Colin Trevorrow Won't Direct Ep. IX

I'm sure, individually, it is understandable why each director was fired. ANd this happening once, twice.....sure blast happens. But its happened to 4 of the 6 directors they've hired. Right now its more likely they will fire/change directors then not on a project. That isn't good/normal. And the consistent element in all these cases is Kennedy - so whats the issue. Why can't she hire the right people or workw ith the right people once shes hired them?

 

Another "consistent element" in all these cases is that they are Star Wars. Not just some movie, but Star Wars. The holy grail of movies. It could be that there are precious few people with the right stuff to handle such a daunting task, and that Kathleen is merely removing them when it becomes apparent they aren't up to the task. That seems better than letting people make bad Star Wars. Just another way of looking at it.

 

Quality control. If Kennedy would have been in charge of Lucasfilm during the prequels, what would she have done with Mr. Lucas?

Probably a good thing.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 13, 2017, Original Post Date: Sep 13, 2017 ---

 

Then why can't she hire the right people and/or workw ith the people she does hire to produce the movies?

Also, none of the reports indicate the directors aren't up to the task, but can't/don't get along with her.

 

Your question is- why doesn't she get what she wants in the first place? I think one point to consider is that she might be inexperienced in picking and then guiding directors. To the best of my knowledge she has only worked with Spielberg and Lucas up until this point, so this might actually be a new position for her.

 

Then why is she in charge?

Also, yuo're wrong - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005086/?ref_=nv_sr_1

 

It's seems like a very tough job. Not only does she need to get a good director, she needs to get a good director that will conform to the style and story of Star Wars. It seems like most established/serious directors wouldn't be that into differing to the producer and story group all the time. Scorsese isn't going to want to listen to Kennedy and follow her orders. So they tried going with these younger guys. Turns out that they're not the guys you want either. I think Star Wars is a special case, and it's hard to get Star Wars right. Heck, the Creator couldn't even get it right.

Ha! I wish she was around back then! She could've sat George down in the EP chair and brought in a better director. Probably would've improved the PT.

 

"Don't choke on your aspirations, George....."

 

We know she has issues hiring the right people. Where is it confirmed that she has issues working with ones that are the right fit?

All of the fired directors thus far seem like they weren't the right fit for the films in the first place. JJ Abrams filming went smoothly, the same seems to be true of Rian Johnson. Gareth Edwards, while he had to do some reshoots, also seemed to work smoothly and was cooperative in the reshoots as well.

In comparison, the Fantastic Four director(his name eludes me at the moment) melted down before he even got to work on his film. Also, it sounds like he was largely picked at the behest of Simon Kinberg.

Lord and Miller were at least partly picked because of the fact that Lawrence Kasdan liked them for the job. According to reports though, they were just a bad fit and weren't willing to play ball with the studio, even ignoring and changing Kasdan's script wherever they saw fit. Additionally, the warning bell was sounded on them by their lead actor, plus they had been clashing with Kasdan for quite some time over the aforementioned issues with following the script.

As for Trevorrow, it sounds like, if anything, the problems had been written on the wall for a while, and in actuality, he probably should have been axed sooner. Although, LucasFilm probably held off intentionally in order to not have his firing run up against the issues with Lord and Miller being fired.

Heck, even the reshoot issues with Rogue One seemed to come not from Kennedy herself, but from the higher ups at Disney proper.

You can easily make the case that Kathleen Kennedy needs to do better in hiring, perhaps not listening to others as much when doing so.

You could also make the case that maybe she's been too hands off, hence the issues with Lord and Miller being fired so late into production.

As for her having issues working with directors who are actually good fits, there seems to be no indication that she actually has any issues with that.

 

Failure to collaborate is a two person problem. And she's had that issue 4 times.......

 

You still haven't shown where she hasn't worked with the right people when hiring them. That's my issue, you haven't shown evidence for that claim that you've made multiple times now. When did she fail to work with a director who was a good fit?

 

she has also produced 2 star wars films so far.. both box office smashes.

she'll be judged by the figures.. the end results.. not how many directors she goes through. She picks the wrong directors? she's human. She does what's necessary to get the job done right? good on her.

The pressure on her must be staggering... staggering.

 

The question is... Is JJ up to? Finishing old Luke's story isn't the same as starting it (especailly in the way JJ did it). It requires much more wit and depth.
I doubt he'd be a much better choice than Trevorrow. I mean, both are able to deliver ok/good-ish acion flicks. But anything more than that? Trevorrow was at least someone who could still surprise us, but JJ? He's already fully shown what he's capable of.
Also, this is the exact same situation as TFA. Arndt left without a script and they had to rush it. Now? Treworrow and co left and they have to rush the script again...

 

A typical JJ script maybe, but that dosen't need long time anyways. Nothing more, nothing less.
In the end I'm afraid the sequel trilogy will be a another huge missed opportunity, just like the prequels. The last chance of continuing the most iconic saga ever created (in a way that's worthy to its predecessors's innovative spirit) with the original cast faded away, as everyone chickened out, but this hack JJ.
Although ep VIII still has the chance of being something more than your average monthly Hollywood blockbuster.

 

I hope Trevorrow was fired for creative differences, and not because of his remarks on female directors. What he said is basically the same as what Kathleen Kennedy herself said about female directors, but they didn't fire her because of that.

 

What did he say?

 

This is what Colin said when he was asked about female directors in Hollywood:
“I want to believe that a filmmaker with both the desire and ability to make a studio blockbuster will be given an opportunity to make their case. I stress desire because I honestly think that’s a part of the issue. Many of the top female directors in our industry are not interested in doing a piece of studio business for its own sake. These filmmakers have clear voices and stories to tell that don’t necessarily involve superheroes or spaceships or dinosaurs.”

And this is what Kathleen Kennedy said when she was asked about hiring female directors:
"We want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do ‘Star Wars,’ they’re set up for success. They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.”

Where's the difference? To be fair, Colin says there's not enough female directors who are interested, whereas Kathleen says there's not enough female directors with experience. But still - why is the former considered sexist but the latter isn't? Hypocrisy of today's Western society. Thank god I live half my time in China.

 

Both Kathleen's and Colin's comments were criticized and deemed as kind of sexist, especially if you consider how little experience did Colin and Gareth had when they were hired to direct a SW film.