comment #1

Rich S. says ...

I can see the marketing campaign now: "From the creator of Jar-Jar Binks!"

comment #2

D.Z. says ...

Don't see the point. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114745/

comment #3

CinemaPhreek says ...

With Ridley's CV its hard to say which way it will go. Remember, he only wrote the story for THREE KINGS and not the final script.

He and Lucas together I have to admit is not a good omen.

Then again, I've wanted to see this story brought to the big screen since Lucas announced it back in the late fucking 70's. The HBO verison had agreat cast, but think about what ILM can do with those dogfights...

comment #4

CinemaPhreek says ...

Here's another time D.Z. didn't see the point:

From an email to Mr. Showbiz.com in '98:

RE: Cameron's Titanic Film

I just don't see the point:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051994/

comment #5

D.Z. says ...

Phreek: Yep, and? Cameron's movie is just further proof of why no one likes remakes.

comment #6

BurmaShave says ...

Speilberg would kick ass at the helm of this with one hand tied behind his back. Probably would seem redundant though. I hold out slim hope. REVENGE OF THE SITH was remarkably better than Episodes I and II, and let's not forget somewhere in that porcine endlessly bearded and chinned body is the man who made THX-1138, AMERICAN GRAFFITI and STAR WARS. Back to back.

comment #7

Ponderer says ...

Which is why Titanic sold out most every movie theater on the FUCKING PLANET. You know, like how of the 250,000 people in Iceland, 100,000 had seen Titanic by March 1998. Or how it brought in one-fifth of 1998's total box office for China. Because no one likes those darn remakes.

It's all trendy to say how awful Titanic was, blah blah blah. But hordes of people LOVED that movie before the drearily cynical types took charge of the conversation.

Fucking revisionists.

comment #8

BurmaShave says ...

DZ another intepreta... never mind.

comment #9

CinemaPhreek says ...

I really do hope that one day D.Z. will finally be revealed to be the 17 year old we all assume he is.

Otherwise, these posts are kinda tragic... and sad.

comment #10

BurmaShave says ...

CinemaPhreek he's actually 36 but he has the IQ of a 4 year old and he's been extremely bitter since he lost custody of his child.

comment #11

lazarus says ...

A Jar Jar Binks joke, Rich S? Get some new material.

While the prequel scripts could hardly be called good, Lucas still has a great eye for composition and action, certainly more than Peter Jackson. So I don't understand why the notion of him directing someone else's screenplay here is some kind of doomed project from the start.

Of course, it doesn't matter how good this is; people will be loathe to give him credit for accomplishing anything at this point.

comment #12

DavidF says ...

I can't make any predictions about this movie until I've heard Spike Lee's take on it. I really have high hopes that this time The Man has managed to find a decent way to tell the true story of the African Americans but until Spike says so, there's no way to know for sure...

Anyway, I'm with Burmashave: I wanna see what this Lucas fellow can do when he stretches his wings a bit.

The Jar Jar Binks jokes are so 1998, Rich.

comment #13

Rich S. says ...

Uh, lazarus and DavidF, have you seen Jar Jar Binks? Do you not understand the subject matter of this film?

If I had said, "from the creator of the science fiction version of Stepin' Fetchit," would that have made it a little clearer?

comment #14

MASON says ...

Ridley is the best self-promoter this side of Kevin Smith.

comment #15

DavidF says ...

Oh, I get it now.
Jar Jar Binks=black stereotype.
That joke isn't dated or irrelevant, then.

I hope there aren't any Japanese characters in this movie since the Neimodians in Episode 1 are a) obviously Asian references and b) capture Lucas' negative attitude towards them.

I'd forgotten all the legitimate but pointed pointed racial criticism directed at The Phantom Menace. Go about your business.

Seriously, if any of these dudes is1/2 as a cool a pilot as Lando Calrissian, it's all good.

comment #16

lazarus says ...

I think a man who would intentionally create an homage to Stepin' Fetchit would not be interested in telling this story, unless it was to claim that the Tuskegee Airmen project was a hoax.

Also, Lucas didn't create Jar Jar's voice. You can blame that on Ahmed Best, an African-American.

comment #17

roman says ...

Most may take issue with the prequels, but try to imagine the last thirty years of American cinema without Lucas. His influence is paramount to this day and the level of reverence he's generated from moviegoers the world over is unparalled.

