Star Wars Ep. VII Megathread: The Force Awakens (1 Viewer)

[Sean Bryan]

The reason that Vaughn dropped out of Days of Future Past is rumored to be because he wanted to do Mark Millar's Secret Service. Apparently there were other projects in development that were using the same concept, and Millar and Vaughn wanted to get the movie made before other folks used the idea. At least, that is the word according to Millar.
Also, Vaughn dropped out of Thor, X3, and First Class (before coming back to it). So dropping out of movies is not unusual for him.

 

[Sean Bryan]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/11/07/the-real-reason-matthew-vaughn-left-the-x-men-movie-according-to-mark-millar/

We thought Matthew was going to do X-Men first, but we found out there were actually a few imitators of Secret Service in the works.
People are always trying to rip you off. Somebody will start to work on a spec screenplay about your idea. There are three other projects I know of now about a James Bond kind of guy taking a street kid and turning him into a spy. Three screenplays were already going through Hollywood about this! So Matthew and I said, “Fuck this. We’re not letting anyone steal our ideas.”

 

[Pete-D]

I'll be honest in that I don't think the director is *that* important. (gasp!)
As much I like the new Batman films for example, I don't want to see a director put their stamp all over the Star Wars universe and heavily stylize them.
I just want some freaking good *Star Wars* movies, not someone's idea of how to make them new/hip/relevant/cool/dark for a new generation. I don't want to be taken out of the films with things like lens flare and hyper-stylized cinematography. Whoever does these films will need to put their "auteur ego" in check to be honest. I don't want to look at the film and say "well, yeah obviously this is directed by ______". It should just be a Star Wars film, you should not be able to tell who directed it.
The script is the most important thing. If that's good-to-great, then the foundation is all there, you just need a director who has a solid grasp on staging scenes, working with actors, and creating action sequences, and even this last part I don't think should be the primary consideration (ILM is going create some great special effects and lightsaber choreographers are going to bring some sizzle to the screen either way).
Irvin Kershner wasn't Marty Scorcese or Alfred Hitchcock, but he didn't have to be, he had a very good script to work from and was good at working with actors. The result was a mighty fine Star Wars film.
I would be OK with Favreau. That said, Mark Millar himself seems to be (strongly) hinting that Vaughn would like the Star Wars job. So I'm not sure if he's as tied to Secret Service as some reports suggest.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Frank Marshall seems to indicate that they are close to locking down the director
http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/173611-frank-marshall-says-theyre-close-on-the-star-wars-episode-vii-director-search

 

[Pete-D]

Frank Marshall seems to indicate that they are close to locking down the director
http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/173611-frank-marshall-says-theyre-close-on-the-star-wars-episode-vii-director-search

From the sounds of it, it sounds like they've already made the choice and are just waiting to announce the director.
I'm not going to give this Darth Vader returning rumor too much play, but you guys have probably heard it by now. And I'm 90% sure it's fake as its from a British tabloid (didn't they also claim Eddie Murphy was a lock for the Riddler in the last Batman movie?).
The only way they could pull that off and not have it suck (to be blunt) would be if remaining Imperial/Sith forces banded together to create a Vader clone or just an imposter flat out to unify and bring together support for a New Empire.
Luke of course would know immediately something is very wrong and would be pressed into action. If he's kept his family secrets hidden though, having Vader outed as Anakin Skywalker might compromise his standing in the New Republic and perhaps the Jedi Order. Luke needs to get to the bottom of who's behind this conspiracy.
*That* actually might not be a bad starting off point for a Star Wars movie, but Vader could only be a decoy (Timothy Zahn did this with Thrawn I believe).

 

[Sam Favate]

There's a lot of great choices for directors, and many of the names that have been mentioned would be welcome. I'd really like to see Joe Johnston take a crack at it (although this summer he mentioned he'd like to do a stand-alone Boba Fett movie, which I'd also like to see). Johnston's part of the old team, so if the aim is for completely new filmmakers, then go with someone else. Not really sold on Jon Favreau, but would love to see Guillermo del Toro work on it. Of course, there's no reason the same director has to do the next three movies, so we could see a few of these names attached to the next one(s) in a couple of years.

