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Star Wars Prequels Media Movies

Spielberg Denied Crack at Star Wars 463

Posted by CmdrTaco from the hills-are-alive-with-amidalas-belly-button dept.
loonix_gangsta writes "The BBC is running a blurb on the disclosure of Star Wars helmsman George Lucas not allowing Spielberg to direct one of the Star Wars movies. According to Ananova Steven had actually begged George for the job."
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Spielberg Denied Crack at Star Wars More

Spielberg Denied Crack at Star Wars

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  • Damn it! (Score:5, Funny)

    by papasui ( 567265 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:35PM (#3847273) Homepage
    I've been waiting for about 12 years to see Yoda bitchslap E.T.

  • Lucas... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mosch ( 204 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:36PM (#3847276) Homepage
    Spielberg Denied Crack at Star Wars
    Lucas clearly already smoked it all, and somehow managed not to die. Look forward to episodes seven eight and nine!

  • At least Spielberg knows how to direct actors (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ma$$acre ( 537893 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:37PM (#3847281)
    Lucas has a pretty impressive vision and knows eye-candy better than about any director out there. But he's a terrible writer and he doesn't know how to direct actors. He has some top notch talent in his movies and unless they break free of the crap dialogue and directive vision of what that dialogue should sound like, they are screwed. I'd give anything to have Spielberg direct with Lucas doing his thing in the background... maybe we'd have an Indiana Jones style romp for E3.

    • Amen! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by A nonymous Coward ( 7548 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:46PM (#3847325)
      Liam Neeson is proof positive. He was dynamite in Schindler's List (directed by Spielberg), and wooden as a pirate's leg in Episode 1 (directed by Lucas). Lucas sucks when he has to deal with people, which is probably why he relies so much on techno whiz.

      • CGI != Acting (Score:4, Funny)

        by tiltowait ( 306189 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @07:30AM (#3848588) Homepage Journal
        Acting against a blue screen has got to be worse than dealing with another actor.

        Some quotes:
        Terence Stamp (Valorum): "When I arrived on set for Episode 1, George Lucas said, 'I've given Natalie the day off.' So, he pointed to a piece of paper on a post and said, 'Pretend that's her.' They couldn't afford me again."

        Thus proving this prediction...

        Mark Hamill: "I have a sneaking suspicion that if there were a way to make movies without actors, George would do it." Early 1980s

    • Re:At least Spielberg knows how to direct actors (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sydlexic ( 563791 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @12:02AM (#3847399)
      I'd give anything to have Spielberg direct with Lucas doing his thing in the background

      Which is why you won't. Lucas must have clued in by now that he sucks at the whole writer/director gig. Spielberg would almost certainly produce a much better movie. Lucas knows this. If the next one were markedly better than the last two then it would cement Lucas' suck-assedness for all time. So Lucas figures he's better off doing it himself and hoping to get lucky. I mean, it's not like he could do any worse, right?
      • Unfortunately I think you are correct in this assumption. However, the two have worked well in the past, so I'm still hopeful. Let Lucas stick to redesigning the movie making process and the techie side and let Spielberg do the direction. The two together really kick some ass. I felt like Minority Report could have use a bit better "techno" stuff and that Star Wars could use some actual acting and storyline.

        Mix gently over slow heat, serve!
      • Man, I just don't understand Lucas anymore. If this project was all I thought about and worked on for 20 years, and if I knew that my suck-assedness was so high, I would love to hand the reins over to someone who could do a better job, if only for the love of the project.

        It's kind of like your kids leaving home for school or work or whatnot. You don't want to see them go, but its for their own good.

        Is it possible that he does not recognize how bad he sucks? This is the only imaginable excuse I can think of for this.

      • I mean, it's not like he could do any worse, right?

        Gah!! Why did you say that? Now E3 is gonna be as bad as the Star Wars Christmas Special [imdb.com]..

      • Actually, I think the only one able to possibly do a worse job at Star Wars would be Spielberg. He'd insist on replacing Jar-Jar and the bots with Cute Kids (tm) Saving the Situation (tm), which IMO is the only conceivable way it could get worse. Gaaaack.

        Well, to be fair, Spielberg did a good job on Minority Report, which was among the absolutely best films that he's ever done. And he's done a few other fairly good ones lately. But I can think of several directors who could do a better job than either Spielberg or Lucas.

    • Re:At least Spielberg knows how to direct actors (Score:4, Funny)

      by Chris Siegler ( 3170 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @01:19AM (#3847665)

      He has some top notch talent in his movies and unless they break free of the crap dialogue...

      Indeed. Even Robert De Niro couldn't say

      "I don't like the sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating--not like you. You're soft and smooth."
      and not look and sound like an idiot.
    • Harrison Ford was supposed to have said something along the lines of "You can type this crap George, but we have to say it."

    • On the other hand... (Score:5, Funny)

      by apg ( 66778 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @02:32AM (#3847883) Homepage
      While it could hardly be worse than what we've already been subjected to, just think what Episode 3 would be like if all we ended up getting was Spielberg's incessant product pimping on top of crap actors like Hayden Christensen spewing Lucas's junior high love note pap:

      "I've thought of her every day for the last ten years, Jar Jar. Every handful of Reese's Pieces reminds me of her beautiful, dark eyes."

