Tag: the force awakens

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Media Awareness 101: What makes Episode VII/VIII/IX news confirmed?

Short answer: It’s on StarWars.com.

Long answer: It’s on StarWars.com, and is reported by media outlets as such. The outlet will either source/link StarWars.com or have quotes from Lucasfilm people using their actual names.

For a recent example of an outlet actually breaking news with Lucasfilm’s blessing, let’s look at IGN’s original report of David Tennant in The Clone Wars. It has extensive quotes from Dave Filoni and a video clip – which was exclusive to them when the story broke. (StarWars.com later posted it as a preview of the episode.) So far, Lucasfilm hasn’t been doing this with Episode VII news – the Arndt item simply appeared on the site – perhaps because they know that everyone is going to write about it anyway. The Tennant news simply isn’t as big, and getting it onto a mainstream outlet gives it an extra boost that will reach casual fans (and people like Doctor Who fans) who aren’t regularly watching The Clone Wars. This is also probably why Del Rey gave Entertainment Weekly that Scoundrels exclusive EU fandom spent a day agonizing over back in March.

Obviously, an outlet reporting something from unnamed sources – as is the case with last night’s Kasdan/Kinberg stories from Deadline and THR – are not confirmed.

Other outlets writing about those stories does not confirm them, either. Words like ‘reports’ and ‘reportedly’ are basically just a journalistic way of saying ‘rumors.’ It might give them a little more weight – I tend to use the word ‘report’ if I think something is just a tad more plausible than things like, say, Vader rising from the dead. But in essence? They mean exactly the same thing: It’s not official yet, just things people or the media are saying. That doesn’t make them fact, no matter how many people run the story.

Because nothing is confirmed until Lucasfilm says it is. Lucasfilm and, now, Disney. Not Major Entertainment News Outlet #47 reporting off Major Entertainment News Outlet #86. And trust me, we are watching.

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Has Colin Trevorrow all but confessed he’s directing Episode VII? Turns out, not so much

With internet favorite Brad Bird officially out of the picture (sigh,) is Colin Trevorrow going to be the man to direct Episode VII? And has he already confirmed it in all but name?

Film School Rejects reports some interesting comments that Trevorrow made during an interview posted in June.

“I can’t speak with any specificity as to what the next thing will be. There are amazing opportunities that have arisen as a result of this. One of them, I will say, will probably create a good deal of ire against me on the Internet when people find out what it is. So, I just want to say in advance that I promise you, for all those who love the mythology that I will be tackling, trust that I love it as much as you do. And I will respect it, and hopefully make it not suck.”

Obviously, this could be pretty much any established franchise – even things like Twilight get the ‘mythology’ buzzword these days. But, as I said the first time Trevorrow’s name came up, a lesser-known director would fit with Lucas’ previous director choices, so it’s hard to discount him as a possible contender. At least until one checks Twitter…

Well then. The longer this goes on, the more sure I am that none of us has any idea who’ll get the job.

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Brad Bird is not directing Episode VII

There have been a lot of names thrown into the ring by fans and media to direct Episode VII, and right at the top of most of the lists was Brad Bird. Alas, this evening he said he’s not doing Star Wars. (Or, if you want to slice hairs since clearly he wouldn’t be doing A New Hope, he did out and out say it’s not Episode VII.)

Bird’s directing credits include The Incredibles and Ratatouille for Pixar, as well as Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. His next film is 1952, which is not, as earlier rumored, a code-name for Episode VII.

This puts us at three for three denials in the top rumored directors: Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams have also denied.

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Carrie Fisher in Episode VII? Just kidding, rep says

TheForce.Net has a report from a reader who claims that at a book signing, Carrie Fisher said she is indeed going to be in Episode VII.

..The interview she did started with the question ‘Are you really going to be in a new star wars movie?’ and Carrie answered quietly ‘Yes….I thought it was already common knowledge.’

…Or was she joking? E’s Leslie Gornstein contacted Fisher’s rep, who had this to say:

“She hasn’t confirmed anything,” a rep told me this morning. “Everything you’ve seen has been tongue-in-cheek.”