 

[Norm]

Anyone have any Episode 7 idea's? Here's mine. Mark Hamill back as the older Jedi Master Luke Skywalker forced into action because the Sith have returned in mass and are appearing everywhere. A bunch of new Sith lords are trying to fill the vacuum left by Emperor & Vader. This time they are allied & disregarding the Rule of Two. With them thinking the Rule of Two was a failure & a need to go back to the old Sith ways. That would sure free up many Sith on Jedi saber duels. I wouldn’t mind going back to the Ralph Macquarrie art & see Storm Troopers with Sabers & Shields. Not as skilled as Jedi or Sith but still able to weld a saber & using a defensive saber proof shield.

 

[Simon Massey]

I'd like to see some development of the Jedi and hopefully see the contrast between the way in which the Jedi were in the first trilogy - like monks - and hopefully a different way that Luke has developed the Order. And they are going to have to come up with a pretty decent threat to match Vader. I do think they need some element of the Sith but it doesn't have to be the main point.
And I really hope they don't resurrect Vader or the Emperor. Give us a film in the future set between 3 and 4 by all means ( Ewan should be old enough ) but the new trilogy needs a new threat.
And yes I would expect some of the older cast to return and probably die at some point but don't make it too like the others. Pretty much everyone is going to predict Luke's death at the end of VII so let's do something a bit different.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by Simon Massey /t/324980/star-wars-episode-vii-thread#post_4002444
Give us a film in the future set between 3 and 4 by all means ( Ewan should be old enough ) but the new trilogy needs a new threat.

The planned live action TV show is set between Episodes 3-4, and they have around 50 scripts already IIRC, so I think they'll leave that time period to that show if it gets a green light.

 

[Simon Massey]

Sure they will but I understood the speculation was that it would be focused on the bounty hunter aspect of the show.
Always felt there was another episode that could be done between 3 and 4 with a focus on Vader and more importantly Obi Wan perhaps thinking he could turn Vader back. That, plus the development of what Yoda and Obi Wan learned from Qui Gonn etc I think would make a great bridging episode. MacGregor was the best thing about the last two prequels and I can see a great film in there with him.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Unfortunately, it won't be Brad Bird in the director's chair.
http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/173679-brad-bird-says-he-wont-direct-star-wars-episode-vii
I think he would have been a great fit. Hopefully we'll have info on the director soon.

 

[Norm]

Brad Bird Says He Isn’t Directing Star Wars While Colin Trevorrow Appears To Say He Is
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/11/18/brad-bird-says-he-isnt-directing-star-wars-while-colin-trevorrow-appears-to-say-he-is/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[TravisR]

I'd be surprised if any BIG name director ends up with this movie. Obviously Disney is going to focus on every aspect of the movie (which is understandable since they just spent $4 billion dollars on the property and want to get a series of movies going for decades to come) so I'd think that the director is going to have to deal with micromanaging that bigger name directors don't put up with. That's not to say that the studio is going to wreck the movie with their notes but their input is just a reality of a making a movie in a series this big.
All that being said, my money is still on Jon Favreau. He's made summer movies, he must have dealt with the 'micromanaging' on Iron Man to some degree and he's a big Star Wars fan (he periodically does a voice on The Clone Wars cartoon).

 

[Sam Favate]

Seems like Brad Bird is out:

http://www.a113animation.com/2012/11/star-wars-update-brad-birds-out-whos-in.html

Which is really too bad, because he'd be great, but I'm sure there are going to many, many Star Wars films to come, so maybe he'll do one one day.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Rumor has it that Disney has approached Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg to work on the trilogy.
http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/star-wars-lawrence-kasdan-simon-kinberg-writers-script-disney/

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The Hollywood Reporter says the deals look to be locked.

 

[Norm]

Lucas, asked Lawrence Kasdan to co-write Episodes 1-3 but Kasdan turned him down. I'm shocked Kasdan's back!

 

[Sam Favate]

All good news. Each of the three writers now known to be involved have done great work, and their talents would seem to suit Star Wars. Obviously, the case of Kasdan, he wrote the most celebrated episode (and one of the weaker ones too).

 

[varnish]

Your darn tootin!!

 

[John Mansor]

They are going to have to announce a director soon or they are going to have a tough time making 2015 date.