Star Wars Episode 7 - 2015

[Temis the Vorta]

I keep trying to do Halloween stuff but I can't FOCUS on anything but this shit! Dammit George couldn't you have waited a couple days?

Now they're saying it'll be about Luke Skywalker "in his 30s or 40s." I say it'll skew more towards 30 or so. This still needs to be a youth-appeal franchise and to teenagers anyone over 35 is geriatric.

Hmmm, blond actors around 30. Not too tall, not particularly muscular, boyish good looks. Lemme think about that.

The Wrap caught up with writer Dale Pollock, author of the unauthorized “Skywalking: The Life And Films Of George Lucas,” and he claims the filmmaker allowed him to read the outlines for his originally planned twelve-part story. So did he get access? Pollock apparently interviewed Lucas more than eighty times for the book, but the two wound up having a falling out. But Pollock's claims about what lies within those story outlines are intriguing.

“It was originally a 12-part saga,” Pollock said. “The three most exciting stories were 7, 8 and 9. They had propulsive action, really interesting new worlds, new characters. I remember thinking, ‘I want to see these 3 movies.’”

However, the part that will get "Star Wars" fans excited is that Pollock says the stories feature Luke Skywalker in his 30s or 40s. “They will need an older Luke Skywalker,” he says. So, sorry, probably no Mark Hamill.

Of course, whether this is accurate or not, or if Lucas scrapped that idea and came up with something else, remains to be seen. But it's pretty easy to see why Disney would be excited by the prospect of Luke Skywalker featuring in a brand new "Star Wars" trilogy. And all of this seems to suggest that the "original story" will indeed be a continuation of "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi."

Makes sense. Disney just forked out four beeeelion dollars for a brand name, which is "Star Wars" but it's also "Luke Skywalker" and yeah I think there are many other highly valuable sub-brands in there too. "Leia Organa," "Han Solo," "R2D2," "Chewbacca," "C3P0" and "Millenium Falcon." What kind of greedy corporation would they be if they didn't milk all the value out of their expensive purchase?

The irony is, the biggest sub-brand of all is "Darth Vader," but how can they exploit that brand? I wouldn't put it past them for the wheels to be turning...

 

[PsychoPere]

If Pollock saw outlines from when Lucas was sketching out ideas for a 12-part film series, then Episodes VII, VIII, and IX were probably outlined with the idea that the Emperor wouldn't have been introduced and killed in preceding movies. The treatments that Lucas has turned over to Kennedy now are probably quite different from what Pollock saw.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

This statement from The New Boss becomes very interesting when combined with the notion of the movies not being based on the books.

"The main thing is to protect these characters, make sure that they continue to live in the way you created them." At 2:45.

So the characters already exist. But the stories will be new, and not derived from any books or graphic novels. So that points to the OT characters in new stories. And I'm sure all rational people know why actors as old as Hammil, Fischer and Ford cannot be top lining a major summer popcorn blockbuster that absolutely must have youth appeal.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyqlTi7lkhY[/yt]

 

[Australis]

Thought for today: did Disney by Lucasfilm because PotC is running out of steam? Things have been quiet on that front.

 

[Photoman15]

Episode 7 to be an original story.

Sorry, EU fans.

Well, so much for the old mid-90s "the next trilogy will be based on the Zahn books" rumor that was resurrected from a moldy grave just yesterday.

I really doubt that was EVER going to happen. I don't think Lucas would put out a Star Wars (at that time especially) that was conceived by someone other than himself. First, he'd have to share writing credit, then any new characters the Zahn books introduced would have to be split (merchandising).

 

[Agenda]

This movie could be about anything. It's all speculation at this point. IMO, it'd be better for the movies to cut loose from the existing trilogies and try new characters and settings.

 

[Agenda]

Thought for today: did Disney by Lucasfilm because PotC is running out of steam? Things have been quiet on that front.

I thought it ran out of steam - creatively speaking - with the second movie, so it wouldn't surprise me...

 

[Dream]

LUCAS: "I've left pretty explicit instructions for there not to be any more features. There will definitely be no Episodes VII–IX. That's because there isn't any story. I mean, I never thought of anything. And now there have been novels about the events after Episode VI, which isn't at all what I would have done with it. The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story. Once Vader dies, he doesn't come back to life, the Emperor doesn't get cloned and Luke doesn't get married..."