      "You'sa soundin' like you be needin' a Pepsi, Ani."
    • The thing with Lucas isn't that he's a bad director, just an outdated one. When he started out, directors were still studio tools with job security who showed up and got paid for mediocre work. (There were exceptions, of course, but how many people were like Elia Kazan?) Lucas and his buddy Francis Ford Coppola (and the whole "New Hollywood" crowd which later included Spielberg) introduced a different sort of independent directing style in which the director was in total control of the now-cliched "vision" for a film, which led to more experimental fare. Lucas' directing wasn't great from a technical standpoint, but his ideas and ability to motivate people ("Do it again with more energy!") were rare in this era, and his actors responded to it in his early films. Their success legitimized film schools (they were USC grads), and led to a bunch of tempremental wanna-be Fellinis, and today's actors largely tune them out (so only good technical directors can greatly affect the quality of the film).
  • The job was given to Britney Spears, in hopes that it would attract even more of the teen crowd. Reports say that geeks and nerds everywhere are publicly outraged at this sell-out, but secretly drooling all over their keyboards.

    *drool*

  • How the begging went (Score:5, Funny)

    by ObviousGuy ( 578567 ) <ObviousGuy@hotmail.com> on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:39PM (#3847292) Homepage Journal
    George, please look at the acting. The actors can't act worth crap. Please let me help the actors. You can do all the spaceship stuff. I just want to see a Star Wars movie where the actors seem like they aren't reading off cue cards!

    Please!
    • Spaceships? What spaceships? Ep2 had *one* space battle, consisting of a whopping *two* ships. Isn't it STAR Wars? Why the hell did the last two movies feature climactic LAND battles?!?!?!?

  • Why? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by URoRRuRRR ( 57117 )
    We all know Lucas's biggest motivation is money, lots and lots of it. Doesn't he remember a little franchise known as Indiana Jones? Lucas and Spielberg teamed up on that and look, nerds and non-nerds love it. You can't find a person who doesn't like Indy. Anybody who has ever worn a fedora gets references to the movies all day long. This is a bad move by Lucas, he could've included all the merchandising he wanted (More aliens, more Fetts, etc.) and he could've made a wildly popular movie too.

    Too bad he's too ego-centric to let go. Ego over money, I guess.

  • Talk about a blunder. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'll let the romantic lines between Anakin and Padme in AoTC speak for itself.

    I bet that spielberg must have laughed those lines off...

    I know I did. :)

  • why George why? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by justplainchips ( 589349 )
    Why does George think he's the only one that can write/direct? Hopefully he has someone else, even more qualified that Mr. Spielberg, in mind for directing Ep3. Though I'm sure he'll do it himself. Is he the only one in the world who didn't notice how much better the ones where he had others write and direct were? Alas, even if he writes every piece of crappy dialogue and directs every cheesy block for the actors, I know I'll go see it opening week.

  • A great pity. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Zspdude ( 531908 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:44PM (#3847311) Homepage
    I'm sure I'm not the only one here who thinks this is a crying shame. Maybe George is being a little selfish about sharing the glory of Star Wars with a name as big as Stephen Spielburg. If he thinks he can still turn out quality Star Wars films by himself, he's got every motive to turn down Spielburg. I just don't think that that's the case.

  • Save the childeren! (Score:5, Funny)

    by geekindustries ( 584795 ) <geekindustries&yahoo,com> on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:44PM (#3847314)
    If Star Wars is George's baby, where do I go to report him for child abuse? Seriously!

    ----------

  • Long (Score:2, Funny)

    by alphaCoward ( 563425 )
    SciFi like Minority Report is obviously one of his strong points... and he knows how to make them movies long (obvious criteria for Star Wars)...

    i want to see Yoda flying off into the moon on a bicycle.

  • Article glosses over failure of AoTC (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bryanbrunton ( 262081 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:47PM (#3847327)

    Check out this quote:

    "It opened to warmer reviews than Episode I - The Phantom Menace, which was widely seen as a disappointment when it was released in 1999. "

    IMO, Attack of the Clones was the worst of the bunch. The acting, dialog and plot were the worst. Although it only barely nudges out The Phantom Menance in this respect. Its partly a matter of taste as the bad romance stuff outweighs the bad Jar Jar stuff. AoTC was gratingly slow at times.

    AoTC will also have the inglorious honor of being the lowest grossing StarWars movie ever. Its only pulled in 291,000,000 to date and barely inching along now. Not a bad sum for any film besides a Star Wars flick.

    • These are kinda like the Lord of the Rings movies, and you can look at them two ways. You can be a purist, and criticise every little detail that you don't agree with, because it wasn't the same as the original. Or you can ignore the hype, dissociate what you're watching from what you knew before, and just enjoy the movie. (Granted this is not really possible for some people who were completely into the original, but they shouldn't watch the new films anyway.)

      I went along with a dozen or so friends to see episode 2. We were all fans of the original, and pretty much all were disappointed with episode 1 (though not nearly as upset as some seem to get). We liked episode 2. So there. :-)

  • Funny. (Score:2, Funny)

    by stendec ( 582696 )
    I, too, was refused a shot at directing the next Star Wars movie. But ain't nobody wrote a BBC article about it. I mean, I asked him. He won't let me do one, either. Seen *that* story in the news? 'Cuz I sure didn't.