Episode One sucked, I know, but "reverse midas touch"? Let's not lose our damn minds.

comment #18

Breedlove says ...

I can understand the skepticism, but just to play devil's advocate: the last movie Lucas directed was really fucking good. After the huge disappointment of episodes 1 and 2, Lucas really redeemed himself quite a bit with the kick-ass episode 3. Burmashave is right. I gotta be fair here. Not as good as the old ones, obviously, but a hugely entertaining movie. I remember thinking, "Finally."

comment #19

Josh Massey says ...

Revenge of the Sith was a classic compared to the first two prequels, but it was still a pile of shit.

And Roman, I'd love to imagine the last, say, the 24 years without Lucas. If he had retired in 1984, what exactly would we have lost?

comment #20

Mark says ...

If D.Z. is wrong, then can someone else explain the point of redoing this story now? Will Lucas handle the drama better? Were the ILM aerial dogfights in Episode III more compelling than what Howard Hughes accomplished 75 years prior? Is Derek Luke an upgrade over anyone in the '95 cast?

comment #21

John Cocktosten says ...

Lucas was broken up by his divorce in the early eighties. It seems more than coincidence that his 25 year streak of crapulence started then (and, oh my god, is Crystal Skull bad). Marcia, an excellent film editor, must have had more influence on George than is commonly known.

Token positive comment: I really admire his guts when he gambled absolutely everything on The Empire Strikes Back, and won. Of course, that led him to the dark side of CEO/businessman, never to return.

comment #22

Richardson says ...

"Cameron's movie is just further proof of why no one likes remakes."

Of course it is, DZ. Of course it is.

Do you ever think about things before you say them, DZ? Because it often seems as if you have said a thing in precisely the stupidest way possible.

comment #23

Richardson says ...

"Lucas still has a great eye for composition and action, certainly more than Peter Jackson."

I have to completely disagree with both parts of this statement. Lucas has never had a great eye for composition and action (the first 'Star Wars' is extremely visually flat, and the last three prequels, every frame is jam-packed with shitty CGI -- yes, that counts as bad composition), and Peter Jackson has one of the best eyes working today.

comment #24

giantman says ...

I'm not a Lucas apologist/lover/hater or anything, but to be fair if he had retired in 84 we would have lost Pixar, THX and Digital Sound in theaters as soon as we got it, and the special effects in just about 75% of the movies made since then thanks to ILM.

I'm just saying.

comment #25

Richardson says ...

"After the huge disappointment of episodes 1 and 2, Lucas really redeemed himself quite a bit with the kick-ass episode 3."

I keep hearing people say this, and I really don't get it. The only thing 'Revenge of the Sith' had that the other two didn't do better was that one scene Spielberg pre-vished for Lucas; because Spielberg did it, the scene actually uses the background as part of the action, rather than just being interchangeable with every other location.

I think that, if there had been a 4th prequel, everybody would've said, "Well, okay, 'Revenge of the Sith' sucked, but this new one was pretty good."

Seriously, it's absolutely terrible. I can't imagine what anybody sees in it.

comment #26

Filthy Rich says ...

"...the last movie Lucas directed was really fucking good."

Holy shit - what is wrong with people? Sith was not good - it was a terrible pile of shit that was (maybe) marginally better than the other two. That is debatable.

And Cinemaphreek - yes we've all imagined the cartoon dogfights that ILM will be making - they'll look just like the shitty effects Lucas had them create for the Star Wars prequels.

But I wish everyone would get off this stupid Star Wars is racism bullshit. Isn't Spike Lee bad enough? Jar Jar was voiced and played by a black man - he created the walk and the talk, not Lucas.

And the stupid asian reference is just as ridiculous too. Did anyone did notice Lucas taking costumes from India for inspiration for Amadala? There were influences everywhere but everyone always loves to find racism wherever they can uncover it.

Remember those idiots claiming Peter Jackson was racist because of the islanders in King Kong?

If you think the Nemodians are obviously asian as some other idiots have said you are far more racist than anyone else.

comment #27

Richardson says ...

giantman - that's only true if he retired and refused to allow the companies that he had started which were already underway and hugely profitable to continue doing business, which doesn't seem very likely. If he had retired and cut himself off from them, he still would've sold them to somebody.

comment #28

Richardson says ...

"Holy shit - what is wrong with people? Sith was not good - it was a terrible pile of shit that was (maybe) marginally better than the other two. That is debatable."

