Are Lawrence Kasdan, Simon Kinberg Being Courted To Script ‘Star Wars’ Pics 2 and 3?
EXCLUSIVE: Here’s some tantalizing dish to chew on before the Thanksgiving turkey and trimmings. After hiring Michael Arndt to script the first installment of the relaunch of George Lucas’ Star Wars franchise, I’ve heard Disney has approached Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg and I believe it is to get the ball rolling on the subsequent installments mapped out by Lucas. Both of the scribes in question have franchise experience.
Kasdan scripted two of the original Star Wars films in the 1980 The Empire Strikes Back and the 1983 follow-up Return of the Jedi. He also scripted Raiders Of The Lost Ark for Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Kinberg’s franchise work: X-Men: The Last Stand, Sherlock Holmes and the upcoming X-Men: Days Of Future Past which Bryan Singer will direct.
Disney’s $4 billion buy of George Lucas’ signature franchise certainly has stirred up passions from fans. I’m still feeling so let down by the last three films that I am not sure they can bring back the magic on the original trilogy, which was so groundbreaking for its time. But that time seems like a galaxy so far far away.
Back in the late 1970s, Star Wars set the bar for visual effects in science fiction. Doing that again is very difficult in the age of The Hobbit, The Dark Knight and Avatar. But Disney was certainly proven right when it spent the same money on Marvel, and already has made back much of that cash with The Avengers.
Disney plans to generate a film every other year starting in 2015. Getting great writers is the right way to relaunch Star Wars, and the studio got off to a good start hiring Star Wars fanatic Arndt to do the first installment. The studio has told me that they will not address speculation. Fair enough. But I’m going to go with my sources on this one and I would not be surprised if these guys sign on, or if they are already in the fold.
Mapped out by Lucas? Arndt has developed treatments for the next three…
Lucas mapped out the third trilogy 20 years ago. They’re referring to Lucas’s story of nine films. A treatment is more detailed and Arndt did that.
Which were in turn mapped out by Lucas prior to that….
Kasdan? YES. Kinberg? HELL NO.
+1
I agree Kinberg and First Class are way overrated. I mean he wrote Xmen 3 and Jumper. Bad choice. But Kasden is a homerun.
+2
Absolutely on Kasdan. No fucking way on Kinberg… even Brad Bird would be better if they want someone who can write for CG. Too bad Leigh Brackett isn’t around. It’s about the humans.
Kasdan should be a no-brainer.
Too bad Kinberg is an absolutely terrible writer.
That photo of Jar Jar Binks should hang above the desk of any future Star Wars writer as a silent reminder: “Don’t Do This.”
I could not possibly agree more!!
Agreed Kinberg isn’t the most talented wordsmith out there, but you can’t argue with success. Love ‘im or hate ‘im, films he’s worked on — either as screenwriter or script doctor — have grossed BILLIONS worldwide. So he’s clearly doing something right in as much as his work appeals to a wide enough demographic to keep him insanely busy / perpetually employed.
Wow, someone at Disney is actually smart and knows their history. HELLO, MCFLY, why the heck didn’t Lucas hire Kasdan to script the last ones. He scripted the best one of the series, EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
Because Kasdan said no when asked. HELLO, MCFLY!
Strictly speaking, it’s not someone at Disney who is smart and knows their history. It’s Kathleen Kennedy, the head of Lucasfilm. Disney is the parent company of Lucasfilm and have a hands-off policy with regard to the making of the new Star Wars films.
I see Kinberg wrote some X-Men movies. One of them reviled and another widely adored. And there is a Neil Blokamp connection with Kinberg through Elysium. He was on the Marketsaw rumored director list, cue Internet articles about Blokamp exploding everywhere.
Too bad Darabont doesn’t do writing-for-hire anymore / has such an acrimonious relationship with Lucas post-INDY 4. Would certainly be interested in seeing what he could come up with in the SW universe.
FD would be great! what happened to him and Lucas with Indy4?
Kinberg? Ugh, enough with this guy already. Mr. and Mrs. Smith was a long time ago people…