Michael Arndt heavily involved in writing the new SW trilogy — Page 7

Leonardo said:

Oh, you! *giggle*

 Hey...

xhonzi said:

Leonardo said:

Oh, you! *giggle*

 Hey...

Wha'?

I came.

Seriously, I'm trying to stay reasonably cautious/pessimistic about all of this, but some of this news is really cool

Stop making me less bitter about the SW franchise! Stop giving me hope!

georgec said:

Seriously, I'm trying to stay reasonably cautious/pessimistic about all of this, but some of this news is really cool

Exactly. Maybe there is some hope... It would be so great to see a good SW movie for the first time in the theater (didn't see the OT).

That really is excellent news, if true.  If they can get Kurtz back as well, I'll pre-order 20 tickets to each film right now!!

Bingowings said:

Wowee!

Don't you mean, "Yippee!"?

"It's not an Alien prequel, it just has Alien DNA!"

I think anything's possible. But it's certainly encouraging that Disney is putting a great deal of effort into finding the right people.

At this point, seeing how they've gotten someone like Kasdan, I'd feel confident on a gut instinct that Joe Johnston will direct.

It's just weird thinking about Star Wars as this team-based effort, when for 30 years it all came down to Lucas. There of course was the EU, but in terms of the film saga the prequels seemed like a solo project. They lacked peer feedback that made the OT so fantastic and wonderful.

The mere notion of multiple people collaborating to produce the best possible foundation (e.g. the screenplay) for the films is something I haven't felt since...

georgec said:

It's just weird thinking about Star Wars as this team-based effort, when for 30 years it all came down to Lucas. There of course was the EU, but in terms of the film saga the prequels seemed like a solo project. They lacked peer feedback that made the OT so fantastic and wonderful.

The mere notion of multiple people collaborating to produce the best possible foundation (e.g. the screenplay) for the films is something I haven't felt since...

Been feeling like this myself.

Not to be a downer, but I will hold my excitement til after I see it.  I just don't think it's likely they will be able to capture the magic again.  We all want to see another Star Wars or Empire, but you can't just recreate that 35 year-old perfect storm that brought us an amazing fantasy adventure, just by bringing in the original cast and screenwriter.  Those movies were simply made in another time. 

I mean, remember when we all had hope for Crystal Skull? 

Plus, good movies coming out of Hollywood are few and far between these days, anyway.  Most of the big budget action movies end up being bland cg-fests with storytelling taking a backseat to flashy effects.

But I hope I'm wrong! I will be pleasantly surprised walking out of the theater in 2015.

^ Yes I still very much am remaining cynical and pessimistic, but least now compared to the last 20 years there is a huge increase in the probability of new Star Wars movies being faithful to the originals while adding new lore and memorable moments to the saga.

After the prequels, I more or less realized I was worn out on the brand. Since then it's become even more watered down. But for the first time in quite a while, I personally feel optimistic about something. I haven't had the slightest interest in anything (Clone Wars, other EU, games, etc.) for quite awhile. What brought me to OT.com last year was all the discussion about the blu-rays, changes, SE vs UOT, etc. I hadn't thought about SW like that for a few years.

Honestly, I sound like a Lucas hater, but the best thing to happen to Star Wars seems to be him stepping aside. I don't hate the man. I just think that the more he tightened his grip on the franchise, the more chances and opportunities to create better stories slipped through his fingers.

I retain my cautious optimism.

But I feel like Disney is taking a lot of the right steps here. Will it be worth it in the end? We'll have to wait and see, but for the first time since I realized Lucas wasn't where all the magic came from, it seems like someone in charge actually gets Star Wars for the first time since Empire.

Every day there's a new sliver of news about the new films and every day the news seems to get better. I was more cautious about a new trilogy than I ever was about the prequels and my new concern had nothing whatsoever to do with episodes one, two and three (it should come as no surprise that I love all three of them), moreover it was the fact that Lucas was not going to be the one holding the reigns (although I do agree that the input and involvement of others in the original trilogy was to the benefit of the films) and also the question of Disney's motivation in making new Star Wars "product".

But it looks like these new movies are going to have heart, just like the films that went before them; they're not going to be shallow, effects-driven and cliched as your average Michael Bay flick.

I look forward to watching that Cloud City scene again now, knowing what we know. The Rolling Stones? Too cool.

x3rxes said:

 I'd be elated to find out that they'll be relying almost entirely on practical special effects, muppets, etc.

 This is the news I would be waiting for.  But it would be starting from scratch like the hippie fxguys in 76 who wasted months of time just getting workable motion computers and puppets and etc.  ILM destroyed its practical effects department. 

The massive optical printer that could do a dozen strips of film compositing all at once- all gone.  Last shot was done in 1992, guy who knew the machine best is dead, machine is gone.  All replaced by computers. 

They would have to rebuild the practical effects department from scratch and that would represent a very brave and radical departure from the current movie industry- could result in ridicule among peers.  Seeing as how these new SW movies are set to come out every 2 years instead of 3 I see them using cg like the prequels which is too bad but maybe itll be good cg like jurassic park.

Such Luddite thinking. The CGI in the prequels was staggeringly good, raising the benchmark for the industry. Consider: Jar Jar Binks was the first completely CGI main character in a movie (who cares if he was loved or loathed, the technical achievement of that character is something to celebrate and paved the way for Gollum in LOTR); the land battle between battle droids and Gungans was unprecedented and again pushed the envelope; AOTC was the first movie to be made digitally so again that broke new ground, as divisive as that move was; the CGI in ROTS built on the advancements made by the previous two films and raised the bar even higher.

Easterhay said:

Jar Jar Binks was the first completely CGI main character in a movie (who cares if he was loved or loathed, the technical achievement of that character is something to celebrate

Jar-Jar was not something to celebrate.  The bottom line is that it may have been an interesting hardware experiment, but the prequels looked fake and the OT looks staggeringly real.  There might just be a connection between that and the fact that all the ships and creatures and models were hand-crafted, the backgrounds hand-painted.  They had so many craftsmen under one roof. 

This has happened in many industries not just movies though.

I still remember seeing the opening battle of ROTS in the movie theater and thinking it was a cartoon.  A good cartoon like Pixar, but it was a cartoon.