Thank god.

Also, I do agree with you about the debated racism in the prequels. It doesn't bother me that they are, possibly, racist stereotypes. But I do think it says a lot about the laziness of the filmmaker involved that the voices all wound up being so similar to obvious cartoonish stereotypes. It shows how little effort he put in to imagine these aliens, that they sound like background characters from '50's Looney Tunes.

comment #29

Filthy Rich says ...

Richardson: I totally agree. Lucas was lazily making a children's saturday morning tv show.

He made the great Brian Blessed sound like the big bad wolf: I'll huff and I"ll puff and i'll BBBBBBBBlllllowwwww your house down!

I thought the only good thing about the prequels was the pod race and Natalie Portman's tight, white, ripped outfit in Clones.

And of course Vader doing his best Boris Karloff impression in Sith: NNNNNNNnoooooo!

comment #30

giantman says ...

Richardson - granted, but I think the point is still valid. we can all say what we want about Lucas the filmmaker, but he has been responsible, or at least a driving force, behind some of the more important innovations in filmmaking during his career. That doesn't make me an apologist, since I'm not, but just someone who believes people deserve a fair shake.

comment #31

p.Vice says ...

Yeah, where did all of the Revenge of the Sith love come from? It's actually the worst of the three prequels because it's the only one that actually tries to be somewhat dramatic, and fails miserably, whereas the other two simply didn't try at all.

And, of course... NOOOOOO!!!!!!! Sorry, but nothing in Crystal Skull approaches that level of embarassment.

comment #32

Richardson says ...

giantman - I do agree with you on that, and would add "Avid" to his list of accomplishments (though I think his role in it gets inflated, he was important to its early development).

comment #33

Richardson says ...

"And of course Vader doing his best Boris Karloff impression in Sith: NNNNNNNnoooooo!"

That scene actually had one of the few things in 'Sith' that impressed me at all; the line itself is cheesy and terrible and stupid, but I was genuinely impressed that James Earl Jones managed to deliver it *exactly* the way a sullen moody teenager would sound (assuming said teen had JEJ's voice). It's a really, really brilliant one line performance, completely undermined by the awful line he had to perform. He's more convincing as a moody teen as an old man sitting in a sound booth than Hayden was in two films.

comment #34

Mark says ...

The direction of all 3 prequels is consistently poor. The script, however, for Sith is monumentally better when compared with the 1st two, and that's the difference.

comment #35

Ponderer says ...

"I have to completely disagree with both parts of this statement. Lucas has never had a great eye for composition and action (the first 'Star Wars' is extremely visually flat, and the last three prequels, every frame is jam-packed with shitty CGI -- yes, that counts as bad composition), and Peter Jackson has one of the best eyes working today."

Sorry, have to disagree with two points on this. THX is filled with tons of fantastic and iconic imagery; Lucas is capable of shooting eye-popping stuff if he cares to. I'll agree that Star Wars is somewhat flat, but given the well-documented production miseries and insane shooting schedule, I don't think it says much.

I don't love his infinitely massaged compositions of the prequels, though.

comment #36

BlueBomm says ...

Standing on some ridiculous pieces of floating metal in the middle of a lava flow, not sweating or even apparently aware of what's around them:

OBI-WAN: Palpatine is Evil!

ANAKIN: From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!

I guess that's a little better than the "I don't like sand" business from Clones, but certainly not "monumentally." All three of those movies feature some of the laziest dialogue writing of all time. God, what a sad chapter in movie history Lucas' latter days are...

comment #37

Breedlove says ...

When I say I like 'Revenge of the Sith,' it's as a totally biased Star Wars geek. I understand it's easy to pick apart if you want to approach it from a serious critical perspective. Everyone has their cheesy shit that they dig...As someone who grew up dreaming about the Star Wars prequels, the first two movies were so disappointing from a story/mythology standpoint. A total cocktease. In 'Sith' he finally showed the cool shit like Anakin turning into Vader, and Luke and Leia being born and Obi Wan sneaking them away, Yoda going into hiding...my dog could have directed a movie with all that stuff in it and I would have loved it, I just have Star Wars ingrained too deeply in me from when I was a kid. And the opening space battle is awesome. And I like how dark it is, with Anakin screaming and burning and everything. It's cheesy as hell and obviously doesn't belong in the same conversation as the original trilogy, but I really had a great time watching it in a theater. It's frickin' Star Wars, what can I tell ya...I've been waiting for Obi Wan and Anakin having a lightsaber battle on a volcano since I was about 10 years old. Like I said more than anything it just delivered the story I had been waiting for.

comment #38

CinemaPhreek says ...

