source: (
io9.com /jjabrams-told-us-the-origin-story-of-star-wars-the/)
• Abrams confirmed that Star Wars creator George Lucas provided outlines for the films before Abrams came on board, but “Disney had determined they wanted to go a different direction.”
• Arndt – who Abrams describes as a “precise gentleman” – said he needed 18 months to finish the script. He only had six. “Despite my absolute, burning desire to direct a script that Michael Arndt had written, I realized I didn’t have that time,” Abrams said. “[Lucasfilm President] Kathy [Kennedy] didn’t have that time.
• “And I said to him [Kasdan], ‘Look, we’re gonna start to reincorporate very quickly many things because I know I want this young woman to be at the center of this thing. I know I want this Stormtrooper to abandon his post.’ There are just fundamental tenets of what we had come up with [with Arndt] that were gonna stick.”
Another JJ interview. Some very interesting bits about the writing process.
It seems that Arndt's script wasn't completely trashed after all. Some of his early ingredients included a female lead and a defecting Stormtrooper. Kasden wanted to start from scratch, but JJ insisted that some of Arndt's ideas remain.
Makes me wonder how much of Lucas's treatments and Arndt's stuff actually do appear in the film, regardless of what's been said elsewhere.
