The Rise of Skywalker Colin Trevorrow No Longer Directing Star Wars Episode IX

[sycamore]

In all honesty Lucasfilm may as well not bother with hiring big name directors and just find the people who will follow whatever orders they demand. Clearly there's a level of control over Star Wars they want to keep, so they may as well just hire people willing to do what they want.

Its pretty clear they are going to go with either Johnson or Abrams. Path of least resistance. Both are familair with both Eps 7 and 8, so they will have the easiest time adjusting to 9. Spielberg, Nolan, Bird, this is all wishful thinking on the part of fans, I think it would be too much to ask these guys to come in cold. It pretty much comes down to Rian or JJ, whoever Kathleen can persuade.

 

[jmc]

Eh, probably more in the middle. Johnson has made comments that he felt fine in terms of creative restrictions. If the above article is true, Colin got too big for his britches and it came back to bite him. Lucasfilm may also be demanding, but that's par for the course with blockbuster filmmaking unless you become a Spielburg, Cameron, Nolan etc. And he isn't that.

What is being too opinionated though? As FilmNerdJamie points out it's the directors job to be opinionated and make tough decisions. I understand the bigger the budget the more the studios interfere, but at the same time they can't expect the directors to just accept everything they demand of them. As pointed out above if Patty Jenkins doesn't fight for No Man's Land then Wonder Woman is an entirely different movie. Sometimes the directors should push back, the issue here is that Lucasfilm seems to want people to play entirely by their rules, and if that's the case they may as well just hire TV directors to do the job they want. Right now they've got an image problem that they are going to be difficult to work with and that's going to do nothing to help lure top talent to direct their movies.

 

[Snow Queen]

I've read Trevorrow's interviews, I can buy him being an *******.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Writers are brought in to touch-up big films all the time. The question is how big a changes was said writer doing... to a story/script that was originally signed off on by the studio, mind you.

No, this wasn't a touch up. More to the point, it was the director's script. The problem was the director's vision.

I am sure the story was signed off on. The script wasn't, which is why they trashed it. JJ/Kasadan and Rian didn't have this problem. The major problem with Han Solo seemed to be ignoring the script.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I've read Trevorrow's interviews, I can buy him being an *******.

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

No, this wasn't a touch up. More to the point, it was the director's script. The problem was the director's vision.

I am sure the story was signed off on. The script wasn't, which is why they trashed it. JJ/Kasadan and Rian didn't have this problem. The major problem with Han Solo seemed to be ignoring the script.

Abrams and Kennedy butted heads pretty hard on The Force Awakens. And frankly we don't know what is going on with Johnson.

The same "Everything is going fine!" narrative he is saying aloud right now is the same as uttered by Abrams, Edwards, L&M and Trevorrow before him. Can't take that to heart.

Firing your director(s) with 90% of filming complete speaks just as ill to Kennedy as a studio head as L&M as directors. One can't fire that many directors and claim they don't have a problem running the ship.

 

[I Am The Knight]

They realized they shouldn't have hired him in the first place.

That seems to happen a lot over there

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Abrams and Kennedy butted heads pretty hard on The Force Awakens. And frankly we don't know what is going on with Johnson.

The same "Everything is going fine!" narrative he is saying aloud right now is the same as uttered by Abrams, Edwards, L&M and Trevorrow before him. Can't take that to heart.

Firing your director(s) with 90% of filming complete speaks just as ill to Kennedy as a studio head as L&M as directors. One can't fire that many directors and claim they don't have a problem running the ship.

Abrams also ended up allowed to write his own script and Kennedy was able to get him the December release date. He wanted more time, but he got the movie done and it ended up one of the most successful of all time.

Who is the "he" in the second paragraph.

They screwed up with Solo. There is no doubt there. Same with Rogue One. But if the movies come out, are well received and do good business is there a problem?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

That seems to happen a lot over there

Yes, this is what happens when you hire blah directors on recommendations from friends. The only upsetting situation was Lord and Miller. Trank, Edwards and Trevorrow should have never been given the jobs in the first place. That she fired two before we could have another Rogue One is very good imo.

 

[jmc]

It's a problem if you're wanting to hire good film directors.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

It's a problem if you're wanting to hire good film directors.

