joe_b

First pics of Maz Kanata and Max von Sydow's character:

Entertainment Weekly has a new article about the Lucas "break-up". Abrams claims the studio had decided to take the story in a different direction before he even accepted the job. Maybe he's trying to not personally anger the Lucas fanatics, because I'm almost certain the trades reported that Kennedy and Abrams requested the story changes and Lucas "acquiesced". George had endorsed hiring JJ and apparently continued to provide creative input after he was on board to direct. I doubt he would have done that if he knew his outline had been rejected. Unless Disney waited until a director was in place to break the news to him?

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/20...wakens-breakup

Kal-El

johnnysd

Still not reading the thread to stay as spoiler free as possible, but you guys have only 26 days or so to get to 10,000 posts. Confident you can get there.

Matthew Chmiel

I'm sorry, but Disney was entirely in the right. I would've done the same. "Here's $4 billion for Lucasfilm, now don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out." Lucas is an incompetent filmmaker (and clearly showed that with the prequels) who had a fluke with the original film. Disney knew that and ensured to make sure he had zero involvement with the new franchise.

The Empire Strikes Back is the superior film in the franchise because it had the least involvement from Lucas. It's a shame Lucas became hands on with Return of the Jedi because we would've had a better film if Kasdan had his way with his story ideas.

joe_b

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Emma Stone

The movie is now finished, btw. Abrams was at an event with Stephen Colbert tonight and told the audience the final mix was completed at 2am that morning.

arminius

You have to wonder how American Graffiti and THX1138 (original) came out so good.

leacha

Yea I wouldn't say incompetent, Over time he's changed. Which reminds me, "How are things coming along Mr. Spielberg?"

Deadman31

Nobody knows because most people haven't seen them.

JeremyM

To be fair, AG was a huge hit at the time. It was a nostalgia piece so it hasn't lived on with other generations, but it was a big hit.

OldBoy

i think Jimmy Kimmel has JJ, Daisy and Boyega on Monday night 11/23 in case anyone is interested. i will be recording it of course...

Mike86

American Graffiti was fine but nothing really groundbreaking. Mostly just a nostalgia cash in which usually aren't tough sells. I don't care for THX 1138.

dex14

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Mike86

New spot looks like a lot of fun. I'm curious if the rating for this will be PG or PG13. The only one that was PG13 was Revenge of the Sith so I'm curious what this one will get.

Solid Snake

God. Seems like they're really trying to make such a diverse world.

bluetoast

Either way, American Graffiti was recognized enough for Lucas to be nominated for Best Director at age 29, still among the youngest ever. He's far from incompetent as Matthew Chmiel says. A lot changed in the ensuing years, but at least he had that foundation.

GuessWho

Without American Graffiti, there would likely not be Happy Days... and what's life without Chachi?

Cellar Door

Joanie Loves Potsie?

Josh-da-man

Fuck. Yeah.

hasslein

People lose the talent and edge once they start having kids. I believe Spielberg has acknowledged this in the past. THX is (was until the changes) a great film, and Lucas was a great filmmaker. I know it has been said before, but I hope he lets the public know how his story would have unfolded. I will never accept the disney films as cannon. From the trailers I'm already sick of Will Smith light...

Mike86

Maybe not totally incompetent but somewhere along the way he let his "vision" (which apparently never ends) for Star Wars get too convoluted and stupid where he sucked a lot of the fun out of the films and how some people (myself included) enjoyed them. It's only with The Force Awakens that my love of the series has really been rekindled. I always liked the Original Trilogy don't get me wrong but I hate what he did to the films and how we haven't been able to get a proper release of them without any of the stupid changes. Hopefully that changes soon and hopefully Disney brings the fun back to the series.

JumpCutz

Both THX II38 and American Graffiti are superior to Star Wars.

bluetoast

Yeah I agree- if the vision keeps changing (and involves retroactive changes) and you're surrounded by yes men...things will go bad. Still waiting on his experimental films he promised after RotS, but I doubt that's happening.

Shazam

Well I'm certainly hoping for more scintillating trade disputes.

Deadman31

That was my point.

stvn1974

THX 1138 is one of my all time favorite films...well until Lucas took a giant digital shit on it. He ruined that film even more than the OT, IMO. In the original the underground factory was claustrophobic and creepy so of course he had to open it up and add a bunch of CGI nonsense. Just like not fixing the actual problems in the OT but doing pointless changes in THX 1138 you can see "Goodyear" on the tires on the car that he uses to escape at the end of the film.

Thank fucking god that Universal didn't let Lucas replace Ron Howard with an Ewok in American Graffiti.

Double thank fucking god that Lucas has no control over Star Wars.