  • Bad idea (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Darth Paul ( 447243 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:48PM (#3847333)
    Don't know about everybody else, but I would have hated to see this happen, especially with only one episode in the saga left.

    Lucas hasn't great job with Ep 1 and 2, but Spielberg carries a completely different flavour of sci-fi to Lucas. Spielberg likes to intellectualize his movies somewhat too, which might be a good idea in itself, but wouldn't fit well into Star Wars.

    Also, Spielberg would surely feel the need to inject his personal vision into the SW universe. Remember watching AI? Kubrick's parts and Spielberg's parts contrasted badly with each other, especially the ending. Everybody knows what the story in Episode III will be, we just want to see how the events play out and the final holes in the story get filled in. SW definitely doesn't need new influences at this stage.

    • Spielberg likes to intellectualize his movies somewhat too, which might be a good idea in itself, but wouldn't fit well into Star Wars.

      Not always. I always thought the Indy films were good, old fashioned romps (with a little religion thrown in for good measure). He couldn't have done any worse than Lucas.
      • The Indy series was great, and if I remember correctly Lucas and Spielberg did some of them together. But that was a fair way back, Spielberg started changing his style around Jurassic Park time. I'm thinking recent stuff like Schindler's, AI, Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report, they've all had some sort of moral to them, and I've often walked out chewing on some intellectual morsel.

        I don't want to walk out of Episode III debating the moral relativity of the dark side - I want to leap out woom-wooming my imaginary saber :)

      • There's a really fun essay called "Not Exactly A Knight" written by Susan Aronstein. I got my copy online a while ago, but since it doesn't seem to be posted anymore, here's the hard-copy reference instead. [Aronstein, Susan. (Summer 1995). "'Not Exactly a Knight': Arthurian Narrative and Recuperative Politics in the Indiana Jones Trilogy." Cinema Journal].

        A couple of interesting quotes to give the flavor of the piece:

        Temple of Doom

        In Temple, Indiana appears as an individual, a knight without a court, whose services are for sale in two currencies, the monetary currency offered by Lao Che and that of "fortune and glory" found in the quest for the Ankara stones. This Indiana, far from being the ideal subject, is adamantly nonconstructed, dangerously individual. His sole ideology seems to be the one he reminds Lao Che of as he presses his knife into Willie's side: "anything goes," a code that leads to the chaos of the opening vignette. This vignette shows Indiana for what he is -- a mercenary out for his own gain, uninterested in "right" and uncontrolled by any sort of chivalric or cultural code, as evidenced by his treatment of Willie. The Temple of Doom is an Arthurian romance without Arthur and without a court; the story of an uncontrolled knight, like the Red Knight of Chretien's Perceval, bashing other knights, of a knight, like Perceval, in need of a court.

        Raiders of the Lost Ark

        Yet, as the film explicitly identifies Marian with the various "objects" that Indiana must acquire, the two plots merge in the film's exposition of its thematic center: the need for Indiana to change his attitude toward the "objects" he seeks and accept his cultural responsibility as a citizen of a vindicated and privileged moral authority. In the beginning of the film, his attitude toward both the ark and Marian is that of a plunderer, a careless acquirer of objects who is unwilling to accept any responsibility for them. While Marcus and the American Army Intelligence recognize the ark as a symbol of both privilege and responsibility (the quest for the ark is the quest "to get a hold of [it] before the Nazis do" and to defeat Hitler and keep the world safe for democracy), Indiana sees things quite differently. His values are still the values of the Indiana Jones who set out to possess the South American idol. His motivation stems neither from dreams of America's glory nor nightmares of Nazi victory but from the simple assurance that the museum will get the Ark, an object that he defines as "a find of incredible historical significance," scoffing at Marcus's tales of the "bogey man." Similarly, his attitude toward Marian, as delineated by her own accusations when they are reunited and his initial reasons for taking her on, illustrates his code of take-as-take-can-and-consequences-be-damned: anything goes.

        Quest for the Holy Grail

        As the film progresses, the need for books, old wisdom, and careful thought becomes increasingly apparent as the Nazis' book-burning party explicitly identifies "evil" with the destruction of old traditions. The knowledge of those same traditions saves the two Joneses' hides more than once and, finally, allows Indiana to achieve the Grail. The first instance of the power of books occurs when it looks as though the villains in the plane are going to succeed in running them down. Indiana is at a loss; Dad, however, comes to the rescue, using his umbrella to shoo the seagulls up into the propellers, thus bringing down the plane and destroying the enemy. His explanation: I suddenly remembered my Charlemagne, 'Let my army be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky.' " In this case, reading and knowledge yield answers when wit and strength have none. As Jones, Sr., replies when the Nazis demand of the Grail diary, "What does this tell you that it doesn't tell us?" "It tells me that goosestepping morons like yourself should try reading books instead of burning them." And when he uses his fountain pen to stave off the German army, Marcus quips, "The pen, the pen, you see, is mightier than the sword."

        I actually don't think the author succeeds in her point: arguing that the Indiana Jones trilogy stands as Arthurian legend: most of the themes she identified (correctly) can be attributed mostly to character development, etc. without invoking the Grail legend, etc.

