The Force Awakens Anyone glad it's not written by Lucas?

[MagnarTheGreat]

Stephen Colbert and George Lucas at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. Full quote from video on Youtube.

Q: What are your hopes for the new Star Wars movies?

Lucas: Well, I hope it's successful. I hope they do a great job. The original saga was about the father, the children, and the grandchildren. I mean, that's not a secret, anyway, it's even in the novels and everything. And then the children were in their 20s and everything and so it wasn't [The] Phantom Menace again. But, so, I'm hoping--and they've taken it in a different direction--and I'm hoping... I'm excited to see--they didn't use my stories [..], I have no idea what they are doing.

Said he's seen the first teaser and is going to try to look at the second teaser but wants to do it on the "big screen".

And though he promised that he wouldn't ask more about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first Star Wars film to be made without George Lucas' direct input, Colbert couldn't help but ask how Lucas felt about the idea of being able to simply watch a Star Wars film. "This time," the director said, "it'll be very thrilling, because they're doing kind of a different story, and so I don't know what the story is. I don't know anything about it."

http://www.polygon.com/2015/4/18/8448685/stephen-colbert-george-lucas-tribeca-talk

 

[Loki882]

Lucas is a good ideas man (provided that he has someone who can tell him no/reel him in from time to time). But he's not a good writer nor a good director. He had lots of help in the OT, but micromanaged the PT. And the differences speak for themselves. The best way to use Lucas would be for him to come up with the basic story outline/character arcs. Then you bring in other (ie better) writers to iron out the details and come up with a decent script. And under no circumstances should you EVER allow him to write dialogue. GOD was the dialogue in the PT ear-bleedingly bad.

 

[Octoberist]

I don't know..Strange Magic and Indy 4?

 

[Loki882]

I think the problem with Grievous in the context of only Episode 3, is that he kinda shows up.

Now, in A New Hope, we didn't know who Darth Vader is as he makes his awesome intro, but the information slowly leaks out through dialogue and plot developments. There's a build-up to the mystery and payoff.

I didn't watch the Clone Wars or google Grieveous, I still wouldn't know why he was in the movie, or what his role was. It was just too cluttered. Even his intro was underwhelming.

Agreed, that's my big problem with Grevious in ROTS. He's never ONCE seen, mentioned, referenced, or hinted at in either of the previous two movies. Then, all of a sudden, he just shows up out of the flipping blue in ROTS, and he's apparently the leader of the Droid Army, and some master Jedi killer. If you just watched him in the movie, then you'd be wondering "who the Hell is this guy, and where did he come from?" Also, he wasn't particularly interesting, barely got any real screentime, and didn't really DO ANYTHING even when he was onscreen. Other materials, books, comics, TV shows, etc, have done wonders in fleshing out his character.

Personally, I'd have cut Dooku out as well and just made Darth Maul the "Vader" of the PT. He's got a cool look, he's sufficiently imposing/menacing, and you could even play up a rivalry with Obi Wan since he killed Obi Wan's master right in front of him in TPM (and in TCW TV show, he also killed Obi Wan's former lover right in front of him as well). Then you kill him off maybe halfway through ROTS (after developing him in the previous 2 1/2 films) and by that point Anakin is ready to become Darth Vader.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Vanity Fair - George Lucas Explains Why He's Done Directing Star Wars Movies

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/11/george-lucas-star-wars-jar-jar-binks

George Lucas: "My advice to anyone making a Star Wars movie is that there is more to it than just spaceships.
George Lucas: "I'm curious that the Force doesn't get muddled into a bunch of garbledygook"
George Lucas: "Well I'm curious about what happened to Darth Vader's grandkids."

 

[Sevprince]

I hope Disney is open to going to him for ideas and vision for SW if they can't get creative, and I hope Lucas is open to giving them that vision. Whatever anyone thinks of Lucas, he is visionary when it comes to SW and the one person that best knows SW and what it should be about.

 

[Jedi-Spirit]

What, this thread?

 

[Tacit Ronin]

I am not. It feels coarse and rough. It gets everywhere. I wish I could wish my feelings away but I can't.

 

[Boom]

I am not. It feels coarse and rough. It gets everywhere. I wish I could wish my feelings away but I can't.

You're breaking my heart.

 

[MaceB]

I hope Disney is open to going to him for ideas and vision for SW if they can't get creative, and I hope Lucas is open to giving them that vision. Whatever anyone thinks of Lucas, he is visionary when it comes to SW and the one person that best knows SW and what it should be about.

He WAS a visionary. There is no good evidence that says he understands the series today. Nor does he know it best frankly. Someone who knew and understood what made Star Wars work wouldn't have made the force a scientific metric. Instead of getting a Sith vs. Jedi war, we got the rule of two. Instead of getting a progressive, character driven turn to the dark side, we got a muddled nonsense explanation that basically made Anakin a homicidal killer by flipping a switch.
I know it's hard to say... George Lucas was my childhood hero... but he doesn't understand Star Wars, he's not a good writer, and he's not a good director. Maybe he was... but today, he's a marketing genius, nothing more.

 

[OutOfBoose]

-You're so... beautiful.
-It's only because I'm so in love!
-No... No. It's because I'M so in love with you.

