Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I guess the offspring are sort of inevitable in a way, but what tends to worry me about focusing on them is my fear that they'll be cast from our current crop of Overexposed Pretty Vapid People.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII If we're lucky Abrams will take a cue from Lucas and have the new kids audition together so he can get a feel for who plays well off each other.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I think the Clone Wars series really did a good job of evoking those "squee" moments without bloating them into the visually-mesmerizing, narratively-excessive frenzy we saw at the beginning of ROTS. I'm pretty darned sure we're going to get at least one space battle. But if it follows a tighter focus, like Clone Wars, ANH, or even ROTJ, it'll be worth seeing. Where does it say they are playing "action hero" though? The story could absolutely focus on them without having them resort to the kind of physicality we saw from Ford in KOTCS.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII It may not. However, the prequel trilogy had Christopher Lee doing back flips.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII That is their current plan. A plan that could easily change if Disney and Abrams instead decides to go another direction after VII like they did after pushing the previous writer out.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII That is the new plan originally it was going to be the other way around.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I think it's a mistake to think that Abrams has as much control over Star Wars as he does over Star Trek. It's entirely possible Disney didn't like Arndt's approach and told him to go and Abrams is just towing the line. I find Abrams to be incredibly hit and miss, but these casting choices are extremely interesting. Michael Fassbender in Star Wars would be... well, phenomenal.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Really? You're really projecting the direction the PT took onto where these movies are going? I'm pretty sure Disney and Abrams are keen to avoid how the PT was received (and perceived).
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Sorry, just a minor nit that needs fixing. I misspoke. I didn't mean that I wanted a bigger space battle, as in one with more ships. What I meant was that originally I wanted to focus more extensively on the space battle part of the story. Just in case my meaning wasn't clear, I'm editing my post to reflect that. The beginning of ROTS is probably my least favorite of the three space battles. I actually enjoy it less and less each time I see it, in contrast with the battles in ANH and ROTJ. These days, I'm enjoying ROTJ's battle more and more. Oh, and I thought that The Clone Wars was overall quite an excellent series.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Yeah, I think either way, your meaning comes through. Either as a battle with more ships and chaos, or a battle that eats up more screen time, what matters is the buildup to it and the execution of it. The more personal it is, the better. As a case-in-point, consider how much more "personal" the confrontation and lightsaber battle between Vader and Luke is in ROTJ, as opposed to the Obi-Wan and Anakin confrontation in ROTS. The ROTS battle is a better spectacle. But the one in ROTJ is better ... period.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I remember somebody in the entertainment industry once describing the Battle of Endor and the Second Death Star in ROTJ as perhaps the greatest aerial/space battle ever committed to film, greater than the original conflict over the first Death Star, anything in the Prequels or all the spacecraft battles filmed for other sci-fi/fantasy films through the decades. Part of that adoration comes from the sheer complexity of the stop-motion and bluescreen photography done to assemble a battle containing so many large capital ships, a looming, colossal battle station, Endor below and all the zipping Rebel and Imperial fighters trying to elude one another's blaster fire. It also feels like a much more personal battle because of the focus placed on Lando and Nien Nunb in the cockpit of the Falcon and Wedge soaring alongside or behind them in his battleworn X-Wing. Lando and Wedge are characters we grew to like over the course of two or three films and now they were placed right in the middle of this enormous orbital battle with a plethora of bright explosions, streaking vessel trails and remote detonations caused by attacking ships too distant to see clearly. All of these elements combined with the raw physical effort it took to film and transfer them to celluloid to create a truly memorable and exciting conflict in the vacuum of space. The Battle of Naboo and the Trade Federation droid control ship? The Battle of Coruscant and General Grievous' flagship? Not so much. They're fantastic eye candy, but just don't offer a personal connection or a believable sense of danger the way the Endor clash does. We know nine-year-old Anakin by the end of Episode I....but do we feel for his victory the same way we do for Lando, Nien Nunb and Wedge when they cheer and laugh, the Death Star exploding behind them as they escape at the last moment?
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Christopher Lee doing backflips wasn't something folks complained about. Plus, I imagine Disney hopes they'll get the Box Office return that the prequels did.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Sure it was. Ditto for Yoda's backflips. And Sidious' twirls. By 2005, there wasn't much about the PT that people didn't complain about. Agreed. But that doesn't mean that they are looking to the PT as a "how-to" template. And I say that as someone who unabashedly enjoyed (and still enjoys) the PT.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Well I'm with you on enjoying the PT. I thought RotS was as good as Empire and I think TPM is underrated. AotC was pretty iffy, though.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I make no bones about liking TPM more than I do AOTC. The Obi-Wan mystery hunt and the final battle on Geonosis are standouts of the second film. The effects are astonishing and Lee does a masterful job as a revered ex-Jedi fallen to the Dark Side, but the Anakin-Padmé romance scenes are so terribly wooden and uncomfortable that all by themselves they weigh down the film and the whole movie just suffers from a general lack of warm emotions to draw you in and keep you enraptured. The bad Jar Jar slapstick and mediocre Jake Lloyd acting aside, TPM just feels more like a Star Wars movie and has warmer, more memorable moments.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I don't think I'd say ROTS was "as good as ESB", but I would say that ROTS is my "favorite" Star Wars film, despite its flaws. And I agree that TPM is underrated. AOTC ... while its final reel was a HUGE crowd pleaser when I saw it during the midnight release in Times Square, sadly, the film as a whole just doesn't hold up to repeat viewings as well as the rest.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII There was too much Jar Jar but I never minded Jake Lloyd. I definitely agree with all of this.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII In the interest of fairness, though, if we're going to point out mediocre acting in the Saga more than a few actors and actresses would be guilty as charged. Jake wasn't that great but he was an elementary school kid with little acting experience before cameras rolled on principal photography in Tunisia in 1997. In context, he probably did a better job with the child version of his character than Hayden did most of the time with the grown adult incarnation of Anakin. And no, AOTC doesn't bear up to repeat viewings like the other episodes in the Saga. It ranks dead last on my list both in how I rank the first six films in the Saga and how often I rewatch each movie.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII ehhh while I want to see the OT actors again, I'm worried it's going to end up feeling like geek pandering with a bunch of old farts running around repeating lines from the OT in 'cute' references. You know what movie didn't need nostalgia to be amazing? Star Wars A New Hope. I dunno maybe my expectations are too high. The whole idea that Michael Arndt and JJ Abrams had different creative visions, and JJ's "vision" won out.......... is unsettling. Especially after seeing his grasp of story and character over the years. He isn't BAD or anything but i'm a little mystified that Kathleen Kennedy thought he was some genius that needed pursuing. What??