In a recent Q&A with J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt, the screenwriter revealed some pretty intriguing details about early drafts of The Force Awakens. The most eye-opening is that in earlier versions of the screenplay, Luke Skywalker was a much bigger force (pun intended) in the movie.
Early on I tried to write versions of the story where [Rey] is at home, her home is destroyed, and then she goes on the road and meets Luke. And then she goes and kicks the bad guys ass, Arndt said (via EW). It just never worked and I struggled with this. This was back in 2012. Apparently the issue was Lukes presence was always upstaging everyone in the script. It just felt like every time Luke came in and entered the movie, he just took it over, Arndt continued. Suddenly you didnt care about your main character anymore because, Oh fk, Luke Skywalkers here. I want to see what hes going to do.
EW also says there were other big plot ideas dropped: "a search for Darth Vaders remains, or a quest to the underwater wreckage of the second Death Star to recover a key piece of history about sacred Jedi sites in the galaxy." These of course, totally different movies and one could argue fairly different from the remake and remix-ness of 'The Force Awakens.'
And apparently R2-D2 and C-3PO were far more linked in the movie as well. I had originally written R2 and C-3PO showing up together, and Larry [Kasdan] very intelligently said, You want to keep them separate from each other. And of course Im like, No, no, no, Larry. You dont get it at all! Arndt joked.
Abrams got into the convoluted story of R2-D2. Essentially hes in a grief-stricken kind of coma because of Luke vanishing.
And the data in his system is apparently tied into A New Hope, when he plugged into the Death Star and apparently downloaded all kinds of secrets one of them being intel on location of Jedi Temples.
We had the idea about R2 plugging into the information base of the Death Star, and thats how he was able to get the full map and find where the Jedi temples are, Arndt said. Abrams didnt want all this backstory bogging down the plot so it was included indirectly. He didnt want the story to devolve into, how st happened 30 years ago. But the idea was that in that scene where R2 plugged in, he downloaded the archives of the Empire, which was referenced by Kylo Ren, Abrams explained.
So the idea is that BB-8 awakens R2-D2 from his coma by telling him about a loved one Luke and his potential whereabouts. BB-8 comes up and says something to him, which is basically, Ive got this piece of a map, do you happen to have the rest? Abrams said. The idea was, R2 who has been all over the galaxy, is still in his coma, but he hears this. And it triggers something that would ultimately wake him up.
I dont know if I totally buy that, and it sounds a bit silly thankfully they didnt lean hard on that in the movie but to hear their intentions, and some of the development process, is really fascinating. I would really kill to interview Arndt, so Ill put that out there. Thoughts? Does any of this change the experience of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at all?
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