Kal-El

I hope they let RJ just finish the trilogy. Or at least help co-write or do a story treatment like it was originally announced. Then again, a small part of me wishes they just bite the bullet and let Spielberg have a go at a Star Wars movie.

joe_b

I'm sort of relieved... Jurrasic World was awful and Book of Henry was one of the worst reviewed films of the year. Still, Lucasfilm needs to get their shit together. It's becoming a joke at this point, especially with Kennedy and co. emphasizing the creative freedom they allow their filmmakers.

Save for VIII, all the new SW films have had major drama behind the scenes: Lucas walking away after having his outline tossed on VII, Tony Gilroy being brought in for the extensive Rogue One reshoots, Lord & Miller being fired from the Solo movie... now this. I guess it doesn't matter as long as the films are well received and keep making bank. Still, it's kind of a mess from a PR angle. If Johnson is giving them what they want and VIII turns out to be a home run with fans and critics, hang on to him.

majorjoe23

I'd like to see Spielberg get a chance at Star Wars, but isn't he one of the few directors who gets final cut? With the firm hand Lucas Films seems to be keeping on all things Star Wars, it seems like that would be giving up a lot of control.

bluetoast

Plus, he was a key decision maker in getting Trevorrow hired for JW, so it would be somewhat awkward to take that dude's job, despite his relationship with Kennedy. And the main thing- when has Spielberg ever joined a project that he wasn't involved with from the very beginning?

Timber

Give me JJ or RJ and I'll be just fine. I think we need to see a singular (one or 2 director) vision on the main trilogies.

Defiant1

Let George Lucas direct it!

Double_Oh_7

Could the problem be Kathleen Kennedy? She obviously can't hire for shit. The saying goes... if you think everyone is an asshole, maybe the asshole is you.

Supermallet

Well, he did take over for Gore Verbinski on Catch Me If You Can, although I believe he was an EP on that film so he was involved with the project from the start, but not as a director.

Meanwhile, I thought Rian Johnson had written the scripts for VIII and XI and Trevorrow was just brought on to direct XI? Did I read that wrong about the scripts or had Johnson's script been tossed?

I like Johnson enough to want him to finish the new trilogy, but I've also yet to see Last Jedi so I might be regretting that statement at the end of the year.

Jay G.

When Rian Johnson was first hired for VIII, it was announced that he'd also write a "story treatment" for IX, but as of this past April, Johnson stated he hasn't written anything for IX.

From earlier in this thread.

Deftones

She is obviously the common denominator here...

Supermallet

Oh, boo.

Jay G.

Well, considering he's now a frontrunner to direct Episode IX, he may get a pass at the script yet.

Supermallet

Oh, yay!

Kal-El

I think when she first got handed The Keys to The Kingdom, she really was on a “let’s-hire-up-and-coming-directors-with-a-unique-vision” kick. But when TFA made as much as it did, the pressure kinda built so now she’s leaning more towards…”safer”.

That being said, Last Jedi could very well be amazing since I haven’t read ONE bad thing from that production.

Supermallet

I'm kind of cynical. I think she opted for up and coming directors because she knows that most of them love Star Wars from when they were kids and would be easier to control. The fact that Han Solo went to Ron Howard tells me she really wants safe and predictable and was hoping she could get that more cheaply by going with lesser known names, but it hasn't worked out for her.

DaveyJoe

The frogurt is also cursed.

majorjoe23

But you get your choice of toppings.

Ranger

Think Kennedy has done well so far?

It's impressive that she is on track to have FIVE Star Wars movies in a four year period.

I expect Last Jedi to be much better than Force Awakens so I might be fine with letting Rian do IX.

I like that Kennedy said IX wouldn't have CGI Leia so at least maybe they learned from the Rogue One mistake.

milo bloom

I don't think the Rogue One Leia was a mistake, though they could have spent a little more time on it. It's hard to imagine there wasn't a scene in ANH they could have lifted something from instead of doing a facial overlay.

And Tarkin might have been used a little less. But for where Rogue One was in the timeline and how important its story was, I can give them a pass.

But I'm definitely good with them not doing CGI Leia for Ep IX. Either write her out at the end of VIII or use some extra footage from TFA and TLJ.

Supermallet

Completely unimportant?

Shannon Nutt

Kennedy should hire Frank Marshall to direct one of these, so she can fire him too.

Ranger

Reports say Kennedy and Trevorrow had disagreements on IX script.

Whose side would you be on there? Not sure, personally. My guess is Trevorrow wanted more focus on Rey's family background while Kennedy wanted IX to focus more on Luke, Kylo and Snoke.

Double_Oh_7

I find it hard to believe they didn't map out the entire trilogy in advance.

Jay G.

I don't. They fast-tracked the development of these, and even if they had a rough outline of where they expected it to go, it was bound to change as they hired directors and hammered out scripts.

milo bloom

Rogue One has altered the feel of the saga for me in a major way. Spoilers obviously, but the fact that we see a Total Party Kill, when all through the rest of the saga our heroes were all protected by plot armor helped drive home the idea that the Rebellion was a much bigger movement than we saw in the OT.



Same. Something like this you'd need at least an inkling of where you're going. I hope this isn't a Lost or a BSG where the ending is made up as we go.