They're making Star Wars Ep. 7... WTF

[wasted]

Honestly, I don't think they could have picked anyone better to direct it. If anyone can do it right, it'll be JJ.

Based on what exactly? His career as a director has been mediocre at best. (Star Trek, Super 8 and MI3 are the only 3 features he's done.)

If you consider how many creative sci fi directors there are out there it just seems wrong to hand the keys to the two biggest sci fi franchises in film over to the same guy.

Obviously it will all be shot and presented in the same Star Wars style. I don't even know who directed the Star Wars movies. I think George did I and IV?

He directed the prequel trilogy and IV. He was nominated for the best director Oscar for IV even though he was, by all accounts, dreadful at it.

I get the impression he just sits there. Hes not great with actors. In fact Ford seemed to reject all of Lucas ideas for Solo in the first one. Lucas seems more interested in Toys and special effects.

[Nobodys_Fault]

Is there a reason people are hating on JJ?

Is there a reason you think they "couldn't have picked anyone better"?

Honestly, I don't think they could have picked anyone better to direct it. If anyone can do it right, it'll be JJ.

Based on what exactly? His career as a director has been mediocre at best. (Star Trek, Super 8 and MI3 are the only 3 features he's done.)

If you consider how many creative sci fi directors there are out there it just seems wrong to hand the keys to the two biggest sci fi franchises in film over to the same guy.

Obviously it will all be shot and presented in the same Star Wars style. I don't even know who directed the Star Wars movies. I think George did I and IV?

He directed the prequel trilogy and IV. He was nominated for the best director Oscar for IV even though he was, by all accounts, dreadful at it.

I get the impression he just sits there. Hes not great with actors. In fact Ford seemed to reject all of Lucas ideas for Solo in the first one. Lucas seems more interested in Toys and special effects.

Apparently his only directions were "faster" and "more intense". At one point, when he lost his voice, the crew provided him with a board with just those three words written on it.

Alec Guinness hated it so much he put forward the idea of killing off his character so he ""wouldn't have to carry on saying these rubbish lines."

[wasted]

Is there a reason people are hating on JJ?

Is there a reason you think they "couldn't have picked anyone better"?

Honestly, I don't think they could have picked anyone better to direct it. If anyone can do it right, it'll be JJ.

Based on what exactly? His career as a director has been mediocre at best. (Star Trek, Super 8 and MI3 are the only 3 features he's done.)

If you consider how many creative sci fi directors there are out there it just seems wrong to hand the keys to the two biggest sci fi franchises in film over to the same guy.

Obviously it will all be shot and presented in the same Star Wars style. I don't even know who directed the Star Wars movies. I think George did I and IV?

He directed the prequel trilogy and IV. He was nominated for the best director Oscar for IV even though he was, by all accounts, dreadful at it.

I get the impression he just sits there. Hes not great with actors. In fact Ford seemed to reject all of Lucas ideas for Solo in the first one. Lucas seems more interested in Toys and special effects.

Apparently his only directions were "faster" and "more intense". At one point, when he lost his voice, the crew provided him with a board with just those three words written on it.

Alec Guinness hated it so much he put forward the idea of killing off his character so he ""wouldn't have to carry on saying these rubbish lines."

Did u read the biography too? im not sure if he was a bad director or he just knew what he was making. Nota great movie. Just an entertainment. He kind of changed film. He beat Coppola and Spielberg. They made better movies but look at movies now thwy are all based off star wars. Special effects action adventure for kids who never grew up.

[dalsh327]

Is there a reason people are hating on JJ?

Is there a reason you think they "couldn't have picked anyone better"?

Honestly, I don't think they could have picked anyone better to direct it. If anyone can do it right, it'll be JJ.

Based on what exactly? His career as a director has been mediocre at best. (Star Trek, Super 8 and MI3 are the only 3 features he's done.)

If you consider how many creative sci fi directors there are out there it just seems wrong to hand the keys to the two biggest sci fi franchises in film over to the same guy.

Obviously it will all be shot and presented in the same Star Wars style. I don't even know who directed the Star Wars movies. I think George did I and IV?

He directed the prequel trilogy and IV. He was nominated for the best director Oscar for IV even though he was, by all accounts, dreadful at it.

I get the impression he just sits there. Hes not great with actors. In fact Ford seemed to reject all of Lucas ideas for Solo in the first one. Lucas seems more interested in Toys and special effects.

Apparently his only directions were "faster" and "more intense". At one point, when he lost his voice, the crew provided him with a board with just those three words written on it.

Alec Guinness hated it so much he put forward the idea of killing off his character so he ""wouldn't have to carry on saying these rubbish lines."