        That being said, to the extent that there IS any substance of this sort to the films, it seem much more likely to have been due to Lucas than Spielberg. As much as Slashdotters may enjoy trashing AOTC, it is one probably one of the most interesting intellectual films to be released in the last year for those familiar with film symbolism, etc. Spielberg has never even come close to the kind of stuff Lucas pulls off there - not even in AI.

    • Re:Bad idea (Score:5, Funny)

      by bopo ( 105833 ) <bopo@ne r p .net> on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @12:23AM (#3847484) Homepage

      Everybody knows what the story in Episode III will be, we just want to see how the events play out and the final holes in the story get filled in.

      Well, Luke and Leia are evenually born, so you can probably figure out how one of the holes is filled...

      Did I just actually post that?

    • Re:Bad idea (Score:4, Interesting)

      by mughi ( 32874 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @01:30AM (#3847700)
      Also, Spielberg would surely feel the need to inject his personal vision into the SW universe. Remember watching AI? Kubrick's parts and Spielberg's parts contrasted badly with each other, especially the ending.

      Perhaps not. My friends and I were discussing this not too long ago. In regards to doing Minority Report, Spielberg made some comments about how he realized that injecting his take of things into AI interferred with things (and especially the ending). And how he realized he made a mistake and was going to try not to do that with the new film. What made it a little amusing for me is that we were talking about how that pointed out the difference between Spielberg and Lucas as filmakers and directors, and especially the willingness to take good criticism and to grow, and the importance of putting the material before ego. And also specifically comparing his works to Lucas' Star Wars films (those he directed, not the others)

    • Re:Bad idea (Score:2, Informative)

      by Björn ( 4836 )
      Remember watching AI? Kubrick's parts and Spielberg's parts contrasted badly with each other, especially the ending.

      "There's been quite a bit of confusion among critics, especially about the final 20 minutes, which aren't Spielberg being sentimental (his main addition was the cruel, brutal Flesh Fair), but are exactly what I wrote for Stanley and exactly what Stanley wanted." - Ian Watson (http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue268/interview.html)

    • If you examine some of Lucas' comments in recent times, he views all of his movies as permanent "works in progress". It's why he wasn't afraid to touch up the first trilogy. This is a big difference to Spielberg's attitude.

      I think Lucas and Spielberg are well aware of their stylistic differences after their Indiana Jones collaborations. Lucas is probably afraid not that Spielberg would do it better, but that the end product would bear more of Spielberg's signature than Lucas'. In George's eyes, Star Wars is his Big Vision which he won't share any more.

      My guess is that Spielberg won't get a chance, but I could imagine letting a young director loose on the Star Wars series as a retelling... ...in about 20 years or so.

  • I liked the headline at fark better (Score:4, Funny)

    by dimator ( 71399 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:48PM (#3847334) Homepage Journal
    "George Lucas adamant only he is allowed to make a mess of the Star Wars series. Told Speilberg to go make his money elsewhere."

    fark.com [fark.com]

  • Thank you, George, for small favors (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Ryosen ( 234440 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:49PM (#3847336)
    I can only imagine what Spielberg would have done to the series. Ep 3 is supposed to be the darkest of all of the episodes. I'm sorry, but Spielberg just doesn't do dark well enough.

    And I can just see him going back to the film several years after its release and replacing all of the lightsabers with walkie-talkies.

    No thanks.

    • Two words.... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Schindler's List.

      'Nuf said.
    • I'm sorry, but Spielberg just doesn't do dark well enough.

      Well, I thought AI and Minority Report were pretty dark, and Saving Private Ryan had it's share of grit, if not darkness. For that matter, the Brothers in Arms series is amazing.

      I think that Spielberg would do wonders with something that's been around so long and has such a developed and understood environment as Star Wars.

      I also think that Spielberg would LOVE to do the project, because if you take a look at some of the extra "behind the scenes" stuff on the Menace's DVD's, you see Spielberg taking a tour of one of the Lucas sets, and he's like a kid in a candy shop. While we probably only think of a movie in terms of the story and the images we see on screen, it was pretty obvious that Spielberg was drooling over the potential technical aspects from a director's point of view; story lines, visual effects, plot twists, casting, etc.

      It'd be way cool if Spielberg would do a "well, if I did it I'd do it like this" version of any of the Star Wars episodes.

      I compare it somewhat to Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita, where Spielberg's version of Star Wars would be like the original Nikita (full of atmosphere, story, depth, etc.) and Lucas's version would be more like the American, shot-for-shot remake of Nikita that was incredibly lame in comparison.

      All in all, though, I commend Lucas for what he's done, but am frustrated in the potential of what it could be.

    • Spielberg just doesn't do dark well enough.

      You didn't see Schindler's List [imdb.com], then?

    • I'm sorry, but Spielberg just doesn't do dark well enough.

      George isn't exactly good at doing dark himself you know.

      It's acknowledged by a large number of people that the darkest episode of Star Wars is V (The Empire Strikes Back).

      Which was directed by Irvin Kershner [imdb.com].

    • I can only imagine what Spielberg would have done to the series. Ep 3 is supposed to be the darkest of all of the episodes. I'm sorry, but Spielberg just doesn't do dark well enough.