Breedlove - I have lots of Star Wars fan cred myself and approach entertainment films differently than "serious" ones, and I still think REVENGE OF THE SITH is a pretty shitty movie.

Somewhere along the way, Lucas got this "its just a kids' movie" mantra stuck in his head and he used to excuse every problem the sequels had.

He has also done it with Indy, as several interviews quote him saying something similar about criticism he anticipated.

Oh, talk about ironies, this will be the first Star Wars-less summer of every three years since the 90's (99, 02, 05).

comment #39

berkguru says ...

All 3 Star Wars prequels are utter garbage.

Now for a kid movie that I would recommend, I must say that Kung Fu Panda was excellent.

comment #40

Richardson says ...

"THX is filled with tons of fantastic and iconic imagery; Lucas is capable of shooting eye-popping stuff if he cares to."

I'll give you that one with no argument, but his says something about his "eye for composition" that the more expensive his movies get, the worse they look.

"I'll agree that Star Wars is somewhat flat, but given the well-documented production miseries and insane shooting schedule, I don't think it says much."

I'd agree with you, but he's only made six movies; I'm curious what gives him the idea that Lucas has a great eye for composition, since three of his movies have horrible composition with crazy-terrible CGI overpacking, and one of his movies looks flat (for whatever reason).

I should note, I think that the not-particularly-good-or-bad compositions in 'American Graffiti' work for the movie; better compositions would likely make the movie seem too glossy.

I think Lucas is (or can be) a great producer, and has directed some solidly good movies, but he's a terrible writer and has also directed some awful movies.

comment #41

Ponderer says ...

I'll half agree on the writing part. I actually think he can be a terrific plotter, and I rather enjoy the fact that the only part of the prequels his heart seemed into was the endless political machinations. (That much convinced me that the kid who came up with Apocalypse Now is still very much alive in him.) His basic storytelling skills are sharp, and with the right writer like a Kasdan or a Kaufman to interpret, we would probably get some decent films out of him.

But he doesn't have any ability to actually write a proper script itself; he has no feel for characters, his dialogue either wavers between on-the-nose and totally puerile, and he panders whenever he's uncertain.

comment #42

Undercover Brother says ...

Lucas will probably never even pull the trigger on this. He's been talking about it for years. It's vaporwear. Like Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards or G&R's Chinese Democracy. But I'd be damned curious to see Lucas direct a film he doesn't inherently have contempt for before making. Maybe he'd realize he likes making something that won't inevitably be turned into a toy line. I want to peer into that alternative reality where the guy who made American Grafitti and THX kept making films.

But we have to ask, should the film get made, will Spike Lee get pissed that a rich, white, nerd icon is directing a film about an important Aferican American war event? And if he does, will Lucas know who Spike Lee is?

comment #43

Breedlove says ...

Richardson, what do you mean exactly that the first one was "flat"? I'm curious. Also, what scene did Spielberg work on? And what did he do exactly?

comment #44

Richardson says ...

"Also, what scene did Spielberg work on? And what did he do exactly?"

Basically, Lucas was showing him the potential of pre-visualizing sequences via a computer (which he ultimately did on 'War of the Worlds'), the latest cutting-edge technological version of storyboards, and Spielberg wound up designing a few of the sequences. I can't remember the full list (I think it was three, in total; two or three), but the one that I do remember is the Yoda/Palpatine fight in the Senate. The ending of that scene is terrible and abrupt (not a problem Spielberg usually has with endings), but the whole rest of that scene, when they're Jedi-force tossing the Senate pods at each other, Stood out to me as, as far as I can remember, the only scene in the whole prequel trilogy where the environment was actually used as part of the sequence. (Any other time the location mattered to a scene, it was "Oh, he has to get burned, so this sequence takes place on Lava Planet" or "Everybody goes to the robot factory!")

"Richardson, what do you mean exactly that the first one was "flat"? I'm curious."

Honestly, it's been a while since I saw it, so I can't point to any specific examples, and may even be selling it short, but I don't remember anything impressive about the cinematography at all, effects scenes aside (the space stuff is well shot and edited). I feel like it's all masters and close-ups, rarely using the camera to tell the story.

