There's no way Iger is stupid enough to let #releasethelucascut become a thing. I am suspicious that there are three competing cuts of the film, that Iger even has the time to cut his own (he's the fucking CEO of Disney, not a Lucasfilm producer), and that Kennedy would agree to put her credibility to a fan vote by attaching her name to an individual "cut" of arguably the most important film of her career.

Has the film been screened to insiders and friendlies? Probably. Do I think Lucas helped guide the story before, during and after production? Sure. But despite the fallout from Solo and TLJ, do I think Disney would run a "bake off" between three extremely powerful egos and risk catastrophic backlash? No I don't.

I'm with you on this. Speaking as someone who is by no means a sequel apologist, I think all this talk of competing cuts is nonsense. The movie will be what it will be and any creative shortcomings or success ultimate should fall on the people making the movie, specifically J.J. Abrams.

I really don't understand all the hate directed towards Kathleen Kennedy when it was George who picked her to lead and trusted her with his company.

Lucas knew the universe of SW inside out. He was the creator. Our fearless leader. I doubt KK's even picked up one of the new canon books. There's the difference.

In hindsight it was a disaster to simply allow different film-makers to come in and make their own movies with minimal (seemingly) input with the other directors on where the story is going. My biggest fear re TROS is that it will feel almost like a direct sequel to TFA. Regardless of your feelings towards TLJ, if it feels irrelevant or ignored after viewing TROS, then we could have civil war without end.

To top it off the failure to consistently lose talent, chopping and changing directors, right or wrong it all gets levelled at KK.

I like KK she's an uber producer but I barely give her a pass here. I think she moves on after TROS.

I think the writing is on the wall for Jon Favreau to step in.

Is Favreau President/CEO material, though? He's an artist, not an executive. It would be like hiring the principal cellist to run the business end of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Look at how Lucas was treated by the fans until recently. Back in 2015 (before TFA release) he was constantly bashed because of the Prequels by some fans. They turned on KK and her crew now but before that Lucas was their target.

Coincidentally, the Hollywood Reporter has just speculated that instead of Kennedy, both Favreau and Filoni could play prominent roles in the Star Wars franchise's future.

Faverau has gone from a guy asking to do a voice (below) to the speculation above.

Filoni is definitely the creative future of Star Wars. I’m not sure he has the experience to run Lucasfilm, but IMHO, he’s the single person that both carries Lucas’ DNA, whilst being progressive enough to explore the medium of Star Wars (artistically/creatively) for the future.

The mistake with Kennedy, in my opinion, was the belief she could have some creative control. She’s a truly talented producer, but she isn’t a filmmaker. This is why both Abrams and Johnson were allowed as much room as they had, and I think that’s been a hugely detrimental thing for the sequels... to the point where Lucasfilm don’t even know what to do with a new film.

Of all the endless possibilities that the Star Wars galaxy allows... several years after Disney’s acquisition, we have a rather mixed sequel trilogy (and I’m being kind), a Han Solo origin film and a film about stealing the Death Star plans.

Yet the film about stealing the Death Star plans was the best of Disney’s Star Wars films.

Yes - Rogue One is the best Disney Star Wars film, but that doesn’t really counter the critique. Indeed, it underlines it... in that it’s a film designed specifically not to expand the concepts, but to focus on an already existing plot/situation, use OT iconography, and fill a narrative pocket between ROTS and ANH.

Per JJ: There were not test screenings.

Per Withnail (after watching the film): "I cheered, I shouted, I fist-pumped the air, I cried, I stood and cheered. It's absolutely everything that you would hope it was gonna be. I'm so proud to be in it, and I can't wait for you to see it."

I’m shocked that the most miserable fan base on Earth would create vicious rumours about a movie screening, including making inferences about individual responses, especially famous people who they don’t and will never know.

The vocal minority the spew bile and hatred at every turn are an absolute fucking disgrace and a stain on humanity.

Yes.

I agree with JJ here. He is doing the best he possibly can I have no doubt.

However, there are people that live to hate. There are literally those who just want to watch the world burn. They will hate because they can. They aren't even SW fans even though they try to pass them self off as such. Fake news the lot of them.

Apparently hating on SW on Youtube bumps your channel up the rankings. Who knew..?

Great Quote. Any Source?

Huge thx! Thats the quote to go to from now on! perfect!

I feel Disney, and Abrams, actually went out of their way to stoke ‘fandom menace’. They used it. They consciously talked down Lucas and the prequels to build their own little take on Star Wars, and it’s rightly kinda backfired. Pretty much everything Abrams says or writes comes across as very disingenuous to me.