      Well, based on Ep.1 and 2, what reason do we have to believe that George has one good movie left in him. Of all the films so far, George was the least involved with The Empire Strikes Back. Dark? Absolutely. Quality? It was the best film of the series.

      Now, how is the guy who wrote that drivel that passed as romantic dialogue between Amidala and Anakin in AOTC going to finish the story to the satisfaction of all? The only saving grace is that the ending of Episode 3 must seamlessly integrate with Episode 4 and beyond. We all know how it has to end, George just has to make it all fit.

      And for the love of humanity, NO MORE GODDAM REVISIONS. What was achieved by making Greedo shoot first?

  • ai (Score:2, Insightful)

    by polin8 ( 170866 )
    after sitting through AI, I have to say this increases my respect for george.

  • oh come on... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ironfroggy ( 262096 )
    I've actually lost some respect for Spielberg because of this. Even asking... I mean, come on! I don't care if he is a hot-shot director, it seems rude. What? Doesn't he have enough movies of his own?
  • Not to be construed as flame-bait...but I can see why. I mean, if you created something, would you want someone to step in and do a better job?

    I am sure it all boils down to ego, but what the hell, I wouldn't like someone coming in a doing their version of something I created, especially if (IMO) it would be better than what I could do.

    But, on the other hand, a collaboration between the 2 would be awesome, George could do the wiz-bang effects, Spielburg could make the actors earn their paychecks, without them looking like wooden statues bent into shape.

    A boy can dream I guess.
    • "I mean, if you created something, would you want someone to step in and do a better job?"

      On the other hand, Lucas has only directed 3 of the 5 Star Wars movies to date. And of those 3, 2 of them are widely regarded as not up to par.

  • Control vs Society (Score:4, Interesting)

    by smoondog ( 85133 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @11:57PM (#3847382)
    I have always been frustrated that creators often drive their franchises/ideas into the ground or kill them when they die. I know that creators should have absolute control, but it is a shame that Star Wars will likely die with Lucas, Calvin and Hobbes will die with BW and Peanuts will die with CS. I guess the alternative may be worse than the status quo, but still, when commercial entertainment interests become part of our shared emotions/heritage the only thing that will lose is our pocket books.

    -Sean

  • He used other directors in the 80s (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ianmalcm ( 591345 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @12:11AM (#3847435)
    So if this is "Georges baby" then why did he use different directors and writers for Empire and Return of the Jedi? I propose, to get Starwars back on track, for George to hire the original people that helped him on the trilogy.... Lawrence Kasdan, Gary Kurtz, and Irvin Kirshner. Bring in the K's and all will be well. The Starwars TripleK Petition. We fans deserve the best movie of all time with Episode 3. SOMETHING's gotta break Titanics records.

  • Too cuddily (Score:5, Interesting)

    by charlie763 ( 529636 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @12:12AM (#3847438)
    This is the best decision that Lucus has made regarding Star Wars. The only person that could make the Star Wars series worse is Spielberg.

    Episode III is supposed to one of the darkest films in the series; the fall of the Republic, the death of the Jedi, and the rise of the Empire. I do not think Spielberg is capable of making such a dark movie.

    For Example: look at how he changed the ending of AI. The film would have had a much greater emotional impact if it ended with the boy sitting in the helicopter staring at the statue forever.

    If Speilberg directs Episode III there will be some sort of cute and cuddily ending to it.


    Let the flaming begin...
    • P.S. I would like to see Kevin Smith direct Episode III with a team of advisors composed of at least 9 Star Wars geeks (I volunteer).

    • Re:Too cuddily (Score:5, Interesting)

      by tswinzig ( 210999 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @09:02AM (#3849038) Journal
      Episode III is supposed to one of the darkest films in the series; the fall of the Republic, the death of the Jedi, and the rise of the Empire. I do not think Spielberg is capable of making such a dark movie.

      Ahhhh... yeah, his previous attempts, such as Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, were much too light of fare for me!

      Now let's compare this to Lucas. Which of all the Star Wars movies is the "dark" movie? Now let's look and see who directed it. [imdb.com]

      Irvin Kershner!

  • Pick a side.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Darth_brooks ( 180756 ) <clipper377@noSpAm.gmail.com> on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @12:12AM (#3847439) Homepage
    Time to burn off some karma.

    1). Spielberg isn't the savior.

    2). No one is the savior for star wars

    Now, this isn't to say the second trilogy sucks. I thought ep. 1 was bearable, there were some things to change, mostly in the the promotion (c'mon, seeing darth maul break out the second blade of the lightsabre would've been way cooler if you didn't know about it ahead of time. It might have been hard to keep from "knowing" about, but we didn't need to see it in the first trailer.), and certainly there were some major issues with dialouge. Lucas didn't have any recent experience in film. He didn't know, or didn't have anyone telling him he was making bad choices. Hell in '98 we were drooling over spoilers that in retrospect killed the film. ("Full CG characters! wow! I don't know how they'll be implimented but that's cool!")

    Ep. 2 made progress. But from the percieved failure of Ep. 1, no one was willing to give the movie any kind of a shake. When 1 was released, there was a devoted throng of geeks who thought they'd be "smarts" and spend weeks on end spouting off about just how bad the film was. That same contingent multiplied and said 2 marked the death of a franchiese, lucas has lost his touch, and it's all a huge mistake.