Of course, there’s still a pretty good chance that Fisher – along with Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams, who was victimized by TMZ today – may indeed show up in the films, as cameos or otherwise. Certainly it’s going to be one of the first questions Lucasfilm, Disney and the actors themselves will continue to be pestered with until they confirm one way or another.

As always, remember, nothing is confirmed until we hear it authorized from Disney or Lucasfilm themselves… Particularly when it’s hearsay!

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Report: Kennedy tells Lucasfilm employees they plan to make “two or three films a year”

The Star Wars issue of Entertainment Weekly isn’t out yet, but apparently Kotaku got an early peek at it – and they’re reporting that Kathleen Kennedy says that Lucasfilm wants to make “two or three films a year.”

The full quote appears in the comments, from Luke Plunkett:

Lucasfilm’s co-chairman and soon-to-be president, Kathleen Kennedy, has told employees she wants the company to produce two or three films a year (it’s averaged fewer than four per decade), and first up is Star Wars: Episode VII for 2015, which will pick up sometime after Darth Vader gave his life to overthrow (figuratively and literally) the Emperor and save Luke in 1983’s Episode VI— Return of the Jedi. Yes, the plan is to return to the characters in the first trilogy (1977–83). Whether the original actors will have significant roles or merely be on hand to pass the baton to a new generation of actors—something Lucasfilm tried with mixed success with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Disney with TRON: Legacy—is unclear.

Two or three? Well, we can probably assume we’ll get three in 2014 – the 3-D re-releases of the original trilogy. But somehow, I doubt that’s what she’s talking about… Disney seems mostly focused on Star Wars, but that’s… A lot of Star Wars. (Market saturation much?) If they are all Star Wars, anyway.

… Or this could all be a misquote of the original thing we heard about one movie every 2 to 3 years. Personally, that’s what I’m hoping for.

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Roundup: Entertainment Weekly gives Star Wars the cover

Media. The cover of this week’s new issue of Entertainment Weekly is – surprise! – devoted to Star Wars. This means that anyone who hasn’t already heard about Episode VII will see it at the grocery story and pester us about it! Hooray!

Screenwriting. Curious about Michael Arndt? Scott Myers at Go into the Story has devoted a series of posts to his comments on screenwriting. (via)

Directors. We already figured this from his comments last week, but J.J. Abrams has out and out denied that he’s up for Episode VII. Please save all your lens flare jokes for Star Trek into Darkness.

Your moment of bwah. With the new (last?!?) Twilight movie encroaching, of course someone asked Robert Pattinson if he’d like to be in Star Wars. His answer? “Oh, absolutely. In a heartbeat.” Love or hate him, consider yourself warned. (via)

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Speculation: Could Brenda Chapman be involved in Episode VII?

Lucasfilm hired Brenda Chapman – who was the writer and original director for Brave at Pixar- in August. Reports were that she was consulting on a ‘mystery project’ for Lucasfilm Animation…. But in the wake of the Disney sale and sequel trilogy announcements? Bleeding Cool notes some of her recent tweets – including a link to a Time story on Episode VII. Could she be involved with the new films somehow? ” We will just have to wait and see what happens,” she tweeted to one such inquiry.

Of course, it’s worth noting that all of Chapman’s credits are in animation – she directed Dreamwork’s The Prince of Egypt – and Episode VII already has a writer. But ‘consultant’ does cover a lot of ground, and the timing is pretty curious…

And yes, this is pure, unbridled speculation – even Bleeding Cool admits she might really be working on that fairy musical we’ve barely heard about, or something else entirely. Still, an interesting prospect.

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Who could direct Episode VII? No word yet, but lots of possible candidates

Now that we have a writer for Episode VII, our next likely announcement will be the director – and there are lots of possible candidates floating around. So let’s thank Empire for creating a handy chart of who’s ruled themselves out, who’s dancing around the possibility, and a whole lot of wild cards. (via)

Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas talked about some of what they’re looking for in a director in a video released last week.

Meanwhile, Indiana Jones producer Frank Marshall, Kennedy’s husband, says that they’ve narrowed it down to “a couple of candidates.”