Shame Lucas isn't writing it. I'm gonna miss this stuff.

 

[O_B_Juan]

When GL is really old, Disney will let him write the last 3 star wars stories the way he wanted to tell them and then put them on disney channel as animated tv movie specials. Then star wars fans will debate which ending trilogy was better, like when they change james bond actors and people say weither they liked the old one or the new one.

 

[Boom]

-You're so... beautiful.
-It's only because I'm so in love!
-No... No. It's because I'M so in love with you.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Again, people don't understand this. The problem is not and never GL as a writer.

Hell, he is one of the BEST writers in Sci-Fi; without him, no world of Star Wars!

He is just not a great actor's director! He can't direct actors for ****. Good directing will always make up for not the best of writing.

If you have good enough actors, they will put out a great performance, if the directing is concerned with how actors talk/emote. With GL, he seem to be fine with the minimal performance from actors!

I pretty much agree with this. I'm not saying he is the greatest writer ever either, but he had a vision and I think in terms of the story, it was fine. His directing is what needs work, and his increasing love for technology made it worse.

The fact he was already letting them give off minimal performances, and both Hayden and Natalie have given good performances in other work, really shows. and then having nothing to interact with in several scenes just made it worse. Despite being one of the best parts of the prequels, I remember watching bts footage of RotS filming, and the scenes of the final duel fighting looked cool, but on nothing but green screen, it made really wish there was more to it than that.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

CBS - George Lucas on his decision to "break up" with "Star Wars"

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-lucas-on-why-he-is-done-directing-star-wars/

 

[tillyvick14]

I pretty much agree with this. I'm not saying he is the greatest writer ever either, but he had a vision and I think in terms of the story, it was fine. His directing is what needs work, and his increasing love for technology made it worse.

I think you're confusing writing screenplays with story treatments. One could argue that the story treatments for the prequels and the overarching story ideas were not that bad. Certainly the story treatments prepared by Lucas for the original trilogy are excellent.

When we say that Lucas is a horrible writer we are referring to his technical ability to write a screenplay. He is absolutely terrible in this regard and used to freely admit as much in the late 70's. The pacing, dialogue, characterizations, and screenplays in general for the prequels are horrible.

 

[jaymes_e06]

Who's it written by again?

 

[tillyvick14]

JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I agree with others who said GL is great at coming up with a basic story idea, but needs someone else to actually write the screenplay. The horrid Prequels had a good overall story, but it was executed so badly it was painful to watch. Reminds me of Jupiter Ascending.

Also, Natalie Portman I came to realize lately, is not that good of an actress as Jennifer Lawrence.

Agreed. No idea how she won for Black Swan...I thought she was terrible in that. I think her best acting was when she was in The Professional...that's sad. Her acting in the Prequels wasn't the only problem with that character, but it did not help matters any. She skates compared to Hayden Christensen but she was only marginally better than he was really.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Lucas didn't have an story for prequels. I ideas guy or not, he didn't have one for the prequels.

 

[BatLobster]

Actually, I think the prequels had more elements that paid off in the grander picture than the OT did, just by virtue of having the end destination locked in. Even though he filled in a lot of details as he went along, there were a lot of elements that felt like they carried through the 3 movies. Particularly Anakin's attachment issues. That was a theme that carried through. Other little things like the locket were nice payoffs too. And things like Anakin killing off the Trade Federation (the original "villains" of TPM) gave things a more cohesive feel.

I know a lot was made up along the way, but it felt more like it was planned by nature of it being an inevitable story. Whereas with the OT you have stuff like Luke and Leia being siblings when that clearly was never the intention (even though I think it works alright).

 

[DarthSkywalker]

It wasn't a locket. Shows how much of a payoff it was, you don't even know what it is. t:

The OT has plenty of long term payoff in Luke, Vader as Anakin, Han the Rebl, Obi-Wan's manipulation, and Luke's new age Jedi, even then.

 

[MaceB]

Some of GL's ideas for the prequels:
Start the story with a 9 year old protagonist
Keep the main bad guy's identity a "secret" only to lazily reveal it in Episode 3 without anything to build it up.
Midichlorians
Rule of two
Going to the dark side is more like a magic incantation that makes evil rather than a person actually becoming evil due to malice, hate, fear, etc.
Make episode 1 about trade agreements

The list goes on and on and on. GL is NOT a good ideas guy. His ideas need to stay far far away... in a different galaxy I mean.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I think George was a good macro guy back in the day, the problem is that the vast majority of his ideas came from other things. Dune, Kurosawa, the serials, etc.

 

[tillyvick14]

Some of GL's ideas for the prequels:
Start the story with a 9 year old protagonist
Keep the main bad guy's identity a "secret" only to lazily reveal it in Episode 3 without anything to build it up.
Midichlorians
Rule of two
Going to the dark side is more like a magic incantation that makes evil rather than a person actually becoming evil due to malice, hate, fear, etc.
Make episode 1 about trade agreements

The list goes on and on and on. GL is NOT a good ideas guy. His ideas need to stay far far away... in a different galaxy I mean.

Luckily they have been expunged by Disney. It would be so interesting to know the true, unfiltered story. Is it really that Ardnt was simply taking too long or were the story treatments written by Lucas totally unworkable and had to be scrapped?