Update: Deadline reports that Arndt's treatment covers the entire trilogy of new films.
Well, no matter where you stand on the prospect of "Star Wars: Episode 7," you have to admit this is at least a step in the right direction. The studio has found an Oscar winner to pen the treatment and possibly the screenplay for the upcoming sequel, and nerds and indie-cinema heads alike will approve.
Vulture reports that "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Toy Story 3" writer Michael Arndt has penned a 40-50 page treatment for 'Episode 7' (interestingly, it was written before the Lucasfilm sale was official) and he may be one of the writers tasked with writing the complete screenplay when that time arrives. Arndt is a familiar figure over at Disney, brought into the fold following the success of 'Sunshine,' and he's currently at work on two big projects at the studio: "Phineas and Ferb" and "The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside the Mind." And oh yeah, he also did work on "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" and if that's not enough, he's part of the celebrated Pixar Brain Trust, who scrutinize and deconstruct all the movies they have in development. Moreover, he's a big fan of the franchise, lecturing frequently, specifically about the the end of "Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope" and why it's so satisfying creatively.
And there's even more interesting news. According to the site, Arndt's treatment "will soon be crossing the desks of top directors, including Brad Bird, Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams." Those names have all been very, very high on fanboy wishlists, but let's just pause here a moment. Firstly, of course Disney is going to be aiming very high to try to get A-list talent for this, and certainly, all of those dudes will be curious at the very least. But will they take it on? Given the huge baggage the franchise carries with it, we really doubt it — expect to hear lots of "It was a great read, really exciting but…." — however, they each undoubtedly know rising talent they can suggest.
Right now, it's unclear is Arndt will be involved with the final screenplay, but he's "likely to be at least one of the writers" on board, for the film that's slated to shoot in 2014. And things just got very interesting with 'Episode 7'….
Good going Mr. Arndt! I feel good about this. You write good movies but I hope you won't be afraid to have a few long stretches with little or no dialog (like the way "A New Hope" and "Wall-E" unfold at the beginning). That's all.
Dear Disney and LucasFilm,
Congratulations! You now possess the power of the force and with it comes a great deal of responsibility. So here's what you're going to do:
STEP 1 – you're going to set the new films (Episode 7, 8 and 9) 30 years after episode 6 (Jedi) and you're going to have the FULL original cast back playing themselves as older people. DID YOU HEAR ME? You are going to cast Harrison Ford as Han Freaking solo, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Leia, Billy Dee Williams as Lando and even Denis Lawson back as Wedge Antilles. HERE'S THE CATCH: THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE THE MAIN CHARACTERS. They are older now and you can use them as side characters revolving around NEW lead characters. We don't care what new characters take over leading roles but you HAVE to bring back the old cast for this all to be LEGIT and to come FULL circle. PLEASE don't cast new actors in these roles and don't CGI faces to make them look like the actors 30 years ago (Like in Tron Legacy) PLEASE!!! You can even kill them off in the first scene, just don't replace them.
STEP 2 – DON'T LISTEN TO ANYTHING GEORGE LUCAS SAYS! You paid him $4 Billion so tell him to shut up take his money and go make Radioland Murders Part 2! Put somebody in charge of directing who knows what we want. WE WANT EMPIRE STRIKES BACK ON CRACK. That means ACTING, ACTING, ACTING, ACTING, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, DRAMA, DEATH!!!!!
STEP 3 – It has to be WAY BETTER than AVENGERS but whatever you did to make AVENGERS as good as it was, do the same for STAR WARS! I feel the force is strong with you and your company can pull this off. The prequels were the worst films EVER MADE! They showed us just how evil the dark side of the force can be when it seduced George Lucas and took over his ability to distinguish right from wrong! Please redeem the Star Wars Universe. DO OR DO NOT…THERE IS NO TRY
Sincerely,
Geeks
Ben Mendelsohn as a younger Yoda.
He's weird looking enough for that.
Sam Worthington as a Storm trooper – or all of them.
He is robotic enough for that.
Spielberg, Guillermo, Cuaron
to be fair to delve remotely deeply, JJ Abrams basically remade star wars with Han as Luke for the Star Trek reboot, that's also the best summer movie in years…
So it turns out I'm a star wars fan, again.So, JJ without the timeline shifts competent and cool,Brad Bird would actually be my pick.Though, Spielberg because i feel we owe him one.
It would be objectively lame as fuck if the Star Wars movies went to an over-commercialized over-the-hill filmmaker like Abrams or Bird
guys, please start using DISQUS
keep JJ Abrams away from this, please.
JJ Abrams?!! Jesus wept.
Right now J.J. Abrams is screaming, "How the fuck did I become the 'Star Trek' guy?!?!"
It wouldn't seem right if J.J. directed this. I'm no hater, but there's no way he should have both of the biggest sci-fi franchises of all time.