Rian Johnson Trilogy Not Dead, Director Would Be Heartbroken if Done With ‘Star Wars’

The artist(s) decide what those broad strokes are/were. Not the actors. Or the audience.

There has been indications at several points that an overall ultimate objective for the main characters (Rey and Kylo) was decided prior to TFA. (This trilogy's "broad strokes") It was during Kasdan's rewrites for TFA that the idea of a defecting trooper became attractive. Finn was always going to be a supporting character. Thankfully (or not depending on your POV or priorities) the creatives on the ST just haven't gone around boasting that they have everything planned out. Plans rarely survive engagement anyway.


The producers of the original trilogy hadn't decided if ROTJ would be a happy ending or one where Luke turns to the dark side until a few months before production. That's a pretty broad stroke.

 

Just imagine it's the year 2007/8 again. Star Wars was finished except for TCW. The eight years in between it and Episode VII flew in.

But this time we also have Mando etc. So we're in pretty good shape for the short and long term.

 

I guess I see a big difference between a writer/director who makes a mega-blockbuster film and decides to turn it into a film trilogy (in fact, George talked about nine films) and Kathleen Kennedy kicking off a new trilogy following Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm.

With a four billion dollar investment, I'd certainly want some assurances if I were Disney that there was an actual three-film story in place. I don't blame any of the three high-powered directors Lucasfilm originally lined up for the films. But I would expect the President of Lucasfilm to guard against signfiicant diversions from the overall story.

But we all know now, while JJ might have handed off a general story outline, Kathleen Kennedy was cool with RJ's creative decisions for the second film. She might have been cool with them but Trevorrow certainly was not. RJ's decisions in the second film had a huge impact on the third film -- it seriously jeopardized the script that Trevorrow was working on and he subsquently parted ways with Kennedy and JJ was brought back in to figure out how in the world to bring the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion. The STs bacame a multi-million dollar game of directors "making up the story as they went along."

 

Not sure where this idea came from... CT's script was based on TLJ. He wasn't writing his story in isolation. TLJ story was locked months before TFA was released. CT pitched an intial story that was approved that was based off the TLJ story. Thten he ran into problems in the drafting process. Plus, add Carrie's death and it was an extremely complicated situation as for as IX was concerned.

 

CT's script included Luke Skywalker. After RJ killed him off, CT wanted to use Mark Hamil as a Force Ghost. After that was nixed by the Lucasfilm Powers-that-Be, CT left.

 

LF ditched CT because he wanted to use Luke as FG or he wanted to use Luke more in general? Now that's totally BS and I can prove it to you. I've read both leaked drafts of DOTF and in these Luke always was a force ghost. Furthermore LF even created concept arts for Luke's force ghost:


Do you really think LF or Disney would have wasted money for two drafts and concept arts, while they already knew they won't use (FG) Luke? No, Colin left because of Carrie Fisher's death. He couldn't work around it, because Leia was such a major part in his story.

 

And IIRC it was rumored early on that each OT character was getting their "own" movie. Unfortunately they used some common sense and started with the oldest and gave the last movie to the youngest of them.

 

Treverrow departed following the changes that were imposed by Carrie Fisher's death. Since RJ had written TLJ and Luke's death before TFA was even wrapped, that's a pretty long time between Luke being killed and Treverrow supposedly leaving (after TLJ's release) because of it.

 

So much of the anti-TLJ stuff has created fan fiction around how these films were developed. Honestly, it's probably better for CT that he was able to get away from the project after Fisher passed away. I just don't know how you tell that story without her. The entire trilogy is moving towards a confrontation of mother and son and it never happens.

 

How does the leaked drafts in any way, shape, or form disprove my point? Trevorrow is quoted as saying he left the project because his plans to use Mark Hamil in his IX film were no longer endorsed by Lucasfilm -- so how does that make my take 'BS'? Trevorrow was responsible for writing the screenplay with his writing partner, Derek Connolly. If he had 'free reign' like JJ and RJ before him, why couldn't he respond to Carrie's death however he and Derek saw fit?

As I recall, he didn't say, "I wasn't imaginative enough to work around Carrie's death," he said, "I wasn't allowed to use Mark Hamil."

 

Can you provide a source to that, because I'm not finding anything about this. Furthermore this quote makes no sense what so ever. Luke Skywalker aka Mark Hamill was used quite a lot in his version of SW and apparently everyone at LF liked it. Otherwise they would have never greenlit another draft and concept arts.

Here's an actual quote by CT who contradicts that "Mark Hamill and Disney not liking CT use of Luke Skywalker" topic:
[...]he (CT) found his experience working for Lucasfilm “deeply satisfying” and that he “is grateful to [Kathleen Kennedy] for recognizing she and I were never going to make a movie that we were proud of together.”

If you've read the script, then you probably noticed DOTF would have never worked without Leia. So, CT had to rewrite his script completely. Maybe he wanted to use Luke even more after Carrie's passing, but it was already to late for that, because Luke was set to die in the previous movie.

There is stuff he just couldn't change, like RJ couldn't change Luke's exile, because it was already set up in the previous movie. This is how sequels work or at least should work.

 

Honestly, I don't recall the specifics now other than it was an audio podcast interview I listened to during a driving trip.

Again, I recall reading a detailed article comparing the two scripts but I don't remember Leia playing a starring role in either.

 

There isn't anything. It's just a product of clickbait nonsense. People consume it and pass it on like it's gospel then have the audacity to tell others they're living in an alternate reality. CT's script issues had zero to do with Rian Johnson.

 

So, just a "trust me" source...

I would compare her role with Han's role in TFA, maybe a bit less.


Question: do you think you would have preferred DOTF over TROS? For my part, I would have loved to see the movie. Would it have been better than TROS? I don't know, but the ideas were intriguing. But what I liked most about DOTF: it actually built upon TLJ. This is the reason why I think you would have hated CT's movie even more.

 

I gave you an honest answer. Sorry I don't remember the podcast now. I believe my posting history here entitles me to tad more respect from a fellow long-time poster than a flippant, "yeeeah, riiiiiiiiiiiiiight" response.

If that's the case, her absense from CT's film doesn't strike me as requiring such an impossible script rewrite that his reaction to her death was to wave the white flag and bail on the project.

You could be right. But in hindsight, the idea of Kylo Ren stepping up to become the new Big Baddie in Film 3 would have probably felt more natural than the herky-jerky reintroduction of Palpatine did.

I wasn't a big fan of the PTs but one thing the three films had going for them is that they had a consistent flow to the narrative that led naturally to the very dramatic grand finale. To me, the STs gave me whiplash from one film to the next. They were all over the place.