Screenwriting- Lucas vs Kasdan

The OT was a collaborative effort they had limits and had to do things by the skin on their teeth. The PT's biggest flaw was everyone involved was a YES man to GL and no one questioned anything. It was all him and nothing else. That's my subjective interpretation at least.

 

I think Kasdan was instrumental in refining and smoothing out the rough edges on the dialogue in ESB and ROTJ. I know that Katz and Huyck did a draft for ANH that added most of the humorous dialogue, and I think Lucas had one or two others have a go at rewrites too, but overall it was mostly his own writing on that one.

The parsecs thing never bothered me all that much, because Alec Guinness gave that great "You and I both know you're b.s.'ing, son..." look in response to that line, and to me it never needed fixing (let alone explaining/justifying) for that reason. But yeah, a lot of the dialogue is pretty dicey in that one (though the actors sell it well enough that it is rarely as painful as it should be.)

Kasdan's collaborations with Lucas helped matters tremendously (though there are still times when the ESB and ROTJ dialogue gets a little on the rusty side, IMHO.) Kasdan does seem to have a much more deft hand as far as writing natural sounding dialogue.

 

Sigh...Lucas is a big picture creative guy. He's not a script writer nor is he that great of a director.

He has strengths in both but that's in no way what he's good at.

The PT is actually incredible considering that he wrote and directed the whole thing. It's out of his wheel house. That's why the overall concept for the PT is rather brilliant, but his presentation is generally pretty rough.

Imagine the general outline/treatment for the PT. Then throw in promotional images and the cast. It seems like it would be brilliant, but his inability to work with actors combined with the stiff and sometimes convoluted dialogue becomes the problem.

The entire "Jar Jar is a funnier character than we've had before....he's they key" shows the problem. It's a disconnect in his ability to write, direct and cast. He went too far.

I'll also say this...he's big picture, but it takes him a miserably long time to wittle the story down. He's got such a broad conception of the story that there's very little focus. This contributes to his flip-flopping tendencies.

 

Kasdan gives me hope for VII

 

It will be interesting to see how TFA and Solo will change Kasdan's legacy.

 

Are you trying to say, "Gobbledeygook?"

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 25, 2015, Original Post Date: Nov 25, 2015 ---

Wtf is up with all of the dislikes?

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 25, 2015 ---

I'm giving you all "likes."