Did u read the biography too? im not sure if he was a bad director or he just knew what he was making. Nota great movie. Just an entertainment. He kind of changed film. He beat Coppola and Spielberg. They made better movies but look at movies now thwy are all based off star wars. Special effects action adventure for kids who never grew up.

Alec was kind of a crank about it. He signed an autograph for a kid if he promised to never watch "Star Wars" again. He probably waited until Alec was dead *L*. He was just an actor that had done a lot of work and didn't appreciate the new wave of fans, but with DVD and Netflix, I think more of the fans would've done their homework on other movies he did. I just think he was like DeNiro and Peter Sellers and Orson Welles in taking roles for the money and just shaking their head reading it. He couldn't hate it that much if he did the trilogy, but you know Ewan's probably ecstatic about making his appearances in there for the next decade.

George made it sound like he's done with all things Star Wars and is going to let other people run with it. It would have to be really awful for him to be involved, but I'm sure the turnover to Disney was pretty detailed by his people and is giving some input to the movie projects He also knows as a director and producer when to stay out of it. He is one of the most successful independent directors and producers of all time, we can't forget he and Coppola were mavericks. In more recent years, you saw Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino have that same support system/relationship. I'm sure there are others that go to Sundance and forge alliances.

His contributions into moviemaking are bigger than the Star Wars trilogy when you take into account the technologies he's put his money into. Can't forget he was one of the ones that got Pixar off the ground, but all sorts of people use Lucas' facilities for all sorts of stuff.

I don't know if I'd say he beat Coppola, Spielberg, DePalma or Scorsese - they were pretty supportive, it was friendly competition but they'd see what each other was working on and give some input. Coppola was at the center of it when they were all coming together, but he failed bigger than any of them. If you follow the "making of" arc running from THX-1138, Godfather I & II, Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters, 1941, Apocalypse Now, One From The Heart, Raiders and Scarface, it's an interesting story when you watch them back to back. I'd add in the documentary about Kubrick even though he was doing his own thing.

A lot of people haven't even seen the past 2 movies he directed. There's a time a director should just call it a day, but you can't stop an artist from wanting to create, some people don't have an off switch for that.

Edited January 26, 2013 by dalsh327

[bacardimayne]

The first half of Super 8 makes me think Abrams has a shot at making a great Star Wars movie.

[Black Sabbath]

Is there a reason people are hating on JJ?

Is there a reason you think they "couldn't have picked anyone better"?

Given his prior work, I feel like he's perfectly suited. He's a great sci-fi director, in my opinion, at least.

Who would you have rather been picked, then?

[arnold layne]

Quentin Taurantino.

[wasted]

Is there a reason people are hating on JJ?

Is there a reason you think they "couldn't have picked anyone better"?

Honestly, I don't think they could have picked anyone better to direct it. If anyone can do it right, it'll be JJ.

Based on what exactly? His career as a director has been mediocre at best. (Star Trek, Super 8 and MI3 are the only 3 features he's done.)

If you consider how many creative sci fi directors there are out there it just seems wrong to hand the keys to the two biggest sci fi franchises in film over to the same guy.

Obviously it will all be shot and presented in the same Star Wars style. I don't even know who directed the Star Wars movies. I think George did I and IV?

He directed the prequel trilogy and IV. He was nominated for the best director Oscar for IV even though he was, by all accounts, dreadful at it.

I get the impression he just sits there. Hes not great with actors. In fact Ford seemed to reject all of Lucas ideas for Solo in the first one. Lucas seems more interested in Toys and special effects.

Apparently his only directions were "faster" and "more intense". At one point, when he lost his voice, the crew provided him with a board with just those three words written on it.

Alec Guinness hated it so much he put forward the idea of killing off his character so he ""wouldn't have to carry on saying these rubbish lines."

Did u read the biography too? im not sure if he was a bad director or he just knew what he was making. Nota great movie. Just an entertainment. He kind of changed film. He beat Coppola and Spielberg. They made better movies but look at movies now thwy are all based off star wars. Special effects action adventure for kids who never grew up.

Alec was kind of a crank about it. He signed an autograph for a kid if he promised to never watch "Star Wars" again. He probably waited until Alec was dead *L*. He was just an actor that had done a lot of work and didn't appreciate the new wave of fans, but with DVD and Netflix, I think more of the fans would've done their homework on other movies he did. I just think he was like DeNiro and Peter Sellers and Orson Welles in taking roles for the money and just shaking their head reading it. He couldn't hate it that much if he did the trilogy, but you know Ewan's probably ecstatic about making his appearances in there for the next decade.