    Sorry, but nothing will please the die hard of vocal Star Wars "fans" who want nothing more than to make a name by voicing their opinions. What's really sad, and what no SW geek will admit to, is the similarity between SW geeks and Internet WWE wrestling fans. After every RAW or Smackdown! there is a hard core group of fans that nit pick every blown move, every plot hole, every bit of less than logical storytelling. The result is that the WWE has begun catering to the more vocal internet fans more in their storylines. Check the ratings, the majority of the fans aren't buying it. The WWE has tried boosting ratings with signings of bigger name talent, and shocking storyline moves, all to no avail. Only now they've alienated both the smarts and the live / casual fans.

    Same with Star Wars. Lucas could sign Spielberg up to direct episode 3, bring back harrison ford, sign Jet Li as the villan, and promise full frontal nude shots of Natalie Portman, but why? It probaly won't change much. The dialouge may get better with Spielberg at the helm, the story might get a little stronger and better paced, but it's not going to shut the "fans" up. The same contingent will just insert "Spielberg" into their rants instead of lucas. Hell, Francis Ford Coppola is close with lucas, let's throw him in the mix.

    No matter who directs, you'll still get the same dearth of comparisions to each directors poor efforts. "Episode 3 sucked as bad as 'howard the duck' or 'always' or 'the godfather 3'" Come to think of it, Spielberg tanked out with a recent Sci Fi outing (or has 'AI' been forgotten that quickly?) and Coppola makes some pretty foul casting choices. (Can you say daddy's little girl? I thought so.) So long as the comic book guy wanna-be's have ammunition, they'll use it.

    Face it. The 'net will never be happy with star wars. It was destined to be. But the bottom line doesn't lie, Star Wars is still the biggest franchiese movie out there. It's still got a strong devoted following. (I'll buy into the matrix when I see how well the film stands up to an audience that has seen bullet time and slow-mo action in every action movie made in the last two years.)

    • Re:Pick a side.... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Sloppy ( 14984 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @12:37AM (#3847533) Homepage Journal
      sign Jet Li as the villan, and promise full frontal nude shots of Natalie Portman, but why? It probaly won't change much.

      Let's not be hasty. I think I want to see this Jet Li and nude Portman movie.

    • Re:Pick a side.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Flamerule ( 467257 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @02:21AM (#3847858)
      Long post... if I'm reading you correctly, the gist of it seems to be that the hardcore Star Wars fans nitpicked Episode II to death, in anger over their perceived failure of Episode I, and that now nothing can save the prequel trilogy from their slings and arrows.
      Face it. The 'net will never be happy with star wars. It was destined to be.

      Let's get this straight: it wasn't destined to be. Let's look at the the first episode of the Lord of the Rings movie Trilogy: an insanely great success for Peter Jackson -- critically, commercially, and for the majority of fans. The most devoted Tolkien purists and nitpickers did what they could to sabotage the film, but it wasn't enough. Take a spin over to the twin Tolkien newsgroups, rec.arts.books.tolkien [google.com] and alt.fan.tolkien [google.com], and you'll find a fair number of fans so blinded in their fanatacism, they were unable to accept the movie as the adaptation it was, and had to be, instead of some 12-hour visual recitation of the novel.

      But these fans couldn't make a dent in Fellowship's success -- because it was a great movie. Peter Jackson proved that it is possible to live up to all but the very extremest of expectations, and hopefully The Two Towers will succeed just as spectacularly. Lesson: if your movie kicks ass, people won't hate it, loudly, to everyone they meet. Duh.

      So long as the comic book guy wanna-be's have ammunition, they'll use it.

      In this case, everyone has ammunition, and everyone should use it to voice their displeasure. George Lucas tanked with Episode I -- it was a shitty movie, just in general, and when compared to the original trilogy. When Episode II turned out be crap too, just not quite as crappy as the first one, the fans, rightfully, revolted. Lucas had 2 fucking chances, and he blew them both. It's not a case of nitpicking here... Lucas deserves to be called out, by everyone, for the poorly-acted, overdone, not-very-entertaining films he's spewed out for us. The public, hell, the Star Wars franchise, deserves better.

      Episode III is everyone's last chance for a good Star Wars movie: since Lucas is incapable of producing a movie anyone actually wants to watch, it might be better for everyone if someone else got a chance at directing it.

    • there were some things to change, mostly in the the promotion (c'mon, seeing darth maul break out the second blade of the lightsabre would've been way cooler if you didn't know about it ahead of time. It might have been hard to keep from "knowing" about, but we didn't need to see it in the first trailer.)

      Along that line, I really did not need to see, in the previews for AOTC, Yoda jumping around on crack, flailing his lightsaber about like a mad-muppet. I saw the preview after I saw the movie. Some of my friends didn't.

      AOTC is really just a kind of blah movie that leads up to Jedi v. Battle Droids, Clone v. Battle Droids, and Yoda v. Everyone fights. There is no movie. I refuse to watch the first 3/4 of the movie (the filler) ever again. Once Mace walks into the Arena, I'd start watching.

