Was Michael Arndt's script based on Lucas' outline?

[Saul]

I've been trying to figure this out. When exactly did they throw out Lucas' outline for Episode VII? I was under the impression that Lucas gave disney a script and plot outlines for the sequel trilogy. Lawrence Kasdan said in an interview with Empire Magazine that in 2012 Arndt had been hired to write a script for episode VII by Lucas and this was BEFORE Disney was involved. So if that's the case then are the rejected plot ideas of Arndt's actually based on what Lucas had envisioned?

 

[Kelso]

Oh, I'm sure Lucas' outline hit the bin as soon as the check cleared.

 

[Mr Light]

They've been vague about it, but apparently the Lucas outline starred a bunch of young teenagers and barely had the Big Three in it. And given Lucas' comments about TFA, I'm guessing it had very different planets and no Death Star 3.

 

[Venardhi]

If they hold on to it, they can adapt it for the next trilogy and market it as "Based on outlines by George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars!"

 

[Skywalker]

They've been vague about it, but apparently the Lucas outline starred a bunch of young teenagers and barely had the Big Three in it. And given Lucas' comments about TFA, I'm guessing it had very different planets and no Death Star 3.

No Super-Sized Death Star would have been nice. I'd be interested to see exactly how 'barely' Luke, Leia and Han weren't in Lucas' outline. I'd have been fine with them not having large roles (aside from Han, that was pretty much the case in TFA anyway), since Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo were all strong enough to carry the film anyway.

 

[Mr Light]

I know a big part of the JJ mandated rewrite was beefing up Han's screen time, and presumably making it more of an New Hope remake (and I don't mean that snarkily).

 

[MacLeod]

Oh, I'm sure Lucas' outline hit the bin as soon as the check cleared.

Surely they would have given the outline far more care and attention than simply binning it, i.e it would have been fed to the shredder first.

We may never really know how Lucas would have done episodes VII - IX but I suppose he could always write a SW: Legends triology covering his ideas.

 

[kirk55555]

Well, a comic was made a year or two ago based on Lucas's first draft for A New Hope, so I could see his outlines for 7-9 eventually getting a comic treatment, although probably not until the actual new trilogy is done.

 

[Sketcher]

I keep hoping these "experimental films we'll never see" that Lucas is working on are his own version of Episodes 7-9. Granted for legality reasons, we probably will never see them, but I'm still hoping that's what he's doing.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I keep hoping these "experimental films we'll never see" that Lucas is working on are his own version of Episodes 7-9. Granted for legality reasons, we probably will never see them, but I'm still hoping that's what he's doing.

You mean Lucas is making fan films? Do you think he'll go to Kickstarter to fund them?

 

[Venardhi]

Lucas talks a big game but I honestly don't think his heart is in it anymore. Red Tails was supposedly his dream project but he handed over both writing and directing to other hands. If only we were so lucky with Star Wars a decade earlier.

 

[Mr Light]

He actually tried to give it to other writers and directors but everybody said you should be the one to do it George. He wanted Kasdan to write them and Speilberg to direct them. He intended to only direct the first one to establish the filming technology and then hand it off to others.

 

[Venardhi]

I'd believe that Spielberg would turn it down and say that to him, but I doubt that is true of many other people.

 

[RyuRoots]

As long as he stays the hell away from Star Wars in the future, I couldn't care less what was in his outline. Plus like Kelso said, they probably threw it out as soon as they could politely do so anyway. His prequels-onward filmography doesn't make a strong case for a good script.

 

[Mr Light]

Has anyone seen Strange Magic yet? It never showed up on Red Box...

 

[TremblingBluStar]

He wanted Kasdan to write them and Speilberg to direct them.

Sorry, but that makes me think of this.

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Around 3m 37s.

 

[DWF]

I thought Arnt got a story credit.

 

[Timby]

I thought Arnt got a story credit.

The official credit is "Written by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt." Basically, that means the WGA decided Arndt did enough work to receive credit, but that doesn't necessarily reflect how much of his work survived to the finished film. (Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes have a screenplay credit on Star Trek IV, for example, despite them writing the outline that featured Eddie Murphy as a crackpot college professor that got thrown out, and Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner have a story credit on Star Trek VI despite them having literally no involvement with the development of the film.)

 

[Kor]

Ah, to be a WGA member and get payment and writing credits for lousy scripts and story treatments that had absolutely no bearing on the final product.

Kor