George made it sound like he's done with all things Star Wars and is going to let other people run with it. It would have to be really awful for him to be involved, but I'm sure the turnover to Disney was pretty detailed by his people and is giving some input to the movie projects He also knows as a director and producer when to stay out of it. He is one of the most successful independent directors and producers of all time, we can't forget he and Coppola were mavericks. In more recent years, you saw Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino have that same support system/relationship. I'm sure there are others that go to Sundance and forge alliances.

His contributions into moviemaking are bigger than the Star Wars trilogy when you take into account the technologies he's put his money into. Can't forget he was one of the ones that got Pixar off the ground, but all sorts of people use Lucas' facilities for all sorts of stuff.

I don't know if I'd say he beat Coppola, Spielberg, DePalma or Scorsese - they were pretty supportive, it was friendly competition but they'd see what each other was working on and give some input. Coppola was at the center of it when they were all coming together, but he failed bigger than any of them. If you follow the "making of" arc running from THX-1138, Godfather I & II, Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters, 1941, Apocalypse Now, One From The Heart, Raiders and Scarface, it's an interesting story when you watch them back to back. I'd add in the documentary about Kubrick even though he was doing his own thing.

A lot of people haven't even seen the past 2 movies he directed. There's a time a director should just call it a day, but you can't stop an artist from wanting to create, some people don't have an off switch for that.

I prob go watch Tailgunners now. I just see him as having any interest in directing. Its true its in the technology where his interest lie. He added in scenes just to test drive his new innovations.

He was avreal director with THX. But he chose to go the box office way. He rerelased Star wars to make sure he beat Jaws at the box office. Remember his wife divorced saying she couldnt take the darkness anymore. He was just sitting in his studios design tech and toys and obsessing over box office. Coppola is an artist who followed his muse into the ground. Overall spiel and francis better directors but lucas is like a mogul who changed movies. Probably for the worse. Hes like the godfather of the imax.

[Zint]

Is there a reason people are hating on JJ?

Is there a reason you think they "couldn't have picked anyone better"?

Given his prior work, I feel like he's perfectly suited. He's a great sci-fi director, in my opinion, at least.

Agreed man, Im happy with the choice!

[luciusfunk]

Quentin Taurantino.

[wasted]

QT will probably do a sic-fi movie next. There must be some sic-fi b movies to pillage. Samuel L Jackson would make a great Darth Vader. Put down the light saber, motherfucker.

[GivenToFly]

Now all they need is Damon Lindelof to write the script.

Oh, please no!!!

[Facekicker]

A Quentin Tarantino Star Wars would be hilarious. Darth Vader would be an S&M maniac. Chewbacca would have rabies&mange. Han Solo would be a drug dealer. Princess Leia would be in that slave girl outfit a lot and she'd end up fucking Luke. Landa would be her pimp, played by Samuel L. Jackson.

Jar Jar would get decapitated in the opening minute and there would probably be some really fucked up scene with Jabba using an Ewok as a sex toy.

[wasted]

Leia in a ball gag and chains before Don Johnson breaks in has a light saber battle with Vader. Vader would get his legs cut off and spend rest of the movie in a wheelchair. Then theyd jump in the land speeder to go get drive through tacos at Ewok Bell. It would all have a disco soundtrack from the 70s with William Shatner being dj of Death Star intergalatic FM. At the same time there would be a whole tribe of yodas that had turned to the dark side who are hunting down jedis. samuel jackson would have stolen the millenium falcon and has turned it into a fried chicken restarant. The emporor would have captured R2 and C3P0 and turned them into sex slaves and Duke Skywalker lukes son would be on a mission to avenge his fathers death and save the droids. Driving a remodeled General lee which is half X wing half car.

[dalsh327]

This might be info overload, but the discussion Michael Eisner and George Lucas had went into a good explanation on why Lucas turned it over to Disney, and what he turned over. The audio really sucks for a while, but it gets slightly better.

http://www.aspeninstitute.org/video/conversation-george-lucas-michael-eisner-2012-annual-awards-ceremony

[wasted]

It's cool he's going to go back to try and make personal films with the 4.1 billion he got from Disney. It's not really the best way to build a career with integrity. but he's just beyond that. that's the key he just doing it because he likes it. I think anyway. He was just more interested in special effects.

One thing I want to know is, who is Disney? Everyone says they joined Disney like it's this unknowable god. They don't know how they got in. Katzenberg was Disney, then he joined up with those guys for DreamWorks. Miramax/Weinstein joined Disney recently. Is Disney is a bunch of faceless suits that control the universe.