 

[The Wormhole]

Thought for today: did Disney by Lucasfilm because PotC is running out of steam? Things have been quiet on that front.

While I won't argue the PotC franchise is in a dire situation at the moment, Disney would have been idiots if they let slip the opportunity to buy one of the most popular movie franshises of all time. Even if the latest PotC was a record-breaking success, I think Disney would still make this play for Star Wars.

 

[Chris3123]

I already posted this in the TV/Media thread, but I'm posting it here too for anyone who doesn't catch it there.

Entertainment Weekly interviewed Mark Hamill earlier today:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What did you make of the big news yesterday?
MARK HAMILL: Oh my gosh, what a shock that was! I had no idea that George was going to sell to Disney until I read it online like everybody else. He did tell us last summer about wanting to go on and do [Episodes] VII, VIII, and IX, and that [newly appointed Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy would be doing them. He seems to be in a really good place. He’s really happy. And that’s nice because I know that when we were making the movies, he was not a jolly guy on set. [Laughs] I always felt badly for him because he agonizes over details, and I’m sure after imagining it in his head for so many years, to see it realized — he’d look up and just hang his head and groan. Harrison [Ford], Carrie [Fisher], and I were always trying to cheer him up and joke him out of his doom and gloom. I missed his call yesterday, but I spoke to him maybe three weeks ago. But until we know more, it’s hard to make any comment other than congratulations to George.

More here

 

[KalEl]

"Forget what you think you know about what happens to Luke Skywalker" tells me that it is an original story(i.e. not E. U.) about Luke, Hammill can still be Luke, but not a story that's already been told. This does not suggest a reboot, but a continuation. Besides, if it were a reboot, why would the name it Episode 7, why not just go with Star Wars:... or whatever? If it is a 40 year old Skywalker, then obviously he would be recast, but I have a feeling it's going to be Hammill and the announcement will be huge. I suppose that won't come for a long time.

 

[Dream]

Hammill can still be Luke, but not a story that's already been told. This does not suggest a reboot, but a continuation.

I can see Luke being the Gandalf of the next new trilogy. Just put him in a brown Jedi robe and have him grow a beard.

 

[Hound of UIster]

I keep trying to do Halloween stuff but I can't FOCUS on anything but this shit! Dammit George couldn't you have waited a couple days?

Now they're saying it'll be about Luke Skywalker "in his 30s or 40s." I say it'll skew more towards 30 or so. This still needs to be a youth-appeal franchise and to teenagers anyone over 35 is geriatric.

Skywalking, the book in question and its author is a very unreliable source

 

[bigdaddy]

Thought for today: did Disney by Lucasfilm because PotC is running out of steam? Things have been quiet on that front.

The 4th movie made an insane amount of money. Creatively Star Wars died 30 years ago, yet we are gettingmore because they make money!

 

[Ian Keldon]

Set, I was alive back then and a SW fan. I read the books when they first came out and followed some of the talk back and forth about them. I know whereof I speak.

If you're trying to tell me the rumor I spoke of never happened, you really don't.

I didn't say the rumor didn't happen, I said that you got the nature of the rumor reversed. The books were rumored to be based on Lucas' notes for 7-9, which he had decided not to make.

The story notes supposedly spawned the books, not the other way around as you would have it.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

This is frikken exciting. I'm particularly excited that the story is coming from Lucas' outlines without him writing/directing. Lets be honest, Lucas himself acknowledges that he hates the actual screenwriting process. This is how the prequels should have been done from the beginning.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

May I suggest that Brad Bird should be the director?

 

[Set Harth]

Set, I was alive back then and a SW fan. I read the books when they first came out and followed some of the talk back and forth about them. I know whereof I speak.

If you're trying to tell me the rumor I spoke of never happened, you really don't.

I didn't say the rumor didn't happen, I said that you got the nature of the rumor reversed.

Same thing. But the rumor I described was around at the time, despite the fact that you were unaware of it. Whatever you're talking about is something else entirely.

 

[Drago-Kazov]

Could Kevin Sorbo play Luke if Hamil declines?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

It's been one day and I've already had to defend this development to 5 people IRL.

"Oh there's teacake, she likes that sci fi stuff.. LET US WRING OUR HANDS OVER HER HEAD AT THIS HORROR!"