I'd be more curious to hear why lazarus said Lucas has a good eye for composition; I've never heard anybody make that claim. (I think 'THX' is more a triumph of art design than anything else -- which Lucas surely had a hand in.)

comment #45

markj says ...

I thought Lucas was only producing this film? When did he announce he was going to direct?

Richardson, go back and watch THX again. The composition is beautiful. Check out Lucas's early shorts too.

The cinematography was very disappointing on the prequels, especially the slight zoom-ins on practically every shot. David Tattersall should never have got the gig.

Curiously I was flicking through 'Once Upon A Galaxy: The Making of The Empire Strikes Back' last night and came across a comment by Gary Kurtz along the lines of how he and Lucas wanted a different director on each Star Wars film to give it a different visual look. It's too bad this never happened, I remember Milius and Spielberg both being mentioned as potential future directors. I think the potential of Star Wars died when Richard Marquand got the Jedi gig.

Now if David Lynch had taken up Lucas's offer...

comment #46

markj says ...

Spielberg also worked on the lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan, and the lizard/bike chase between Obi-Wan and General Grievous.

comment #47

Rich S. says ...

Marquand got Jedi because Kersh turned in the best movie in the entire series and Lucas couldn't handle being upstaged.

As to this, "Lucas hired a black actor to voice Jar Jar. It's not his fault he turned in the performance he did." Give me a break. Lucas is as much a control freak as any director out there. His fingerprints, good and bad, are on every frame of every one of the prequels. Lucas knew exactly what he was doing with Jar Jar. I don't think he set out to make him offensive, but he was insensitive to what he was trying to pass off as comic relief. If Stephen Sommers had pulled the same stunt, you guys would be demanding that his union card be pulled.

comment #48

DavidF says ...

Uh, Cinemaphreeek - this summer ain't Star Wars-less...
http://www.starwars.com/theclonewars/

Since the Clone Wars seems to have all the cool CGI but gotten rid of the wooden human actors, maybe it'll please everyone?

The problem here is no one says, "I dislike Sith" or whatever. Everyone goes on about how it sucks or rules as if they have the key to reality. So, IMHO:

-Sith is the best of the 3 prequels and neither of the 3 is as great as they could have been, nor as horrible as people like to say.

-I think Lucas has a great eye for composition - CGI or not. Empire is probably still the best looking of the films, I grant you, but the prequels still have some beautiful shots in them.

The would agree that Lucas was probably more concerned with pushing the boundaries than he needed to be, and while he was never an actors-first kinda guy, that's something he could have developed over the years.

-Anyway, he has left an indelible mark on film in a zllliion ways. Screenwriting was never going to be one of those things and while consensus seems to be there was some doctoring on the prequels I think all 3 would have benefitted from him developing the story and passing the scripts off to Larry Kasdan or Darabont Tom Stoppard or whoever. Worst case scenario: He gets something he hates and writes it all himself anyway. Best case, we get Lucas' story with better dialogue...

-Spielberg did pre-vis the Yoda/Palpatine fight but it does not strike me as any more remarkable than other scenes. The truth is that if you did not know Spielberg did it you would never guess anyone other than Lucas did it, to say nothing of naming the specific auteur.

-The Jar Jar=racist thing has always been bullshit. Always will be.

Now, I'm all caught up.

comment #49

Richardson says ...

"The truth is that if you did not know Spielberg did it you would never guess anyone other than Lucas did it, to say nothing of naming the specific auteur."

I didn't know it was Spielberg when I saw the movie, I just thought it was cool to finally have a scene in which the backgrounds, you know, mattered to the scene.

When i found out after the fact that Spielberg did that, I figured that explained why that was the only time in the whole series that happens.

comment #50

Richardson says ...

"Richardson, go back and watch THX again. The composition is beautiful. Check out Lucas's early shorts too."

I already said, 'THX' is a great looking movie, but if we're talking about his eye for composition, I think it's worth pointing out that the more money he spends, the more time he has to shoot and get everything exactly how he wants it... and the worse his compositions get. They get consistently worse the more money he spends.

comment #51

tfresca says ...

Honarable and interesting story idea but frankly Lucas shouldn't direct traffic at this point. I'd rather see Uwe's take on this than Uncle George.