Agree 1000% with the first part. Anyone who understands the history of the saga, and how it was made, could plainly see through the "WW UsEd PrAcTiCaL EfFeCtS!!!!1111" line for what it was - a shot at Lucas and his filmmaking techniques. They took the mountain of shit fans threw at the prequels and stood upon it in the lead up to TFA. Even in the TFA special features, some random dude was talking about "why would we use anything other than film? That's the only way to do it, that's how the originals were made" blah blah blah I know the sequel trilogy did little to endear itself to me with that kind of mindless trash talk. I will give Rian Johnson credit in that he didn't engage in any of that junk. He just set out to make the movie he wanted to make, whether you agree or disagree with his vision, and didn't worry about all this other crap. I respect him for that.

The central question I hope TROS answers - the one I and CoGro have had for 7 years - is why was the ST necessary (besides to make money back for Disney investors)? TROS has a pretty tall task ahead of it to answer that question, and I sincerely hope it does.

I do agree that the creative team, and Kathy in particular, have really used the "it's all practical" mantra specifically in an attempt to win back the prequel-bashing fandom. It was definitely overkill how much they'd talk about it, and it was disingenuous to suggest this was a production that would be made as if it were produced in the 80s. The BTS video in particular was eye-rolly in that regard. However, I do recall JJ repeatedly talking about how many thousands of VFX shots there are in TFA and how incredible ILM's work on the picture was. His commentary was basically "yes, we are using sets, locations and practical FX, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking this isn't a show largely run in a computer."

But can you really blame Disney for taking that PR line back in 2014-15? From a business perspective, saying "this isn't going to be like the PT" was a perfectly reasonable position to take. Outside the fandom, Star Wars didn't exactly leave the cinema landscape on the best possible terms (especially if you take the horrible CW movie into account) and the brand needed to reassert itself using nostalgia. LFL pushed the angle that this would be just like the OT because they needed the dialogue around Star Wars to become respectable again...and it worked. Put yourself back into pre-TLJ 2017: Star Wars just had back to back critical, fan and box office hits and it was never cooler to be a fan.

All of that said, I probably would have trusted the public a little more and leaned into the original cast coming back, continuing a story from thirty years ago and not really using the PT as the anti-Star Wars, but I'm already a day one ticket holder. Whatever.

All of that aside, and irrespective of how well-made the Disney-era films are (I'd argue they all generally are despite Solo having absolutely nothing to say or add), royalguard96 is right: this entire ST venture will all be creatively shallow if it doesn't provide a strong reason for why the Skywalker story had to continue post-ROTJ. I haven't read the reports and so I'm still hopeful that it will. I do think TLJ made JJ's task way, way harder than it needed to be because of how little Rian Johnson seemed to care about answering that question. I want JJ to stick the landing and I'll be rooting for him when the fanfare blasts this Thursday.

I completely agree with you here.

I'm dearly hoping that someone (Lucas) leaks the treatments that he handed over to Disney.

I think that the more metaphysical direction that he wanted to take it in would've worked. They're some of the very best episodes of The Clone Wars series.

See his take on answering the questions, "Why does good and evil exist? Why is there always a light side and a dark side?" would've been interesting.

It's my understanding that Luke was in self-exile. Was Luke not only sick of the Dark side, but to the point of also wanting to bring the negative interactions between Light and Dark to an absolute end?

That yin-yang always spins, and forever will. No stopping it. Would've been fascinating to see Luke try to halt its motion. Some important lessons there for all of us to learn.

Two films in I personally feel that the sequels have added nothing, they only serve to takeaway from the existing story/narrative. Which, IMO, is a huge shame as... 1) They could have literally gone anywhere in the Star Wars universe and told an original, cohesive story that would have actually added to the canon and built the brand in a positive way. It’s as if they actually knowingly chose the worst options possible simply because they thought it would give them the fastest return. 2) They’ve wasted so much talent on these films... everything from really talented actors, designers to John Williams. I’m sure Williams will never score another Star Wars film, and a couple of notable exceptions aside (Rey’s theme, March of the Resistance), the scores have reflected the films I.e. underwhelming, not progressive and painfully derivative. But that’s just my take...

I can certainly blame Disney. Their strategy has ultimately back fired, and one of the ‘golden’ rules of PR is that you don’t take a dump on your own history. If anything, you try and elevate it. I knew the ST was in trouble as soon as they started with the subtle (and not so subtle) digs at the prequels and Lucas. It only serves to highlight how hollow their marketing and spin is/was. Of course, one of the positive things for Lucas is that there’s been such a backlash against the sequels (relatively speaking because they are still obviously ‘broadly’ popular), is that Lucas and the prequels have recovered some kudos, and have been reassessed more positively in comparison to the new films.