JJ, Johnson and Howard are not good film directors now? They fired the bad ones (Lord and Miller excluded) and hand held the mediocre one to a decent movie.

This argument is bizarre. Trank crapped the bed and so did Trevorrow. Do you keep them around because firing them will look bad?

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

JJ, Johnson and Howard are not good film directors now? They fired the bad ones (Lord and Miller excluded) and hand held the mediocre one to a decent movie.

This argument is bizarre. Trank crapped the bed and so did Trevorrow. Do you keep them around because firing them will look bad?

By your own logic, L&M are bad filmmakers.

 

[jmc]

JJ, Johnson and Howard are not good film directors now? They fired the bad ones (Lord and Miller excluded) and hand held the mediocre one to a decent movie.

This argument is bizarre. Trank crapped the bed and so did Trevorrow. Do you keep them around because firing them will look bad?

You're missing my point. If your a company that becomes known to throw directors under the bus at the drop of a hat then directors are going to think twice about working for them in the first place. Perception at the moment is Lucasfilm isn't director friendly.

 

[I Am The Knight]

They screwed up with Solo. There is no doubt there. Same with Rogue One. But if the movies come out, are well received and do good business is there a problem?

There is nothing "wrong" with this Bottom Line line of thought but it surely is a problem for the talent. After all, no respectable director wants to come into a movie with the threat of having his vision compromised at some point, even on a huge blockbuster where there are already so many people handing out "creative advice", if you will. KK needs to figure out who is an actual fit for ther universe the way Feige seems to have. Trevorrow wasn't hired last month.

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

You're missing my point. If your a company that becomes known to throw directors under the bus at the drop of a hat then directors are going to think twice about working for them in the first place. Perception at the moment is Lucasfilm isn't director friendly.

Correct. Right or wrong that is the perception.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

By your own logic, L&M are bad filmmakers.

I specifically excluded them, so no.

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

I specifically excluded them, so no.

Which you only "excluded" to keep your argument intact. Which again goes directly against it.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

You're missing my point. If your a company that becomes known to throw directors under the bus at the drop of a hat then directors are going to think twice about working for them in the first place. Perception at the moment is Lucasfilm isn't director friendly.

And I disagree. Otherwise Howard wouldn't be there. They never threw Edwards under the bus, they worked with him. They didn't throw Trank anywhere, they let him walk under the false pretense that he wanted to. That leaves the last two situations. In both situations, they wouldn't work with them. Lord and Miller might be a problem but then again somehow hired Howard.

We can also take this back to Marvel. Where they forced Wright off the job and we all know what happened with The Dark World. Whedon cried out the door. And yet, look at the talent they have acquired since. Look at WB after all their firings, they have better talent now then they did before.

These jobs not only pay well, they can set these director's for life. This is also Star Wars. A series that many directors rather adore.

 

[jmc]

There is nothing "wrong" with this Bottom Line line of thought but it surely is a problem for the talent. After all, no respectable director wants to come into a movie with the threat of having his vision compromised at some point, even on a huge blockbuster where there are already so many people handing out "creative advice", if you will. KK needs to figure out who is an actual fit for ther universe the way Feige seems to have. Trevorrow wasn't hired last month.

I think part of the problem is that Lucasfilm might actually not have a proper plan in place like what Marvel have, so it's hard to see eye to eye with directors when the person running the show also aren't 100% sure of the direction they are going. People including myself have probably been giving them far too much credit in assuming they have their house in order.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

There is nothing "wrong" with this Bottom Line line of thought but it surely is a problem for the talent. After all, no respectable director wants to come into a movie with the threat of having his vision compromised at some point, even on a huge blockbuster where there are already so many people handing out "creative advice", if you will. KK needs to figure out who is an actual fit for ther universe the way Feige seems to have. Trevorrow wasn't hired last month.

There is no cup and ball trick here. They know their vision has to line up with LF vision. Or it has to be so good, they accept it.

 

[jmc]

And I disagree. Otherwise Howard wouldn't be there. They never threw Edwards under the bus, they worked with him. They didn't throw Trank anywhere, they let him walk under the false pretense that he wanted to. That leaves the last two situations. In both situations, they wouldn't work with them. Lord and Miller might be a problem but then again somehow hired Howard.

