Or at least that is the plan Disney
and Lucasfilm have come up for Star Wars. Keep the franchise going for as long
as possible without missing a year and the obligatory interconnected universe.
The company intends to put out
a new Star Wars movie every year for as long as people will buy
tickets. Let me put it another way: If everything works out for Disney, and if
you are (like me) old enough to have been conscious for the first Star Wars film,
you will probably not live to see the last one. It’s the forever franchise.
Star Wars has been around
since the 1977 and has gathered millions of fans worldwide, so as long as new
blood is injected into the franchise every so often to rejuvenate it and
explore the immense galaxy that has been built over the decades with not only
the films, but also games, novels, and comics, it is not inconceivable that it
can't stick around for a long, long time.
Breathing some new life into a
famous and beloved film franchise that according to some has been beaten into
the ground it's no easy task, specially with millions of eyes looking over your
shoulder analyzing and criticizing everything you do at any given time.
"The first question J.J.
asked us when we all sat down was, what do we want to feel?" Kennedy says.
The answers Kennedy’s brain
trust gave: A sense of a beginning. A sense of urgency but also humor. Working
with Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote The Empire Strikes Back and The
Return of the Jedi, Abrams developed another list: "The feeling we wanted
was from the first trilogy," Kasdan says. "It’s fun, it’s delightful,
it moves like a son of a bitch, and you don’t question too much."
After The Force Awakens we have two other Saga movies
(main story), and three Anthologies that will focus on a ragtag group of Rebels
titled Rogue One directed by Gareth Edwards, a young Han Solo movie directed by
Chris Miller and Phil Lord, and a rumored Boba Fett movie. Lucasfilm has a list
of films but do they have a plan to weave them?
"I love how you’ve already jumped to the
conclusion that it’s all working," she answers, laughing. "Oh my God,
there is so much to get right. It’s by no means laid out beat for beat. I’ll
borrow a line from Raiders of the Lost Ark: We’re making this up as we go."
In all likelihood Kennedy is making light of their
battle plan going forward, mainly because for instance the young Han Solo movie
has been around since 2012, which was when Kasdan picked the idea from Lucas.
Kasdan is talking to Lucas again, and Kennedy too, and
they want him to write another—another!—Star Wars. It turns
out Lucas has been sitting on a whole crop of ideas. "Pick," they
tell him. Kasdan chooses something about Han Solo when he was a kid. "Because
Han is my favorite character," Kasdan says.
Kasdan was also the one that helped Kennedy convince Abrams
that The Force Awakens was right for him and that he was right for it.
They cut the deal, but ask
Kasdan for a little more. Could he stick around and, you know, consult a little
bit on Episode VII? Could he help persuade Abrams to take the directing
chair?
Kasdan says the only must-have
item was to bring back Han, Chewie, Luke, and Leia. "On the first day, I
said, look: Delight, that’s the word. In every scene, that should be the
criterion we’re using. Does it delight?"
Star Wars:
The Force Awakens stars Carrie Fisher,
Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, John
Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Lupita Nyong'o, Adam Driver, Oscar
Isaac, Domnhall Gleason, Gwendoline Christie, Max von Sydow, Andy Serkis,
Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, Warwick Davis, Crystal Clarke, and
Pip Andersen.
Star Wars:
The Force Awakens opens on December 18.
Source - Wired
0 Comments:
Post a Comment