If the premise that they were let go back in May is true, it does kinda make sense that it was kept quiet for so long precisely because Iger had literally just announced the date for their movies. Letting that news drop as it happened would not have been a good look for Disney or LF.
It's kinda hard to overstate how funny Disney is about keep up appearances. I mean remember that time they knee-jerk fired James Gunn because of some silly BS, then quietly re-hired him but didn't mention it until *months* after the fact because they don't want to look like they're indecisive and flip-flopping? Different situation but basically the same MO.
It's also probably not a coincidence that Disney and/or LF chose to announce they'd been dropped like right after they stuck their foot in their mouths about the GoT finale. Again: appearances are everything to The Mouse.
Looking back now; the common factor between Trank, Trevorrow, L&M, and now B&W seems to be a question of professional competence more so than backlash over other projects (though that seems to at least be a factor for all but L&M.)
Trank IIRC turned out to be a pain in the arse auteur wannabe, Trevorrow comes off like a hack, as do B&W. L&M seem to be the only ones they had *actual* non-euphemistic "creative differences." Which in my view was still on them not LF. If they had no intention of sticking to the script they were being paid to film, it was incumbent to state as much up-front, not try and do it their own way regardless, forcing things to come to a head mid-shoot.
Interestingly I'm about half way through the last of Rinzler's "Making of Star Wars" book and I'm really starting to see why it's been so difficult for LF to find the right fit for their directors and also what George himself went from "maybe I'll direct the first prequel and get someone else to direct the other two" to "I guess I'll direct them all then..."
Star Wars is such a specific thing that it's very difficult to find someone that *gets* it AND is willing to paint within the lines and not wander off too far on their own tangent.
In that sense I think Jon Favreau was very smart in proposing a TV project instead of a movie as that kind of dynamic where the Exec has creative authority over the directors is much easier to deal with in an episodic format. TV directors know they're hired guns come to enact someone else's vision, with perhaps a little flourish or two of their own.
It's kinda hard to overstate how funny Disney is about keep up appearances. I mean remember that time they knee-jerk fired James Gunn because of some silly BS, then quietly re-hired him but didn't mention it until *months* after the fact because they don't want to look like they're indecisive and flip-flopping? Different situation but basically the same MO.
It's also probably not a coincidence that Disney and/or LF chose to announce they'd been dropped like right after they stuck their foot in their mouths about the GoT finale. Again: appearances are everything to The Mouse.
Looking back now; the common factor between Trank, Trevorrow, L&M, and now B&W seems to be a question of professional competence more so than backlash over other projects (though that seems to at least be a factor for all but L&M.)
Trank IIRC turned out to be a pain in the arse auteur wannabe, Trevorrow comes off like a hack, as do B&W. L&M seem to be the only ones they had *actual* non-euphemistic "creative differences." Which in my view was still on them not LF. If they had no intention of sticking to the script they were being paid to film, it was incumbent to state as much up-front, not try and do it their own way regardless, forcing things to come to a head mid-shoot.
Interestingly I'm about half way through the last of Rinzler's "Making of Star Wars" book and I'm really starting to see why it's been so difficult for LF to find the right fit for their directors and also what George himself went from "maybe I'll direct the first prequel and get someone else to direct the other two" to "I guess I'll direct them all then..."
Star Wars is such a specific thing that it's very difficult to find someone that *gets* it AND is willing to paint within the lines and not wander off too far on their own tangent.
In that sense I think Jon Favreau was very smart in proposing a TV project instead of a movie as that kind of dynamic where the Exec has creative authority over the directors is much easier to deal with in an episodic format. TV directors know they're hired guns come to enact someone else's vision, with perhaps a little flourish or two of their own.
Nothing on the internet is ever really gone...
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