We can also take this back to Marvel. Where they forced Wright off the job and we all know what happened with The Dark World. And yet, look at the talent they have acquired since. Look at WB after all their firings, they have better talent now then they did before.

These jobs not only pay well, they can set these director's for life. This is also Star Wars. A series that many directors rather adore.

Mate, perception matters. If a company comes to me asking for a commissioned artwork piece and they have a history of firing artists part way through the process I'm going to think twice before signing on. You can't expect directors not to have second thoughts about the company now that this nonsense has gone on more than once. Once is a fluke, twice is a pattern.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Which you only "excluded" to keep your argument intact. Which again goes directly against it.

Not at all. We can talk about why they got fired but there seems to be an assumption that Kennedy just gave them a blank canvas and said, "you do you". It is clear as day they ran into the Rogue One situation and were going to work with them on finishing the movie. To compromise. They refused. They got fired.

If Lord and Miller's vision was Han Solo, they would have written the script. They didn't. They had parameters they decided not to work work inside.

It is actually rather interesting, because from the start Han Solo has been pitched as Kasadan's baby. The movie he wanted to make. Not Lord and Miller's. The clash probably isn't hard to realize.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Mate, perception matters. If a company comes to me asking for a commissioned artwork piece and they have a history of firing artists part way through the process I'm going to think twice before signing on. You can't expect directors not to have second thoughts about the company now that this nonsense has gone on more than once. Once is a fluke, twice is a pattern.

Answer this. Why does it matter for Lucasfilms and Disney to that point, but not Warner Bros. and Marvel? Because it has happened as many times at Marvel and more times just on the Flash over at Warner. They just hired someone else to SS 2. How many director's did the Flash have? Look at the Whedon/Snyder situation. How many directors was there for Wonder Woman before it was actually made? Who was directing The Batman again?

 

[jmc]

Answer this. Why does it matter for Lucasfilms and Disney to that point, but not Warner Bros. and Marvel? Because it has happened as many times at Marvel and more times just on the Flash over at Warner. They just hired someone else to SS 2. How many director's did the Flash have? Look at the Whedon/Snyder situation. How many directors was there for Wonder Woman before it was actually made? Who was directing The Batman again?

Issues happening before cameras roll is pretty normal, it's once things are locked and ready shoot where the problem lies. Lets looks at the circumstances from a creators perspective. Lucasfilm fired a directing team with most of their movie completed and hired another director to redo a good chunk of Rogue One. They have just let another director go part way through pre production and I believe there were even heads butting between them and Abrams during Force Awakens. That doesn't look like a particularly comfortable environment to be around from a working perspective.

 

[Infinity9999x]

What is being too opinionated though? As FilmNerdJamie points out it's the directors job to be opinionated and make tough decisions. I understand the bigger the budget the more the studios interfere, but at the same time they can't expect the directors to just accept everything they demand of them. As pointed out above if Patty Jenkins doesn't fight for No Man's Land then Wonder Woman is an entirely different movie. Sometimes the directors should push back, the issue here is that Lucasfilm seems to want people to play entirely by their rules, and if that's the case they may as well just hire TV directors to do the job they want. Right now they've got an image problem that they are going to be difficult to work with and that's going to do nothing to help lure top talent to direct their movies.

There's really no way to answer that question, as each scenario is different, sometimes the blame lies more on the studio, sometimes more on the director, sometimes other aspects outside both of those.

It also depends on your pedigree. Colin may have been acting similar to how Spielberg would handle himself...but he ain't no Spielberg. Maybe he'll prove himself to be in time, but right now he doesn't have enough clout to swing that kind of big stick.

With this situation...who knows? We know that JJ had some issues with the time table, and eventually got what he asked for. We know Rian seems to be fine, and we know that Rogue 1, Han Solo, and now episode 9 have had director issues. So I certainly think it's fair to put a share of the blame on the studio, but I think there probably were issues with Colin as well. It's rarely black and white.

And at the end of the day, if the turn out good products, I won't fault the controlling nature. But if they start to dip in quality, that's not good.