      E1: I haven't it seen since the first time in the theater. I don't care if I ever see it again.

      I'll see E3 (Unfortunately not the gaming festival) when it comes out. Pray your Gods deliver us a good E3. Me, I'm an Atheist.
      • [blah blah blah, egotistical fans will pan Ep3 whatever, so there's no point in trying to do a good one, blah blah blah]

      Are you honestly saying that there's no point in making a decent episode 3 simply because Comic Book Guys will shred it on first release?

      That is the most appalling attitude that I have seen espoused about films in a long time. Should we all just send letters to the MPAA saying "Make any old crap you want. It really doesn't matter, you don't need us to like it, just to pay to see how much we hate it."

      The sad part is that this attitude already seems endemic. Personally, I'm going to sit it out until Ang Lee and James Shamus bring us the Hulk in 2003. If that falls flat, then that about wraps it up for Hollywood as far as I'm concerned. :(

    • I thought AI was a good movie. Admittedly an appreciation of it requires an IQ higher than the temperature outside, but since when was that a bad thing? Shakespeare isn't for bozo's either.

      As for Coppolla's casting of his daughter, she was a last minute stand in for Winona Ryder who fell ill when shooting was scheduled to start. I'd rather have seen Winona in the movie myself since she's one of the most beautiful women on the face of the earth, and she can actually act. Sophia Coppolla might make for a good director (The Virgin Suicides), but an actress she is not, or at least WAS not back when GF-3 was made.

      Lee
    • Hell, Francis Ford Coppola is close with lucas, let's throw him in the mix.

      (Spaceship enters the Death Star. Alien heads on pikes are everywhere, and there is weird tribal drum music in the background.)

      Natalie Portman: There's a conflict in every human heart between the rational, the irrational, between what's good and the Dark Side of the Force. And Good does not always triumph. Every man has a breaking point. You and I have. Kurtz-- I mean Palpatine-- has reached his and obviously he has gone insane.

      Obi-Wan: Annakin, can we see Palpatine?

      Wild-eyed Hayden Christiansen: Hey, man, you don't talk to the Emperor. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet-warrior in the classic sense...

      Mace Windu: I love the smell of lightsaber in the morning! Jar-Jar don't surf!

  • After seeing AotC... (Score:5, Funny)

    by bopo ( 105833 ) <bopo@ne r p .net> on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @12:13AM (#3847441) Homepage

    After seeing Attack of the Clones I almost contacted Lucas begging for the job... anything to stop that man... please stop... please...

  • what about 7-9? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nick357 ( 108909 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @12:19AM (#3847471)
    I say let Steve direct the three episodes that George says he isn't going to do -- numbers 7 through 9. Heck -- its better than not getting them at all... and letting someone put a new twist on them at that stage might be alright.

  • Not a terrible idea... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gdyas ( 240438 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @12:22AM (#3847481) Homepage

    Not that these movies are of any real importance as an issue whatsoever, but here goes:

    Despite people's misconceptions about Spielberg being a warm/fuzzy director, Lucas is not, nor has he ever been, 1/10th the director Spielberg is. Spielberg with some good writing support probably wanted to help, to try to turn the epI characters back into human beings for epII after Lucas' major pooch screw. Nobody knows what Lucas thinks - is he cashing in? Is he a megalomaniac? Who knows? Who gives a shit? All I know is the past two movies are tripe I wouldn't allow in my home to poison my DVD collection. And I really liked IV & V too, and thought VI wasn't great, but OK.

    Nevermind what the fanboys think, the prequels have been fucked over by one thing -- Lucas' total control over all aspects of the project. The SW prequels are a tragedy caused by a lack of hollywood industry control & standards, not an overbearance of them. Any major studio management/production team on any other project would've seen the dailies of epI & II and demanded a change in directors, but because Lucas has the $ and carte blanche to do what he wants he never has to answer to anyone, and with his inability to write or direct simple believable dialogue he's the biggest liability to his own legacy.

    Think about it -- since the first three, outside of some TV production he hadn't directed a feature film since Jedi in '83. That's 16 fucking years out of practice. So now he's a hack, and somewhere deep I think he knows it. He should've been a deeply involved producer and brought in a big-time director that knows how to direct actors instead of mainframes, who hasn't been out of the game for a generation, someone like Spielberg, for all of these prequels.

    Despite the verbosity above, none of it really matters for me - to me it's just movies, give or take. But to Lucas I have to assume it's something more, that it's art, and he's actively fucking it to shit. Too bad. I guess even the best painters eventually became bad imitators of themselves, but it doesn't make it any fun to watch.

  • Spielberg says tha a fourth Indiana Jones flick is on the way too.

    "It's a chance for all of us to go back and feel young and act young. Harrison is going to be full of energy, as he always is."

    He concluded: "It's going to be very exciting. Even though he will be 62 by the time this film comes out, Harrison hasn't lost the snap in his whip."

    My wife hopes I'm full of energy and haven't lost the snap in my (ahem) whip when I'm 62 as well. ;^)

    Soko
  • I don't get it. Everyone else in Hollywood gets all the crack they want, but Lucas seems to think that just because he's filming Star Wars that Speilberg doesn't deserve his crack. Maybe this is why Episodes 1 and 2 sucked so much. Lucas didn't give anyone thier crack.