[Black Sabbath]

The thing is, Star Wars is so close to so many people's hearts, I doubt there would be any director out there that would be able to direct it with everyone having a positive, mutual feeling towards it.

That said, Scorsese should direct it and have it star Daniel Day Lewis as Vader with a nice mustache and DiCaprio as Luke. Would be amazing.

[Georgy Zhukov]

The guy who directed The Empire Strikes Back did a good job.

[wasted]

The guy who directed The Empire Strikes Back did a good job.

He suited the script. I mean Phantom Menace was meant to be this mediative movie. But I agree in a way they are trying to hard to good movies. We just want Star Wars cartoons which some up the general aspects of the first trilogy.

[wasted]

The thing is, Star Wars is so close to so many people's hearts, I doubt there would be any director out there that would be able to direct it with everyone having a positive, mutual feeling towards it.

That said, Scorsese should direct it and have it star Daniel Day Lewis as Vader with a nice mustache and DiCaprio as Luke. Would be amazing.

The problem is everyone loves Empire and Lucas didn't direct it.

Those movies, Empire and Jedi, he was involved, probably produced which in some instances is more important a job. A producer finds a director to do what he's told, more often than not.

Writer/directors get all the kudos, like Scorsese or QT, even Kevin Smith. But there's a lot of hack director's who work for producers like Jerry Bruckheimer. Getting movies made seems to just be a gigantic nightmare. convincing people with money to fund them being the hardest part. So once you have a hit they bet on you. until you flop.

Partly it's not about the fans. The fans worship Lucas and he's not really factoring them into his creative decisions in terms of saying let's repeat what we did. He was trying to do what he wanted with the prequels.

Lucas is a film maker rather than a director. He's basically a movie mogul.

The other thing is anyone who saw Star Wars at a young age should really be beyond giving that much of a shit about a director as long as they turn out ok. Which I think Lucas will have ensured by writing them and giving them to Disney who have the budget. It will be a multi billion dollar deal. Of course there will be debate but I don't think they will release a pile of unmitigated shit. It's just going to be another solid Star Wars product with all the mercy and spin offs you'd expect. I mean Star Wars is by no means some kind of filmic masterpiece in the first place.

Edited January 28, 2013 by wasted

[Black Sabbath]

would have rather seen a reboot by ridley scott

Ridley could probably do it, but he's got better things to make than a Star Wars sequel.

[wasted]

I don't think these director's will cross over franchises. Ridley has Alien. JJ is more like sci-fi nerd for hire. He hasn't really established himself as a writer/director outside of tv.

[T.wa.T]

Totally here him saying that. Lol

QT will probably do a sic-fi movie next. There must be some sic-fi b movies to pillage. Samuel L Jackson would make a great Darth Vader. Put down the light saber, motherfucker.

[dalsh327]

The thing is, Star Wars is so close to so many people's hearts, I doubt there would be any director out there that would be able to direct it with everyone having a positive, mutual feeling towards it.

That said, Scorsese should direct it and have it star Daniel Day Lewis as Vader with a nice mustache and DiCaprio as Luke. Would be amazing.

The problem is everyone loves Empire and Lucas didn't direct it.

Those movies, Empire and Jedi, he was involved, probably produced which in some instances is more important a job. A producer finds a director to do what he's told, more often than not.

Writer/directors get all the kudos, like Scorsese or QT, even Kevin Smith. But there's a lot of hack director's who work for producers like Jerry Bruckheimer. Getting movies made seems to just be a gigantic nightmare. convincing people with money to fund them being the hardest part. So once you have a hit they bet on you. until you flop.

Partly it's not about the fans. The fans worship Lucas and he's not really factoring them into his creative decisions in terms of saying let's repeat what we did. He was trying to do what he wanted with the prequels.

Lucas is a film maker rather than a director. He's basically a movie mogul.

The other thing is anyone who saw Star Wars at a young age should really be beyond giving that much of a shit about a director as long as they turn out ok. Which I think Lucas will have ensured by writing them and giving them to Disney who have the budget. It will be a multi billion dollar deal. Of course there will be debate but I don't think they will release a pile of unmitigated shit. It's just going to be another solid Star Wars product with all the mercy and spin offs you'd expect. I mean Star Wars is by no means some kind of filmic masterpiece in the first place.

Schindler's List and Munich probably sounded like a big risk to Kathleen at the time, but she trusted Spielberg's vision and backed it. People have been wanting a continuation of the Star Wars story for years, and Lucas went "no, I'm only doing these 6 movies", and he made it sound like he was against the last 3 being made.

