Wednesday marked the anniversary of the "Star Wars: Episode VII" announcement. We're a year closer to the proposed 2015 release date, but with a new story saying that the film won't be ready in time, is there some production drama fans should be concerned about?
Originally, Academy Award-winner Michael Arndt would write and J.J. Abrams would direct the first installment of a new trilogy. But Arndt has since left the project, passing off scripting duties to Abrams and "Empire Strikes Back" co-writer Lawrence Kasdan. Rumors of the director's dissatisfaction over scheduling date back to July.
There have also been a few casting rumors without an officially signed actor to show for it. Disney still hasn't even confirmed that Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford will return. (Although everyone assumes they will be.)
A lack of information would not be particularly notable — especially from a movie directed by the highly secretive Abrams — if it wasn't for the tone of recent rumors.
The Hollywood Reporter's sources reveal that there may be something to the drama talk. According to the story, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy requested from Disney a new 2016 release date, saying that the movie just won't be ready for the promised summer 2015 date, and she has since been denied.
A year later, is it time to start worrying about "Star Wars"? It's a question that has been bandied about, mostly in conversations between fans, but Arndt's departure and the Hollywood Reporter story have made it impossible to ignore.
The online film community is divided in their outlook. Those who are concerned say that the warning signs began a while ago. Darren Franich at Entertainment Weekly told MTV News that there was trouble from the start.
"Technically, 'Star Wars' fans should have been worrying about 'Episode VII' the second Disney announced the making of 'Episode VII.' For one thing, it's been 33 years since the last good 'Star Wars' movie."
Devin Faraci of Badass Digest doesn't go quite that far back, but a series precedent doesn't bode well for "Episode VII."
"It's been time ever since Lucasfilm skipped out on Comic-Con and D23," Faraci wrote to us in an email. (For more, head to BAD.) "The fact that we haven't even had a simple confirmation of Ford, Hamill and Fisher returning is troubling. Now, to be fair it's only troubling if we still think the movie is coming out in May of 2015, but working from that assumption, none of this is happy news. Shooting on 'Episode I' was complete by this time in that film's production cycle."
But if you take a look back at the series for examples of how production has run before, Mike Ryan of the Huffington Post argues that you have to go back further than "Episode I." (read his full take here.)
"Behind-the-scenes drama is really fun to talk about, but that doesn't mean a bad movie is the inevitable result. Look, of all the 'Star Wars' movies, 'The Empire Strikes Back's' production was by far the most tumultuous," Ryan told us. "And that movie had to hit a specific release date, too, or Lucasfilm was in jeopardy of going bankrupt. And, here's the thing: We all love 'The Empire Strikes Back.' Do you know what movies had very little drama (at least that we know about?): 'The Phantom Menace,' 'Attack of the Clones' and 'Revenge of the Sith.' All we ever heard out of those productions was that everything was swell."
While there's a disagreement on what all of the drama means for the final product of "Episode VII," the consensus is that the drama we're hearing about is very real. Whether that will affect the quality of the film when it hits in 2015 — assuming the execs at Disney have their way — remains to be seen.
"Star Wars: Episode VII" is currently scheduled for a 2015 release date.
Source http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1716668/star-wars-episode-vii-abrams-arndt.jhtml
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