  • On new ideas (Score:2, Insightful)

    by defence budget ( 410076 )

    A new director would do good for SW. Think of what it did for The Empire Strikes Back, which is the best episode IMHO.

    Lucas seems to have a few cliched (if I may say so) fixations on SW - A Roman like Arena in every episode; hands being cut off with light sabres; a vehicle chase and so on and so forth. While these instruments added to the Story in TESB, they tend to be the story these days. On second thought, these have been borrowed from the original SW while nothing new has been added as one would hope.

    SW is fast becoming a translation of current day world to galactic terms. Since when did Jedi start saying "This is Jedi Business, every body relax" after bar brawls? Sounds too much like Police or FBI. I am sure that whatever his shortcomings, Steven Sp. can do a better job. The romance scenes from Ep II could do with a new director anyway.

    And let me not get started on the script. I am sure that any sensible director would avoid too many "My young apprentice" and "You should not - we must not" stuff.

    Well, there is my 2 penny worth.
  • At least not anymore. A quick scan of his resume [imdb.com] shows outside of Star Wars, Lucas has'nt been at the helm of a film in the directors chair since 1973's American Graffiti.

    29 years, with the execption of a couple trys at Star Wars can leave you a little rusty. (And in my opinion, it shows). Thats not to say that Lucas is'nt an excellent craftsman, and his contributions to the field of special effects, amoung countless other acheivements should not be discounted.

    But, just because your really good and building violins does'nt mean you're the best choice to conduct a symphony.

    Spielberg on the other hand has had a lot more practice wearing a directors hat (despite some unfortunate misses). His work with the late Kubric has rubbed off on him, which shows in the spactacular visual style in A.I. and the more recent minority report (albeit with some disapointing storylines).

    Personally I think Spielberg's experience as a director would provide the perfect compliment to the imagination and storytelling that Lucas can put out when he's at his best. It's really a shame this won't happen.

  • Spielbergwon't go digital like Lucas loves... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Cplus ( 79286 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @01:55AM (#3847785) Homepage Journal
    In June's dead tree version of Wired Spielberg said the following:

    "I was one of the first to use digital to enhance my films, but I'll be the last to use digital to shoot my movies."

    "Now the thing I'm most saddened by is the constant talk about the photochemical process becoming a thing of Thomas Edison's past. There's a magic about chemistry and film."

    Then he goes on to talk about how much he appreciates the effect produced by the grain of film. I can't see him giving in to digital, even for Star Wars, and I can't see Lucas giving up all the work he's accomplished in pushing movies into the digital realm.

  • Many people have pointed out that Lucas hasn't directed a star wars since the original, and was given some (much needed) writing assistance by several very talented people.

    I wrote a long article detailing what happened to those people, but mozilla crashed. Damn debian using old binaries... When woody!? Dear god when!?

    Oh, sorry. Yes, the writer of Empire and the director of Jedi are both dead, and the director of empire is pushing 76... Kasdan (working from memory, spelling may be wrong) would be an excellent choice to bring some reality back to the plate, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

    There are several people in hollywood who are legendary directors. There are legendar writers. There are legendary producers. There are legendary effects people. There are no legendary director / writer / producer / effects people. That's like saying a good programmer should be able to design the computer, build it, program it, and draw the icons... It just ain't happening. Lucas needs to get it through his thick scull that he's a legendary effects / producer artist, and that he should rely on other geniuses when it comes to writing and directing.

    How can we make Lucas realize that he isn't infalliable? Maybe a protest boycott on the opening night of episode 3?
  • We all know that George Lucas kinda like ignores his actors for the larger part. He gives them Freedom, he gives some advice, but he's not the Director that goes into Character bulding very much. He's all more of the 'visual poetry' type. One gets the impression, that he would just like to make a long sequence of stills, pans and enviro shot of a variety of Space Opera Worlds (Bespin, Mos Aisly (dunno how thats spelled), Endor, Deathstar Interior) - all that is his visual style and it fits the Space Opera genre he's into so very much.
    Having Actors being something like Posers and not much more really doesn't bother in such a setting. On the contrary, it actualy goes along quite well.
    Spielberg on the other hand - with his own distinct visual handwriting (that 80s Kiddy Candy Movie look - that's all his - even AI had it!) would spoil the esprit of SW totally!!!
    He's a good director, no doupt, but keeping Spielbarg away from SW is just what I would do if I where a producer.
  • I'm deffinitely not a big fan of Spielberg, though I admit that he's had his moments too. It's just that Lucas has now twice fumbled quite miserably with his efforts. I mean Episode 2 had tolerable plot and some pretty good stuff in it, too, but the adventure game and sound of musics scenes (just to name a few) were again a tad too much, as with JarJar and the Boonta eve race (just to name a few) in Episode 1.

    Having clearly witnessed how Lucas either has lost all class and style or has been forced to do so by the marketing department, I for one would be pretty much willing to let any director give it a shot.

    I for one would be pretty damn anxious to see the later episodes done by likes of Scorsese or Scott.

    Thenagain, I do admit that I never mind them making total-crap sequels. Take Highlander II & III for example, the first one hasnt been diminshed by those lame-excuse-for-a-movies.

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