No one knew how Raiders was going to do, that's why Lucas and Spielberg were doing it together, so if it took a hit, they could handle it. Spielberg had worked on 1941 so his confidence was probably shaken at the time, and it didn't help seeing Heaven's Gate flop because Cimino was a peer of theirs.

The least important part of the movie are probably the actors, in Transformers, does anyone care how Shia or Megan's acting was? In Star Wars, it wasn't like they were going for Oscar winning performances, Carrie was self medicating at Belushi's level on Empire and Jedi, where Belushi was telling her to slow down.

From what I've seen, the producers, actors, and directors get the biggest kudos, the writers kind of get ignored, with some exceptions - Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, or the actor/directors like Clint Eastwood and Ron Howard.

[wasted]

The thing is, Star Wars is so close to so many people's hearts, I doubt there would be any director out there that would be able to direct it with everyone having a positive, mutual feeling towards it.

That said, Scorsese should direct it and have it star Daniel Day Lewis as Vader with a nice mustache and DiCaprio as Luke. Would be amazing.

The problem is everyone loves Empire and Lucas didn't direct it.

Those movies, Empire and Jedi, he was involved, probably produced which in some instances is more important a job. A producer finds a director to do what he's told, more often than not.

Writer/directors get all the kudos, like Scorsese or QT, even Kevin Smith. But there's a lot of hack director's who work for producers like Jerry Bruckheimer. Getting movies made seems to just be a gigantic nightmare. convincing people with money to fund them being the hardest part. So once you have a hit they bet on you. until you flop.

Partly it's not about the fans. The fans worship Lucas and he's not really factoring them into his creative decisions in terms of saying let's repeat what we did. He was trying to do what he wanted with the prequels.

Lucas is a film maker rather than a director. He's basically a movie mogul.

The other thing is anyone who saw Star Wars at a young age should really be beyond giving that much of a shit about a director as long as they turn out ok. Which I think Lucas will have ensured by writing them and giving them to Disney who have the budget. It will be a multi billion dollar deal. Of course there will be debate but I don't think they will release a pile of unmitigated shit. It's just going to be another solid Star Wars product with all the mercy and spin offs you'd expect. I mean Star Wars is by no means some kind of filmic masterpiece in the first place.

Schindler's List and Munich probably sounded like a big risk to Kathleen at the time, but she trusted Spielberg's vision and backed it. People have been wanting a continuation of the Star Wars story for years, and Lucas went "no, I'm only doing these 6 movies", and he made it sound like he was against the last 3 being made.

No one knew how Raiders was going to do, that's why Lucas and Spielberg were doing it together, so if it took a hit, they could handle it. Spielberg had worked on 1941 so his confidence was probably shaken at the time, and it didn't help seeing Heaven's Gate flop because Cimino was a peer of theirs.

The least important part of the movie are probably the actors, in Transformers, does anyone care how Shia or Megan's acting was? In Star Wars, it wasn't like they were going for Oscar winning performances, Carrie was self medicating at Belushi's level on Empire and Jedi, where Belushi was telling her to slow down.

From what I've seen, the producers, actors, and directors get the biggest kudos, the writers kind of get ignored, with some exceptions - Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, or the actor/directors like Clint Eastwood and Ron Howard.

As I remember Raiders was something they wanted to do but no one would give them the money. So maybe by both of them being part of it helped. It's that guy doing the interview that took the chance? I've forgotten quite a bit, I think it was Lucas' idea to do this Boy's own story. But as with Star Wars where he envisioned it being more like Flash Gordon, Raiders was more like those 50s boys serials. Ford is the one who toughened up Indiana Jones. And that seemed to be the goal around Empire and Doom to go against the studio and make them harder. So Lucas going through his divorce wrote Indy as more of misogynist in Doom. And Empire wins.

I think if you are a writer/director though you can be an auteur, like an artist and you fight for your vision. But they are more a thorn in the side of industry. But someone like Robert Evans ran Paramount almost and was trying to take credit for The Godfather and Apocalypse now as it was his versions of the movies that made to screen, whereas Coppola's were 4 hours long. Weinsteins are way more powerful than just about every director they worked with. only QT could do what he wanted.

I think before Star Wars, Lucas wanted there to be 9 movies, but start with a rebel alliance story because it was most action oriented? I cant even remember how Jedi concludes or whether Luke and Solo will still be in it. Will Ford and Hammond be in it. Luke as like an Emporor type figure.

I really need to see Heave's Gate. I just re-watched The Deer Hunter. what a movie. just has everything in it.

Edited January 29, 2013 by wasted