: Michael Arndt gave lectures on how Star Wars perfected the "climactic resolution" so my money is on a great script laying one up for Abrams to slam dunk.

EDIT: I'm concerned about his tendency to include terribly designed creatures. I don't know how well that's going to fit in Star Wars. Cloverfield / Super 8 / Star Trek monster all look ridiculous.

Kathleen Kennedy has definitely nailed the talent so far. My biggest concern at this point would be the impending 2015 release date, unless Disney moves it to fall/winter 2015.

Yeah, I'm happy and totally behind this. I like Abrams' films. I think he'll do a fine job. And he's a smart guy judging from interviews and an awesome TED talk. Way better choice than Vaughn.

The only things that make me "afraid" of him are lens flares and cinematography.

Funny. It was actually their occasional use in TPM (and to a greater extent, their use in the Indiana Jones films) that introduced me to the beauty of lens flares.

And yet Super 8 was crafted closely after 80's Spielberg/Lucas. OOh, Elle Fanning as the young Skywalker girl. I'm calling it now. This might even seal the deal for a score by Michael Giacchino.

I'm not against the use of lens flares. I'm against the exaggerate use of them, and Abrams is known for that. Sometimes you can barely see what's going on, specially on Star Trek.

Over John Williams' dead body.

It would be utter sacrilege to keep a breathing John Williams from scoring this movie.

CoGro, as much as I agree with you, I'm all for a new crew to have their shot. Williams is a shadow of his formerly bombastic self. I enjoy the last decade of his work but he hasn't really done anything magnificent since TPM/Harry Potter 1.

Ive been thinking the same since EP7 was announced, I would be really happy if it was her, or maybe Saoirse Ronan


Ben Burtt discussing his collaboration with Giacchino
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlszL47DvFY

in other news today, Struzan denied wanting the job on the sequels

This isn’t a total surprise for me. I never bought it when Abrams said that he didn’t want to direct. I thought the situation was more a matter of preset contractual obligations to the Star Trek franchise. Now, I don’t think it was a legal situation at all. I think his supposed “change of mind” may have been a matter of dollars (like with the Eagles and Chip Kelly).

As a whole, the pluses outweigh the minuses with this choice. I’m sure that Abrams will screw up “something” with the films. It may be small (like overuse of slo-mo in action sequences) or it might be big (like ham-handed religious treatment of The Force). Regardless, it will be an entertaining ride.

Abrams has been very good with casting his films. So, I look forward to seeing what happens in this area.


I like these designs, but agree that they are un-Star-Wars-like. Whenever I’ve read or seen Abrams discuss Star Wars, it seems clear that the he has reverence for the franchise's mythology. In turn, I have a feeling that he will employ artists who will design outfits and vehicles that conform to his vision of Star Wars (as opposed to Star Trek where he imposed his own style on the film).

Overall, if I were an EU nerd, I’d be pretty optimistic. He refused to erase the prior Star Trek works. So, why won’t he approach Star Wars in the same manner?

The force is with us.

So are the lens flares.

As long as his buddies Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof stay far, far away, I'm ok with JJ.

Now it's a matter of guessing which of the SW veterans return and who JJ brings with him.

I think Burtt and Williams (I pray) stay. I can also see John Knoll & Rob Coleman from ILM coming back. As far as the cast, there's not a doubt in my mind that the original heroes will return in some capacity. He'll be able to attract whatever talent he wants to this production.

Abrams did the one thing I was said was needed in order for me to really enjoy Star Trek: turn it into Star Wars.

I knew DisneyLFL would go with a safe choice and Abrams is about as safe as you can get. He knows how to get good performances out of his actors and his movies are entertaining. This all but guarantees Episode VII will at least be a "good" film and will bring the disenfranchised back into the fold. It's VIII and beyond that really have me excited as a fan.

He's only 80. Lots of composers continue working until they drop. Williams' old teacher and friend Elliot Carter was still working when he died at 104 last year. If anything, Williams could compose the music and have his assistants do the orchestrating and conducting, if necessary.


By the way, as of this morning the Abrams news is still not being officially confirmed by anybody. Not that I doubt it, but I'm still waiting for an official post on starwars.com before I decide how I feel about this.

True. But Jett Lucas confirmed it as well.

Just found this:
https://twitter.com/mrjettlucas
"J J Abrams will do wonders!"

Looks like he tweeted that an hour or so after the original "exclusive" from The Wrap, for what it's worth. Could be legit, or maybe Jett isn't really in the loop, if that really is him. And it's been nearly 24 hours since this story broke, and nobody has officially denied it, either...

As long as Abrams sticks to the visual style of Star Wars and doesn't turn it into another shaky camera extravaganza. I found 2009's Trek to be completely unwatchable and off-putting, with his odd use of camera angles, and unnecessary shaking camera work. Not to mention that the film itself was basically a remake of the original Star Wars film, which to me was ridiculous, as both franchises have long been considered contemporaries / rivals.

My biggest concern for the new Star Wars, is that they're going to completely disregard the camera style established by Lucas and go for this in vogue style perpetuated by guys like Abrams, where they cannot keep the camera still for more than a minute. It puzzles me as to why you'd need that kind of camera work, when two actors are doing something as simple, as exchanging lines of dialogue in a room. I find it to be excessive and difficult to have to sit through that.

When I'm watching a film, I don't want to be distracted by something that pulls me out of the moment. I want to be able to focus on the characters, the dialogue, the story and not have to wonder if the camera man is having a seizure, or if he's trying to kill a persistent Wasp that's been trying to turn his ear canal, into it's new home.

Curious why they'd name Bad Robot as a producing credit. It would be weird to see that logo come up before Lucasfilm / 20th Century Fox.

I don't think we're getting any news for a long while. Months, maybe a year before casting news.

I think it's simply because Bad Robot is Abrams' own production company. As part of the deal, he probably wanted his company to work on the film too, along with Lucasfilm, Disney & ILM.

The Disney, Lucasfilm and Bad Robot logos at the beginning won't be too weird, as long as "A Long Time Ago..." is there.

I dunno...Warner in front of Clone Wars was a jolt. DO NOT WAAAAAANT!!!